I expect it is all pretty
rotten. In fact, Ethel, I think you had better go inside."

Ethel, however, was not of that way of thinking; she was a thorough
sportswoman and wanted to see all the fun.

"All right, Jack," she rejoined cheerily. "You go on, I'll look after
myself without troubling you."

It was very evident at the first glance that there had been an
accident, a piece of the low stone wall which surrounded the roof was
gone. It looked as if it had recently tumbled over. St. Nivel was
evidently right when he said the place was rotten. Rotten it certainly
was.

Stepping very gingerly we all approached the embattled wall, and,
selecting the firmest part, looked over, one at a time. I had the
second peep and was just in time to see two men, one limping very
much--this I am sure was Saumarez--disappear into a neighbouring wood.
A countrified-looking boy was running up from the opposite direction.

At the foot of the tower, however, was another matter; huddled up in a
heap was the body of a man, with a coil of rope and some shattered
masonry lying all around it.

By the body stood Botley, the game-keeper, scratching his head.

It was now very evident what had occurred.

The three miscreants who had tried to torture me had endeavoured to
escape by letting themselves down by a rope from the top of the tower.
Two had succeeded and one had been killed. The reason of this was
obvious, the rope had been fixed round one of the battlements and it
had not been sufficiently strong to maintain the weight of the three
men. The two lowest had probably got off with a shaking, the man who
had got on the rope last had lost his life. All this was perfectly
evident.

"Who is it?" shouted Lord St. Nivel to the keeper below.

"Doan't know, me lord," came back the answer, "he's a stranger to me."

The keeper had now been joined by the countrified boy, and the two
turned the body over on to its face. I could see that it was the
fairer of the two men who had acted under Saumarez' orders.

"I think we had better go down," suggested my cousin, the Guardsman;
"we may be of some service there."

On the way down the winding staircase, a thought struck me.

"What has become of that body," I asked, "that was found on Lansdown
yesterday morning?"

"What body?" replied my two cousins together.

"The body of an old lady."

"We have heard nothing of it," replied St. Nivel, "and we ought to have
done so. But you have