“Providence surely sent you to the spot, gentlemen,”
the Fleming said; “here we are absolutely safe.
During the last two days I have brought down a provision
of food, wine, and water sufficient to last us for
a month, and long before that methinks this rascaldom
will have been suppressed.”
“There is no doubt of that, sir; my only fear
is that when they cannot discover where you are concealed,
they will fire the house.”
“Against that I have provided,” the Fleming
said. He opened the door. “See you
that stone slab, above a foot in thickness; it looks
solid, but it is not. It is worked by a counterpoise,
and when it is lowered,” and touching a spring,
it began to descend, thus closing the stairway, “not
only would it baffle them did they find the entrance
above, but it would prevent any fire reaching here.
The staircase is of stone, and above us is a strongly
arched cellar, which would resist were the whole house
to fall upon it.”
A COMBAT IN THE TOWER
“I see that you are safe against fire, sir,”
Edgar said, when the stone slab had descended and
they had closed the door behind it; “but were
the walls of the house to fall in you might be buried
here, as I hear many drunken wretches were yesterday
in the cellars of the Savoy.”
“I have means of escape,” the merchant
said, going to the other side of the apartment, where
there was a massive iron door, which they had not
before noticed. “Here,” he said, “is
a passage leading under the street; at the end it
ascends, and is closed at the top by a massive panel
in the hall of the house opposite. When I took
this house a compatriot lived there, and it was with
his consent that I made the passage, which might be
useful in case of need, to him as well as to me.
He returned to Flanders three years since, and the
house has been occupied by an English trader, who
knows naught of the passage, so that, at will, I can
sally out by that way.”
“And how is your dame, sir?” Albert asked.
“I trust that she is none the worse for her
transport here.”
“I trust not, young sir; she swooned as I brought
her down, but I at once poured some cordial between
her lips, and when she opened her eyes, just before
you came down, I assured her that we were all safe,
and that there was no cause for the least fear; thereupon
she closed her eyes again, and is, methinks, asleep.
When she wakes I shall give her the medicine that my
daughter brought. I trust that she will erelong
recover. Her attack was doubtless brought on
by the news that we received yesterday of the murder
of so many of our countrymen. We had already talked
of taking refuge here, but deemed not that there was
any pressing need of haste, for the front door is
a very strong one, and could have resisted any attacks
long enough to give us ample time to retire here.”
“How do you manage to breathe here, sir, now
that the stone slab is down and the door closed?
I see not how you obtain air.”
