‘It would burn like tinder,’ he said.

They went through the rooms on the first floor, and they were as empty and as cheerless.  Presently they came to that which had been Margaret’s.  In a bowl were dead flowers.  Her brushes were still on the toilet table.  But it was a gloomy chamber, with its dark oak, and, so comfortless that Susie shuddered.  Arthur stood for a time and looked at it, but he said nothing.  They found themselves again on the stairs and they went to the second storey.  But here they seemed to be at the top of the house.

‘How does one get up to the attics?’ said Arthur, looking about him with surprise.

He paused for a while to think.  Then he nodded his head.

‘There must be some steps leading out of one of the rooms.’

They went on.  And now the ceilings were much lower, with heavy beams, and there was no furniture at all.  The emptiness seemed to make everything more terrifying.  They felt that they were on the threshold of a great mystery, and Susie’s heart began to beat fast.  Arthur conducted his examination with the greatest method; he walked round each room carefully, looking for a door that might lead to a staircase; but there was no sign of one.

‘What will you do if you can’t find the way up?’ asked Susie.

‘I shall find the way up,’ he answered.

They came to the staircase once more and had discovered nothing.  They looked at one another helplessly.

‘It’s quite clear there is a way,’ said Arthur, with impatience.  ’There must be something in the nature of a hidden door somewhere or other.’

He leaned against the balustrade and meditated.  The light of his lantern threw a narrow ray upon the opposite wall.

’I feel certain it must be in one of the rooms at the end of the house.  That seems the most natural place to put a means of ascent to the attics.’

They went back, and again he examined the panelling of a small room that had outside walls on three sides of it.  It was the only room that did not lead into another.

‘It must be here,’ he said.

Presently he gave a little laugh, for he saw that a small door was concealed by the woodwork.  He pressed it where he thought there might be a spring, and it flew open.  Their torch showed them a narrow wooden staircase.  They walked up and found themselves in front of a door.  Arthur tried it, but it was locked.  He smiled grimly.

‘Will you get back a little,’ he said.

He lifted his axe and swung it down upon the latch.  The handle was shattered, but the lock did not yield.  He shook his head.  As he paused for a moment, an there was a complete silence, Susie distinctly heard a slight noise.  She put her hand on Arthur’s arm to call his attention to it, and with strained ears they listened.  There was something alive on the other side of the door.  They heard its curious sound:  it was not that of a human voice, it was not the crying of an animal, it was extraordinary.