“You, Lady Marion, you!” cried Rees with well-acted astonishment. “Why, are you down in those dungeons? You’ll catch your death of cold.” Rees would not have believed, ten minutes before, that he, the open-hearted, the recklessly sincere, could have assumed a sentiment he did not feel. But the hunger for hidden gold, the desire to keep his fancied discovery secret, had already done their work upon him. “Can’t you find your way out? Shall I come down and help you out?” No answer at first. But she had evidently heard him, for her cries ceased. Rees climbed down much more slowly than he had come up, went to the top of the wooden steps, and called again. “Lady Marion, Lady Marion, are you still there? Shall I come down and help you?” She was stumbling towards him over the uneven floor. He leapt down and offered the assistance of his hand. There was only just light enough for her to see it, and for the first moment she refused haughtily, shrinking back as if the very offer had been an insult. The next, she characteristically tried to atone for this conduct by excessive humility, and seized his arm with pathetic eagerness. Rees, impatient and annoyed, helped her up the shaking steps without another word, while she muttered lame apologies for troubling him to come to her. When they reached the open air, however, and she was able to see his face, the suspicions which had brought her to the castle returned in full force. “Rees,” she said, assuming an air of searching penetration, “it is of no use trying to deceive me. What makes you come here night after night? You do, I know, for I have just found it out from Mrs. Crow, and she says you never miss a single evening. And who is there about besides you? When I got down to that dungeon I distinctly heard somebody digging. The sound left off as soon as I called you, so I am certain there was some one.” “Really, Lady Marion, I don’t think I am responsible for every noise heard in this old ruin, and don’t know why I should be put through a long catechism about my movements here, when the place is free to every rat and bird in the country!” In her usual blundering, tactless way the girl continued: “The rats and birds only come to find a shelter. I don’t see what a man should come here for late at night, unless he’s a thief.” Of course this speech, according a little, as it did, with the feeling in his own conscience, maddened Rees. “And, pray, is that the category in which you place me, your ladyship? Do you think I have formed a design for carrying off the castle, stone by stone, and building it up somewhere else?” “No,” answered she, “of course not. But how about the treasure lost in the Civil War?”