The passage in which Dick and Joanna now found themselves was narrow, dirty, and short.  At the other end of it, a door stood partly open; the same door, without doubt, that they had heard the man unlocking.  Heavy cobwebs hung from the roof; and the paved flooring echoed hollow under the lightest tread.  
Beyond the door there were two branches, at right angles.  Dick chose one of them at random, and the pair hurried, with echoing footsteps, along the hollow of the chapel roof.  The top of the arched ceiling rose like a whale’s back in the dim glimmer of the lamp.  Here and there were spyholes, concealed, on the other side, by the carving of the cornice; and looking down through one of these, Dick saw the paved floor of the chapel—the altar, with its burning tapers—and stretched before it on the steps, the figure of Sir Oliver praying with uplifted hands.
 
At the other end, they descended a few steps.  The passage grew narrower; the wall upon one hand was now of wood; the noise of people talking, and a faint flickering of lights, came through the interstices; and presently they came to a round hole about the size of a man’s eye, and Dick, looking down through it, beheld the interior of the hall, and some half a dozen men sitting, in their jacks, about the table, drinking deep and demolishing a venison pie.  These were certainly some of the late arrivals.
 
“Here is no help,” said Dick.  “Let us try back.”
 
“Nay,” said Joanna; “maybe the passage goeth farther.”
 
And she pushed on.  But a few yards farther the passage ended at the top of a short flight of steps; and it became plain that, as long as the soldiers occupied the hall, escape was impossible upon that side.
 
They retraced their steps with all imaginable speed, and set forward to explore the other branch.  It was exceedingly narrow, scarce wide enough for a large man; and it led them continually up and down by little break-neck stairs, until even Dick had lost all notion of his whereabouts.
 
At length it grew both narrower and lower; the stairs continued to descend; the walls on either hand became damp and slimy to the touch; and far in front of them they heard the squeaking and scuttling of the rats.
 
“We must be in the dungeons,” Dick remarked.
 
“And still there is no outlet,” added Joanna.
 
“Nay, but an outlet there must be!” Dick answered.  Presently, sure enough, they came to a sharp angle, and then the passage ended in a flight of steps.  On the top of that there was a solid flag of stone by way of trap, and to this they both set their backs.  It was immovable.  “Some one holdeth it,” suggested Joanna.
 
“Not so,” said Dick; “for were a man strong as ten, he must still yield a little.  But this resisteth like dead rock.  There is a weight upon the trap.  Here is no issue; and, by my sooth, good Jack, we are here as fairly prisoners as though the gyves were on our ankle bones.  Sit ye then down, and let us talk.  After a while we shall return, when perchance they shall be less carefully upon their guard; and, who knoweth? we may break out and stand a chance.  But, in my poor opinion, we are as good as shent.”
 
“Dick!” she cried, “alas the day that ever ye should have seen me!  For like a most unhappy and unthankful maid, it is I have led you hither.”
 
“What cheer!” returned Dick.  “It was all written, and that which is written, willy nilly, cometh still to pass.  But tell me a little what manner of a maid ye are, and how ye came into Sir Daniel’s hands; that will do better than to bemoan yourself, whether for your sake or mine.”
 
“I am an orphan, like yourself, of father and mother,” said Joanna; “and for my great misfortune, Dick, and hitherto for yours, I am a rich marriage.  My Lord Foxham had me to ward; yet it appears Sir Daniel bought the marriage of me from the king, and a right dear price he paid for it.  So here was I, poor babe, with two great and rich men fighting which should marry me, and I still at nurse!  Well, then the world changed, and there was a new chancellor, and Sir Daniel bought the warding of me over the Lord Foxham’s head.  And then the world changed again, and Lord Foxham bought my marriage over Sir Daniel’s; and from then to now it went on ill betwixt the two of them.  But still Lord Foxham kept me in his hands, and was a good lord to me.  And at last I was to be married—or sold, if ye like it better.  Five hundred pounds Lord Foxham was to get for me.  Hamley was the groom’s name, and to-morrow, Dick, of all d............