18 Prisoners in the castle
　　‘We only came to have a look at the castle,’ said Dinah, trying to keep her voice from trembling.
　　‘Does it belong to you? We didn’t know.’
　　‘How did you find this room?’ demanded the bearded man, scowling¹.
　　‘By accident,’ said Dinah. ‘We were so surprised. Please let us go. We’re only two girls, and wedidn’t mean any harm.’
　　‘Does anyone outside this castle know we are here, or anything about this room?’ asked theshaggy man.
　　‘No, nobody,’ said Dinah truthfully. ‘We have never seen you before this moment, and we onlyfound the room today. Please, do let us go!’
　　‘I suppose you’ve been messing about here for some days,’ said the man. ‘We found yourthings. Interfering² little trespassers!’
　　‘We didn’t know the castle belonged to anyone,’ said Dinah, again. ‘How could we know? Noone ever comes here. The villagers keep away from the place.’
　　‘Is anyone with you?’ asked the bearded man, suspiciously.
　　‘Well, you can see that for yourselves,’ said Dinah, hoping fervently³ that none of the menwould think of looking into the suits of armour⁴ standing⁵ round the room.
　　‘We’ve looked all over the place,’ said the third man to the shaggy one. ‘There’s no one elsehere, that we do know!’
　　‘Please let us go,’ begged Dinah. ‘We won’t come here again, we promise.’
　　‘Ah – but you will go home and you will tell about things you have found here and seen here,isn’t that so?’ said the bearded man, in a horrid⁶, smooth kind of voice. ‘No, little missies – youmust stay here till our work is done. Then, when it no longer matters, maybe we shall let you go. Isaid maybe! It depends on how you behave.’
　　Philip trembled with anger inside the suit of armour. How dared these men speak like that to thetwo girls? But the boy did not dare to show himself. That might only make things worse.

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