Summary:  Ben discovers that Adam dug an underground under the house. He forbids his sons to use it without his agreement but will he be obeyed?

Rating:  K+  WC  7300

 

The Underground 

It was early morning when Ben casually took his coffee and went to the window that looked out into the yard, but the sight that greeted him made him gasp and take a step back.

Her ! Not her again ! She was followed by her devoted butler, Montague, who was carrying a huge parcel, obviously a painting.Why was she coming back ? Didn’t she get married as the journals had announced ? Whatever the reason for her return, Ben couldn’t bear the idea to see her again, neither her nor her awful paintings. How could he escape ? He had to escape. But no exit. Maybe the chimney ? She was dangerously approaching.

“Adam !”, he barked in despair.

The latter rushed downstairs, his black shirt still unbuttoned : “What’s the matter, Pa ?”, he asked, deep worry in his voice

.“The Countess, Linda Chadwick, she’s back.”

Bewildered, he put his hands on Adam shoulders and shook him : “Help me Adam, I don’t want to see her again. It’s unbearable. Make me disappear and when she’ll ask after me, you’ll say I’m dead.”

Adam was equal to the situation. He didn’t lose time in arguing. He could already hear the steps in the courtyard. He caught his Pa’s hand and ran across the living room to the kitchen, jostled Hop-Sing and passed his finger on the wall behind the stove. Feeling the bump he was looking for, he pressed it. The stove revolved and let appear an opening on a stair getting down.

“Quick, Pa, this is the entrance of an underground I dug eight years ago when you were travelling to Mexico. It leads to an opening in the middle of the copse that stands a hundred yards behind the barn. See what I mean ? Hurry up, they’ve been knocking at the door for about two minutes now.

Effectively, they could hear violent banging on the door and Hoss’ voice shouting : “Easy, easy, I’m coming”.

“Don’t open, Hoss, don’t open, wait for me”, Adam screamed. And he pushed his father on the stairs.

Ben took just a while to stare at his eldest son : “Get rid of her, Adam, and as soon as she’ll have left, we will have a talk about this underground.”

As soon as he saw Ben disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel, Adam pressed the bump and the stove was back in its usual place.

“Open the door, Hoss”, he shouted and hastily buttoning his shirt, he headed to the living room. Joe had rejoined his brothers and Adam was shivering at the thought they could talk before him and make a blunder.

The Countess entered, furious and glared at them ready to give them a ticking off.

“Why on earth were you so long to answer ! Are you deaf ?”, she said in a tone that proved she hadn’t been all her life a Countess. “Where’s Ben ?”

“He’s gone away”, Adam replied hurriedly. “He’s travelling to Ireland.”

Hoss tried to take the floor and started shyly : “But Adam…”

Adam, over his brother’s shoulder, gave Joe a meaningful glance. The latter stepped forward and walked on Hoss’ foot, preventing him from finishing his sentence.

“What are you saying, Adam ?”, Linda Chadwick asked, stunned, “your father is on his way to Ireland ?”

“Positive. He left a week ago. He was longing to see you again, so, he decided he would go to you since you weren’t coming to him.”

Linda Chadwick grinned.“So, he wanted to see me again. What a darling ! But”, she added, feeling there was something strange in this piece of news, “how did he learn I had broken with my fiancé ?”

Adam opened his mouth without talking, in a customary attitude of his. He was thinking very quickly. “The widow !” he squealed suddenly, “Mrs Hawkins, you wrote her, don’t you remember ?”

“Clementine ! She couldn’t help pouring forth my secret. I will scold her. Well, Montague, if Ben is on his way to Ireland, we’d better hurry and try to embark on the same ship as his, in every possible. It would be delightful to go on a cruise with him. Which harbour did he choose ?”

“Well”, Adam answered, “I think he wanted first to go back to Boston – you know we have some relatives there – and sail for Londonderry.”

“All right, Montague, let’s go to Boston. But, Montague, what do we do with the painting ?”

“I think, Milady, that it would be preferable that we should leave it here. Mr Cartwright will be glad to find it when he’ll be back.”

“But how do you know, Montague, he will come back. Who knows ? He could decide to settle in Ireland with me. No. The more I’m thinking of it, the more I believe it’s better to take it with us. Good bye, boys and next time, be faster.”

And turning back, she made a sign to Montague who deferentially opened the door and she strode away, majestically. Before leaving, Montague turned his head to Adam and just said :“How convenient, this travel !”. And he left.

