Penny had no choice, for he put his hand on her back and forced her up the stairs. David had been quick to realize the position and had already hauled Mary up the winding steps, and Dickie was quick to follow. The rumble of Miss Ballinger's voice came nearer as Jon squeezed round the turn in the stairway and switched off his torch. Penny's hair was tickling his cheek as she said under her breath, "What shall we do if she comes this way?"

"Quiet," he whispered. "See the light. The panel's opening." They crushed themselves back against the stone wall as the thin line of yellow light widened and was then obscured as Miss Ballinger squeezed through the narrow panel into the passage below them.

Then they heard Miss Ballinger say curtly, "Well, good night. Two days, I said. Communicate in the usual way," and then there was a click and they were in velvety darkness again until Miss Ballinger switched on her torch. They all held their breath in an agony of suspense until they heard her heavy footsteps going away from them down the steps.

"We shan't hear any more tonight, anyway," Jon said after a pause, "and we've certainly got something to go on now. Let's we go back to our room, where it's warm, and plan what to do tomorrow. What say you, Penny?"

"Why not hurry now and find out where she's gone and how she got in here? We may never get such a good chance again. What do you think, David?"

"I think Jon is right really, but I'd like to follow her. Come on! We're all in this now, so let's make the best of it. Lead on, Jonathan!"

So they crept past Slinky's door again in single file. There were some more steps down and then the passage widened. Jon stopped and flashed his torch sideways and upwards, and they saw that on their right was a brick wall and on their left bare earth and stone. The floor was of earth now and so was the roof.

"I guess that we're down to the level of the cellars which are on the other side of this wall," Jon whispered. "Can you smell anything?"

"I can smell a lot of stale, wet things," Mary sniffed, "and I don't like any of them."

"I can smell something burning," Penny said, "and the air is blowing up towards us, isn't it?... Let's go on... Why, Jon! What's that? Flash your torch ahead on the left. Look! It's something hanging from the roof!"

Jon swung the beam up to the roof and they all stared in silence till Penny said:

"I know what it is! Those are the roots of the withy tree that grows through the wall in the garden. I can see it from my window. Now we know where we are... Let's hurry on. I can still smell that burning,"