The girl’s lips parted.  Curiously enough there was a note almost of real merriment in the laugh which followed.

“I am not very brave, my dear Cecil,” she said, “but I am not afraid of you.  I think that one does not fear the things that one understands too well, and you I do understand too well, much too well.”

They reached the empty gun-room.  Cecil threw open the hidden door.

“Will you go first or last?” he said to the girl.  “Choose your own place.”

The girl laughed.

“The door seemed to open easily,” she remarked, “considering that it has not been used for so long.”

“Never mind about that,” Cecil said sharply.  “Are you coming with us?”

“I am coming,” Kate answered composedly, “and I will walk last.”

“As you please,” Cecil answered.  “Come, Forrest, you may as well see this thing through with me.”

As they stumbled along the narrow way, Cecil whispered in Forrest’s ear.

“What are we going to do with her?”

“God knows!” Forrest answered.  “Do you suppose that any one knows where she is?  Who is she?”

“One of the village girls,” Cecil answered, “an old sweetheart of mine.  They are strange people, and have few friends.  I doubt whether any one knows that she is out to-night.”

Forrest passed on.

“If we are going to put our necks into the halter,” he muttered, “a little extra trouble won’t hurt us.”

They paused before the door.  The girl was looking at the padlock.

“A new padlock, I see,” she remarked.  “Listen!”

They all listened, and now there was no doubt about it.  From inside the room they could hear the sound of a man, half singing, half moaning.

“Are those rabbits?” the girl asked, leaning forward, so that her eyes seemed to gleam like live coal through the darkness.  “Cecil, you are being made a fool of by this man.  I don’t wish you any harm.  Do the right thing now, and I’ll stick by you.  Let this man free, whoever he is.  Don’t listen to what he tells you,” she added, pointing toward Forrest.

Cecil hesitated.  Forrest, who was watching him closely, could not tell whether that hesitation was genuine or only a feint.

“It was only a joke, this, Kate,” he muttered.  “It was a joke which we have carried a little too far.  Yes, you shall help me if you will.  I have had enough of it.  Go inside and see for yourself who is there.”

Cecil threw open the door and Kate stepped boldly inside.  Forrest entered last and remained near the threshold.  Engleton started to his feet when he saw a third person.

“We have brought you a visitor,” Forrest cried out.  “You have complained of being lonely.  You will not be lonely any longer.”

Kate turned toward him.

“What do you mean?” she said.  “We are going to leave here together, that man and myself, within the next few minutes.”