SECRETS
“I am so tired of this rain,” said Audry, as she rose and crossed the
solar[1] and went to the tall bay window with its many mullions and sat
down on the window seat. “It is three days since we have been able to
get out and no one has seen the top of Mickle Fell for a week. The gale
is enough to deafen one,” she added, “while the moat is like a stormy
sea,--and just look at the mad dancers in the rain-rings on the water!”
[1] The predecessor of the withdrawing room or drawing room.
It was a terrible day, the river was in spate[2] indeed, carrying down
great trees and broken fences and even, now and then, some unfortunate
beast that had been swept away in the violence of the storm.
[2] In torrent.
“The High Force must be a wonderful sight though,” she continued, “the
two falls must be practically one in all this deluge.”
“I do not altogether mind the rain,” said her little friend; “there is
something wonderful about it and I always rather like the sound of the
wind; it has a nice eerie suggestion, and makes me think of delightful
stories of fairies and goblins and strange adventures.”
“Well, that may be all right for you, Aline, because you can tell
magnificent stories yourself; but I cannot, and it only makes me feel
creepy and the rain annoys me because I cannot go out. I wish that we
had adventures ourselves, but of course nothing exciting ever happens
to us.”
“They probably would not really be nice if they did happen. These
things are better to read about than to experience.”
“I don’t know,” said Audry; “anyway, the only exciting thing that ever
happened to me was when you came to stay here. I really was excited
when mother told me that a distant cousin of my own age was coming from
Scotland to live with us; and I made all sorts of pictures of you in my
mind. I thought that you would have a freckled face and be very big and
strong and fond of climbing trees and jumping and good shouting noisy
games and that kind of thing.”
“You must be very disappointed then.”
“No, not exactly; I never thought that you would be so pretty:--was
your mother pretty, Aline?”
“I do not remember my mother,” and a momentary cloud seemed to pass
over the child’s beautiful face, “but her portrait that Master Lindsay
painted is very beautiful, and father always said that it did not do
her justice. It is very young, not much older than I am; she was still
very young when she died.”
“How old was she?”
“I do not know exactly,” Aline answered, moving over to the window-seat
and sitting down by Audry, “but I remember there was once some talk
about it. Her name was Margaret and she was named after her grandmother
or her great grandmother, who was lady in waiting to Queen Margaret,
and who not only had the same name as the Queen but was born on the
same day and married on the same day.”
“What Queen Margaret,” asked Audry, “and how has it anything to do with
your mother?”
“Well, that is just what I forget,” said Aline with a smile like April
sunshine;--“I used to think it was your queen, Margaret of Anjou,
who married Henry IV; but she seems to be rather far back, so I have
thought it might be Margaret Tudor, who married our James IV.
“I expected their age would settle it,” she continued, stretching out
her arms and putting her hands on Audry’s knees. “I looked it up;
but they were almost the same, your queen was fourteen years and one
month when she married and ours was thirteen years and nine months.
But I know that mother was exactly six months older to a day when she
married, and I know that she died before the year was out.”
“Then she was not nearly sixteen anyway,” said Audry; “how sad to die
before one was sixteen!”
“Yes, Audry, it is terrible, but there is worse than that,--think of
poor Lady Jane Grey who was barely sixteen when she and her husband
were executed. Father used to tell me that I was something like the
Lady Jane.”
“Had he seen her?”
“No, I do not think so; he was in France with our Queen Mary at the
time of the Lady Jane’s death and your Queen Mary’s accession: for a
short time he was a captain in the Scots Guard in France.”
“Were you with him and have you seen the Queen? She is about your age,
is she not?”
“No, I have not seen her, but she is a little older than I am. She is
fourteen and is extraordinarily beautiful. They say her wedding to the
Dauphin is to take place very soon. If father had been alive I might
have seen it.”
“Was your father good looking?” asked Audry.
“Yes, he was said to be the handsomest man in the Lothians.”
“That explains it, then,” she went on, looking somewhat enviously at
her companion; “but I wish you cared more for games and horses and
running and a good romp and were not so fond of old books. Fancy a girl
of your age being able to read the Latin as well as a priest. Father
says that you know far more Latin than he does and that you can even
read the Greek.”