It was Adam’s turn to make a sign to his brothers to avoid questions as long as they could be heard. The young man went to the window that looked out into the yard and the sight that greeted him made him sigh with relief : she was climbing into her buggy with her butler and they were driving away.Immediately, he went to the kitchen, followed by his intrigued brothers. He activated the mechanism and cried out :“Pa, Pa, you can come, she left, you’re safe.”

Hoss, Joe and Hop-Sing were staring wide-eyed at the sight of their father or boss coming out from a tunnel they never knew about. Once again, Adam pressed the bump to hide the underground’s door behind the stove and Ben asked Hop-Sing to make some fresh coffee. “We need to talk, young man”, he said to Adam who felt awkward.

Before anything else, he wanted to know how they had managed to get rid of the intruder and laughed heartily when he learnt Adam had sent the Countess to Boston, first and then, to Londonderry.

But they all were burning to know about the underground. “Now boy, tell me the reason why you dug an underground without my knowing it.”

“Well Pa, I thought it could be convenient in an emergency.”

“Like this morning ?”“Like this morning, yes, or anything else, Indians, outlaws…”

“Really ? In that case, can you explain why you were the only one to know about it.”

Adam couldn’t help blushing. “Well Pa…”

“Well Pa, well Pa…” Ben emphasized his voice. “The truth is that you wanted a way to come back home discreetly after midnight, am I right ?”

Adam lowered his eyes. “You’re right, Pa.”

“And you didn’t think that, in so doing, you were endangering us ?”

Adam lifted his head : “I didn’t endanger anybody”, he said, proudly.

“Listen, son, I assume you didn’t dig the tunnel alone, you needed help.”“Yes, I asked some men to give me a hand.”

“Men you thought trustworthy, I suppose. But you should know that, in such matters, nobody’s trustworthy.”

Adam shook his head. “I trusted no one. They helped me to dig but I made the opening mechanism by myself. Nobody, except me, knows how to open the door.”

“Nobody knew” Joe couldn’t help interrupted, smiling mischievously.

“Please, Joe”, Ben groaned, “I’m not in a mood for joking. Then, coming back to Adam : “But on the other end, these hands, they know the exit. Ill-intentioned people could wait for us at the exit if they think we use the underground.

”Once again, Adam shook his head. “Nobody knows the exit. When we dug the tunnel, I had drawn another layout. After dismissing the workers, I dug another piece of tunnel leading to the present exit and I closed the original one.”

”And grinning at his father, he declared, obviously very pleased with himself : “You see, no danger and an emergency exit for the whole family !”

As usual with Adam, Ben was torn between the irritation generated by his son’s habit of having an answer for everything and the admiration for his brilliant brain.Obviously, this underground had helped him out of an awkward position and it might save them from greater perils than one of Linda Chadwick’s intrusion.

“Okay” he finally said, “let’s keep the underground but from now on, the control will be mine, understood ?”

“Sure Pa”, Hoss said, obedient.

“As you say, Pa”, Adam retorted, knowing that, as the designer of the mechanism, he would do what he wanted.

“Of course, Pa”, Joe said, who was already thinking of eluding his father’s watchfulness and use this unexpected way for receiving his conquests.

“Hop-Sing don’t agree !” a voice screamed behind them. “Hop-Sing not want his stove turn all the time. Tunnel in kitchen, kitchen Hop-Sing’s field. Nobody use tunnel or Hop-Sing knock the head with big pan. Understood ?”

And keeping his head nodding gently, he left the room, repeating : “Understood ?”

Nobody dared contradict him.This evening, Adam shut himself away in his room and began studying the layout for another entrance that would be out of the quick-tempered cook’s kingdom.

Around one a.m., a crooked smile on his lips, he tidied up his drawings, he had found the idea.

While undressing, he thought about the realisation of his plan : this wasn’t good enough to draw up trajectories, once that done, he would have to dig and secretly.

“No doubt”, he said to himself, “I need an accomplice and I can’t think of anybody else than Joe. Hoss can’t keep a secret from Pa. I’ll have a word with him about it no later than to-morrow.”

And he fell sound asleep, which proved that remorse wasn’t tormenting his conscience.

It was easy for him to arrange a quiet talk with his youngest brother. He cleverly steered the conversation with his father onto the necessity of having Joe’s help to speed up the mortising of John Mackay mine’s beams. In the sawmill’s hubbub, while they were bustling side by side, Adam said in a hushed voice :

“Joe, how do you consider Pa’s attitude regarding the underground ?”

On his guard, since he didn’t see Adam’s point, Joe answered :

“What exactly do you want to know ?”

