Policing the three in the rear, the Principal gave nobody an opportunity to escape. She had her own reasons for her conduct, which at present she did not choose to explain. With a hand on Gerda's shoulder, she forced that unwilling explorer along, and she urged an occasional caution on Deirdre. They had reached the cavern, and now, opening the small inner door, flashed their candles into the room. The result was startling. On the bed reclined a figure, which, at sight of the light, sprang up with the cry of a hare in a trap--a man, unkempt, ragged, and dirty, bearing the impress of tramp written plainly upon his haggard, unshaven countenance. He darted wildly forward, gazed up at the strangers regarding him, then threw himself on a chair, and buried his face in his hands. Gerda gave a long sigh of supreme relief. It was evidently not at all what she had expected to see. "I'm done!" whimpered the tramp. "Send for the bobbies if you like. I'll go quiet." "You must first tell me what you are doing here," said Miss Birks, stepping down into the room. "Then I can decide whether or no it is necessary to call in the police. Who are you? And where do you come from?" "I knowed this passage when I was a boy," was the whining reply. "We used to dare each other to go up it, but the door at the end was firm shut. Then when I come back, down on my luck, and without a penny in my pocket to pay for a lodging, I thought I'd at least spend a night there under cover. I'd a bit of candle and a few matches, so I found my way along easy, and there! if the door at the end wasn't broke open, and the place waitin' all ready for me--bed, kettle, cooking-stove, frying-pan, cup and saucer, and all the rest of it, just as if someone 'ad put 'em there a purpose. I wasn't long in takin' possession, and I've lived here five days, and done nobody no harm. I didn't take nothing from the house either, except a bit of bread and butter last night when I felt starving. T'other days I'd found a job on the quay, and was able to buy myself victuals." "Did you cook sausages?" quavered Dulcie, with intense interest. "Aye, I'd earned a bit this morning to buy 'em with. Don't know who set up a stove here, but it come in handy for me, all filled ready with oil, too." "But you know you've no right here," said Miss Birks severely. "No, mum," reverting to his original whine. "I know that, but I'm a poor man, and I've been unfortunate. I came back to my native place looking for a bit of work. I've bin half over the world since I left it." "If you're a Pontperran man, somebody ought to be able to vouch for you. What's your name?" "Abel Galsworthy." Then Gerda sprang forward with intense, irrepressible excitement on her face. "Not Abel Galsworthy who was at one time under-gardener at the Castle?" she queried eagerly. "The same--at your service, miss." "And you were dismissed for--for----"