wake, although she had confessed to herself that she was neither brave
nor foolish enough to do it. For the figure was too mysterious, too
uncertain, and whether man or woman, boy or girl, she had no
conception. Why, it was only the fact of the hand which proved that it
was even human!

Then both girls lay rigid once more, with not a muscle moving, scarcely
believing that they breathed. For the form was again flitting down the
length of the room, possibly toward their bed. The next second and it
had passed through Betty's evidently unlatched door and vanished
noiselessly into the hall.

Polly was sleeping on the outside of the bed, so it was she who first
leaped upon the floor, turning on the electric light until the room was
brilliantly illuminated.

"You are not to stir until I can go along with you," Betty protested,
following her immediately. And then both girls lost a moment of time
in putting on their dressing gowns, for the night was bitterly cold.

"Shall we call somebody first?" Polly inquired, all at once in the
lighted room feeling uncertain as to whether the experience through
which they had lately passed had been a real one. Nothing in their
room was changed in the least since their going to bed. There were
Betty's clothes on one chair and her own upon another. There was the
book she had been reading left open upon the desk, and Betty's
unfinished letter to Esther. Had they both gone suddenly mad?

But Betty had lighted a candle; so Polly followed until they were able
to light the gas in the second story hall.

There was no one about. All the other bedroom doors were safely closed
and the Professor was apparently snoring hoarsely.

"Shall we call your mother or wake up anybody?" Polly questioned. But
Betty shook her head. She looked pale, and her eyes were uncomfortably
mystified. Otherwise she appeared perfectly self-controlled.

"No, let us not call anybody and not mention our alarm until morning.
If our visitor was a burglar, he knows that we are aware of his
presence and so won't try any more performances tonight. And if it
wasn't a burglar, but a ghost, why, there is no use frightening mother
to death and we will only get laughed at by the others. It seems queer
to me for either a ghost or a burglar to come into a house so filled
with people. If you don't mind, Polly, let us just go on back to bed
and leave the light burning for our consolation. We had both better
try to sleep