“Didn’t you find he was unfair ? All right, I dug this tunnel without telling him but it helped him out to escape the Countess. Understand me : if I kept it secret, I did it because an underground has to be secret. If everybody knows about, it becomes a way for people to get inside at any hour of the day or the night. It’s a godsend for undesirable people of all kinds, thieves, nuisances…”

“Yes. See what you mean.”

“That’s why I consider that the present underground is now practically unusable.”

“Don’t you think you’re going too far. You’re not thinking of closing it, are you?”

“Of course not, Pa would be the first to be angry since, in my opinion, although he will not admit it, he intends to defy Hop-Sing’s interdicts and use it.”

Joe was now suspecting that Adam had a good reason for elaborating on the subject. There was a mystery about it. He certainly had something at the back of his mind.

“Come on, Adam, what’s your point ?”

“I’d like to open a new exit that would be unknown to anybody except you and me.”

“Well, well ! And why do you let me into the secret ? Doesn’t look like you…”

Adam sighed with exasperation. Getting older, Joe had become much more difficult to circumvent. It was now impossible to have him believe that the moon is made of green cheese. He decided to burn his boats.

“All right, I will not beat about the bush, I need an accomplice. Last time, Pa was in Mexico, you were at school and I had sent Hoss to keep the cattle in the mountain. As for the mechanism in the kitchen, I made it, night after night, while Hop-Sing was sleeping and the hole in the wall was done during a Sunday he was out to celebrate the Chinese New Year with his friends, in Virginia City. But this time, I’ll have to work with everybody being on the spot. I need you to be on the watch.”

Delighted at the thought of having the opportunity to use an underground unknown to anybody else than Adam (nothing’s perfect) Joe answered : “Done ! I’m the man you want.”

Adam’s idea was to create a new entrance and a new exit, while keeping the original tunnel so that they would have only a few yards to dig. Behind the barn, there was a tool shed and nobody would find strange to see one of them get into it. The new piece of the tunnel would run into it. In the passageway that was the underground’s body, he would open an exit hidden by a curtain of the same colour as the stone. His father, in the dark, would notice nothing but Joe and himself would know that, by counting five steps after the third landmark marking out the tunnel (a precaution Adam had taken from the beginning), they would find, on their right, the new passage.

For the other exit, it would be found inside the house, in the guest room, next to the kitchen. It would open into the wardrobe that was usually empty when the room was unoccupied. Adam had done odd jobs on it to be sure it could open by pushing or pulling, from both sides : he didn’t want to find himself pinched just because somebody would have locked it.

Joe’s collaboration consisted of organising any kind of activities on Saturday evenings and on Sundays, in order to leave the field open to Adam for working. They shared the task of scattering the soil that Adam, in a first stage, was stocking in the tool shed.

However, they needed two long months before they reach their goal, Ben being, as usual, very generous with the work he was giving to his sons, especially the eldest.

Nevertheless, one evening, Adam whispered in Joe’s ear : “Go to bed early but don’t undress, we’re inaugurating the new underground to night”.

During supper, they both pretended to be exhausted, multiplying yawns, sighs and declarations about their intention to go to bed as soon as possible. Hoss tried to propose a checkers game they turned down dryly. Seeing that, Ben stated that, for once, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go upstairs early. Nevertheless, the patriarch staid behind, half an hour after his sons had left, to control some accounts. At last, he headed to his bedroom, the sound of his steps in the corridor being impatiently waited behind two doors.

Mistrusting Joe’s impatience, Adam had decided that he would give the signal for leaving. He forced himself to wait again half an hour to give enough time to Ben to clean up and hit the hay, praying that he wouldn’t read in his bed. Al last, with an airy tread, he went out and tapped softly at Joe’s door.

This one had dressed with his Sunday suit, which couldn’t fail to surprise Adam who asked why but Joe replied that their partnership didn’t imply that he would inform his brother of his projects once out of the tunnel.

Emerging out of the tool shed, both brothers went silently to the barn to saddle their horses ; one made his way towards the lake, the other towards the town.”

“Careful with the time you come back”, warned Adam, “it would be stupid to be caught just because you’re unable to watch a clock !”

****************************************************************

A few weeks later, one morning, Hoss brought the mail to his father with a look slightly mocking : upon the pile of the usual commercial letters, he had laid, in a conspicuous position, a long ivory-coloured envelope which a musk scent issued from and on which a certainly womanly hand had written Ben’s name with brown ink. When fetching their own mail, each of the boys threw an intent and interrogative look at the mysterious missive but Ben was careful not to open it in front of them. After sending them to work, he took out a paper knife and opened the letter. Looking directly at the signature, he exclaimed : “Adah ! By Jove, what does she want ?”

