pose you ought," said Fred, after a pause; "but if you do, we
shall have no more fun."

"I didn't see any fun in it," said Scarlett, slowly.

"Not then; but see what we could do with a secret place of our own to
retreat to whenever we liked, and no one knowing where we had gone. I
say, don't tell anybody."

"But I feel as if I ought to tell my father, as it's his place."

"Yes, I suppose you ought; but let's wait a bit first."

"Well, we might wait a little while. I say, Fred, what cowards we
were!"

"But it was so dark, and I couldn't help thinking that we might never
find our way out."

"Yes; that's just how I felt, and as if something was coming after us
out of the darkness."

"And, of course, there couldn't be anything. You could see by the dust
on the steps that nobody had been there for years and years."

There was a long silence here, during which the two lads looked out at
the garden flooded with sunshine, where Nat was working very
deliberately close by the sun-dial. And beyond him, at the lake, from
which the sunbeams flashed whenever a fish or water-fowl disturbed the
surface.

"I say," said Fred at last, "don't let's sit here any longer. You're as
dull as if you had no tongue. What are you thinking about now?"

"I was wondering whether I shall be such a coward when I grow up to be a
man."

"I say, Scar, don't keep on talking like that; it's just as if you kept
on calling me a coward too."

"So you were."

"No, I was not; but it was enough to frighten anybody. It was all so
dark and strange."

"Should you be afraid to go again?"

"No," said Fred, stoutly.

"Will you go, then?"

"What, alone?"

"No; both together."

"I'll go, if you will. When shall we go?"

"Now," said Scarlett, firmly.

"Now?"

"Yes. I want to know where that place leads to; and I don't like to
feel that we were frightened because it was dark. Come along."

"What now--directly?"

"Yes; you're not afraid, are you?"

"No," cried Fred, starting up. "Get two candles this time, and we'll
take one apiece."

The lights were obtained, the door at the end of the passage bolted, and
once more the two boys stood at the top of the staircase.

"Think we had better go now?" said Fred.

"Yes; we may not have such a chance again for ever so long. Do you feel
afraid?"

"Not exactly afraid; only as if I didn't want to go. I'm not so brave
as you are, Scar."

This last was said with a bit of a sneer, wh