Old Mrs. Sanders and the other three children rushed out into the hallwhen they heard George's shout."What's up?" cried Julian. "What's happened?""Tim sprang at the cat, missed her, and fell hard against the panelledwall," said George. "And the panel moved, and look—there's a hole inthe wall!""It's a secret panel!" cried Dick, in excitement, peering into the hole."Golly! Did you know there was one here, Mrs. Sanders?""Oh yes," said the old lady. "This house is full of funny things likethat. I'm very careful when I polish that panel, because if I rub toohard in the top corner, it always slides back.""What's behind the panel?" asked Julian. The hole was only about thewidth of his head, and when he stuck his head inside, he could see onlydarkness. The wall itself was about eight inches behind the panelling,and was of stone."Get a candle, do get a candle!" said Anne, thrilled. "You haven't got atorch, have you, Mrs. Sanders?""No," said the old woman. "But you can get a candle if you like. There'sone on the kitchen mantelpiece."Anne shot off to get it. Julian lighted it and put it into the holebehind the panel. The others pushed against him to try and peep inside."Don't," said Julian, impatiently. "Wait your turn, sillies! Let me havea look."He had a good look, but there didn't really seem anything to see. It wasall darkness behind, and stone wall. He gave the candle to Dick, andthen each of the children had a turn at peeping. Old Mrs. Sanders hadgone back to the kitchen. She was used to the sliding panel!"She said this house was full of queer things like that," said Anne."What other things are there, do you think? Let's ask her."They slid the panel back into place and went to find Mrs. Sanders. "Mrs.Sanders, what other funny things are there in Kirrin Farm-house?" askedJulian."There's a cupboard upstairs with a false back," said Mrs. Sanders."Don't look so excited! There's nothing in it at all! And there's a bigstone over there by the fireplace that pulls up to show a hidey-hole. Isuppose in the old days people wanted good hiding-places for things."The children ran to the stone she pointed out. It had an iron ring init, and was easily pulled up. Below was a hollowed-out place, big enoughto take a small box. It was empty now, but all the same it lookedexciting."Where's the cupboard?" asked Julian."My old legs are too tired to go traipsing upstairs this morning," saidthe farmer's wife. "But you can go yourselves. Up the stairs, turn tothe right, and go into the second door you see. The cupboard is at thefarther end. Open the door and feel about at the bottom till you comeacross a dent in the wood. Press it hard, and the false back slides tothe side."The four children and Timothy ran upstairs as fast as they could,munching shortbread as they went. This really was a very excitingmorning!They found the cupboard and opened the door. All four went down on handsand knees to press round the bottom of the cupboard to find the dentedplace. Anne found it."I've got it!" she cried. She pressed hard, but her little fingers werenot strong enough to work the mechanism of the sliding back. Julian hadto help her.There was a creaking noise, and the children saw the false back of thecupboard sliding sideways. A big space showed behind, large enough totake a fairly thin man."A jolly good hiding-place," said Julian. "Anyone could hide there andno one would ever know!""I'll get in and you shut me up," said Dick. "It would be exciting."He got into the space. Julian slid the back across, and Dick could nolonger be seen!"Bit of a tight fit!" he called. "And awfully dark! Let me out again."The children all took turns at going into the space behind the back ofthe cupboard and being shut up. Anne didn't like it very much.They went down to the warm kitchen again. "It's a most excitingcupboard, Mrs. Sanders," said Julian. "I do wish we lived in a houselike this, full of secrets!""Can we come and play in that cupboard again?" asked George."No, I'm afraid you can't, Master George," said Mrs. Sanders. "That roomwhere the cupboard is, is one the two gentlemen are going to have.""Oh!" said Julian, disappointed. "Shall you tell them about the slidingback, Mrs. Sanders?""I don't expect so," said the old lady. "It's only you children that getexcited about things like that, bless you. Two gentlemen wouldn't thinktwice about it.""How funny grown-ups are!" said Anne, puzzled. "I'm quite certain Ishall be thrilled to see a sliding panel or a trap-door even when I'm ahundred.""Same here," said Dick. "Could I just go and look into the sliding panelin the hall once more, Mrs. Sanders? I'll take the candle."Dick never knew why he suddenly wanted to have another look. It was justan idea he had. The others didn't bother to go with him, for therereally was nothing to see behind the panelling except the old stonewall.Dick took the candle and went into the hall. He pressed on the panel atthe top and it slid back. He put the candle inside and had another goodlook. There was nothing at all to be seen. Dick took out his head andput in his arm, stretching along the wall as far as his hand wouldreach. He was just about to take it back when his fingers found a holein the wall."Funny!" said Dick. "Why should there be a hole in the stone wall justthere?"He stuck in his finger and thumb and worked them about. He felt a littleridge inside the wall, rather like a bird's perch, and was able to gethold of it. He wriggled his fingers about the perch, but nothinghappened. Then he got a good hold and pulled.The stone came right out! Dick was so surprised that he let go the heavystone and it fell to the ground behind the panelling with a crash!The noise brought the others out into the hall. "Whatever are you doing,Dick?" said Julian. "Have you broken something?""No," said Dick, his face reddening with excitement. "I say—I put myhand in here—and found a hole in one of the stones the wall is madeof—and I got hold of a sort of ridge with my finger and thumb andpulled. The stone came right out, and I got such a surprise I let go. Itfell, and that's what you heard!""Golly!" said Julian, trying to push Dick away from the open panel. "Letme see.""No, Julian," said Dick, pushing him away. "This is _my_ discovery. Waittill I see if I can feel anything in the hole. It's difficult to getat!"The others waited impatiently. Julian could hardly prevent himself frompushing Dick right away. Dick put his arm in as far as he could, andcurved his hand round to get into the space behind where the stone hadbeen. His fingers felt about and he closed them round something thatfelt like a book. Cautiously and carefully he brought it out."An old book!" he said."What's in it?" cried Anne.They turned the pages carefully. They were so dry and brittle that someof them fell into dust."I think it's a book of recipes," said Anne, as her sharp eyes read afew words in the old brown, faded hand-writing. "Let's take it to Mrs.Sanders."The children carried the book to the old lady. She laughed at theirbeaming faces. She took the book and looked at it, not at all excited."Yes," she said, "it's a book of recipes, that's all it is. See the namein the front—Alice Mary Sanders—that must have been mygreat-grandmother. She was famous for her medicines, I know. It was saidshe could cure any ill in man or animal, no matter what it was.""It's a pity it's so hard to read her writing," said Julian,disappointed. "The whole book is falling to pieces too. It must be veryold.""Do you think there's anything else in that hidey-hole?" asked Anne."Julian, you go and put _your_ arm in, it's longer than Dick's.""There didn't seem to be anything else at all," said Dick. "It's a verysmall place—just a few inches of hollow space behind that brick orstone that fell down.""Well, I'll just put my hand in and see," said Julian. They all wentback into the hall. Julian put his arm into the open panel, and slid italong the wall to where the stone had fallen out. His hand went into thespace there, and his long fingers groped about, feeling for anythingelse that might be there.There _was_ something else, something soft and flat that felt likeleather. Eagerly the boy's fingers closed over it and he drew it outcarefully, half afraid that it might fall to pieces with age."I've got something!" he said, his eyes gleaming brightly. "Look—whatis it?"The others crowded round. "It's rather like Daddy's tobacco pouch," saidAnne, feeling it. "The same shape. Is there anything inside?"It _was_ a tobacco pouch, very dark brown, made of soft leather and verymuch worn. Carefully Julian undid the flap, and unrolled the leather.A few bits of black tobacco were still in the pouch—but there wassomething else, too! Tightly rolled up in the last bit of pouch was apiece of linen. Julian took it out and unrolled it. He put it flat onthe hall-table.The children stared at it. There were marks and signs on the linen, donein black ink that had hardly faded. But the four of them could not makehead or tail of the marks."It's not a map," said Julian. "It seems a sort of code, or something. Ido wonder what it means. I wish we could make it out. It must be somesort of secret."The children stared at the piece of linen, very thrilled. It was soold—and contained some kind of secret. Whatever could it be?They ran to show it to Mrs. Sanders. She was studying the old recipebook, and her face glowed with pleasure as she raised it to look at theexcited children."This book's a wonder!" she said. "I can hardly read the writing, buthere's a recipe for backache. I shall try it myself. My back aches somuch at the end of the day. Now, you listen . . ."But the children didn't want to listen to recipes for backache. Theypushed the piece of linen on to Mrs. Sanders' lap."Look! What's this about, Mrs. Sanders? Do you know? We found it in akind of tobacco pouch in that place behind the panel."Mrs. Sanders took off her glasses, polished them, and put them on again.She looked carefully at the piece of linen with its strange marks.She shook her head. "No—this doesn't make any sense to me. And what'sthis now—it looks like an old tobacco pouch. Ah, my John would likethat, I guess. He's got such an old one that it won't hold his tobaccoany more! This is old too—but there's a lot of wear in it yet.""Mrs. Sanders, do you want this piece of linen too?" asked Julian,anxiously. He was longing to take it home and study it. He felt certainthere was some kind of exciting secret hidden there, and he could notbear the thought of leaving it with Mrs. Sanders."You take it, Master Julian, if you want it," said Mrs. Sanders, with alaugh. "I'll keep the recipes for myself, and John shall have the pouch.You can have the old rag if you want it, though it beats me why you setsuch store by it! Ah, here's John!"She raised her voice and shouted to the deaf old man. "Hey, John, here'sa tobacco pouch for you. The children found it somewhere behind thatpanel that opens in the hall."John took it and fingered it. "It's a queer one," he said. "But betterthan mine. Well, youngsters, I don't want to hurry you, but it's oneo'clock now, and you'd best be going if it's near your dinner-time!""Gracious!" said Julian. "We _shall_ be late! Good-bye, Mrs. Sanders,and thanks awfully for the shortbread and this old rag. We'll try ourbest to make out what's on it and tell you. Hurry, everyone! Where'sTim? Come on, Timothy, we're late!"The five of them ran off quickly. They really were late, and had to runmost of the way, which meant that it was difficult to talk. But theywere so excited about their morning that they panted remarks to oneanother as they went."I wonder what this old rag says!" panted Julian. "I mean to find out.I'm sure it's something mysterious.""Shall we tell anyone?" asked Dick."No!" said George. "Let's keep it a secret.""If Anne starts to give away anything, kick her under the table, like wedid last summer," said Julian, with a grin. Poor Anne always found itdifficult to keep a secret, and often had to be nudged or kicked whenshe began to give things away."I won't say a word," said Anne, indignantly. "And don't you dare tokick me. It only makes me cry out and then the grown-ups want to knowwhy.""We'll have a good old puzzle over this piece of linen after dinner,"said Julian. "I bet we'll find out what it says, if we really make upour minds to!""Here we are," said George. "Not too late. Hallo, Mother! We won't be aminute washing our hands! We've had a lovely time."