“But I _can_ run,” Aline objected, “and I can swim, too.”
“Yes, you can run, though you do not look like it, you wee slender
thing, but you do not love it as I do;” and Audry stood up to display
her sturdy little form. “Now if we were to wrestle,” she said, “where
would you be?”
Aline only laughed and said: “Well, there is one good thing in reading
books, it gives one something to do in wet weather. Let us go down to
the library and see if I cannot find something nice to read to you.”
“Come along, then, and read to me from that funny old book by Master
Malory, with the pictures.”
“You mean the ‘Morte d’Arthur,’ I suppose, with the stories of King
Arthur and the Round Table. That certainly is exciting and I am so fond
of it. I often wish that there were knights going about now to fight
for us in tourney and to rescue us from tyrants. It would be nice to
have anybody care for one so much.”
“You silly little one, they would not trouble their heads about you,
you are only twelve years old.”
“Perhaps not,” answered Aline with a half sigh, as she thought of her
present condition.
“I do not believe there is anybody in the world that cares for me,” she
said to herself, “except perhaps Audry, and I have only known her such
a little time that she cannot care much. I don’t suppose there are many
little girls who can be as lonely as I am. I have not even an aunt or
uncle. Yes, I do want some one to love me, it is all so very hard; I
wish I had a sister or a brother.”
In a way, doubtless, Audry’s mother did not mean to be altogether
cruel; but she had no love for her small visitor and thought that it
was unnecessary for Master Mowbray to bring her to Holwick Hall. So she
always found plenty of heavy work for the child to do and often made
excuses when Audry had some dainty or extra pleasure as to why Aline
should not have her share. Aline thought of her father, Captain Angus
Gillespie of Logan, and remembered his infinite care for her when she
had been the apple of his eye. It had been a sad little life;--first
she had been motherless from infancy and then had followed the long
financial difficulties that she did not understand; but one thing after
another had gone; and just before her father died they had had to leave
Logan Tower and go and live in Edinburgh; and the little estate was
sold.
Audry in her rough, kindly way, flung her arms round the slim form and
kissed her. “Do not think melancholy things; come along to the library
and see what we can find.” So they left the solar and went down
through the hall and out into the upper court. They raced across the
court, because of the rain, and up the little flight of nine steps,
three at a time, till they were on the narrow terrace that ran along
the front of the library.
Aline reached the door first, and, as she swung back the heavy oak with
its finely carved panels, exclaimed: “There, I told you I could run.”
They shut the door and walked down the broad central space. The library
had been built in the fifteenth century by Master James Mowbray,
Audry’s great-great-grandfather, and was supposed to be the finest in
the North of England. It was divided on each side into little alcoves,
each lit by its own window and most of the books were chained to their
places, being attached to a long rod that ran along the top of each
shelf. At the end of each alcove was a lock with beautifully wrought
iron tracery work that held the rod so that it could not be pulled out.
The library was very dusty and was practically never used, as the
present lord of Holwick was not a scholar; so for the last four years
since he had succeeded to the estate it had been neglected and Aline
was almost the only person who ever entered it.
The children walked down the room admiring the delicate iron work of
the locks, for which Aline had a great fancy and she had paused at one,
which was her particular favourite, and was fingering every part of it
affectionately, when she noticed that a small sculptured figure was
loose and could be made to slide upwards. This excited her curiosity
and she pushed it to and fro to see if it was for any special purpose,
till suddenly she discovered that, when the figure was pushed as high
as it would go, the whole lock could be pulled forward like a little
door on a hinge, revealing a small cavity behind. Both children started
and peered eagerly into the space disclosed, where they found a very
thin little leather book which was dropping to pieces with old age.
They took it out and examined it and found that the cover had separated
so as to lay open what had been a secret pocket in the cover, which
contained a piece of stout parchment the same size as the pages of the
book.
The book was written in black letter and was in Latin. “Now you see the
use of knowing Latin,” said Aline triumphantly, with a twinkle in her
dark blue eyes.
“That depends whether it is interesting,” Audry replied.
