I felt a good deal of curiosity about that attic, but Mr Hallett had told me to wait, and I waited patiently, having, young as I was, learned to school myself to some extent, and devoted myself to my studies, one thought being always before my mind, namely, that I had to pay Mr Blakeford all my father's debt, for that I meant to do. I had grown so much at home now at the Halletts', that, finding the door open one evening, I walked straight in, knocked twice, and, receiving no answer, tried the door, which yielded to my touch, swung open, and I surprised Linny writing a letter, which, with a flaming face, she shuffled under the blotting-paper, and held up a warning finger, for Mrs Hallett was fast asleep. "Where's Mr Hallett?" I said. "In Bluebeard's chamber," cried Linny playfully; "I'll go and tell him you are here." I nodded, thinking how pretty she looked with her flushed cheeks, and she went softly to the door, but only to come back quickly. "Antony, dear," she whispered, laying her hand on my shoulder, "you like me, don't you?" "Of course I do," I replied. "Did you see what I was doing?" she continued, busily readjusting my neckerchief, and then looking me full in the face. "Yes; you were writing a letter." She nodded. "Don't tell Stephen," she whispered. "I was not going to." "He would want to know who I was writing to, and ask me such a lot of questions. You won't tell him, will you?" "No," I said, "not unless he asks me, and then I must." "Oh, he won't ask you," she said merrily; "no fear. Now I'll go and tell him." I sat down, wondering why she should want to keep things from her brother, and then watched Mrs Hallett, and lastly began thinking about the room upstairs--Old Bluebeard's chamber, as Linny playfully called it--and tried to puzzle out what Stephen Hallett was making. That it was something to improve his position I was sure, and I had often thought of what hard work it must be, with so little time at his disposal, and Mrs Hallett so dead set against what she openly declared to be a folly, and miserable waste of money. My musings were brought to an end by the reappearance of Linny, who came down holding her pretty little white hand to me. "There, sir," she said, "you may kiss my hand; and mind, you and I have a secret between us, and you are not to tell." I kissed her hand, and she nodded playfully. "Now, sir, Bluebeard's chamber is open to you, and you may go up." "Go? Upstairs?" "Yes, sir," she said, stroking her pretty curls; "the ogre said you were to go up." "Are you--sure?" I said. "Sure? Of course. There, go along, or you'll wake mamma." I went softly upstairs, with my heart beating with excitement, turning my head, though, as I closed the door, and seeing Linny drawing her letter hastily from under the blotting-paper.