her. Meanwhile, she had made hosts of pleasant friends.
Attentions of all sorts had been showered upon her. She curled herself up
in her chair. It was good to be alive!

A log stirred upon the fire. She leaned forward lazily to replace it and
then stopped short. Exactly opposite to her was a door which opened on to
a back hall. It was used only by the servants connected with the hotel,
and was usually kept locked. Just as she was in the act of leaning
forward, Ella became conscious of a curious hallucination. She sat looking
at the handle with fascinated eyes. Then she called aloud to Lenora.

"Lenora, come here at once."

The maid hurried in from the next room. Ella pointed to the door.

"Lenora, look outside. See if any one is on that landing. I fancied that
the door opened."

The maid shook her head incredulously.

"I don't think so, my lady," she said. "No one but the waiter and the
chambermaid who comes in to clean the apartment, ever comes that way."

She crossed the room and tried the handle. Then she turned towards her
mistress in triumph.

"It is locked, my lady," she reported.

Ella rose to her feet and herself tried the handle. It was as the maid had
reported. She, however, was not altogether reassured. She was a young
woman whose nerves were in a thoroughly healthy state, and by no means
given to imaginative fears. She stood a little away, looking at the
handle. It was almost impossible that she could have been mistaken. Her
hands clasped for a moment the necklace which hung from her neck. A queer
presentiment of evil crept like a grey shadow over her.

She looked at herself in the glass--the colour had left her cheeks. She
tried to laugh at her self.

"This is absurd!" she exclaimed. "Lenora, go down and ask Macdougal to
come up for a minute. I am going to have this thing explained. Hurry,
there's a good girl."

"You are sure your ladyship doesn't mind being left?" the maid asked, a
little doubtfully.

"Of course not!" Ella replied, with a laugh which was not altogether
natural. "Hurry along, there's a good girl. I'll drink my chocolate while
you are gone, and get ready for bed, but I must see Macdougal before I
undress."

Something of her mistress's agitation seemed to have become communicated
to Lenora. Her voice shook a little as she stepped into the elevator.

"Where are you off to, young lady?" the boy enquired.

"I want to go round to our quarters," Lenora explained. "Her ladyship