cautiously drew one out, a lambent bronze light played beneath its dusty surface.
"Oh, I say, Renny," he exclaimed, in awed tones, "here is something stimulative!"
Renny had made his selection, but he now set the bottles on a shelf and, snatching Wakefield's treasure from him, restored it to its fellows and pushed the basket hastily out of sight.
"If you had dropped that, you young devil's spawn," he observed, "I should have put an end to you on the spot." And he added, grinning at his henchman: "A man must have a secret in his life, eh, Rags?"
A secret in his life! The little boy was filled with ecstasy at the thought. What magic potion had his splendid brother hidden in this subterranean place? What stealthy visits did he perhaps make here, what charms, what wizardry? Oh, if Renny would only make a partner of him in his secret doings!
He was told to hold the candle while Rags locked the door. He saw Renny's eyes fixed shrewdly on the servant's greyish-white hands. He saw the eyes narrow; then Renny transferred one of the two bottles he carried to his armpit and, with the hand thus freed, gave a sharp tug to the padlock. It slipped off into his palm. "Try again, Rags," he said, and his carven face with the long Court nose looked uncannily like his grandmother's.
Rags remarked, this time successfully securing the door: "I never did know 'ow to manage them blinkin' padlocks, sir." He was unabashed.
"Not with me looking on, Rags. There, take the candle from the youngster. He's got it tilted sidewise."
"Yes, sir. But just before I do, let me remove that cobweb from your 'ead, sir."
Renny bent his head and Rags unctuously lifted off the cobweb.
They formed an odd procession, with something of the quality of a strange religious rite. Rags, in advance, might have been some elfish acolyte, the full light from the candle showing sharply the bony structure of his face, the shallow nose, the jutting chin, the impudent line of
