Still, as the butler was carrying the meal upstairs I
think we shall save time if we begin on the landing.'
I found the constable's brawn much superior to his brain. He worked
like a sansculotte on a barricade. When we had torn down part of the
old oak panelling, which it seemed such a pity to mutilate with axe
and crowbar, we came upon a brick wall, that quickly gave way before
the strength of the constable. Then we pulled out some substance like
matting, and found a second brick wall, beyond which was a further
shell of panelling. The hole we made revealed nothing but darkness
inside, and although we shouted, there was no answer. At last, when we
had hewn it large enough for a man to enter, I took with me an
electric torch, and stepped inside, the constable following, with
crowbar still in hand. I learned, as I had surmised, that we were in
the upper hall of a staircase nearly as wide as the one on the
outside. A flash of the light showed a door corresponding with the
fireplace of the upper landing, and this door not being locked, we
entered a large room, rather dimly lighted by strongly barred windows
that gave into a blind courtyard, of which there had been no
indication heretofore, either outside or inside the castle.
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