"Not that I know of."

"Then your objection falls to the ground. If you could have told me
that one had tried to find the place, but without success, I would have
admitted some force in it, though it would not have satisfied me
without knowing the plans he had taken, and how they were carried out.
On the other hand it may have been known to many who held their peace
about it.--Would you not like to know the truth concerning that too?"

"I should indeed. But would not you be sorry to lose another mystery?"

"On the contrary, there is only the rumour of a mystery now, and we do
not quite believe it. We are not at liberty, in the name of good sense,
to believe it yet. But if we find the room, or the space even where it
may be, we shall probably find also a mystery--something never in this
world to be accounted for, but suggesting a hundred unsatisfactory
explanations. But, pardon me, I do not in the least presume to press
it."

Lady Arctura smiled.

"You may do what you please," she said. "If I seemed for a moment to
hesitate, it was only that I wondered what my uncle would say to it. I
should not like to vex him."

"Certainly not; but would he not be pleased?"

"I will speak to him, and find out. He hates what he calls
superstition, and I fancy has curiosity enough not to object to a
search. I do not think he would consent to pulling down, but short of
that, I don't think he will mind. I should not wonder if he even joined
in the search."

Donal thought with himself it was strange then he had never undertaken
one. Something told him the earl would not like the proposal.

"But tell me, Mr. Grant--how would you set about it?" said Arctura, as
they went towards the tower.

"If the question were merely whether or not there was such a room, and
not the finding of it,--"

"Excuse me--but how could you tell whether there was or was not such a
room except by searching for it?"

"By determining whether there was or was not some space in the castle
unaccounted for."

"I do not see."

"Would you mind coming to my room? It will be a lesson for Davie too!"

She assented, and Donal gave them a lesson in cubic measure and
content. He showed them how to reckon the space that must lie within
given boundaries: if then within those boundaries they could not find
so much, part of it must be hidden. If they measured the walls of the
castle, allowing of course for their thickness and every irregularity,
and from that ca