We entered the secret passage, and closing it securely after us we sought the upper floor of the tower—not, however, the uppermost one, but the second.
"Do you know the way, Andrew?" I asked. "My father said these floors were not safe."
"They are safe enough for us, but our enemies will not find them very safe," was Andrew's response. "Step lightly, and follow me exactly."
We went around the side of the room to a cupboard with shelves, masking a door so entirely that no one would have known it was there. This door opened into a second and much smaller room, which again opened upon the staircase up which I had led the preacher.
"We can take breath now," said he. "We need not seek the vaults till we hear them approaching, and not then unless they come into this tower."
"They will come," said I. "Remember the staircase from the gallery."
"Let them," was Andrew's grim reply. "There are a few secrets about this place which even you do not know, Vevette."
As he spoke he stooped down, drew out two large iron bolts and laid them on the floor.
"The trap is set and baited," said he; "now let the rats walk in whenever they please."
"But how—how was it," I asked in a whisper, for my mother never said a word. The fact that my father was dead seemed enough for her.