"Oh, in London! We did not come here until the outbreak of the
plague - that frightened them, especially the female portion, and
they held a scared meeting, and resolved that we should take up
our quarters somewhere else. This place being old and ruined,
and deserted and with all sorts of evil rumors hanging about it,
was hit upon; and secretly, by night, these mouldering old vaults
were fitted up, and the goods and chattels of the royal court
removed. And here I, too, was brought by night under the dwarf's
own eye; for he well knew I would have risked a thousand plagues
to escape from him. And here I have been ever since, and here
the weekly revels are still held, and may for years to come,
unless something is done to-night to prevent it.
"The night before these weekly anniversaries they all gather; but
during the rest of the time I am alone with Margery and the
dwarf, and have learned more secrets about this place than they
dream of. For the rest, there is little need of explanation -
the dwarf and his crew have industriously circulated the rumor
that it is haunted; and some of those white figures you saw with
me, and who, by the way, are the daughters of these robbers, have
been shown on the broken battlements, as if to put the fact
beyond doubt.
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