There was to be no shirking, for the Duke's intention was to be with his
men to see that the work was done. So he went to the farm in his long
brown cape and high silk hat and an umbrella which might have done duty
for Hans William Bentinck in the swamps of Holland.
The harvesters filled the waggons in a downpour of rain and the
cavalcade started for the homestead. There were three or four waggons
behind the engine, and in the last, lo and behold, sat his Grace, grim,
silent and self-satisfied that the elements had no terrors for him.
What a life his was to lead; he was a veritable prisoner, having himself
for a warder.
The special apartment used by him in the daytime was fitted with a
trap-door in the floor, by which he could descend to the regions below,
and thus roam about his underground tunnels without the servants knowing
whether he was in the house or had left it. By means of this trap-door,
after walking to some distant part of his estate and astonishing his
workmen there, he could re-appear in the Abbey as mysteriously as he had
left it.
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