The Secret Chamber at Chad | Page 5

surely die.
"Seest thou this bunch of grapes so cunningly carved here? This middle
grape of the cluster will turn round in the fingers that know how to find

and grasp it, and so turning and turning slowly, unlooses a bolt
within--here--and so the whole woodwork swings out upon hinges and
reveals the doorway. Where that doorway leads I will show thee anon,
if thou wouldst know the trick of the secret chamber at Chad that all
men have now forgotten. It may be that it will some day shelter thee or
thine, for thou hast enemies abroad, even as I have."
Bertram was intensely interested as he examined and mastered the
simple yet clever contrivance of this masked door; but quickly
remembering the starved condition of his companion, he led him
cautiously into an adjoining room, where were a table and some scant
furniture, and gliding down the staircase and along dim corridors just
made visible by the reflected radiance of the moon, he reached the
buttery, and armed himself with a venison pasty, a loaf of bread, and a
bottle of wine. Hurrying back with these, he soon had the satisfaction to
see the stranger fall upon them with the keen relish of a man who has
fasted to the last limits of endurance; and only after he had seen that the
keen edge of his hunger had been satisfied did he try to learn more of
him and his concerns.
"Now tell me, my good friend, who and what thou art," said the boy,
"and how comes it that thou seekest shelter here, and that thou knowest
more of Chad than we its owners do. That is the thing which has been
perplexing me this long while. I would fain hear from thy story how it
comes about."
"That is soon told, young sir. Thou dost not, probably, remember the
name of Warbel as that of some of the retainers of thy grandsire, but--"
"I have heard the name," said the boy. "I have heard my father speak of
them. But I knew not that there were any of that name now living."
"I am a Warbel--I trow the last of my race. I was born beyond the seas;
but I was early brought to England, and I heard munch of the strife that
encompassed Chad, because my father and grandfather both knew the
place well, and would fain have gone back and lived in the old country
had not fortune otherwise decreed it. To make a long story short, they
never returned to the place. But when I was grown to man's estate, I
was offered a post in the household of the Lord of Mortimer, and as it
was the best thing that had fallen in my way, I accepted it very gladly;
for I knew that name, too, and I knew naught against the haughty lord,
albeit my father and grandsire had not loved the lords of that name who

lived before him.
"For many years I have been in his service, and for a while all went
well with me. I was made one of his gentlemen, and he seemed to
favour me. But of late there has been a change towards me--I know not
how or why. I have offended him without intending it, and he has
sometimes provoked me almost beyond endurance by his proud
insolence. But that I might have borne, for he was my master, had it not
been for the insolence and insults I had to bear from others amongst his
servants, and from one youth in particular, who seemed to me to be
trying to oust me from my place, and to get himself the foremost place
in his master's favour. That made my hot blood boil again and again,
until at last the thing I believe they had long planned happened, and I
had to fly for my life."
The man paused, and Bertram, who was drinking in this story, asked
eagerly: "And what was that?"
"It was four days ago now, in the hall where we had supped. We had
drunk much wine in honour of our master's birthday, and then we
began playing and dicing to pass the time till we retired to bed. My
adversary was this youth whom I so greatly distrust. As we played I
detected him in unfair practices. He vowed I lied, and called upon me
to prove my words at the sword's point; but in my fury and rage I
sprang upon him with my bare hands, and would have wrung his
neck--the insolent popinjay--had I been able. As it was, we struggled
and swayed together till my greater weight caused him to fall over
backwards against one of the tables, and I verily believe his back is
broken. I