went on much faster than any of them dreamed. Suddenly, in the midst of
the noise, came a sound--the sharp distinct slam of the carryall-door at
the side entrance. Aunt Izzie had returned from her Lecture.

The dismay and confusion of that moment! Cecy slipped down stairs like
an eel, and fled on the wings of fear along the path which led to her
home. Mrs. Hall, as she bade Aunt Izzie good-night, and shut Dr. Carr's
front door behind her with a bang, might have been struck with the
singular fact that a distant bang came from her own front door like a
sort of echo. But she was not a suspicious woman; and when she went up
stairs there were Cecy's clothes neatly folded on a chair, and Cecy
herself in bed, fast asleep, only with a little more color than usual in
her cheeks.

Meantime, Aunt Izzie was on _her_ way up stairs, and such a panic as
prevailed in the nursery! Katie felt it, and basely scuttled off to her
own room, where she went to bed with all possible speed. But the others
found it much harder to go to bed; there were so many of them, all
getting into each other's way, and with no lamp to see by. Dorry and
John popped under the clothes half undressed, Elsie disappeared, and
Clover, too late for either, and hearing Aunt Izzie's step in the hall,
did this horrible thing--fell on her knees, with her face buried in a
chair, and began to say her prayers very hard indeed.

Aunt Izzie, coming in with a candle in her hand, stood in the doorway,
astonished at the spectacle. She sat down and waited for Clover to get
through, while Clover, on her part, didn't dare to get through, but went
on repeating "Now I lay me" over and over again, in a sort of despair.
At last Aunt Izzie said very grimly: "That will do, Clover, you can get
up!" and Clover rose, feeling like a culprit, which she was, for it was