tead of finding myself in
the horrible church, I was in my own room. I looked round--no one was
near! I was sorry my father was gone, but glad to be in my own room.
Then I woke--and here was the terrible thing--not in my bed--but
standing in the middle of the floor, just where my dream had left me! I
cannot get rid of the thought that I really went somewhere. I have been
haunted with it the whole day. It is a terror to me--for if I did,
where is my help against going again!"

"In God our saviour," said Donal. "--But had your uncle given you
anything?"

"I wish I could think so; but I do not see how he could."

"You must change your room, and get mistress Brookes to sleep near you."

"I will."

Gladly would Donal have offered to sleep, like one of his colleys,
outside her door, but Mrs. Brookes was the only one to help her.

He began at once to make observations towards determining the existence
or non-existence of a hidden room, but in the quietest way, so as to
attract no attention, and had soon satisfied himself concerning some
parts that it could not be there. Without free scope and some one to
help him, the thing was difficult. To gauge a building which had grown
through centuries, to fit the varying tastes and changing needs of the
generations, was in itself not easy, and he judged it all but
impossible without drawing observation and rousing speculation. Great
was the chaotic element in the congeries of erections and additions,
brought together by various contrivances, and with daringly enforced
communication. Open spaces within the walls, different heights in the
stories of contiguous buildings, breaks in the continuity of floors,
and various other irregularities, he found confusingly obstructive.

CHAPTER LII.

INVESTIGATION.

The autumn brought terrible storms. Many fishing boats came to grief.
Of some, the crews lost everything: of others, the loss of their lives
delivered their crews from smaller losses. There were many bereaved in
the village, and Donal went about among them, doing what he could, and
getting help for them where his own ability would not reach their
necessity. Lady Arctura wanted no persuasion to go with him in some of
his visits; and the intercourse she thus gained with humanity in its
simpler forms, of which she had not had enough for the health of her
own nature, was of high service to her. Perhaps nothing helps so much
to believe in the Father, as the active practical lov