ebreaking.
The kitchen window went up quite easily. Rilla lifted Jims in and
scrambled through herself, just as the storm broke in good earnest.

"Oh, see all the little pieces of thunder," cried Jims in delight, as
the hail danced in after them. Rilla shut the window and with some
difficulty found and lighted a lamp. They were in a very snug little
kitchen. Opening off it on one side was a trim, nicely furnished
parlour, and on the other a pantry, which proved to be well stocked.

"I'm going to make myself at home," said Rilla. "I know that is just
what Hannah would want me to do. I'll get a little snack for Jims and
me, and then if the rain continues and nobody comes home I'll just go
upstairs to the spare room and go to bed. There is nothing like acting
sensibly in an emergency. If I had not been a goose when I saw Jims
fall off the train I'd have rushed back into the car and got some one
to stop it. Then I wouldn't have been in this scrape. Since I am in it
I'll make the best of it.

"This house," she added, looking around, "is fixed up much nicer than
when I was here before. Of course Hannah and Ted were just beginning
housekeeping then. But somehow I've had the idea that Ted hasn't been
very prosperous. He must have done better than I've been led to
believe, when they can afford furniture like this. I'm awfully glad for
Hannah's sake."

The thunderstorm passed, but the rain continued to fall heavily. At
eleven o'clock Rilla decided that nobody was coming home. Jims had
fallen asleep on the sofa; she carried him up to the spare room and put
him to bed. Then she undressed, put on a nightgown she found in the
washstand drawer, and scrambled sleepily in between very nice
lavender-scented sheets. She was so tired, after her adventures and
exertions, that not even the oddity of her situation could keep her
awake; she was sound asleep in a few minutes.

Rilla slept until eight o'clock the next morning and then wakened with
startling suddenness. Somebody was saying in a harsh, gruff voice,
"Here, you two, wake up. I want to know what this means."

Rilla did wake up, promptly and effectually. She had never in all her
life wakened up so thoroughly before. Standing in the room were three
people, one of them a man, who were absolute strangers to her. The man
was a big fellow with a bushy black beard and an angry scowl. Beside
him was a woman--a tall, thin, angular person, with violently red hair
and an indescribable ha