“The magazine? Do you mean the store-room?”
“No; the powder-magazine.”
She started now, and looked anxious.
“I had almost forgotten its existence, Roy. But is it necessary? It may be dangerous to go into such a place.”
“We shall take care, mother, and have no light. It is necessary, Ben says, for we must be provided with gunpowder, and he wants to try whether it is good, because it must be very old.”
“Very old, my boy. Probably older than your grandfather’s day. I hardly like you to go upon such an errand.”
“But if I’m to be captain, mother, and look after the place, I can’t go back and tell Ben that. It would look so weak.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” said Lady Royland, making an effort to be calm and firm. “But you will be very careful, Roy.”
“You may trust me, mother,” he said; and she drew the keys, with a sigh, from the drawer in the old table, and handed them to her son, who took them and returned to his lieutenant.
“Here they are, Ben,” said Roy, quietly. “Ready?”