"Let's put on the light and run to Paulina's room," Nell whispered, trying to pierce the darkness, and looking in the direction of the wall where the light had appeared. There it was for a moment again! Now it faded; then it came more strongly and went out again.
"It looks as if somebody were passing back and forth behind a screen, Nell," whispered Jannet. "Come on." But just then there came that clicking sound that Jannet had heard on that other night. "Wait, Nell," she whispered. "I'll get to the door, and if nothing gets me, come, too."
"No," again said Nell, holding Jannet as if to keep her in bed. There was somebody,--something,--in the room! A cover of the bed began to be drawn off, as before. Gently it moved. Jannet, ready for an experiment to find out if this were a person or a ghost that entered her room so mysteriously, reached for the slowly moving cover and gave it a jerk back toward her. She met with no resistance at all, and pulled the cover in a little heap around her by the force of her own effort.
This was too much! Jannet leaped out of bed, seized Nell by the arm, and ran in the direction of the electric button and the door. As she pushed the button, she was sure that she heard a similar sound behind her, but she only glanced behind to see that no one was after them, as she pulled out the little bolt and pushed Nell into the hall ahead of her.
Barefooted and breathless, the girls stood in the hall a moment, listening. Nothing followed them. They peeped back into the room after a few minutes. It was not cold, but both girls were shivering.
"Do you suppose that the boys could fool us in some way?" asked Nell, who remembered her brother's tricks.
"Perhaps one of them hid somewhere," said Jannet. "But how did he get out? This business of pulling a cover off happened once before, Nell. Perhaps there is a way of getting into the room. The windows were 'way up to-night, too."
"Let's run down and see if the boys are in their room," suggested Nell.
"All right, but the other time was before Jan got home."
Back the girls went, somewhat timorously, to be sure, to put on slippers and kimonos. Thus clad, they slipped quietly down the back stairs, and Nell stepped close to the door to listen. A heavy pin, with which she had fastened her kimono, fell out at this juncture and in the stillness of the hall it made quite a little noise.