But this man
tells me that he was in his room that night at his usual hour, and that
the door was locked and bolted in the usual way."
As he said this, the magistrate looked towards the end of the
apartment, where Stephen Plumpton stood amongst his fellow servants.
The young man had been weak enough, or guilty enough, to commit himself
to a false statement; first, because he did not want to betray the
misdoings of Matthew Brook, and secondly, because he feared to admit
his own culpable carelessness.
"My telling the truth won't bring the child back," he argued with
himself. "If it would, I'd speak out fast enough."
"You say that it is impossible that any one can have entered this
house, and left it, during that night," said Captain Copplestone to the
housekeeper; "and yet some one must have left the house, even if no one
entered it, or Gertrude Eversleigh must be hidden within these walls.
Has the castle been thoroughly searched? There are stories of children
who have hidden themselves in sport, to find the sport end in terrible
earnest."
"The castle has been searched from garret to cellar," answered Mrs.
Morden. "Mrs. Smithson and I have gone together into every room, and
opened every cupboard."
The captain dismissed the assembly, after having asked many questions
without result. When this was done, he went alone to the library, where
he shut himself in, and seated himself at the writing-table, with pen
and ink before him, to meditate upon, the steps which should be first
taken in the work that lay before him.
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