f mademoiselle.

"Excuse me for troubling you," said she, in her pure English--they both
speak good English, though with a foreign accent--"I am sorry to wake
you, but I am so anxious about my mother. She went to bed with me, and
we fell asleep; but when I woke a little while ago she was missing, and
though I have waited for her a long time, she does not return. I am not
well, and easily frightened! Oh, how cold it is."

I drew her in, wrapped a shawl about her, and led her back to her room.

"Your mother will return speedily," I promised. "Doubtless she felt
restless, and is taking a turn or two up and down the hall."

"Perhaps; for her dressing gown and slippers are gone. But she never did
anything like this before, and in a strange house--"

A slight trembling stopped the young lady from continuing.

Urging her to get into bed, I spoke one or two further words of a
comforting nature, at which the lovely girl seemed to forget her pride,
for she threw her arms about my neck with a low sigh, and then, pushing
me softly from her, observed:

"You are a kind woman; you make me feel happier whenever you speak to
me."

Touched, I made some loving reply, and withdrew. I longed to linger,
longed to tell her how truly I was her friend; but I feared the mother's
return--feared to miss the knowledge of madame's whereabouts, which my
secret suspicion made important; so I subdued my feelings and hastened
quickly to my room, where I wrapped myself in a long, dark cloak. Thus
equipped, I stole back again to the hall, and gliding with as noiseless
a step as possible, found my way to the back stairs, down which I crept,
holding my breath, and listening intently.

To many who read these words the situation of those back stairs is well
known; but there may be others who will not understand that they lead
directly, after a couple of turns, to that hall upon which opens the oak
parlor. Five steps from the lower floor there is a landing, and upon
this landing there is a tall Dutch clock, so placed as to offer a very
good hiding place behind it to any one anxious to gaze unobserved down
the hall. But to reach the clock one has to pass a window, and as this
looks south, and was upon this night open to the moonlight, I felt that
the situation demanded circumspection.

I, therefore, paused when I reached the last step above the platform,
and listened intently before proceeding further. There was no noise; all
was quiet, as a respecta