“It seems to be an account of the building of Holwick Hall; but what is
the use of this curious piece of parchment with all these holes cut in
it?”
“Perhaps you can find out if you read the book,” suggested Audry. “It
certainly must be of some importance or they would not have taken all
that trouble to hide the book and also the parchment in the book. Let
us sit down and see what you can make of it.”
So they sat down and Aline was soon deeply interested in the account
of the building, how the great dining hall was erected first, then the
buttery, pantry and kitchen and afterwards the beautiful solar. Audry
found her interest flag; although, when it came to the building of her
room and the cost of the different items, she brightened up. “Still,”
she said, “I do not see why all this should be kept so secret; any one
might know all that we have read.”
There was one thing that seemed to promise interest, but apparently
it led to nothing. At the beginning of the book was a dedication which
could be translated thus: “To my heirs trusting that this may serve
them as it has served me.” But in what way it was to serve them did not
appear, and the evening was closing in and it was getting dark, but the
children were as far as ever from discovering the meaning of the phrase
or of the parchment with the holes.
“Let us take it to our room,” Aline said at last; “it is not chained
like the others. We can hide it in the armoire and read with the little
lamp when the others have gone to sleep and no one is likely to come
in.”
So they put the piece of parchment to mark the place, ran to their room
and hid the book and went to join the rest of the family.
It was nearly time for rere-supper[3] and Master Richard Mowbray had
just come in. He was dripping wet and the water ran down in long
streams across the floor. “Gramercy,” he exclaimed, “it is not a fit
day for a dog let alone a horse or a man. Come and pull off my boots,
wench,” he went on, catching sight of Aline.
[3] A meal taken about 8 o’clock.
He sat down and Aline with her little white hands manfully struggled
with the great boots. “You are not much good at it,” he said roughly,
when at last she succeeded in tugging off the first one. “Ah, well,
never mind,” he added, when he saw her wince at his words, and stooped
and kissed her and called to one of the men to come and take off the
other boot. “You cannot always live on a silk cushion, lassie,” he went
on, not unkindly, “you must work like the rest of us.”
“It is a strange thing where that man can have got,” he continued; “in
all this rain it is impossible that he can have gone far.”
“Let us hope he is drowned,” Mistress Mowbray remarked; “that would
save us further trouble, but it is a pity that a man meant for the fire
should finish in the water.”
“Some of the folk going to Middleton say that they saw a stranger
early this morning, playing with a child, but he turned off toward the
hills,” one of the serving men observed.
“That’s he, but it’s hard enough to find a man in a bog-hole,
particularly on a day like this, yet Silas Morgan and William
Nettleship have both taken over a score of men and there must easily be
two score of others on the hills; you would think that they would find
him. He cannot know the hills as we do,” said Master Mowbray.
There was silence for a time and then he spoke again,--“Of course those
people might be mistaken; but he could not get over Middleton Bridge
after the watch was set, and I do not see how any one could get over
the river to-day, it is simply a boiling torrent. Well, they are on the
look out on the Appleby side and he must come down somewhere.”
“What is he wanted for?” Audry ventured to ask.
“Wanted for?” almost shrieked Mistress Mowbray, “a heretic blaspheming
Mother Church, whom the good priest said was a servant of the devil.”
“But what is a heretic and how does he blaspheme Mother Church?” Audry
persisted.
“I do not know and I do not want to know,” said Mistress Mowbray.
“Then if you do not know, how can you tell that it is wrong? You must
know what he says, Mother, before you can judge him.”
“I was brought up a good daughter of the church, and I know when I am
right, and look here, you young hussie, what do you mean by talking to
your mother like that? It’s that good for nothing baggage, that your
father has brought from Scotland, that has been putting these notions
into your head, with her book learning and nonsense. I assure you that
I won’t have any more of it, you little skelpie,[4] you are not too old
for a good beating yet, and I tell you what;--I will not have the two
of you wasting your time in that library, I shall lock it up, and you
are not to go in there without permission, and that will not be yet
awhile, I can promise you.”
[4] A girl young enough to be whipped (skelped).
After this outburst the meal was eaten in silence and every one felt
very uncomfortable.
