“That if I lifted the arras I could pass into another room.”
“Not quite right; not into another room, but into a dark passage made in the wall. I went in one day when the King was out hunting and I felt grumpy because I had been left behind, and I thought I should like to see what there was there.”
“Yes, and you went?” said Denis eagerly. “Yes, all along a dark passage for ever so far. Then I came to another door, which opened easily, and there was a flight of stairs; at the bottom of that there was another door and another long passage, twice as long as the first, and then another door.”
“Did you open that?”
“Yes; and where do you think I was?”
“I don’t know. In the cellars perhaps.”
“No; in a dark part of the terrace all amongst the trees. Then I wasn’t satisfied, for it was all new to me, and I felt curious to see where the dark winding walk that was before me went to.”
“Yes,” said Denis eagerly; “and where did it lead?”
“Right away down and down to some stone steps close to a little pavilion on the banks of the river, where there was a boat fastened to a post. That was the King’s private way, of course.”
“Yes,” said Denis; “but what did he want it for?”