ning into a larger one, where two beds had been placed for the time
to meet the unusual demand for sleeping quarters. These were to be
occupied by Grandma Elsie, Violet, Rosie, and Walter.

Timid little Grace heard, with great satisfaction, that all these were
to be so near; and Lulu, though not at all cowardly, was well pleased
with the arrangement. Yet she little thought how severely her courage
was to be tested that night.

She and Grace had scarcely laid their heads upon their pillows ere they
fell into profound slumber. Lulu did not know how long she had slept,
but all was darkness and silence within and without the house, when
something, she could not have told what, suddenly roused her completely.

She lay still, trying to recall the events of the past day and remember
where she was; and just as she succeeded in doing so a strange sound, as
of restless movements and the clanking of chains, came from beneath the
bed.

Her heart seemed to stand still with fear; she had never before, in all
her short life, felt so terrified and helpless.

"What can it be?" she asked herself. "An escaped criminal--a
murderer--or a maniac from an insane asylum, I suppose; for who else
would wear a clanking chain? and what can he want here but to kill
Gracie and me? I suppose he got in the house before they shut the doors
for the night, and hid under the bed till everybody should be fast
asleep, meaning to begin then to murder and rob. Oh, I do wish I'd
looked under the bed while all the gentlemen were about to catch him and
keep him from hurting us! But now what shall I do? If I try to get out
of the bed, he'll catch hold of my foot and kill me before anybody can
come; and if I scream for help, he'll do the same. The best plan is to
lie as quiet as I can, so he'll think I'm still asleep; for maybe he
only means to rob, and not murder, if nobody wakes up to see what he's
about and tell of him. Oh, I do hope Gracie won't wake! for she could
never help screaming; and then he'd jump out and kill us both."

So with heroic courage she lay there, perfectly quiet and hardly moving
a muscle for what seemed to her an age of suffering, every moment
expecting the creature under the bed to spring out upon her, and in
constant fear that Grace would awake and precipitate the calamity by a
scream of affright.

All was quiet again for some time, she lying there, straining her ears
for a repetition of the dreaded sounds; then, as they came again