When supper was over the sky seemed to show signs of breaking and
Master Mowbray ventured to express a hope that the next day would be
fine, and that they would be able to find the heretic on the hills.
“That man has done more mischief than any of the others,” he muttered;
but when pressed to explain himself he changed the subject and said he
must go and see if the water had done any damage in the lower court.
The children were not sorry to retire to their room when bedtime came.
They had undressed and Audry was helping Aline to brush her great
masses of long hair. What a picture she looked in her little white
night-robe, with her large mysterious dark blue eyes that no one ever
saw without being stirred, and her wonderful charm of figure! Her
colouring was as remarkable as her form. The hair was of a deep dark
red, somewhat of the colour beloved by Titian, but with more gloss
and glow although a little lower in tone; that colour which one meets
perhaps once in a lifetime, a full rich undoubted red, but without a
suspicion of the garishness and harshness that belongs to most red
hair. The eyes were of the dark ultramarine blue only found among the
Keltic peoples and even then but rarely, like the darkest blue of the
Mediterranean Sea, when the sapphire hue is touched with a hint of
purple.
“What is a heretic?” Audry asked; “I am sure you know.”
“I do not know that I do, but I remember father saying something to me
about it before he died. He said that they were people who were not
satisfied with the way that things were going in the church and that
in particular they denied that it was only through the priests of the
church that God spoke to his people. They say that the priests are no
better than any one else and indeed are sometimes even worse.”
“I do not know that they claim to be better than other people,”
objected Audry.
“Well, dear, I am not defending the heretics. I only say what they
think. They do feel, however, that if the priests really were the
special channels of God that that fact itself would make them better.
So, many of them say that God can and does speak directly to all of
us himself, and they all think that it is in the Bible that we can
best learn what he desires, and that the Bible should therefore be
translated into the language of the people.
“‘This has been the cause of great troubles in the world for these
many years,’ father said, ‘but, little maid, do not trouble your head
about it now; when you are older we can talk about it.’”
“Are the heretics such very wicked people then, do you think, Aline?”
Aline put her little white hand to her chin and looked down. “I do not
know what to think about it,” she said. “I suppose that they are, but
they do not seem to be treated fairly.”
“I hate unfairness,” said Audry in her impulsive way.
“I do not see why they should not be allowed to speak for themselves,
and I do not see how people can condemn them when they do not know
what their reasons are for thinking what they do. Of course I am very
young and do not know anything about it; but it sounds as though the
priests were afraid that the truth can not take care of itself; but
surely it cannot be the truth if it is afraid to hear the other side. I
remember a motto on the chimney piece at home,--‘Magna veritas est et
prevalebit,’ and it seems to me that it must be so. I wish that father
were alive to talk to me. He was so clever and he understood things.”
“But you have not said what your motto means,” Audry interposed.
Aline laughed through the tears that were beginning to gather,--“Oh,
that means, The truth is great and will prevail. If it is the truth it
must win; and it can do it no harm to have objections raised against
it, as it will only make their error more clear.”
“What about the book, Aline?” said Audry, changing the subject; “no one
is likely to come up here now, they never do; so I think we could have
another look at it.”
Aline picked up the book and opened it; she paused for a moment and
then gave a little cry,--“I have found out what the parchment is for;
come and look here.”
Audry came and looked. “I do not see anything,” she said.
“Look at the parchment; do you not see one or two letters showing
through nearly all the little holes?”
“Yes.”
“What are they?”
“b. u. t. o. n. e. m. u. s. t. s. e. e. t. h. a. t. a. l. i. g. h. t.
i. s. n. e. v. e. r. c. a. r. r. i. e. d. i. n. f. r. o. n. t. o. f. t.
h. e. s. l. i. t. s. i. n. t. h. e.,” read Audry, a letter at a time.
“And what does that spell?” said Aline.
“Oh, I see,-- It spells, ‘but one must see that a light is never
carried in front of the slits in the.’ How clever of you to find it
out!”
“Well, it was more or less accident; the parchment is exactly the size
of the paper and as I shut the book I naturally made it all even. So,
when I opened it in this room, it was lying even on the page and I
could not help seeing the letters and what they spelt.”
