“I feel sure it is, and this must be a secret way into the house, hidden under water. Fred, we must have a search outside, and see if we can’t find the place.”
“Then you will not stay here any longer?” said Fred, throwing down the sword upon the rusty heap.
“No; let’s go back now. We have found out a very curious thing; and if we can discover the way in from outside, it will be splendid.”
“Come along, then,” replied Fred, crossing to the heap of old armour, and stooping over it, candle in hand. “But I wonder how old these things are. Do you think we could clean the armour, and make it look bright again?”
Scarlett shook his head as he picked up the remains of an old helmet.
“It must have been a time of war when this house was built,” he said thoughtfully; “and the secret passage was forgotten when it became a time of peace.”
“But it is not a time of peace now, is it? I heard that there would very likely be war.”
“Who told you that?”
“I heard your father and my father talking about it; and they both grew cross, and your father soon got up and went home.”
“Then your father must have said something he did not like against the king.”