Mansfield obeyed, and was able to indicate the spot with tolerable precision, by estimating its distance from the edge of the curtain.
“Now, Hicks,” said Cyril, “the lamp here, please. I think we may be pretty sure that the door is in the left-hand wall, as that is the side on which the hill is, and I should imagine we shall find the spring two or three feet either to the right or the left of the point at which the lady vanished.”
He began to test the wall by pressing it carefully with his fingers, keeping his left hand a few inches higher than his right, and before very long Mr Hicks gave a shout.
“You’ve hit it, Count! I saw something give that time, and here’s a break in the wall ahead of you. Guess you’d better let me help you shove.”
But the stone door moved so easily upon its pivot that this was unnecessary. It swung open without the slightest sound, revealing the foot of a flight of steps cut in the rock.
“Now this is what I call real thoughtful of the Lady Zenobia,” said Mr Hicks. “If she found it necessary to assist a friend into the next world, there was no need to have corpses lying around upstairs. She could plant them out in her lot down here quite comfortably, and no one the wiser.”
“Now,” said Cyril, panting a little, “you and I will make a voyage of discovery, Mansfield. Do you know, Hicks, I think your nocturnal visitor must be an old acquaintance of mine, Baroness von Hilfenstein? I needn’t tell you in whose household she is, and you won’t be surprised to hear that I intend to make a call on her.”
“You don’t calculate to leave me out of the party, Count, I hope?”
“I’m afraid I must on this occasion. Who is to receive the sheikh and bamboozle him as to our doings, if we all go? He would scour the passages, thinking we were trying to escape, and we should be brought back before we could do anything.”
“That’s so, sir. Go ahead,” and Mr Hicks got out his fountain pen and his writing-pad, and set to work on a letter to his paper, while Mansfield, by Cyril’s directions, made himself as smart as his extremely limited resources allowed. His employer was one of those fortunate people who contrive always to be presentable in spite of the most adverse circumstances, but he displayed unwonted anxiety about his appearance on this occasion, and Mr Hicks smiled grimly as he closed the stone door upon the flickering light carried by Mansfield.