were inclined, after all, to remain silent, but the consciousness
that every one was looking at him and expecting him to speak induced
him to continue with what, after all, he had suddenly, and for no
explicit reason, hesitated to say.

"You spoke, Miss Le Mesurier," he began, "of looking over the house,
and, as I told you, there is very little in it worth seeing. And yet
I can show you something, not in the house itself, but connected
with it, which you might find interesting."

The Princess leaned forward in her chair.

"This sounds so interesting," she murmured. "What is it, Cecil? A
haunted chamber?"

Their host shook his head.

"Something far more tangible," he answered, "although in its way
quite as remarkable. Hundreds of years ago, smuggling on this coast
was not only a means of livelihood for the poor, but the diversion
of the rich. I had an ancestor who became very notorious. His name
seems to have been a by-word, although he was never caught, or if he
was caught, never punished. He built a subterranean way underneath
the grounds, leading from the house right to the mouth of one of the
creeks. The passage still exists, with great cellars for storing
smuggled goods, and a room where the smugglers used to meet."

Jeanne looked at him with parted lips.

"You can show me this?" she asked, "the passage and the cellars?"