“Dear Ben,

I have been hesitating for long before deciding to write you but I take my courage in both hands and I jump.Ben, before anything else, I must apologize. I behaved awfully the last time I came to Virginia City : I accepted your attentions, I let you go as far as asking me to marry you, all that to run away as a schoolgirl playing truant, with this brutish lout Johnny. What can we do, this man cast a spell on me from my earliest youth and I couldn’t manage to free myself from him .

But to-day, it’s over: he abandoned me as a coward and went away with a blonde youth, a brainless girl who will eat the little money he has and that he will not dare beat as he used to do with me.

I’m disgusted. By everything. By Johnny, by my travelling life, by men who don’t respect my honour. Ben, I wish only one thing, now, take refuge into my Daddy-lover’s arms, you, who continuously were kind to me.

I’m staying incognito at Virginia City, since I’m afraid many people around there have bad memories of me. The Main Hotel’s managers, with the mess Johnny made there, your two younger sons who don’t appreciate me, your eldest son who appreciates me too much and holds it against himself for that, because of you

I’m longing to see you, but quietly, in a place where I would be able to open my heart to you without us being disturbed.The one who hopes she is forgiven,

Adah

P.-S. I’m living at the Widow Hawkins, under the pseudonym of Mrs. Hade

Ben laid down the letter, not knowing what to think. From one part, Adah had made a fool of him and it was far too easy for her to ring at a door she had banged just because the rotten board she used to hang on had let her out. From another part, it was flattering to see such an attractive woman who certainly wasn’t short of suitors, turning to him.

“Come on”, he thought, “I don’t take a big risk at meeting her, she’s not going to rape me. The main thing is to find a place for this meeting. But of course : Adam’s tunnel ! I must be able to let her inside by the end of the afternoon, on Hop-Sing’s day-off and then, from the kitchen to the guest-room, I’ll deal with that.”

And a crooked smile on his lips, he took out a sheet of writing paper and started an answer.

*****************************************************************

Joe had used and abused the underground to go, at twilight, at young Careen Willard’s home. She was a youth that was living in a hamlet, at three miles from the ranch, on Virginia City road. Very naives, Careen’s parents used to send her to bed at eight o’clock and couldn’t imagine that somebody would visit their daughter while they were sipping their herb tea.Joe used to head to the back of the house, move the scale left by Mr Willard spreading on the lawn and climb to his sweetheart’s window to murmur sweet nothings to her. But for several weeks, Joe had been wandering how, on earth, Romeo had managed to kiss Juliet. He had made several unfruitful attempts and the bolder had finished in a spectacular fall, the noise of which had led out father Willard, holding his gun threateningly. Joe had found safety in his skills for creeping and had crouched under the hedge, holding his breath while Careen was hastily blowing her candle out to make her father believe she was asleep.

After this incident, Joe decided to find another meeting point. It was possible for the girl to slip out on washing day, just before five, when her mother was energetically slapping the linen with her beetle, at the hamlet’s washing-place, her father still being working in the fields. Betraying the promise to keep secrecy he had made to Adam, he disclosed for Careen’s benefit, the second underground’s entrance. He gave her precise instructions : she had to reach the guest room and wait patiently for him to join her by the same way.

*****************************************************************

Adam was loading the supplies in the carriage when he saw his adopted sister, Mariette, approach.

Adam had always had a soft spot for this young lady his father had finalised the bringing up after she had become an orphan and he had fought not to let his secret amorous inclination for her prevail over the brotherly feelings he was showing in broad daylight. So doing, he had proved to be right, since she had married Jason Blane who, apparently, had fulfilled her expectations.

Even knowing what Mariette was owing to the Cartwrights and what himself was owing to Adam who had saved his life, Jason didn’t like to entertain them or, more exactly Adam, his instinct warning him about the ambiguous relationship between his wife and his pseudo-brother. So, without having consulted each other, Adam and Mariette used to see each other alone together, generally on Mariette’s initiative when she felt the need of pouring out her feelings, asking an advice or complaining about her husband.

This last reason was apparently Mariette’s motivation for trying to have a talk with Adam. She showed red eyes and Adam was dying to hug her tight against his chest in order to console her but he could hardly think of it while both grocer and smith’s wives were heading to the store in front of which Adam’s carriage was parked.

“I must absolutely talk to you, Adam”, Mariette moaned, “but not here.”

