The
partition was probably built in a hurry to fulfil a pressing need, and
it was constructed straight up the middle of the stair, leaving the
stout planks intact, each step passing thus, as it were, through the
wall. Now, when a man walks up the secret stairway, his footsteps
reverberate until one would swear that some unseen person was treading
the visible boards on the outside.'
'By Jove!' said the constable, in an awed tone of voice.
'Now, officer, I have here a pickaxe and a crowbar. I propose that we
settle the question at once.'
But to this proposal the constable demurred.
'You surely would not break the wall without permission from his
lordship in London?'
'Constable, I suspect there is no Lord Rantremly in London, and that
we will find a very emaciated but genuine Lord Rantremly within ten
feet of us. I need not tell you that if you are instrumental in his
immediate rescue without the exercise of too much red tape, your
interests will not suffer because you the more speedily brought food
and drink to the lord paramount of your district.'
'Right you are,' cried the constable, with an enthusiasm for which I
was not prepared. 'Where shall we begin?'
'Oh, anywhere; this wall is all false from the entrance hall to some
point up here.
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