I should not wonder if he even
joined in the search."
Donal thought with himself it was strange then he had never
undertaken one. Something told him the earl would not like the
proposal.
"But tell me, Mr. Grant--how would you set about it?" said Arctura,
as they went towards the tower.
"If the question were merely whether or not there was such a room,
and not the finding of it,--"
"Excuse me--but how could you tell whether there was or was not such
a room except by searching for it?"
"By determining whether there was or was not some space in the
castle unaccounted for."
"I do not see."
"Would you mind coming to my room? It will be a lesson for Davie
too!"
She assented, and Donal gave them a lesson in cubic measure and
content. He showed them how to reckon the space that must lie within
given boundaries: if then within those boundaries they could not
find so much, part of it must he hidden. If they measured the walls
of the castle, allowing of course for their thickness and every
irregularity, and from that calculated the space they must hold;
then measured all the rooms and open places within the walls,
allowing for all partitions; and having again calculated, found the
space fall short of what they had from the outside measurements to
expect; they must conclude either that they had measured or
calculated wrong, or that there was space in the castle to which
they had no access.
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