“Come to the Ponderosa.”

“No way, I don’t want to meet the whole family. Your father would ask a lot of untimely questions, Joe and Hoss would want to fight against Jason. No, no, not at your home.”

“Indeed yes, at my home but getting there by a secret way I am revealing to you. Come on, this afternoon, around five, tie your mare naturally and get directly into the tool shed. Open the cupboard…” And he indicated her the procedure to reach, unknown from everyone, Ponderosa guest room.

******************************************************************

Hop-Sing was angry with himself. He had meticulously prepared a gift for venerable Hang-Chou-Li whose ninetieth birthday was about to be celebrated and he had forgotten it in his room.

So, he had turned round and gone back and was hurrying as fast as his short legs allowed him. He had just enough time to get back, pick up his present and go away. He couldn’t afford to get nabbed by one of the house’s inhabitant, he had definitely to avoid being delayed. All of a sudden, he hit his forehead, with a joyful smile : the tunnel, the tunnel Older son had dug. That was the right way. He would come in and come out, nobody would know.

*****************************************************************

Ben came to the widow Hawkins and asked for Mrs Hade. This one appeared, her face hidden behind a veil. Ben had her quickly climb into the carriage he had hired in town and, taking the coach driver’s seat, drove to his property without adding a word. At the junction leading, from one side to the house, from the other side, to the lake, he took the lake’s direction but only for a few yards. Then he stopped the horses, went down and guided the team a little out of the road. Afterwards, he helped down Adah and said :

“I’m sorry, dear, but you’ll have to walk a little : this is the price for discretion.”

“Don’t apologize, Ben, the weather is mild, it will be a pleasant walk.”

And she took her partner’s arm to be guided. On their way, Ben told her about the underground and explained how he intended to use it :

“It comes out in the kitchen. I’ll go forward to clear the way. You’ll count as far as fifty and you’ll follow me. I’ll call you when I’ll be sure nobody’s staying in the area. We’ll just have to head to the next room where we’ll be quiet. Nobody gets there except when we have guests for the night.”

Ben, at this moment, went out of the path and got into a copse, at his companion’s amazement. She thought he had to relieve a nature need but he made a sign for her to follow him. Drawing back her skirts around her legs as tight as she could, she slipped between two trees. She saw Ben lean down and lift a grassy paving stone.

“It’s Adam’s idea. He built a kind of a very flat jardinière, planted grass in and laid in upon the secret passage’s entrance.”

Indeed, getting used to the shadowy light, Adah could distinguish a gaping hole and something looking like the beginning of stairs. She stepped back, not being sure she wanted to be engulfed into this darkness. Ben guessed it and put her at ease :

“Wait a minute. Adam put four gas lamps down the stairs. I go down and I come back with one, no, two lamps. Don’t be scared.”

Duly provided with her lantern, Adah felt secure and stepped inside the underground. They went their way in single and suddenly Ben stopped :

“Now, I’ll go forward and scout around. Count quietly until fifty and then, go forward and climb upstairs, I will wait for you. If the door is closed, it will mean that there is something unexpected, so knock discreetly.”

Adah tried to repress the panic she was being overwhelmed with. It was stupid, she had nothing to be afraid of. She closed her eyes and counted as far as fifty. Then, she re-opened her eyes and almost screamed with fear, finding her in full darkness. Her lantern had turned off. To her great relief she caught a glimpse of a slight light, a few yards further. Surely it was Ben. She hurried up towards the light that, hardly seen, had disappeared. Probably, Ben had turned somewhere. She was exploring the wall with her fingers to guide herself when she felt a drape. She moved it apart, cursing Ben and her foot stroke what seemed to be a stair. Step by step, she began her ascent. A ray of light was appearing forward, not far from her. At the end of fifteen stairs, she touched what seemed to be a wooden door. She tapped discreetly at it. No answer. She tapped again. Still nothing. She was tired of that. Never mind for the discretion, she wasn’t going to hang around forever in this cellar. She pushed the door and found herself inside a wardrobe the sides of which, fortunately, opened easily. She came out in a bedroom elegantly furnished with a large bed covered with an ivory bedspread embellished with almond green braids. At the back, there was a round table where Ben had laid two glasses and a decanter filled with a garnet-coloured liquid. No doubt, this was the place where she was expected but Ben was conspicuous by his absence. She took her gloves and hat off and sat down in a comfortable armchair.

