“Yes, lady.”
“Well, this is a branch of that passage. Did you notice how we ascended the slope of the crag, and how we were led into the first cave; and then how we came to a wall, where we stooped in passing through? That was the same wall, only we had approached it from the other side.”
“I have thought the very same, lady. Of course we must have passed the entrance to this place on that day.”
“Certainly; but having had no intimation of its existence Percy did not think of looking for it. I venture to say, with the information which we now possess, Mr. Maitland would find it without much trouble. At any rate he would find it.”
They talked longer on the same subject, and made further examination; and the more they considered the stronger became their faith in the fact that they were in a place separated only by the thickness of a wall from the passage they had traversed under the guidance of Percy Maitland.
Cordelia had worn her watch, and by and by she thought of it.
Twelve o’clock! Noon! Where was Percy? Where the earl? Where were they looking? What did they think? Oh, could Percy in any possible way discover where they were? If he could, they would be delivered!
An hour passed—and another. Mary found a box in which were plenty of wax tapers. So they would not be left in the dark.
It was toward the latter part of the afternoon when a noise beyond the outer wall arrested their attention, and presently a section of it—the very stone Cordelia had selected—swung slowly inward, revealing an aperture about four feet wide, and the same in height.
Into the cave came two of the men who had been with Tryon in the morning. They brought between them a large basket, in which, they said, were food and drink sufficient for a small garrison.