As for the anger of his proud neighbour, Sir Oliver had made light
of that. The Lord of Mortimer could not make any thing out of so
small a matter, and at that time had other more weighty affairs on
hand. Warbel's stories to his fellows of the harshness and
tyrannical rule at Mortimer made his own servants more loyal and
stanch than ever. Chad was a peaceable and happy abode for all its
inmates, and the need for secret hiding places had so far never
arisen.

The boys in years gone by had almost regretted this fact. They had
pictured so vividly how they would hide their father or some friend
of his in this secret chamber, should peril menace them from any
quarter, that it had seemed sometimes almost a pity that so secure
a hiding place should be of so little use, when it might have done
such excellent service had the need arisen.

However, as years sped by and the lads began to know more of life,
they ceased to regret that the secret chamber remained without an
occupant. From time to time they visited it, swept out the dust and
cobwebs that had accumulated there, and bit by bit collected a few
more odds and ends of furniture, so that the place now wore a look
of greater comfort and habitation than it had done when they saw it
first.

Once when Edred had been laid up by an accident to his foot, he had
amused himself by making a number of feather pillows from the
feathers of the birds his brothers shot and brought home to him.
These feathers were dressed in the proper way by the boys
themselves, and then made up into large pillows or cushions, which
were then taken up to the secret chamber (at that time the