Esther who a moment before had been swollen to such an enormous size,
immediately assumed her natural appearance, and sank into a state of
calm repose. As soon as they found that it was sleep and not death that
had taken possession of her, they all left the room except Jane, who
went back to bed beside her sister, but could not sleep a wink for the
balance of the night.

The next day Esther remained in bed until about nine o'clock, when she
arose, seemingly all right again, and got her own breakfast. As her
appetite was not as good as usual, all she could eat was a small piece
of bread and butter and a large green pickle, washed down with a cup of
strong tea. She helped Olive with her work as usual, and after dinner
took a walk past the post office, around the block and back to the
cottage again. At supper the usual conversation about the strange sounds
took place, all wondering what had caused them. As no one could
ascertain the cause they gave it up as something too strange to think
about, and all agreed not to let the neighbors know anything about it,
because they argued, that, as no one would be likely to believe that
such strange sounds had been heard under the bed, the best thing to do
was to keep the matter quiet.

About four nights after the loud reports had been heard, Esther had
another similar attack. It came on about ten o'clock at night, just as
she was getting in bed. This time, however, she managed to get into bed
before the attack had swelled her up to any great extent. Jane, who had
already retired, advised her to remain perfectly still, and perhaps the
attack would pass off, but how sadly was she mistaken. Esther had only
been in bed about five minutes when, to the amazement of the girls, all
the bed clothing flew off and settled down in the far corner of the
room. They could see them going for the lamp was burning dimly on the