The whole of one of the great carved pillars that supported the high mantle shelf swung noiselessly forward, and stood out at right angles to the wall.  From where he lay Bertram could not see, but he could well understand that when this was done a narrow doorway had been revealed, and the next moment a shadowy figure glided with noiseless steps into the room.

The figure was poorly clad in a doublet of serge much the worse for wear, and the moonlight showed a strangely haggard face and soiled and torn raiment.  Yet there was an air of dignity about the mysterious visitor which showed to the astonished boy that he must at some time have been in better circumstances, and lying quite still Bertram watched his movements with breathless attention.

With a quick, scared glance round him, as though afraid that even the silence might be the silence of treachery, the gaunt figure advanced with covert eagerness across the floor, leaving the door wide open behind him, as if to be ready for him should he desire to fly; and precipitating himself upon a ewer of cold water standing upon the floor, he drank and drank and drank as though he would never cease.

Plainly he was consumed by the most raging thirst.  Bertram had never seen anything but an exhausted horse after a burning summer’s chase in the forest drink in such a fashion.  And as he watched, all fear left him in a moment, for certainly no phantom could drink dry this great ewer of spring water; and if he had only a creature of flesh and blood to deal with, why, then there was certainly no cause for fear.

In place of dread and terror, a great pity welled up in the generous heart of the boy.  He had all the hatred for oppression and the chivalrous desire to help the oppressed that seem born in the hearts of the sons of British birth.  Who and what manner of man this was he did not know; but he was evidently some poor hunted creature, going in very fear of his life, and as such the boy pitied him from the very ground of his heart, and would gladly have helped him had he known how.

He lay for a few moments wondering and pondering.  Certainly his father was no foe to any man.  He could not be hiding from his displeasure.  The fugitive had rather taken refuge in his house; and if so, who better could be found to help him than the son of the owner?

“Our father and our mother alike have always taught us to befriend the stranger and the oppressed,” said the boy to himself.  “I will ask this stranger of himself, and see if I may befriend him.  I would gladly learn the trick of yon door.  It would be a goodly secret to have for our very own.”

It was plain that the fugitive, though aware that the room was tenanted, had satisfied himself that the occupants were all asleep.  He had ceased his frightened, furtive looks around him, and was quaffing the last of the water with an air of relish and relief that was good to see, pausing from time to time to stretch his limbs and to draw in great gulps of fresh air through the open window by which he stood, as a prisoner might do who had just been released from harsh captivity.