“Well, let us go on now,” said Le. “There is no means of entering the lower portions of the building from the outside, but I suppose there must be from the inside.”
So they left the hall by the side door and entered a corridor of solid masonry, so dark that Le had to take a match and a coil of taper from his pocket and strike a light.
This led them at last into a large circular room, with lofty but narrow windows, through which the morning sun streamed, leaving oblong patches of sunshine on the stone floor. A door on the side of the room, between two of the windows, had fallen from its strong hinges, and the opening was dark.
Le approached it, and discovered the top of a narrow flight of stairs built in the thickness of the wall.
Le referred to his guidebook, and read:
“‘Strong chamber in the round tower west of the great hall, ancient guardroom for men-at-arms. A secret staircase in the wall whose door was in former times concealed by the leathern hangings of the room, leads down to the torture chamber below.’
“Who will go down with me?” inquired Le.
“I will,” promptly answered Wynnette.
“And I,” added Odalite.
Elva and Rosemary would have shrunk from the adventure, but partly driven by the fear of being left alone, and partly drawn by curiosity, they consented to descend into the depths.