The baron and Sabina found Matthew and his father in the library. Thaddeus was seated, thumbing through a German translation of American history he had located, while Matthew was prowling the bookshelves reading what he could of the titles on the spines.

“Is everything under control?” asked Thaddeus, rising.

“Yes,” replied the baron. “Old Eppie, whom I was telling you about, is having a sore time of it. But she is sleeping comfortably now.”

“Does that mean we can finish our tour of the house?” asked Matthew.

“Are you sure you’re not bored with it?” laughed the baron.

“Are you kidding?” rejoined Matthew. “This is great! Besides, while Dad was in here, I snooped around down at the end of the hall where you left me.”

“And what did you find?”

“I went down a narrow stairway, off there somewhere around a few corners from the ballroom. Then I came to a wall where I’m sure there’s a secret doorway to somewhere, and I want to know where it goes.”

“Ah-ha,” laughed the baron. “So you’ve been doing a little detective work on your own! Why didn’t you open it?”

“I didn’t know how. It wasn’t a doorway, just a suspicious-looking part of the wall.”

The baron laughed again. “Well, shall we continue then? Where were we?”

“You had just started to tell us about the two wings.”