Supper was served in solemn state in the dining parlour, and the two girls sat with their aged relatives to partake of it.  Petronella was a little sad that Philip had gone without even knowing of her presence beneath that roof:  but she was certain their meeting would not be much longer delayed, and was content to wait.  The Wyvern sisters did not keep a great establishment, as their means were not large, though they clung to the old house which had come down to them, and would have sacrificed much rather than sell it.  But Kate soon discovered that the largest rooms were shut up and partially dismantled in order that comfort should reign in those parts of the house that were habitually used; that the staff of servants was but small; and that of these nearly all were old men and women who had grown gray and enfeebled in the service of the family, and were kept on by the present mistresses, who themselves disliked any changes in their establishment, and who could hardly see their way to finding the wages that able-bodied servants would look to receive.  So they lived in this very quiet fashion, surrounded by retainers almost as aged as themselves, and led on the whole a happy and a placid life.  Petronella was proving of so much use that the burden of her maintenance was not felt, and Sir Richard Trevlyn made generous arrangements for the cost of his daughter.  But there was something altogether quaint and curious in the life of the house, and Kate thought it exceedingly interesting even before the first evening had passed.

Yet all the while she was longing to hear Petronella’s tale, and was glad when the tapestry work was put away, and formal good nights had been exchanged.  The girls ran up to the guest chamber prepared for Kate, which they had agreed to share together from that time forth.  It did not take them long to slip into bed; and old Dyson, the waiting woman, who also acted as housekeeper, came quickly in to see that the lights were safely extinguished, after which only the glow of the fire illuminated the darkness of the big room; and Kate in an eager whisper begged Petronella to lose no time in telling her tale.

With breathless eagerness she heard of the girl’s flight from home, and of her rescue of Cuthbert from the very jaws of death.  She could not understand Petronella’s shuddering horror at the thought of having killed a man.

“I would have killed fifty, and been glad to rid the earth of them were they such wretches as Long Robin!” she cried.

Then in deep silence she heard of Cuthbert’s dive into the well, and of the golden flagon he had brought up as an earnest of what was to come.  Petronella went on to say that, having made absolutely sure of the presence of the treasure in the well, Cuthbert had then directed all his energies to detecting the sources of the hidden springs that fed it, and after long search and patience had satisfied himself that it was filled by two, both rising in the high ground not far distant.