"Out of the window!" echoed Grace, who, with Amy, had decided that
the lower hall with company was more to be desired than a room
upstairs alone. "Oh, Roy, from this house?"

"Since this is the only one for three miles around, I suppose it
was," said Roy, with biting sarcasm.

"But he may have been in our room," cried Amy, beginning to shiver
again.

"Very likely," said Will grimly, while Mrs. Irving looked decidedly
worried. "The one good thing about the whole affair is, that he
didn't get the letter."

"Oh, bother the letter," cried Mollie, cross because she could not
stop trembling. "I--I wish it were daylight. I never wanted to see
the sun so much."

"Well, it is, almost," said Frank, waving his hand toward the east
where a dim grey veil was replacing the blackness of night. "Adolph
must have been hanging around for some time, before he got the chance
he wanted."

"Before I went to sleep," put in Roy moodily.

"But didn't you follow him?" queried Betty, eagerly.

"Of course," said Will, "until he disappeared in the woods; and you
might just as well hunt for a needle in a haystack, as look for him