Moore whistled softly and swung his legs about. When I said we were "standing," I should rather have said "sitting," he on the top of a high gate, the entrance to a sloping field, I on the lower step of a stile at one side. I detected a note of incredulity in his manner. "No," I repeated, "I am certain there is no one shut up there--not even a--" "What?" "Oh I don't know--a tiger, or a pet boa constrictor, as there was in a story I read the other day," I said carelessly. "Anything you like. No, there is nothing in _that_ idea, Moore." "Well," he replied, "we shall see, or very likely we shall _not_ see. But at worst I'm determined to have a go at finding out _something_ before I leave Millflowers, and of course you will help me, Reggie. You see I can't do anything on my own account because of my promise to you." I trusted him, yet I felt uneasy, and almost began to regret my confidences. He would certainly not _mean_ to break his word, but still--he might be sorely tempted, and he was only a boy. If, for instance, he was passing the door in the wall and found it ajar, what boy nature could resist, like Bluebeard's wife, peeping in; and once within the enchanted precincts! No, I had myself to thank for it; I had laid the train, and I must see to the consequences. "There is really nothing to do," I began, trying, now that it was too late, to wet-blanket the boy's curiosity. "There's lots to find out," he interrupted. "You have been thinking and wondering ever so much about it yourself. You know you have. And if I keep my promise, as of course I shall, you mustn't fight off poking about a bit, to see what we can see. We needn't get into mischief or bother anybody. Isabel and her father need never know we go near the place. _I_ should never do anything half as risky as you and she did the other day." "What is it you want to do?" I asked, with a curious mixture of feelings. I was afraid, though I scarcely knew what I was afraid of, and yet in a sense pleased to be, as it were, forced into prosecuting some investigation into the mystery which had so fascinated my imagination. Moore did not at once reply. At some risk to his equilibrium, he managed to raise himself to a standing position on one of the higher bars of the gate, and gazed before him intently. Of course I did not need to be told in what direction he was gazing. "It seems to me," he said at last, "so far as I can understand from your description the spot where the door is--it seems to me that if we got in by it, we could creep round to the front of the house--I mean to a part from where we could have a good view of the front, and see the windows and anything there is to be seen--behind the bushes, without coming out into the open at all. That would be grand, wouldn't it, Reggie?"