It was ten o'clock when we were driven through the gates of our home. Father had only just returned from London, so he had been spared the long hours of agony which mother had passed after missing us at the usual tea hour.  
What a miserable party we must have looked as one by one we got out of the cart. Of course, I was last; and as father lifted me in his arms, he caught sight of my hand, which had been bandaged by the doctor at Craigstown, and was now in a sling.
 
"It's only my little finger, father," I said; "I shan't miss it." Then I remembered that, of course, he knew nothing that had happened, and said no more. No prisoners in the dock ever felt more wretched than we did, as we stood in the dining-room wondering what would be our fate. My gentle mother came to the rescue.
 
"I'm sure you must all be starved; eat your supper first, and then tell us what you have been doing."
 
I tried to eat; but every mouthful seemed to choke me, and mother's sorrowful look at my maimed hand, and tenderly whispered words of love were almost too much for me to bear. I felt how wicked I had been to give her such pain as she must have borne since she went upstairs and found our den empty, then heard from one of the farm labourers that he had seen us in the boat.
 
My cousins were stronger in mind and body than I was; and although they looked conscience-stricken enough, they managed to eat a hearty supper. When the things were cleared away, father put down his newspaper, and called us to account.
 
"Now, what have you to say for yourselves?" he asked, in a stern voice.
 
I looked up and began to speak, but Rupert stepped forward and silenced me.
 
"I'm the eldest," he said, "and all the blame is mine. I'll tell you about it, sir."
 
Something in the honest face, now pale with fatigue and excitement, yet made noble by its fearless expression, seemed to touch us all.
 
"You'd better sit down," said father, less sternly; but Rupert took no notice. With eager words, which seemed to come rushing out, he described our adventures as far as you know them.
 
"When the rope broke," he continued, "I thought it was all up with us. Edric fainted for the second time, and I thought he was dead. I knelt down then and prayed God to forgive me for what I had done, and let me die, too, and to take the others safe home; but the fishing smack came along almost directly, and one of the sailors caught hold of our boat. They lifted us all into their boat; and we lay down amongst the fishes and nets and lines, and went to sleep, I believe, till they landed us at Craigstown pier. One man, Philip they called him, took Edric to the doctor to have his hand done. It had begun bleeding again almost directly we got in the boat; but Philip bound it up splendidly. Then we got into that cart, and here we are. I don't know what you mean to do to us, uncle; but I'd like to tell you we are all bitterly sorry, and will go back to school tomorrow if you wish it."
 
"That won't put Edric's finger on again, or cure his back if you have hurt it by those hours of exposure. Do you know he hardly ever goes out except in the long perambulator, which is pushed as gently as possible?"
 
"Please, uncle," said Jack, who had been fretting at the long silence to which Rupert had condemned him, "I don't think we did him any harm, except about his finger. He knelt up in the boat once."
 
"Perhaps you'll try to make me believe that he can do better with nine fingers than ten. Well, you can go to bed now. I cannot send you back to school because Mr. Barton has gone abroad and there is no one there, so you will have to remain here for the rest of the holidays. You have prepared means of barricading your tower-room; I shall use them on the outside instead of your using them on the inside. You will be locked in there for two days. Your meals will be brought to you, and you will be let out to go to bed; but until Thursday night you are my prisoners; and I expect you to be honourable ones." Father glanced at Rupert as he spoke; but Rupert made no sign.
 
"Will Edric come, too?" asked Kathleen.
 
"Not exactly. I think he has been punished enough. You will not see Edric till you are released from prison. You can all go now; good-night."
 
With bent heads and dejected steps my cousins left the room, but mother went after them; and I heard afterwards that she did not say good-night to them till she had joined them in asking God's forgiveness, and in thanking Him for the great mercy shown to us all.
 
What a wretched day the next one was for me. I could not read, and I hardly felt inclined to talk even to mother. I thought of the prisoners in the tower-room, and wondered what they were doing. The day was so long, and my hand was rather painful, so that at last when tea-time came I felt quite cross and miserable.
 
"Don't you think I might go upstairs for a few minutes," I said to mother when she came in with her bonnet on; "it's so dull."
 
"I am sorry, darling, I must go out, but I shall not be gone more than half-an-hour. Here's a book you have not read. The time will soon pass, and you will be able to go upstairs again; but you must not disobey father."
 
I did try to read, but I could not. I was not quite happy, because I felt that there was something unfair in my cousins being punished and my being let off with only a finger less. At last I turned round on my sofa and had what Jack called "a little weep."
 
A light touch on my shoulder startled me—Jack stood by my side.
 
"Oh Jack! how could you?" I whispered; "you have broken your word of honour."
 
"That's what Rupert says, so he is sticking up in that room, fretting himself to fiddle strings. I never promised anything, and so I'm not bound to stay there. I nearly broke my neck corning down, my foot caught in the ivy. But what do you think I found out? There's a regular ladder up to one of the windows on the side that looks towards the water-mill."
 
"A ladder! Nonsense; how could a ladder be there without our seeing it?"
 
"Oh! you matter-of-fact creature. I don't mean a ladder of wood or a ladder of rope thirty yards long. I found that there were little places cut in the bricks just to put your toes in. I counted six of them; but there was a noise, and I didn't dare to count any more. How are you, old man? They all want to know badly; they seem to think we had almost killed you, but I know better—I believe we did you good. I must go now; if uncle found me here he'd eat me."
 
"Wait a minute. What did you say about those steps? I wonder whether—— Do you know both our servants left last year because they said the place was haunted? Of course it was all rubbish, because there are no such things as ghosts, but nothing that mother could say would make them happy; they said if it wasn't ghosts it was burglars or smugglers, and off they went."
 
"What a joke!" said Jack, standing close to the window; "that's the way the ghost went up and down, then. Hush! who in the world is that? There's somebody in white creeping among the rhododendron bushes. I'm off. Cooee, cooee!"
 
The Australian cry sounded weird enough, and I gasped for breath as I saw Jack's figure disappear at full speed among the rhododendrons. An instant afterwards there was a scream, and then dead silence.