ace; and so it happened one day, when she had her dog
with her, and the sun was shining, and all about her bright and gay,
that she climbed up the little green knoll, and pushing her way through
many brambles, furze bushes, and dwarf shrubs, she found herself in the
centre of the huge heaps of stones and rubbish, of which she had
hitherto seen only the summits, from the windows of the Tower.

But being arrived there, she came to a stand, to look about her, when
her dog, to whom Dymock had given the poetical name of Sappho, began to
prick up her ears, and snuff as if she scented something more than
ordinary, and the next minute, she dashed forward, made her way through
certain bushes, and disappeared. Tamar called aloud; a hollow echo
re-sounded her voice, but no dog appeared;--again she called,--again she
heard the echo, and again she was silent; but she was by no means a
timid child; she had been too much accustomed to be alone,--too much
used to explore old corners, of which there were multitudes about the
Tower, occupied only by owls and bats. She therefore went forward to the
place where Sappho had disappeared, and forcing aside the shrubs, she
saw before her a low, arched door-way, which, had she understood
architecture, she would have known, from the carvings about the posts
and lintel, to have been Norman.

She was surprised, indeed, but thinking only of her dog, she called
again, and was perfectly amazed at the long, hollow, and deep sound, of
the reverberation. She stood still again, holding the bushes aside, and
was aware of a rush of damp vapour, blowing in her face.

Sappho, she called again, and the next minute heard an impatient bark,
or yelp, from the animal, and another sound, low, deep and muttering,
which she could not comprehend.

She was now getting much alarmed and dropping the boughs, took to
flight, and she had scarcely cleared the rubbish, when Sappho came
scouring after her, jumping upon her as if glad to see her again. She
patted her head, saying "My poor Sappho, what have you seen in that dark
place? I wish you had a tongue to tell me."

Tamar immediately returned to the Tower, and hastened to tell her
adventure to Mrs. Margaret.

"Oh!" said the old lady, "is it so? that reminds me of what I heard my
father say, many and many is the year gone by, that there was an old
tradition of a secret passage underground from the Monastery to the
Tower; but he never knew where the passage came into