that used to live in Anderbury House had
grand entertainments, which they sometimes had in the summer season,
they always had a lot of men down here, cooling wines, and passing them
up from hand to hand to the house."

From the gradual slope of this passage down to the cliffs, and the
zigzag character of it, it may be well supposed that it was of
considerable extent. Indeed, Mr. Leek asserted that it was half a mile
in actual measured length.

The baron was not at all anxious to run any risk of a discovery of the
dead body which he had cast into that ice-well which was nearest to the
opening on to the beach, so, as he went on, he negatived the different
proposals that were made to look down into the excavations, and
succeeded in putting a stop to that species of inquiry in the majority
of instances, but he could not wholly do so.

Perhaps it would have been better for his purpose if he had encouraged a
look into every one of the ice-wells; for, in that case, their
similarity of appearance might have tired out Sir John Westlake before
they got to the last one; but as it was, when they reached the one down
which the body had been precipitated, he had the mortification to hear
Mr. Leek say,--

"And now, Sir John, and you, my lord baron, as we have looked at the
first of these ice wells and at none of the others, suppose we look at
the last."

The baron was afraid to say anything; because, if the body were
discovered, and identified as that of the visitor at the inn, and who
had been seen last with him, any reluctance on his part to have that
ice-well examined, might easily afterwards be construed into a very
powerful piece of circumstantial evidence against him.

He therefore merely bowed his assent, thinking that the examination
would be but a superficial one, and that, in consequence, he should
escape easily from any disagreeable consequences.

But this the fates ordained otherwise; and there seemed no hope of that
ice-well in particular escaping such an investigation as was sure to
induce some uncomfortable results.

"Davis," said Mr. Leek, "these places are not deep, you see, and I was
thinking that if you went down one of them, it would be as well; for
then you would be able to tell the gentlemen what the bottom was fairly
composed of, you understand."

"Oh, I don't mind, sir," said Davis. "I have been down one of them
before to-day, I can tell you, sir."

"I do not see the necessity," said Sir John Westl