They spiraled down the corkscrew. Matthew was carrying his crutch, but it was of little use on this stairway. He braced himself on Sabina’s shoulder for support as they descended. In less than a minute Matthew found himself standing on the dirt floor of an underground passageway extending in a straight line into blackness in both directions, wide enough for two persons to pass if their shoulders touched. It was silent as a tomb and in fact reminded him of just that, and the only light came from the flickering of the candle in Sabina’s hand.

“Where are we?” asked Matthew, unconscious of the hush in his tone.

“Under the house.”

“So there really is a dungeon?” said Matthew. “You weren’t all just pulling my leg last night?”

“No, silly,” laughed Sabina. Her laugh echoed cheerily up and down the silent length of the corridor. “This is no dungeon, just a long passageway leading from one end of the house to the other. Follow me—I’ll show you.”

So saying, she led the way, holding the candle in front of her, while Matthew followed behind her. As they went, it was with an eerie and disquieting sense of déjà vu that he recognized his dream from the night before, though with relief he noticed that the candle danced about from the movement, and that Sabina was not transparent to his eyes.

“It leads from the cellar under the south parlor, straight under the hallway upstairs, to the north end of the house under the small library.”

“What’s it for?” asked Matthew.

“Nobody knows exactly. Papa thinks it may have been an icehouse one day, or that there was an underground spring or well down here that supplied the house with water. As you can see, the dirt is damp underfoot.”

Matthew glanced down. Indeed, it was damp, unusual for such a high-placed house, especially in the middle of summer.

“Papa thinks there was a small springhouse somewhere along where we are now, from which they gathered water, but that was walled up after the wells and pumps were installed outside. He thinks that’s where the talk about a secret room or dungeon came from. Look, here—”

Sabina stopped and held the candle down to the ground.