with the bright light of the moon
shining across the rug at the foot of the bed. But the doze did not last
long, and soon some kind of a noise awoke him with a start.

He opened his eyes and his gaze wandered across the moon-lit room. Was
he dreaming, or was that really a figure in white standing at the foot
of his bed? With a shiver he ducked down and covered his head with the
blankets.

For two or three minutes he lay quiet, expecting every instant to have
something unusual happen. Then, with great caution, he pushed the
blankets back and took another look.

_There was nothing there!_

"But I saw something," he told himself. "I am sure I saw something. What
could it have been?"

Ah, that was the question. For over an hour he continued to lie awake,
watching and listening. Nan was in the next little chamber and he was
half of a mind to call her, but he was afraid she would call him a
"'fraid-cat!" something he despised.

Bert had heard of ghosts and now he thought of all the ghost stories he
could remember. Had the thing in white been a ghost? If so, where had it
come from?

After a while he tried to dismiss the thing from his mind, but it was
almost morning before he fell asleep again. This time he slept so
soundly, however, that he did not rouse up until his mother came and
shook him.

"Why, Bert, what makes you sleep so soundly this morning?" said Mrs.
Bobbsey.

"I--I didn't get to sleep until late," he stammered. And then he added:
"Mamma, do you believe in ghosts?"

"Why, of course not, Bert. What put that into your head?"

"I--I thought I saw a ghost last night."

"You must have been mistaken. There are no ghosts."

"But I saw _something_," insisted the boy.

"Where?"

"Right at the foot of the bed. It was all white."

"When was this?"

"Right in the middle of the night."

"Did you see it come in, or go out?"

"No, mamma. When I woke up it was standing there, and when I took a
second look at it, it was gone."

"You must have been suffering from a nightmare, Bert," said Mrs. Bobbsey
kindly. "You should not have eaten those nuts before going to bed."

"No, it wasn't a nightmare," said the boy.

He had but little to say while eating breakfast, but on the way to
school he told Nan, while Freddie and Flossie listened also.

"Oh, Bert, supposing it was a real ghost?" cried Nan, taking a deep
breath. "Why, I'd be scared out of my wits,--I know I'd be!"

"Mamma says there are no ghosts. B