Page 48 - A Jacobite Exile

"You are right, Banks. At any rate, I will ride back and consult Mr.
Jervoise. Besides, he ought to be warned, for he, too, may be arrested on

the same charge. How did you get away without being noticed?"

"I said that I felt ill--and I was not speaking falsely--at Sir Marmaduke's
arrest, and would lie down. They are keeping a sharp lookout at the stables,
and have a soldier at each door, to see that no one leaves the house, but I

went out by that old passage that comes out among the ruins of the
monastery."

"I know, Banks. My father showed it to me, three years ago."

"I shall go back that way again, sir, and no one will know that I have left
the house. You know the trick of the sliding panel, Master Charles?"

"Yes, I know it, and if I should want to come into the house again, I will
come that way, Banks."

"Here is a purse," the butler said. "You may want money, sir. Should you

want more, there is a store hidden away, in the hiding place under the floor
of the Priest's Chamber, at the other end of the passage. Do you know
that?"

"I know the Priest's Chamber of course, because you go through that to get

to the long passage, but I don't know of any special hiding place there."

"Doubtless, Sir Marmaduke did not think it necessary to show it you then,

sir, but he would have done it later on, so I do not consider that I am
breaking my oath of secrecy in telling you. You know the little narrow

loophole in the corner?"

"Yes, of course. There is no other that gives light to the room. It is hidden

from view outside by the ivy."

"Well, sir, you count four bricks below that, and you press hard on the next,
that is the fifth, then you will hear a click, then you press hard with your