When the old man had also read the card he seemed to dismiss his doubts and be ready to give the stranger, who had dropped in on them so unexpectedly, a hearty welcome to the castle. He invited him to sit on the oak settle and warm himself until supper was ready, then he soon put the visitor at ease and talked to him on all kinds of subjects, showing Forester, by the questions he asked and by the remarks he made, that although the old man lived in this out-of-the-world place he was extremely well-informed, and kept himself thoroughly in touch with what was going on in his own and other countries.
Forester was glad of the meal that followed, for he had tasted nothing since he left London. He had had neither the heart nor the inclination for a meal on his way down, but the entire change of surroundings, and the strange place in which he found himself, were turning his thoughts in a fresh direction at least for a time, and the sea air which he had been breathing all the way from Llantrug had given him an appetite. He did full justice to the savoury rabbit stew, the homemade bread and butter, and the little round cakes, crisp and hot from the oven.
Then, while the supper was being cleared away, Forester went back to the comfortable corner on the settle and looked round the old-fashioned kitchen. It was worth looking at, for it was filled with relics of bygone days. Behind the chimney-corner in which he was sitting was a cupboard, which the old man explained used to be the bed place in the old time. In the woodwork at the back of the dark settle he was shown two round holes, through which the master and mistress used to peer from their bed to discover whether the servants in the kitchen were doing their work properly and diligently.
Along one side of the room was a high oak dresser on which stood two long rows of brightly polished ancient pewter dishes, while below were willow pattern china plates, antique jugs, old-fashioned teapots, and other treasures of the past which had been handed down from father to son through many generations.
When at last he went up to bed, with Rupert carrying a candle before him, Norman Forester felt as if he was walking in a dream. Rupert led the way up a rickety oak staircase with dark panelling on either side. Passing an old chest where the household linen was stored, they turned into a long narrow corridor which ran the whole length of the farmhouse.
Forester felt as if he was in some foreign monastery. He went back in thought to a night he had spent some years before in the convent at Ramleh while on his way from Jaffa to Jerusalem. On his right he saw the deep narrow castle windows set in walls four feet in thickness, windows which must have been beautifully mullioned in their day. Overhead were rough beams and rafters, and on the left were the various bedroom doors of dark oak, opening by means of primitive latches. The deep window seats, the long narrow ceiling, and the high walls of the corridor were all whitewashed, and looked bare and monastic in their simplicity.
"Any ghosts here?" asked the Doctor.
"I never met one," Rupert replied. "Every castle has its ghost, and ours is no exception. A murder was committed in the courtyard below in the olden time. There was a shipwreck in Hildick Bay on the shore near the old church. It was in the time of Henry VII, shortly before we Norrises came to the castle. A French ship was driven ashore. It was on its way to Scotland, I believe, but it went to pieces on the rocks. The beach below here was strewn with chests of gold and jewels. The lord of Hildick Castle seized the plunder. He searched the shore carefully and collected all that the tide brought in, and carried it up here to the castle.
"But Sir Harry D'Arcy, who owned the property on the other side of the bay, came in a great rage and demanded his share of the spoil. Then when the castle folks declined to part with any of it, Sir Harry brought his armed retainers to the gate to take the treasure by force.
"The lord of the castle here, Sir John Mandeville, was away from home when they arrived, but his sister came out of the castle. Standing just below these windows she ordered the soldiers to depart; and one of them, taking a stone from the ground, hurled it at her and killed her on the spot. Yes, there's a ghost, or said to be one," Rupert Norris added with a laugh; "but all I can say is, I have never caught sight of it!"
"What became of the treasure?"
"No one knows, sir," said Rupert. "Some say it was buried in the castle yard, or hidden behind the panelling somewhere, but none of us Norrises has ever come across it. I only wish we had."
As he said this, he lifted the latch of one of the doors and led the way into a large bedroom where a bed had been prepared for the visitor. Then putting the candlestick down on a handsome mahogany chest of drawers, he wished the doctor goodnight and left him.
Chapter Two
Among the Ruins