The drain-pipe came into the cellar from a hole in the floor above, and emptied into a stone baptismal Font – a jumbo, total-baby-immersion style of Font – that had been shoved into a corner, probably around the time that King Henry VIII had kicked out the Papists. Daniel guessed as much from the carvings, which were so thick with symbols of Rome that to remove them all would have destroyed it structurally. When this vessel filled with rain-water from the drain-pipe it would spill excess onto the floor, and it would meander off into a corner and seep into the earth – perhaps this source of drinking-water had attracted the sick rats.