munched
strawberries in thoughtful silence for several moments before recovering
enough spirit to enter another plea in favour of town.

"Well, anyway--if you _don't_ hunt, it must be dull. _And_ lonely!
Aren't you scared to death walking along dark lanes without a single
lamppost? I should live in terror of tramps and burglars, and never
dare to stir out of the house after three o'clock."

"No you wouldn't, if you were accustomed to it. Our maids come home
quite happily at ten o'clock at night, but if they go to a city they are
nervous in the brightly lit streets. That's curious, but it's true. We
used to leave doors and windows open all day long, and hardly trouble to
lock up at night, until a few months ago when we had a scare which made
us more careful. Till then we trusted every one, and every one trusted
us."

"A scare!" Darsie pricked her ears, scenting an excitement. "What
scare? Do tell me! I love gruesome stories. What was it? Thieves?"

Noreen nodded solemnly.

"Yes! It's gruesome enough. Simply horrid for us, for so many other
people lost their--but I'll tell you from the beginning. It was the
night of the Hunt Ball at Rakeham, and the house was crammed with
visitors. We were allowed to sit up to see them all start. They looked
so lovely--the men in their pink coats, and the ladies in their very
best dresses and jewels. Well, it was about half-past seven; the ladies
had gone upstairs to dress about half an hour before, when suddenly
there was a great noise and clamour, and some one shouted `Fire!' and
pealed an alarm on the gong. No one knew where it was, but you never
heard such a hubbub and excitement. Doors opened all down the
corridors, and the ladies rushed out in dressing-gowns and dressing-
jackets, with hair half done, or streaming down their backs, shrieking
and questioning, and clinging to one another, and rushing downstairs.
The men were more sensible; they took it quite calmly, and just set to
work to put the fire out. It was in a little room on the second floor,
and the strange thing was that it hadn't been used for months, and no
one could account for there being a fire there at all. After a little
time one of the men came out into the corridor, and said: `There's
something wrong about this--this is not the result of accident! I don't
like the look of it at all.' Then he turned to the ladies, who were all
huddled together, gasping and questioning, with their maids