“I guess they would have liked to do something like that,” responded Rob, with a laugh, “but it all ended happily, mother.
“Why, as I said, he was the officer who led the cavalry to our rescue. What can he be doing here?”
“Well, what about Lieutenant Duvall?” demanded his father.
“I do not know. He was very reticent about his business. He came to me with a letter of introduction. You know, he has rented the old De Regny place.”
“What, the old haunted villa north of here?”
“That’s the place,” rejoined Mr. Blake. “I can’t imagine why he wants it, but, beyond saying that he was here on official business, connected with aeronautical experiments, he would not give me any inkling of the object of his occupancy of the place. His errand to me was to open an account in the bank.”
“It is odd,” mused Rob. “The De Regny place hasn’t been occupied for many years, has it, father?”
“Not since Napoleon was sent to St. Helena by the British, my boy. General de Regny, who built the place, was one of the great French leader’s most devoted marshals. After Waterloo, he came over here, apparently at Napoleon’s own behest, and built this house on the seashore. They say that secret passages run into the grounds from the beach. If this is so, the entrances to them have never been found.”
“What did he want secret passages for?” asked Mrs. Blake, to whom the story was comparatively new. Rob had already heard it in various forms from a dozen sources about the village.
“Why, you see, it is always supposed that there was a plan on foot to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena,” explained Mr. Blake. “In that case, the supposition is, he would have made direct for the Long Island coast, and have been landed in the De Regny home by means of the secret passage from the beach. Of course, you recall the square, glass-sided watch-tower on the summit of the house. That, I imagine, was placed there so that the sea could be constantly scanned for a trace of the approaching vessel bearing the rescued emperor. But, of course, he never came, and in time De Regny died, and the property went to some heirs of his in Virginia. What the government or Lieutenant Duvall can want with it, is beyond my comprehension.”