There was something very strange and weird about that sound--one which
sent a chill of horror through both the hearers, but they laughed the
next moment at their fears, for the noise was only such as could be
given out by a pair of rusty hinges from which an unused door had hung
for a hundred years, the sound being rendered more startling from the
hollow space beyond.
Fred felt more startled than ever, in spite of his forced laugh; but he
held the candle before him, and gazed through the narrow opening into a
little low-ceiled room, panelled throughout with oak, and festooned with
cobwebs, while on one side there was quite a cluster of long, thin,
white-looking strands and leaves hanging over and resting upon a heap of
crumbling, fungus-covered sticks.
"Why, it's quite a little chamber," Scarlett exclaimed; "and look at the
ivy. It has come in through that loop-hole."
"And look at that old jackdaw's nest. I say, Scar, can your father know
of this place?"
"No, nor any one else. But it is queer. A regular secret chamber."
"Yes, but what's it for?"
"I don't know. Must have been made when the house was built to keep the
plate in for fear of robbers."
"Look at the spiders! There's a big one!"
"Yes, but I'm trying to puzzle out where it is. I know. It must be
somewhere at the west corner, because that's where there is most ivy."
"But is it upstairs or downstairs?"
"Up, of course; and look here."
Scarlett pointed to what had at first escaped their sight--to wit, a
second door, ingeniously contrived in one angle of the little chamber,
and in the dim light shed by the candle hardly distinguishable from the
panelling.
"Where can that go?"
"Oh, it's only a cupboard. Stop a moment."
Scarlett went to the other side, crushing down the heap of rotten twigs
brought in by the birds, and thrust his hand amongst the mass of sickly
ivy strands, to find that the opening through which they came was
completely choked up, but after a little feeling about he was able to
announce that there was a narrow slit-like window, with an upright rusty
iron bar.
"Why, it will be glorious, Scar," cried Fred. "Let's clear the place
out, and cut away the ivy, and then we can keep it all a secret."
"Yes, and bring some furniture--chairs and table, and a carpet. Why, we
might have a bed too."
"How are you going to get them here?"