"But," continued Donal, when they had in a degree mastered the idea,
"if the thing was, to discover the room itself, I should set about
it in a different way; I should not care about the measuring. I
would begin and go all over the castle, first getting the outside
shape right in my head, and then fitting everything inside it into
that shape of it in my brain. If I came to a part I could not so fit
at once, I would examine that according to the rules I have given
you, take exact measurements of the angles and sides of the
different rooms and passages, and find whether these enclosed more
space than I could at once discover inside them.--But I need not
follow the process farther: pulling down might be the next thing,
and we must not talk of that!"
"But the thing is worth doing, is it not, even if we do not go so
far as to pull down?"
"I think so."
"And I think my uncle will not object.--Say nothing about it though,
Davie, till we give you leave."
That we was pleasant in Donal's ears.
Lady Arctura rose, and they all went down together. When they
reached the hall, Davie ran to get his kite.
"But you have not told me why you would not have him speak of the
music," said Arctura, stopping at the foot of the great stair.
"Partly because, if we were to go on to make search for the room, it
ought to be kept as quiet as possible, and the talk about the one
would draw notice to the other; and partly because I have a hope
that the one may even guide us to the other.
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