He held up the candle, and I saw that all around me were dark roads leading from the cavern where we stood. Whither they went I knew not. I seemed like a man standing on a place where many cross roads met, only we were in the bowels of the earth, and the roads seemed to lead only into greater darkness.
"A grand place to bury a secret, eh? Anything would be safe here, eh? But there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed. There is nothing done in silence but shall be proclaimed on the housetops."
He placed the candle in my hand, and then began to peer cautiously around the sides of the cavern.
"Ah!" he said at length. "You wanted to see, and you shall see. Lucy married Prince Charles—no, King Charles—and Lucy gave the contract to the priest, and the priest gave it to old Father Solomon, and old Solomon waited—waited till his dream should be fulfilled. Do you know this place, Master Roland? Once upon a time miners digged here for gold. Oh, it was ages ago. Whoever dreamed of gold being found five miles from Folkestone? They dug, and dug, and dug! They are dead, but their work lives. Fancy those old men digging here ages ago. But they left a grand hiding-place. Only one man knows the secret of these caverns. I, old Solomon. The man who is left alone here never sees the light again. Ha, ha! But it is a fine place to die!"
Presently he seemed to have discovered the place he sought, and then he took the candle from my hand. I saw a dark hole in the side of the cavern, into which he put his hand, and from which he drew a black box.
"You wanted to see it, and you shall see it," he said. Then he pressed a spring in the box, and the lid flew open.
"Read! Read!" he cried.
I saw a piece of parchment which was emblazoned with a rude tracing of the Lion and the Unicorn. This he took, and with trembling fingers unfolded it.
"Read! Read!" he cried again.
It was written in French, but in such a crude fashion as to make it difficult to read. But I saw these words—"Marriage Contract between Charles Stuart, King of England and Scotland, and Lucy Walters, of Ros Martat, in the County of Pembroke, Wales, daughter of Richard Walters." After this there were many lines which seemed to be meaningless, but at the bottom of the page I saw writing by other hands. I saw the words—