"
"You must change your room, and get mistress Brookes to sleep near
you."
"I will."
Gladly would Donal have offered to sleep, like one of his colleys,
outside her door, but Mrs. Brookes was the only one to help her.
He began at once to make observations towards determining the
existence or non-existence of a hidden room, but in the quietest
way, so as to attract no attention, and had soon satisfied himself
concerning some parts that it could not be there. Without free scope
and some one to help him, the thing was difficult. To guage a
building which had grown through centuries, to fit the varying
tastes and changing needs of the generations, was in itself not
easy, and he judged it all but impossible without drawing
observation and rousing speculation. Great was the chaotic element
in the congeries of erections and additions, brought together by
various contrivances, and with daringly enforced communication. Open
spaces within the walls, different heights in the stories of
contiguous buildings, breaks in the continuity of floors, and
various other irregularities, he found confusingly obstructive.
CHAPTER LII.
INVESTIGATION.
The autumn brought terrible storms. Many fishing boats came to
grief. Of some, the crews lost everything: of others, the loss of
their lives delivered their crews from smaller losses. There were
many bereaved in the village, and Donal went about among them, doing
what he could, and getting help for them where his own ability would
not reach their necessity.
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