Helda, who of course knew nothing of the magic key, was
already fumbling at the lock with a hairpin, and after poking at it for
several minutes it flew back with a snap.

"It's a good thing I knew that lock's defects," she whispered, "or we
should never have got in this way," and she turned the handle and
walked into the kitchen.

With their hands on their swords Redmond and Daimur followed her.

It was quite dark in the kitchen, the only light coming from a solitary
candle on a high shelf, which threw long shadows everywhere. The fire
in the fireplace was out and there was no sign of life.

Motioning to the others to follow Princess Helda led the way across the
kitchen to a door, which she opened and began to descend a flight of
stone stairs.

The stairs led down to a wide stone flagged hall with rooms opening
from it, and narrow passages running in all directions into the
distance.

Here and there high up near the roof a smoky lantern burned dimly.

Across the wide hall went Helda and down one of the long narrow
passages until she reached a door at the very end.

She knocked softly upon it three times. There was no answer. She
knocked again, and then opened the door. There was no lock on it on
the inside, only a big bolt on the outside. She glanced in. The room
was completely bare.

"She is not here," she whispered to Daimur and Redmond, who followed
her into the room. Lighting some matches they looked into all the
rooms adjoining, but found them deserted too.

They went back up the narrow passage.

"What shall we do?" asked Prince Redmond. "Where shall we look now?"

"We must look in all of the rooms," said Helda. "They have moved her,
but she is here somewhere. If we separate we shall perhaps get along
better. There is no danger of getting lost as all the passages open
into the wide hall."

So they separated, Prince Redmond following Princess Helda and Daimur
going alone in the opposite direction, as he thought perhaps his magic
cap and spectacles might help him in his quest.

Up and down the narrow passages they went, opening all the doors and
looking into all the rooms, until they grew a long way apart, for these
underground passages extended away into the hill and covered a much
longer area than the house above.

At last Daimur opened a little door in a dark corner. It was so low
that he had to stoop to get in, but once inside the ceiling was high
enough.

"Oh," he said to himself