There was a lamp in his pocket. He had spent the morning peering into impossible dark places. In a second he had disappeared down the moss-grown stairs, and Leslie waited with palpitating heart for his reappearance. Presently they heard his voice. “Come down.” “Not me,” said Mary hastily. “I’ve been there once, thank you!” And Leslie went alone guided by the light he showed from step to step. Now she was standing with him in the vaulted room. He tried first one and then the other of the two doors leading from the antechamber, but neither yielded to his touch. It was pitch dark save for the fan-shaped ray of the lamp. He swept the light along wall and floor, and presently she saw the focus halt upon a broken flagstone. “What is it?” she asked. “Nothing,” he said quickly. He had moved the light to the narrow entrance of the room. “Up you go; there is nothing here but mice and memories. I have always known there were underground vaults in the Abbey. In fact, I think there was a report on them by one of my recent forbears.” Although he was immediately behind her, his voice seemed to come from a distance. She was walking, and he gave her no help with his lamp, so that she had to feel her way up. Turning her head, she saw that he was ascending the stairs backward, keeping the light covering the stairs below. “Hurry,” he said tersely, and she stumbled up the remaining steps and emerged into the blessed daylight. It was some time before he joined them, and when he came out she saw that he was white to the lips. “What did you see, Dick?” she asked. He shook his head. “Nothing,” he said, and slammed the stone door tight. Of the little party, only Miss Wenner was unaffected by the atmosphere which Dick Alford brought from that vaulted room. “… so far as Mr. Gilder said--and I don’t trust the man entirely, as you can well understand, Leslie--there were only pieces of music in lead cylinders--that was the word, ‘cylinders.’ To me they looked rather more like rolls. And this Black Abbot must have cleared them out whilst we had gone. Mr. Gilder _was_ disappointed. In fact, he was quite rude to me over the telephone. I do think a gentleman should keep his temper in all circumstances, don’t you, dear?” Leslie agreed mechanically. What had Dick seen? What object was it that showed for a second in the light of his lamp? Near to the house he made an excuse to them. He had to go back to Red Farm to finish his interview with the obstinate Mr. Leonard; but he did not take his car. He said he would take the short cut, and Leslie thought it was not the moment to question him. She watched him until he disappeared in the fold of the ground. He was heading for the Abbey. The other girl had gone in to finish her lunch, and Leslie hesitated. The thought of his going back to that dark room again filled her with blind panic. She wanted to call out to him and bring him back, but he was out of hearing now, and she obeyed an impulse and went after him.