Unkind people say that girls have the bump of curiosity greatly developed, far more so than boys. This is a vulgar error, for the latter are quite as eager to know as their sisters, and from the moment that the heavy oak board was replaced, Fred Forrester and Scar Markham suffered from a fit of excitement which they could not allay. For, as is usually the case, the person they wanted to go seemed determined to stay. That person was the maid, who appeared to have found something very important to do in the room at the end of the corridor; and it was impossible to continue the examination till she had returned to the servants’ quarters.
Scar fetched a candlestick with a short piece of candle burning therein, and shut it up in one of the great cupboards in the hall, so as to lose no time.
Then they fidgeted up and down, listening intently the while; examined some of the well-oiled, warlike weapons on the walls; crept upstairs and along the corridor to listen at the bedroom door; ran down again, and waited until the suspense seemed unbearable.
“I believe she has gone to bed and fallen asleep,” whispered Fred.
“Nonsense! She dare not in that best room.”
“Let’s go out in the garden, then, and leave it till another day.”
“And when will that be? Why, everybody will be about then. No; we must examine the place to-day.”
“What’s that?” cried Fred, suddenly. “What’s what?”
“I can smell fire.”
“Well, they’re cooking in the kitchen, I suppose.”