In this there was nothing beyond the ordinary, one
entrance to a house being in troublous times better than two; but
Boisrueil, bidding me kneel and look lower, I found, when I did
so, that the soil under the beams--which did not touch the ground
by some inches--was wet, and I began to understand. When he
asked me at what hour rain had begun to fall, I answered two in
the afternoon, and drew at once the inference at which he aimed--
that the beams had been put there, and the gate barricaded, at
some later hour.
"We reached here at six," he said; "it was done some time between
two and six, my lord; therefore to-day. To-day," he repeated in
a low voice; "and by a dozen men at least, Fewer could not move
those beams."
"And the object?"
"To prevent our escape."
"But who are they?" I said, looking at him.
"The woman knows," he answered. "We must ask her, my lord."
I assented; and we went back into the house, where it would not
have surprised me if we had found the wretches flown and the nest
empty.
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