"Search away, then," cried Waller, "and when you have done--here, Martha!" "Yes, sir," came from the door. "Don't let these soldiers go away without giving them a crust of bread and cheese." "No, sir; I'll have it ready directly," cried Martha; and then, in a whisper to her fellow-servant, "Bless the boy! Don't he speak up like a man!" "Where are you going to begin, sergeant?" "Thank you, sir, for the lunch," said the sergeant, smiling; and he gave the lad another admiring look--one that took him in from top to toe, while his eyes seemed to speak the thoughts of his heart. "What a smart young officer he'd make! Shouldn't I like the job of drilling him into shape!" "Oh, we will begin at the bottom, sir, and search to the top." "But suppose there are Frenchmen here," said Waller, laughing, "why, they might be getting away into the woods while you are talking!" "Not they, sir," said the man, with a cunning smile. "I have got a man at each door as sentry, and two more on vedette back and front. Not much fear of that." "But suppose they make a bolt, like the rabbits do in the forest," said Waller. "Bad for them if they did, sir," replied the sergeant, rather sternly. "My men can shoot." Waller whistled softly. "Oh, ho!" he said; and he tapped the barrel of the sergeant's musket with his knuckles. "Loaded?" The man gave him a quiet nod. "Go on, then; search away, and get it done. You have been in the dining-room, I see." The village constable, who had been listening, with his eyes starting and ears seeming to project forward, here broke in, speaking in a husky, oily voice. "Big cellar, sergeant, all underneath the house, and iron gratings to let in the light." "What do you know about it?" cried Waller sharply. "Have you been prying and peering in?" "I am a-doin' of my duty, Master Waller Froy," said the man, swelling up like a turkey-cock, which bird he seemed greatly to resemble as, having found his voice, he began to show his importance, but with no other effect than to make the soldiers grin, while one of them, who had walked out past the sentry and picked up the cocked hat with the muzzle of his musket, now presented it to him. "Don't--don't do that!" cried the constable, starting back as if it were something alive. "You should never point a gun at anyone when you speak!" "Didn't speak," said the soldier, grinning more widely. "There, take your hat, constable," cried the sergeant, giving Waller a comical cock of his eye. "Brown Bess never barks unless we touch the trigger. Yes, sir, I have looked through the dining-room. Beautiful old-fashioned room, too. Excuse me for saying so. No secret passages there, I suppose?" "No," said Waller; "not one. Come and look here, then, next. I'll take you wherever you want to go. This is the drawing-room," and he threw open the door of the handsome low-ceilinged, old panelled chamber, with most of the furniture dating back so that it was nearly as old as the house.