“I never tried to! You must believe me! We’re — we’re half-brothers! Only think of the scandal!”
“I have thought of it. I told Theo I had caught a glimpse of a thick-set fellow, dressed in homespuns, hiding in the thicket.”
Martin drew a shuddering sigh. “I knew you could not — did you see such a fellow?”
“I saw no one.”
“Are you sure of that?” Martin asked, frowning down at him. “Because — Well, never mind!” He caught Miss Morville’s eye, and said: “Oh, very well! I’m going! Only if you are afraid to let me enter your room, and I am to have Chard standing guard over me in this way — ”
“You shall be relieved of Chard. Before you go, tell me how that panel works!”
“I wonder you should never have been shown! I remember when my father first showed it to me: I can’t have been more than ten years old.”
“Very likely. I had not the felicity of standing upon such easy terms with him. How is it opened?”
“Oh, it is quite a knacky thing! It has a queer latch upon the inside, with a stop on it, so that when it is down the panel cannot slide back. You may open it from this side by twisting one of the bosses at the head of that pillar.” He stepped up to the wall, and laid his hand on the boss. “This one. It has a device which lifts the latch, if you turn it — like this!”
“Ingenious! May I ask now the panel is secured from this room?”