Such were our thoughts as we
hurried in a tumbling mass after father and mother. We reached the
turret stairs, and father commanded every one with lanterns to go
first and light the way. Right to the very top we went, into the
little round room we called the Watchman's Nest, and here the
sounds were loudest; but they were still muffled, and there was not
a sign of Dorothy anywhere."

"Was there any furniture for her to hide in?" asked Eustace,
looking puzzled.

"One table, one chair," said Mrs. Orban, "and a small black oak
cupboard against the inner wall--it would have just about held
Dorothy on the lower shelf. We opened it, flashed in our lanterns,
but it was black and empty. One peculiar feature there was about
it--when the cupboard door was open we heard the child more
clearly. It seemed a stupid, senseless thing to do, but down I went
on my hands and knees to feel those empty shelves, as if I imagined
Dorothy might be there in spite of our seeing nothing--invisible
but tangible. Of course there was nothing but wood to touch; but
with my head inside there, I could hear Dorothy so well I might
have been in the same room with her."

"How queer!" Eustace broke out excitedly.

"'Dorothy, Dorothy,' I shouted. 'Mother--I want mother, mother,
mother,' she shrieked. 'Where are you? Tell us where you are,' I
called. 'I want mother, mother, mother,' was the only answer.
'Mother is here,' I said; and again, 'Tell us where you are.'
Something made me feel the cupboard again, and this time I did not
only touch the shelves, but put my hand right back. 'Quick, quick!
a lantern,' I simply screamed, and half a dozen were lowered
instantly. There was no back to the cupboard on the lower shelf.
The blackness we had mistaken for the old oak was just
nothingness--a deep, deep hollow into the wall."

"Mother," Eustace cried, "a secret chamber!"

"A secret chamber that no one had ever suspected; and Dorothy it
was who had found it."

"But how?" The question came from Bob Cochrane.

"She was the most daring child I have ever known," said Mrs. Orban.
"I don't think Dorothy knew what fear meant in those days. She knew
that scarcely any one ever searched the turret, because it was
difficult to get away from, and it entered her small head to creep
up to the Watchman's Nest and into this cupboard. Whether she went
to sleep waiting for us to find her, or whether she rolled over at
once and fell down the little flight of steps into t