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always' said Mr Lenoir, and the tip of his nose turned quite white. Anne looked at it with interest. She did not know that it always did this when Mr Lenoir got angry.
    'Oh, sir - I was top of my form last term,' said Sooty, in a most injured tone. The others felt certain that he was trying to lead Mr Lenoir away from his request - he was not going to promise him what he had asked!
    Mrs Lenoir now joined in. 'He really did do well last term,' she said. 'You must remember -'
    'Enough!' snapped Mr Lenoir, and the smiles and laughs he had so freely lavished on everyone vanished, entirely. 'Get out, all of you!'
    Rather scared, Julian, Dick, Anne and George hurried from the room, followed by Marybelle and Sooty. Sooty was grinning as he shut the door.
    'I didn't promise!' he said. 'He wanted to take all our fun away. This place isn't any fun if you don't explore it. I can show you heaps of queer places.'
    'What are catacombs?' asked Anne, with a vague picture of cats and combs in her head.
    'Winding, secret tunnels in the hill,' said Sooty. 'Nobody knows them all. You can get lost in them easily, and never get out again. Lots of people have.'
    'Why are there so many secret ways and things here?' wondered George.
    'Easy!' said Julian. 'It was a haunt of smugglers, and there must have been many a time when they had to hide not only their goods, but themselves! And, according to old Sooty, there still is a smuggler here!
    'What did you say his name was - Barling, wasn't it?'
    'Yes,' said Sooty. 'Come on upstairs and I'll show you your rooms. You've got a good view over the town.'
    He took them to two rooms set side by side, on the opposite side of the big staircase from his bedroom and Marybelle's. They were small but well-furnished, and had, as Sooty said, a marvellous view over the quaint roofs and towers of Castaway Hill. They also had a remarkably good view of Mr Barling's house.
    George and Anne were to sleep in one room, and Julian and Dick in the other. Evidently Mrs Lenoir had taken the trouble to remember that there were two girls and two boys, not one girl and three boys, as Mr Lenoir imagined!
    'Nice cosy rooms,' said Anne. 'I like these dark oak panels. Are there any secret passages in our rooms, Sooty?'
    'You wait and see!' grinned Sooty. 'Look, there are your things, all unpacked from your suitcases. I expect Sarah did that. You'll like Sarah. She's a good sort, fat and round and jolly - not a bit like Block!'
    Sooty seemed to have forgotten all about Tim. George reminded him.
    'What about Timmy? He'll have to be near me, you know. And we must arrange to feed him and exercise him. Oh, I do hope he'll be all right, Sooty, I'd rather leave straight away than have Timmy unhappy.'
    'He'll be all right!' said Sooty. 'I'll give him the free run of that narrow passage we came up to my bedroom by, and we'll feed him every chance we get. And we'll smuggle him out by a secret tunnel that opens half-way down the town, and give him plenty of exercise each morning. Oh, we'll have a grand time with Timmy!'
    George wasn't so sure. 'Can he sleep with me at night?' she asked. 'He'll howl the place down if he can't.'
    'Well - we'll try and manage it,' said Sooty, rather doubtfully. 'You've got to be jolly careful, you know. We don't want to land in serious trouble. You don't know what my stepfather can be like!'
    They could guess, though. Julian looked curiously at Sooty. 'Was your own father's name Lenoir, too?' he asked.
    Sooty nodded. 'Yes. He was my stepfather's cousin, and was as dark as all the Lenoirs usually are. My stepfather is an exception - he's fair. People say the fair Lenoirs are no good - but don't tell my stepfather that!'
    'As if we should!' said George. 'Gracious, he'd cut off our heads or something! Come on - let's go back to Tim.'
     

Chapter Seven
     
    THE HIDDEN PIT
     
    THE children were all very glad to think that they were going to have meals by themselves in the old schoolroom. Nobody wanted to have much to do