“I should never have noticed it, Aline; why I did not even notice at
once that the letters spelt anything after you had shown me.”
“Let us go back to the beginning and then,” said Aline, “we shall
discover what it is all about.”
So she turned to the beginning of the book and placed the parchment
over the page and found that it began like this;--“Having regard to
the changes and misfortunes of this life and the dangers that we may
incur, I have provided for myself and my heirs a place of refuge and
a way of escape in the evil day. This book containeth a full account
of the building of Holwick Hall; so that it will be easily possible to
follow that which I now set down. Below the Library on the west side of
the house just above the level of the moat, there is a secret chamber,
which communicateth with a passage below the moat that hath an exit in
the roof of the small cave in the gully that lieth some two hundred
paces westward of the Hall of Holwick. The way of entrance thereto is
threefold. There is an entrance from the library itself. There is also
an entrance from the small Chamber that occupieth the southwest corner
of the building on the topmost floor.”
“Why, that is our bedroom, the room that we are in now!” Audry
exclaimed. “Do let us try and find it.”
“Wait a moment; the book will probably tell us all about it,” and Aline
resumed her reading.
“‘There is a third method of approach from the store-chamber or closet
on the ground floor in the southeast corner of the lower quadrangle.’”
“That is the treasury, where the silver and the other plate is kept,”
said Audry; “go on.”
“‘In the corner of the library that goeth round behind the newel stair
there is a great oaken coffer that is fastened to the floor, in the
which are the charters and the license to crenellate[5] and sundry
other parchments.’”
[5] To make battlements or crenellations. A house could not be
fortified without a royal license.
“Oh, I have often wondered what was in that kist,” said Audry; “how
really exciting things have become at last, but I want to find out the
way to get down from our room; do go on.”
[Illustration: THE OLD SWORD-KIST.]
“You must not keep interrupting then,” said Aline and continued her
reading. “‘Now the bottom of this kist can be lifted for half its
breadth, if the nail head with the largest rosette below the central
hinge be drawn forth. After so doing, the outer edge of the plank next
the wall in the bottom of the chest can be pushed down slightly, which
will cause the inner edge to rise a little. This can then be taken by
the hand and lifted. In exactly the same manner the plank of the floor
immediately underneath can be raised.’
“I hope you understand it all,” Aline remarked.
“I am not quite sure that I do,” said Audry. “Yes, I think it is quite
clear; it’s very like the way the lid works on the old sword-kist.”
“But we cannot get into the library and, even if we could,” said Audry,
“the kist might be locked.”
“Never mind that now; I expect that our room will come next,” said
Aline. “Yes, listen to this:--‘In the topmost chamber a different
device is adopted for greater safety by means of variety. If the
ambry[6] nigh unto the door be opened it will be found that the shelf
will pull forward an inch and a finger can be inserted behind it on the
left hand side, and a small lever can be pushed backward. This enables
the third plank near the newel-stair[7] wall to be lifted by pressing
down the western end thereof, and a bolt may be found which, being
withdrawn, one of the panels will fall somewhat and may be pushed right
down by the hand. The newel-stair, though it appeareth not, is double
and one may creep down thereby to the chamber itself.’”
[6] A small cupboard made in the thickness of the wall.
[7] A newel staircase is a spiral staircase circling round the newel,
i.e., the centre shaft or post.
The fact was,--that what appeared to be simply the under side of
the steps, to any one going up the staircase, was really a second
staircase, leaving a space of nearly three feet between the two.
The children did not read further at that time, as they were eager at
once to see if they could put their discovery to the test.
Aline put down the book and went to the ambry and opened the door.
The single shelf came forward without difficulty. “Have you found
anything?” Audry asked eagerly.
“Yes,” she replied, “but I cannot move it; it is too stiff.”
“Let me have a try,” and Audry stepped forward and put her fingers into
the space. “My hands are stronger than yours,” she said. “Ah, that
is it!” she exclaimed, as she felt the lever move to one side, and by
working it backwards and forwards she soon made it quite loose.
[Illustration: The Moving Plank and the Way to the Secret Room.]
