But the keys refused to reveal themselves. They were lying contentedly in the bottom of a china vase on the staircase, into which they had been dropped midway in a hasty descent the day before, and, however willing they might have been to obey their mistress's request, they were clearly powerless in the matter, since not even the echo of her voice reached their ears. Peggy searched in a frenzy of impatience, summoned a housemaid to assist her, and turned the contents of drawers and cupboards upside down upon her bed, but no success greeted her efforts. At the end of ten minutes' time she was in a more pitiable plight than before, since every likely place had been explored, and not the wildest idea had she where next to repair. "Wh-at," quoth the housemaid tremblingly, "what shall I say to cook?" and at that Miss Peggy's eyes sent out a flash which made her look the image of her soldier father. "Tell her to get on with what she can," she cried. "She shall have the stores in five minutes from now!" and away she flew downstairs, leaving the astonished maid to wonder whether her brain had given way beneath the strain of the occasion. Get into the store-room, Peggy was determined she _would_! By fair means or foul, that citadel must be stormed, and its treasures brought forth. If the door were closed, the window remained open, and the gardener's ladder lay conveniently at hand. To scale it so far as the second storey could be no difficult task for a girl who had been taught to climb trees and scramble over fences by the most fearless of masculine guides, and once inside the room the rest was easy, for in the first flush of careful forethought, a duplicate key had been provided, which hung on a nail near the door, ready for use if need should arise. It was characteristic of Peggy that its resting-place should have been inside the room, instead of out, but there it was, and nothing remained but to get possession of it as speedily as possible. She seized the ladder, then, and dragged it towards the desired spot; it was so top-heavy that it was with difficulty that she could preserve its balance, but she struggled gallantly until it was placed against the sill, and as firmly settled as her inexperience could contrive. To mount it was the next thing, and--what was more difficult--to lower herself safely through the window when it was reached. That was the only part of the proceeding of which she had any dread, but, as it turned out, she was not to attempt it, for before she had ascended two rungs of the ladder a voice called her sharply by name, and she turned to find Hector Darcy standing by her side. "For pity's sake, Peggy, what are you doing?" he cried, and laid his hand on her arm with a frightened gesture. "Come down this instant! How dare you be so rash? You don't mean to tell me seriously that you were going to climb that ladder?"