Rosemary herded the three distracted creatures to the Ingleside
veranda. Gilbert and Anne were both away, having also gone to
the House of Dreams, but Susan appeared in the doorway, gaunt and
practical and unghostlike.

"What is all this rumpus about?" she inquired.

Again the children gasped out their awful tale, while Rosemary
held them close to her and soothed them with wordless comfort.

"Likely it was an owl," said Susan, unstirred.

An owl! The Meredith children never had any opinion of Susan's
intelligence after that!

"It was bigger than a million owls," said Carl, sobbing--oh, how
ashamed Carl was of that sobbing in after days--"and it--it
GROVELLED just as Mary said--and it was crawling down over the
dyke to get at us. Do owls CRAWL?"

Rosemary looked at Susan.

"They must have seen something to frighten them so," she said.

"I will go and see," said Susan coolly. "Now, children, calm
yourselves. Whatever you have seen, it was not a ghost. As for
poor Henry Warren, I feel sure he would be only too glad to rest
quietly in his peaceful grave once he got there. No fear of HIM
venturing back, and that you may tie to. If you can make them