listening for sounds such as she had heard--or thought she had heard--on
the occasion of her previous visit to that room. But there were no such
sounds. There was the bed, the patchwork comforter, the chair and the
pictures on the walls, but when she approached that bed there came
no disturbing groans. And, by day, the memory of her fright seemed
absolutely ridiculous. For at least the tenth time she solemnly resolved
that no one should ever know how foolish she had been.

Emily uttered an exclamation and pointed.

"Why, Auntie!" she cried. "Isn't that--where did that lantern come
from?"

Captain Obed looked where she was pointing. He stepped forward and
picked up the overturned lantern.

"That's Darius Holt's lantern, I do believe," he declared. "The one
Winnie S. was makin' such a fuss about last night. How in the nation did
it get up here?"

Thankful laughed. "I brought it up," she said. "I come on a little
explorin' cruise when Emily dropped asleep on that sittin'-room lounge,
but I hadn't much more'n got in here when the pesky thing went out. You
ought to have seen me hurryin' along that hall to get down before
you woke up, Emily. No, come to think of it, you couldn't have seen
me--'twas too dark to see anything. . . . Well," she added, quickly,
in order to head off troublesome questioning, "we've looked around here
pretty well. What else is there to see?"

They visited the garret and the cellar; both were spacious and not too