"Our
very lives depend upon your attention!"
"Miss Villiers, do come here and help me to remember my duty," says
Captain Ringwood, planting his back against the open door lest by any
means it should shut.
The chamber is round, and has, instead of windows, three narrow
apertures in the walls, through which can be obtained a glimpse of the
sky, but of nothing else. These apertures are just large enough to admit
a man's hand. The room is without furniture of any description, and on
the boards the dark stains of blood are distinctly visible.
"Dynecourt, tell them a story or two," calls out Ringwood to Sir Adrian.
"They won't believe it is veritably haunted unless you call up a ghost
to frighten them."
But they all protest in a body that they do not wish to hear any ghost
stories, so Sir Adrian laughingly refuses to comply with Ringwood's
request.
"Are we far from the other parts of the house?" asks Florence at length,
who has been examining some writing on the walls.
"So far that, if you were immured here, no cry, however loud, could
penetrate the distance," replies Sir Adrian. "You are as thoroughly
removed from the habitable parts of the castle as if you were in the
next county."
"How interesting!" observes Dora, with a little simper.
"The servants are so afraid of this room that they would not venture
here even by daylight," Sir Adrian goes on.
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