Helen, frowned at this scene and commented: "No need to get all worked up about it, he knows I'm right. If it weren't for my taking care of him the place would be a mess." I nodded a little in an agreeable manner, not taking my eyes off of the little statue. Helen must not have noticed and she happily continued her argument, now including the stature of her direct family and ancestors as proof she should not be treated that way. There was not much noise, but the sound I did hear told me that there something had happened when that object was rotated. I waited a while, not wanting to stumble into the watchmaker. After about half an hour I got up as casually as possible. "Let me see if Hubbard has locked the front door, he tends to forget these days", I said. Carefully I walked down the spiral staircase and noticed that there was a lot less light coming from downstairs. When I finally stood before the open trap door and seeing the dark stairwell I realized that almost all light coming from the workshop had been blocked out. There were a series of puny phosphorus lights that ran on either side of the tunnel, illuminating a path that appeared to go into the very bowels of the earth. Perhaps this was not a smart idea, but my old lock picker's instincts took over and I felt compelled to investigate what lied at the end of this Dantesque descent. As I slowly walked down the stone steps I saw the world behind me fade away rapidly. There was stone all around me, returning both an echo and a sense of eternal solidness. Never in my life have I felt claustrophobic, in fact quite the opposite can be said and I was therefore completely at ease. I felt compelled to touch the walls, expecting them to give way perhaps. To my surprise my hands were met with dry and rather warm slabs of stone of a rough texture. At this depth one would expect cold,  clammy and moss covered bricks, none of which I found down there. With the added glow of the blue light fixtures I felt myself enter what I could only describe as dry liquid, where the absence of familiar smells and tactile sensations created a swirl of images in my head. There was an overwhelming desire to sit down against a wall and simply stare at the dim glow.

Onwards! There were greater things to find down there, I was certain of this. Not a moment later did I find myself up against a wooden wall at the very end of the stair-clad tunnel. The obstruction must have been made from solid oak and with no hint of any indenture or other mechanism that would transform the wall into a door. With no other option left to me I tried the only other thing that seemed appropriate: I knocked. A tiny slid opened on the far right and let out a bright stream of light. "Who's there?", came the question. 'Jeremy, sir", I answered politely as if that were obvious to the person asking the question. "What's the password?", the voice asked. "I'm sorry I do not know", was my only response. "Jeremy is that you?", came the voice of my master from far behind the wall, "You better let him in. Must have forgotten to close the entrance behind me." A thin long panel opened in the wall to the far right, barely wide enough to let a man through. Out came my mentor who walked across the tunnel to the opposite side and pressed on a tile in the wall. Behind me in the far distance I could see the trap door close. "Now come on in, you might as well", said Hubbard, sounding slightly annoyed. "Well no matter, he was going to find the place sooner or later", came the voice of inspector Davies standing in the doorway. It must have been him whom I spoke to before. "Welcome to Bibliotheca Echidna young Jeremy, I sincerely hope you can keep a secret." Hubbard shoved me through the door and I found myself in another tunnel, this one better lit by larger phosphorus bulbs, green this time. The three of us continued along this vaulted hallway for what must have been close to a hundred feet, all the wile walking at a slight downward angle, until we appeared to have reached a dead end. "I was just on my way out with Davies here when you knocked on the door. If you had been there a bit longer the door would have closed automatically and trapped you in the dark", said Hubbard. Davies ignored the watchmaker and pressed yet another tile panel in the right wall this time. A trap door similar to the one in the workshop opened and this time revealed a short stairwell that went down into a low ceiling room. This room was quite large with many seating areas, complete with fireplace.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs I could see to my left and right a hallway that led to other larger rooms. The room we were in must be a receiving area or a place where one could reach other parts of that unworldly kingdom which place must surely be. Davies and Hubbard walked around the stairs towards an area to the right with couches and large fauteuils. They completely ignored me and started talking about my finding the secret room as if I were not standing close to them. Not much of what they said made sense to me and instead I decided to look around a bit further. Walls were covered with wood paneling and where exposed; draped with tapestries or paintings. Numerous book cases lined the walls and contained much older volumes than I had ever seen. Two suits of armor stood guard directly in front of me on either side of a large opening containing six doors, placed at angles to one another creating a small alcove. Above each door could be found a plaque and on those were written six names some of which I had never seen before, they were: "Cerberus", 'Chimaera', 'Hydra', 'Nimean Lion', 'Orthrus' and 'Sphinx'. For now I decided to wait and ask Hubbard about the meaning of the words before entering. The hallway that I had noticed directly off to the right side led me into a large room that was designed as a miniature theatre. Rows of red plush chairs faced a stage on which the interior was build I recognized from Die Fledermaus. I was confident I had time later to investigate and examine the room more closely. Instead I walked back across the room where Hubbard and Davies were still discussing important matters and entered the hallway on the opposite end. This room was almost completely empty and ended in the entrance to what must be an underground river, although that term did not fit since the waterway was manmade. It cut across the room as if the floor were a platform in a train station.