Aline meanwhile had already put her little foot on the third board,
at the end just against the wall, and felt it yield. The other end
was now sufficiently raised to allow of the fingers being passed
underneath. She lifted it up and found that it was simply attached to
a bar about six inches from the wall-end. They both peeped into the
opening disclosed and felt round it. Aline was the first to find the
bolt and pulled it forward. But alas no panel moved. Audry looked ready
to weep, but Aline exclaimed, “Oh, it must be all right as we have got
so far; let us feel the panels and try and force them down. This is the
one above the bolt,” and she put her fingers on it to try and make it
slide down. She had no sooner spoken than the panel moved an inch and,
slipping her hand inside, she pressed it down to the bottom. The panel
tended to rise again when she let go, as the bottom rested on the arm
of a weighted lever. It looked very gloomy inside but the children were
determined to go on. They then found that there was just comfortable
room for them to go backwards down the stairs and that there would have
been room even for a big man to manage it without much difficulty.
There were many cobwebs and once or twice their light threatened to go
out; but at last they reached the bottom, crawling on hands and knees
the whole way. There they found a long narrow passage, in the thickness
of the wall, of immense length. They went along this for a great
distance and then began to get frightened.
“Where ever can we have got to?” Audry said at length.
“It is quite clear that we are wrong,” said Aline, “as the library, we
know, is just at the bottom of the newel-stair and the book said that
the secret room was just underneath the library. We must go back.”
“What if we go wrong again and lose our way altogether, Aline, and
never get out of this horrible place?”
It was a terrible thought; and the damp smell and forbidding looking
narrow stone passage had a strange effect on the children’s nerves.
Then another thought occurred to Aline that made them still more
nervous. There were occasional slits along the wall for ventilation and
she remembered the words that she had read by chance when she first
discovered the use of the parchment. Supposing that their light should
be seen; what would happen to them then? and yet they dare not put it
out and be left in the dark.
“I wish that we had never come,” said Audry as they hurried along the
difficult passage. They reached the bottom of the stair and felt a
little reassured. They then saw that the passage turned sharply back on
itself and led in a step or two to a door. It was of very stout oak and
plated with iron. They opened it and found that it had eight great iron
bolts that could be shut on that side. Within was a second door equally
strong and, on opening that, they found themselves in the secret room
itself. It was a long apartment only about eight feet high, and was
panelled throughout with oak. There was a large and beautiful stone
fireplace, above which was the inscription,--“Let there be no fire
herein save that the fires above be lit.”
“That must be in case the smoke should show,” said Aline; “how careful
they have been with every little thing!”
The room was thick with dust and obviously had not been entered for
many many years. Even if the present occupants of Holwick knew of the
secret room at all, which probably they did not, it was clear that they
never made any use of their knowledge. There was a magnificent old oak
bed in one corner but some of the bedding was moth-eaten and destroyed.
There were also many little conveniences in the room, amongst other
things a small book-case containing several books. On the whole it was
a distinctly pleasant apartment despite the absence of any visible
windows. There were even one or two pictures on the walls. In one
corner on the outer wall was a door, which the children opened, and
which clearly led to the underground passage below the moat; but they
decided not to examine any more that night. So they made their way up
the stairs again back to their room.
They were almost too excited to sleep and Aline, as her custom was,
when she lay awake, amused herself by building castles in the air.
Sometimes she would imagine herself as a great lady, sought after by
all the noble knights of the land, but holding herself aloof with
reserved dignity until one, by some deed of unusual distinction, should
win her favour. As a rule, however, this seemed rather a dull part to
play, though there was something naturally queenly in her nature, and
she would therefore prefer something more active. She would take the
old Scots romance of Burd Helen, or Burd Aline, as her own inspiration,
and follow her knight in the disguise of a page over mountain and
torrent and through every hardship. This better suited the romantic
self-sacrifice of her usual moods and, by its imaginary deeds of
heroism, ministered just as much to her sense of exaltation. To-night
had opened vistas of new suggestion; and she pictured her knight and
herself fleeing before a host of enemies and miraculously disappearing
at the critical moment into the secret room. But at last she fell
into a sound slumber and did not wake till it was nearly time for the
morning meal.