Daniel pressed one hand against the stone.
Samuel looked away.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then Daniel whispered, "He never stopped thinking of them."
Samuel shook his head.
"No."
Daniel touched the carved words.
"He never stopped loving them."
They found no remains.
But they discovered another passage leading downward.
Its entrance had been concealed by a wooden partition, now partially collapsed.
Beyond it, the air smelled faintly of running water.
Samuel followed the sound.
The passage descended toward the underground stream that fed their springhouse.
Several yards farther on, they reached a narrow opening in the rock.
Cold water flowed beneath it.
On the opposite bank, an old ladder climbed toward a second tunnel.
Samuel raised the lantern.
Daniel stared.
"He could have escaped this way."
Samuel nodded.
"Perhaps."
They crossed carefully over a fallen beam.
On the other side, they found a piece of cloth caught beneath a stone.
The fabric was too decayed to identify.
But near it lay a small brass button.
Daniel picked it up.
His breathing quickened.
"My grandfather wore a coat with buttons like this."
Samuel looked at the rushing water.
The stream disappeared into a narrow fissure beneath the mountain.
If Thomas Whitcomb had tried to escape through this passage during a storm, rising water might have trapped him.
But there was another possibility.
The tunnel continued upward.
It might have led to an unknown exit.
Samuel studied the rock.
He saw old tool marks.
Someone had widened the passage.
And near the ladder, scratched into the wood, were three familiar notches.
His father's mark.
Samuel stared.
Then he understood.
His father knew about the escape passage.
He had built the ladder.
Clara's father and Edgar might never have known it existed.
But Gideon Thorne certainly had.
Samuel looked toward Daniel.
"I think my father knew how he escaped."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Then why didn't he tell anyone?"
Samuel looked at the water.
"Maybe because he helped him."
When they returned to the chamber, Clara immediately saw that something had changed.
Samuel carried the wooden box.
Daniel held the photograph.
Neither looked angry anymore.
They looked exhausted.
Clara approached her husband.
"What did you find?"
Samuel told her.
She listened without interruption.
When he described the carved message, tears filled her eyes.
Then she looked toward Daniel.
"I'm sorry."
He shook his head.
"You didn't do this."
"Neither did Samuel."
Daniel looked at her.
She continued quietly.
"Whatever our fathers did, whatever their fathers did, we are not required to become them."
Daniel lowered his gaze.
For the first time since entering the chamber, he seemed willing to believe that Clara and Samuel were not his enemies.
Then Edgar spoke.
"There is something else."
Everyone turned.
The old man stood beside the cot, staring at the wooden box.