nterposed
Jennie wisely, "and now, girls, dear, do run along to bed. You've had
a fine time, and I enjoyed the show first rate."

"Thank you, Jennie!" panted Grace, crawling out of her cocoon like a
human caterpillar. "We had a lovely time also. And, Jennie, will you
please be sure to leave your door open? Michael may be a very sound
sleeper, and you know we all have to be on guard to-night."

"Indeed, Grace, not a step could come up that gravel path, or through
the grass itself, but I would hear it"--Jennie was proud of her
nocturnally acute sense of sound, or suspicion of mere noises--"and you
may sleep sound as Michael himself, for nothing will come near this
lodge unbeknownst to Jennie Marlow."

"That's a good Jennie," Cleo patted the trusted servant, "and if I hear
even the tiniest bit of a noise, like a chipmunk, or a tree toad, you
can expect me to come pouncing into your nice big feather bed."

"And leave us!" protested Madaline, who was no longer the entrancing
Circe.

"There'll be room for all of you, crosswise, like our old buckboard,"
Jennie assured them once more, and this time the "good-night" was
allowed to take effect.

A half hour later Cragsnook was snuggled in the stillness of a
beautifully soft night, pillowed against the Jersey mountains, and
cradled in the sweet scented foliage of giant tulip trees and ambitious
beeches. The trees at night seemed unfathomable, and this denseness
increased the darkness and magnified the shadows.

But the three girl scouts under Jennie Marlow's protection, slept and
dreamed of their next day's quest in search of Mary, the phantom wood
nymph, or Mary the fleet-footed maid of Second Mountain.

She must surely live somewhere between Bellaire and that mountain,
beyond which the girls had no definite idea of territory. A pretty
lake formed the boundary, and up to that line they had planned their
search.

CHAPTER V

ON THE TRAIL

After all their preparations for burglars or other scary visitors, it
was rather disappointing to come down to breakfast next morning just as
calm and complaisant as usual; in fact it was calmer, for the absence
of Aunt Audrey was readily felt in something like loneliness. Madaline
was even threatened with a fit of homesickness.

Jennie brought the muffins, and it struck Cleo she was quieter than
usual. A snappy "good morning" in that tone that implies "eat in a
hurry and clear out," added another note to the already