your
disposal. Whatever means you desire to use, do so without
hesitation. Shall my people arm themselves with tools to remove
panelling or flooring? You have but to command them; they shall
instantly obey."

The Lord of Mortimer again looked taken aback for a moment. There
was a confidence in Sir Oliver's manner that did not appear to be
assumed. He would have preferred another aspect in his foe.

"We have brought all things needful for a rigorous search,"
answered the prior. "We hope and trust nothing will be needed. Is
it true that there are secret hiding places in the house, my son?
It would be well, perhaps, to visit any such first."

"There be two," answered Sir Oliver quietly, though his heart beat
rather fast. What if Brother Emmanuel had learned the secret of
either of those places, and had sought refuge in one? True, it
would have been worse than useless to deny their existence. Many in
the household knew of them and how they might be entered.

Probably the prior or some of his monks had the trick of those
chambers by heart. Chad had been through many vicissitudes, and the
monks had often been its guests. Secrets once known to them were
never allowed to be lost. It would have been idle to seek to put
the searchers off the scent. He led the way to the places where the
masked doors lay--one was much after the pattern of that in the
boys' chamber--and in each case himself opened the door, letting
his guests go in to examine for themselves.

Those were terrible moments for him; but the hearts of the boys did
not palpitate. Each time the search party came forth with looks of
baffled disappointment. Each time the Lord of Mortimer's face was
dark and gloomy. He had reckoned somewhat confidently on finding
the fugitive in one of these known hiding places. He had hoped Sir
Oliver would profess an ignorance of at least one of the two. His
face was fierce and vindictive as the second was "drawn blank."

But the excitement of the boys was slowly augmenting as the party
moved higher and higher in the house, leaving scouts posted in
various places, and, as it were, spreading a cleverly-constructed
net all through Chad, which it would be impossible for any person
being hunted from spot to spot finally to escape.

The prior's idea now was that the monk might be gliding before them
from place to place, confident that his knowledge of the
intricacies of the house would give him the chance of evading them
at the last.