“Oh, this is a very old house—a Place they call it—where papa and I have been staying for some time. Poor papa is obliged to be in hiding.”

“And who lives here?”

“Well, Hilary, perhaps I ought not to say,” she said sadly.

“Tell me, then, how far are we from the sea?”

“About eight miles.”

“Only eight miles? Well, how did I come here?”

“I don’t know. I want to know.”

“Am I a prisoner?”

“It seems like it.”

“But where’s everybody? I haven’t heard a soul about till you came.”