"She's gone, and Jane went first. Come on, and don't make a noise."
Softly they sped along the passage, down some stairs to another long passage, through a green baize door, past several rooms, and at last they came to the right one.
"He may be here already," said Daffy fearfully. "I'm a little afraid."
"He won't come till he wants a bed," said Freda reassuringly; "and grown-up people never go to bed till it's quite dark."
They found the room empty, but Daffy kept glancing out of the window, with her heart beating fast. It was dusk in this big room. The creepers outside the window tapped against the window-panes, as if they were hands that wanted to come in.
She and Freda were not very clever at making up a bed, and when she pulled a corner of the sheet towards her, Freda pulled it away again. It seemed as if they could not get it smooth and straight.
Then an owl hooted outside the window, and Daffy gave a little scream.
Freda was hotly indignant with her.
"You're a coward, that's what you are! And you'll make Nurse come down upon us, if you don't take care. I wish you weren't so clumsy! Do be quick! I think I hear him coming!"
That quickened Daffy. She did not want to see that dirty ugly old man coming into the dusky room. The pillows were thumped into their cases, the blankets and coverlet drawn tight over the big bed and tucked under the mattress, then Daffy slipped out of the room, thankful the task was over. Freda locked the door and took the key to bed with her; even her bold heart did not wish to have the old man prowling about over the house in the middle of the night.