*****************************************************************

Careen had bravely gone into the tool shed. At this time, Cartwright’s men were still at work and the place was deserted. She saw, on a shelf, the gas lamps. Joe had advised her to take one and enlighten it before opening the cupboard at the back and stepping inside. She went downstairs, not scared at all, her seventeen years driving her to regard this adventure as very storybook, and she followed the narrow corridor as far as the stone coloured curtain Joe had mentioned. Before venturing further in the passage, she wormed her head through the opening and stepped back suddenly. Somebody had just passed, she had heard and almost felt him. She waited for a few seconds and then, getting bolder, she held her arm and the lantern out and enlightened the way. Her heart jumped into her chest, it was a masculine figure. No doubt, it was Joe. She dared not run in the twilight to catch him but she hastened her steps.

******************************************************************

Hop-Sing was jogging along the tube. He mechanically noticed, while taking his lamp, that two were missing but he had no time for going deeper in the mystery. The very honourable Hang-Chou-Li was far too venerable to make him wait for the blessings and wishes due on his birthday’s occasion. He was following his way, brandishing his lantern in front of him, without looking either at his right or his left. At one moment he felt as a breathing noise and the sound of rustling silk but thought he was perceiving his own noises.

Reaching the stairs, he was surprised to see light. Somebody had preceded him in the underground. That’s why the missing lamps. He groaned. Yet, he had told the boys clearly that he didn’t want to see them follow this way. “Surely one more antic of Mistah Joe !” he thought. He was hesitating about what he would do when a hand touched lightly his silky Chinese tunic and he heard his boss’ voice saying kindly : “But come on, dear friend, don’t be afraid !”

He reacted as if he had been bitten by a scorpion : « Mistah Ca’tlight not touch Hop-Sing’s silk tunic. Mistah Ca’tlight not call Hop-Sing dear friend… Mistah Ca’tlight… »

 

Hearing this voice he wasn’t expecting, Ben also jumped back : “By Jove Hop-Sing, what are you doing there ! I wasn’t speaking to you, I was expecting a lady.”

Hearing the noise of a jogging step, Hop-Sing turned back : “Little lady coming.” And he moved aside to let Careen appear, a little out of breath for having run upstairs.

“Peek-a-boo, here I am !” she called out without coming at the broad daylight. But her smile disappeared at the sight of the Cartwright’s patriarch who didn’t understand how the magnificent Adah could have been metamorphosed into Careen Willard, his neighbours’ daughter. Moving the girl aside in a hardly polite gesture, he leant over the stairs to see if his guest was coming. How, on earth, could she have lost her way ?

*****************************************************************

Holding Mariette’s hand, Adam stepped into the tool shed and took two lamps on the shelf. He noticed one was missing and thought Joe had recently preceded them. He didn’t care, Joe, he was sure, wouldn’t stay in the guest room and would dash towards his room as soon as possible.

“Don’t let go of me, Mariette, it will not be long.”

“Oh Adam, it’s so fun ! Did this underground exist at the time I was having holidays at your home?”

“Yes, although it was a bit modified recently.”

“But why didn’t you tell us about it, we would have had a good time, your brothers you and I”

“First, because I didn’t build it for my brothers and… sister to have fun. Second because if I had wanted to confide to someone, I would certainly not choose an innocent maid. And third, because you must not share such a secret with anybody.”

“Then, why do you share it with me to-day?”

“Circumstances that aren’t your business forced me to reveal my secret. But shut up, we arrive safe and sound.”

******************************************************************

Adah was getting seriously bored and impatient when she saw a boot discreetly pushing the wardrobe’s door. How had Ben managed to come here since he had preceded her ? While she was wondering, she saw a head, topped with a silver circled black hat appear : “Adam Cartwright !”, she exclaimed.

The hailed man stopped his movement and stood still, his body half imprisoned in the wardrobe :

“By Jove, Adah Mencken ! What are you doing here ?”

“This is my question. When will you lose this disastrous habit of interfering perpetually between your father and me ?”

“But I swear you I wasn’t expecting…”

“Really ! Then how do you explain your presence in this room ? And first, walk out of this wardrobe.”

Subjugated, Adam obeyed without realising that, doing so, he was letting free way to Mariette. The latter, still on the stairs, hadn’t heard anything. When she saw this red-haired beauty, properly dressed in a royal blue dress, appear, Adah shouted : “Oh, my God, a romantic date ! You should be ashamed of yourself, Adam Cartwright ! I can’t believe it : you were so strait-laced about my relationship with your father and now you, you’re dating girls under your old man’s roof ! And moreover, getting there by an underground !”

