irecting. "I don't know where the kitchen is, but I suppose
there is one somewhere. I'll find it while you start to bring the
things in."

"We'll each take a candle," cried Billie, her eyes shining in the
flickering candle light, "and look for the kitchen. Come on, girls,
follow the leader."

So, with Mrs. Gilligan at the head, they marched through what seemed to
be a library, seen dimly by the light thrown by their four candles, into
a room whose table and chairs showed it to be the dining-room.

"The kitchen must be just beyond, then," said Laura, beginning to enjoy
herself immensely. "There's a door, Mrs. Gilligan. Look out--don't bump
your head."

But Mrs. Gilligan had no intention of bumping her head. She swung open
the door in question, and they found themselves in a butler's pantry that
seemed almost as large as Billie's bedroom at home.

"Goodness! the Powerson that first built the house must have expected
to entertain lots of company," exclaimed Violet, looking with wonder
at the rows of curtained cupboards. "I wonder if there are dishes in
all of them?"

"We haven't time to look now," said Mrs. Gilligan, stopping her as she
was about to peep inside a closet. "We can do all that to-morrow when we
have daylight. Ah, here's the kitchen," she added, as she stepped into a
huge room--the regular type of a very old kitchen that could be used as
sitting-room as well.

"Gracious, it's a house!" cried Billie, moving her candle about in an
effort to light up the corners of the place. "There isn't any end to it."

"I'm glad I don't have to keep it clean as a steady job," said Mrs.
Gilligan grimly. "Now, girls, let's go back and find our two friends with
the provisions. I don't know how you feel about it, but as for me, a
little something to eat wouldn't go at all bad."

"We're just starved," they cried, and began a concerted rush back to the
front of the house where their "friends with the provisions" were.

However, when they arrived there, they found the provisions spread upon
the driveway but the man and boy had disappeared.

"Humph!" grunted Mrs. Gilligan, her mouth straightening to a grim line,
"I had more than a notion that that old fellow would clear out, and of
course the young one wouldn't stay alone. I shouldn't have trusted them
out of my sight!"

She began picking up bags and packages, and the girls followed suit.
Before very long they had gathered up all the provisions and were
staggering back,