A good deal of oil and more patience were needed before the key
consented to turn in the lock, but it did turn--and the low passage was
disclosed. It hardly seemed a passage at all, so thick and low hung the
curtain of dusty cobwebs. But with brooms and lanterns and much sneezing
and choking, the whole party got through to the door of the treasure
room. And the other key unlocked that. And there in real fact was the
treasure just as the children had seen it--the chests and the boxes and
the leathern sacks and the bundles done up in straw and in
handkerchiefs.

The lawyer, who had come on a bicycle, went off on it, at racing speed,
to tell the Bank at Cliffville to come and fetch the treasure, and to
bring police to watch over it till it should be safe in the Bank vaults.

"And I'm child enough," he said before he went, "as well as cautious
enough, to beg you not to bring any of it out till I come back, and not
to leave guarding the entrance till the police are here."

So when the treasure at last saw the light of day it saw it under the
eyes of policemen and Bank managers and all the servants and all the
family and the Beales and True, and half the village beside, who had got
wind of the strange happenings at the Castle and had crowded in through
the now undefended gate.

It was a glorious treasure--gold and silver plate, jewels and beautiful
armor, along with a pile of old parchments which Mr. Roscoe said were
worth more than all the rest put together, for they were the title-deeds
of great estates.

"And now," cried Beale, "let's 'ave a cheer for Lord Arden. Long may 'e
enjoy 'is find, says I! 'Ip, 'ip, 'ooray!"

The cheers went up, given with a good heart.

"I thank you all," said the father of Edred and Elfrida. "I thank you
all from my heart. And you may be sure that you shall share in this good
fortune. The old lands are in the market. They will be bought back. And
every house on Arden land shall be made sound and weather-tight and
comfortable. The Castle will be restored--almost certainly. And the
fortunes of Arden's tenantry will be the fortunes of Arden Castle."

Another cheer went up. But the speaker raised his hand, and silence
waited his next words.

"I have something else to tell you," he said, "and as well now as later.
This gentleman, Mr. Roscoe, my solicitor, has this morning brought me
news that I am not Lord Arden!"

Loud murmurs of dissatisfaction from the crowd.

"I have no claim to the