Adam wanted to reply but Mariette intervened :

“Move back, Adam and let me go past, I want to tell this stuck-up a few plain”. Then, planting herself in front of the actress, she declared :

“I’ll have you know, Madam, that I’m not a girl but an honourably married woman and you are requested to withdraw your insinuations.”

Adah sniggered : “All the same, those respectable women. They despise us, they take us in a high and mighty way but they act exactly as we do, no more, no less. Does she kiss as well as I do, Adam ?”

Adam held back the hand Mariette was raising in order to give Adah a much deserved slap.

“Moderate your language, Mrs Mencken, Mariette is my adopted sister and she’s established among us. My father would certainly not appreciate your insults to her.”

“Speaking of that father of yours, where is he ? I’m tired to wait for him. Ah, fancy that, I’m hearing a noise. Must be him, it’s not a moment too soon…”

Troubled, Adam turned back to the wardrobe : “Is that you, Pa ?”

“No, it’s me, Joe.”

*****************************************************************

Hoss jogged into the courtyard . Work had been hard and he wasn’t sorry to call it a day. He led Chubb to the barn and noticed that Buck was the only one to be in its box. “Well, my bros ain’t home. All right, since it’s Hop-Sing’ day off, Pa will certainly have made tea and sandwiches. Fine, I’m starving.”

And then, he did something very extraordinary : he entered by the front door !

“Pa!” he called out heading to the kitchen. Passing by the guest room’s door, he heard an incredible racket. He opened the door and stood stunned at seeing the numerous company that was bickering in the room. Besides his brothers, there were Mariette and an elegant lady he remembered having met before but couldn’t put a name on her face. Just as he recovered memory, the kitchen’s door opened roughly and his father went out, pulling by her sleeves the young Careen Willard. His jaw dropped, his eyes running from this strange couple to the no less strange quartet in the room, the quartet in question becoming more and more noisy and agitated

.“Release me, Adam” a high-pitched voice was screaming, “either this person apologize or I’ll prove her that after playing theatre for years, I’m really in good shape.”

“Please, Miss Mencken, calm down, please, please !”

“Release me, Joe, there’s no question of respect, I’ll teach her a lesson, she called me what I can’t repeat”

“Mariette, Mariette, I beg you. She’s an old friend of Pa.”

“Old ! What do you imagine, little jerk, I was invited here, this evening, by your father. Besides, I wonder where he can be.”

Ben was catching only snatches of conversation but he had recognized through the general hubbub, at least two feminine resonances. Releasing Careen, he hit Hoss’s shoulder, this one standing in his way.

“Please, Hoss, move back.”

And he ploughed his way to the guest room : “Adah, Mariette, what are you doing here and which way did you go ?”

Adah’s eardrum was the first to pick up the patriarch’s voice : “At last, here you are, you ! How dare you ask which way did I go ? By your much vaunted underground where you led me.”

“But I didn’t see you come out of it. I was waiting for you in the kitchen. I first saw Hop-Sing emerge from it and then, this little girl”, he said, pointing out the young Willard who had found refuge in Hoss’s tender embrace.

« Careen ! » Joe shouted, “where were you ? And what are you doing in my brother’s arms ?”

“But where were you, yourself, Joe, and what are you doing with this blue dressed young lady ?”

“Right on, about discretion !” Mariette hissed at Adam’s ear.

“For Godsake, Joe, don’t complicate things, they are muddled up enough”, Ben ordered. “from now, I’m the one asking questions and you are answering me. Hoss, where do you come from ?”

“From nowhere, Pa, I just went back home.”

“Which way did you go ?”

“Well, I went by the door, which way did you want me to go ?”

“Same way as the others. Adah, dear, could you tell me how you reached this room while I was waiting for you in the kitchen ?”

“My goodness, I won’t forget that in a hurry ! You told me to follow the tunnel and you would wait for me at the exit, you didn’t tell me to go to the kitchen. How do I know where the kitchen is ?”

“If you follow the tunnel, it comes out into the kitchen, my dear.”

“But you’re off your head ! It comes out into this room, that tunnel of yours, inside this wardrobe which both your sons and this silly goose emerged from.”

“Ah, you won’t start that again. The silly goose is…”

Joe hastily put his palm against Mariette’s mouth to prevent her from going on.

“But let go of her, Joe!”, Careen exclaimed carelessly, “did you have a date with her or me ?”

