I have quite made up my mind to devote my life to this
matter, and I have come, not to ask your advice--for I dare say you
would try to dissuade me, and my resolution is unalterable--but to ask
you to give me what aid you can in the matter."
"I shall be glad to give you aid in any way, Mrs. Conway, if you will
point out to me the direction in which my assistance can be of use. I
suppose you have formed some sort of plan, for I own that I can see no
direction whatever in which you can set about the matter."
"My intention is, Mr. Tallboys, to search for this hiding-place
myself."
Mr. Tallboys raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"To search yourself, Mrs. Conway! But how do you propose to gain
admittance to the Hall, and how, even supposing that you gain
admittance, do you propose to do more than we have done, or even so
much; because any fresh disturbance of the fabric of the house would
be out of the question?"
"That I quite admit. Still we know there is the hiding-place, and it
is morally certain that that hiding-place is opened or approached by
the touching of some secret spring. It is not by pulling down
wainscoting or by pulling up floors, or by force used in any way, that
it is to be found. Mr. Penfold, it would seem, used it habitually as a
depository for papers of value. He certainly, therefore, had not to
break down or to pull up anything.
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