All of a sudden, Mariette’s nerves gave out and she burst in tears. “Boo-hoo, I wasn’t dating anybody, boo-hoo, I just wanted to discuss something with Adam, boo-hoo, quietly, boo-hoo and I come across a hothead that insults me and now, this one…”

Ben threw himself in front of her : “Oh, please, please, darling, stop crying. It’s not your fault. You’ve nothing to do with all this mess. But on the other hand”, he said, changing his tone, “there’s somebody who has something to do with it and keeps silent but will not get out of it so easily.”

Adam was trying to fade away into the wall. One moment, he considered the idea of flying away through the underground but he rejected it, knowing perfectly that it was just putting off the evil day. His father went forward and seized his left ear : “Come on Master genius architect.”

“Ouch, Pa, you’re hurting me !”

“It’s on purpose ! Now, I’m waiting for our explanations.”

“Well, I thought that, the other day, ouch, this tunnel had been very useful.”

“Yes, I admit that, so what ?”

« Ow ! Stop pulling, please. As Hop-Sing had declared that he was opposed to the exit in the kitchen’s guardian, I thought it was better to open another exit and I chose the guest room, that’s all.”

“That’s all ? But you’ve got an absolute nerve, Adam”, Ben said after having freed his eldest son’s crimson ear, “You were very careful not to warn me, but, on the other hand, you let your young brother into the secret…”

Mentally, Adam prayed Heaven that Joe would not be affected by a frankness crisis and reveal the secret entry in the tool shed but his wish was only half granted. Joe didn’t speak but Careen rushed towards Ben, joining her hands :

“We didn’t think we were doing wrong, Mr Cartwright, we just wanted to see one another far from my father’s watch. That’s why Joe had given me an appointment in the tool shed.”

“The tool shed”, Ben asked, surprised.

“Yes, the underground’s entrance, you know…”

“What is it, this time ?”

And pinching Adam’s right ear : “I’m waiting”, he said.“I thought the tool shed would be closer than the copse, it’s a short cut.”

“A short cut, that’s it. What is becoming a short cut is the distance between my boot and your behind. At the moment, I have to escort Adah back home, Joe has to take back Careen and you, Mariette but you won’t get off lightly when I get hold of you.”

“I was right”, Adam mumbled, while, at his great relief, his father was releasing his ear.

“What do you say ?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

“You’d better. Hoss, go and get the carriage that is parked not far from the copse, I’m taking Adah to town and I wouldn’t forgive me if she had to go back into this rotten tunnel that you will block up, Adam. You take back Mariette and immediately afterwards, you’ll start working at it. You can say a tearful goodbye to your underground”

“At this time ?”

“Yes, at this time. And you will go on during your rest time as far as the four exit are filled in. Understood ? I will control.”

“Yes, Pa”, Adam said, humiliated to be treated as a child in front of the three women.

Joe stepped forward : “Pa, I’ll help Adam, I was his accomplice, it’s fair for me to be punished as well.”

« No question, he’ll work alone and I want his eyes to nearly pop off his head.”

Adam turned his head towards his brother with a broad smile : Thank you for your offer, Joe, I appreciate.”« Normal » Joe replied, « for once, you trusted me. »

Adah caught Ben’s arm : « You’re unfair, Ben, you were so satisfied to have this underground and if you give a thought to it, it’s a very smart work. »

“Oh, please, Adah, do not interfere. Come on, your state coach is ready.”

Adah hung on his arm, wondering if she hadn’t been wrong choosing the father instead of the son. “He’s very resourceful, this youth”, she said to herself. But it was too late to realize that.

They had only just leaved when the two young girls rushed to Adam :

“Poor poppet !” Mariette whispered, caressing his cheek.

“Poor Adam”, Careen went one better, laying a slight kiss on his hand.

Adam nodded and smiled : “When all said and done, one can find an advantage at being given a telling-off. Now, darlings, we have to take you back home, or Pa Willard and Jason will give you a roasting. Not forgiving that, as for me, I’m not yet in my bed… “

Everybody, including Hop-Sing had been asleep for long when Adam decided that he had worked enough this night. But if his father could have heard him think while he was blowing his candle, he would have kicked himself for having chosen too hastily the rebel’s punishment :

“All right, it will not be too hard : the exit, in the kitchen, I block it up, there’s no getting round in. But since Pa wants my eyes popping off my head, as he says, the more it will last, the more satisfied he will be. So, I have plenty of time to build a sliding false wall in the guest room. The same in the tool shed : Pa doesn’t even know where’s the entrance. I dig a false opening, I block it up, he’ll be completely hoodwinked. In the copse, on the other hand, it’s more difficult to fool him. That’s done, I save two exits and, this time, nobody but me will know about it.”

Then, he laid down, extremely self-satisfied.