Dinner that night was a somewhat hectic meal, for no one had a chance to finish a sentence about the mysterious Olga and the departure of Melissa before someone else would break in with the announcement of a new theory.
Ida, the maid, did her serving wide-eyed with amazement. She was not a girl to be easily frightened, but she possessed a great deal of natural curiosity. Despite Mrs. Landry’s efforts to shift the conversation into other channels, the names Dimitri, Olga, and Melissa popped up constantly.
Eventually the little house was quiet, with its occupants settled down for the night. Sim and Arden in one room and Terry alone in her own.
Sim and Arden literally talked themselves to sleep, but Terry lay awake for a long time listening to the lap of the waves on the shore and the chirp of the crickets and grasshoppers in the sedges.
It seemed as if Terry had just gone to sleep when she was awakened by a sound somewhere in the house. She listened. It was a barely perceptible squeak, as if a window were being pushed up very gently. She started, then sat upright. Yes, there it was again. Then, without waiting for robe or slippers, she jumped out of bed and ran down the short hall to Sim and Arden.
“Arden! Sim!” she called. “Wake up!”
“H-m-m?” grunted Sim sleepily.
“Someone’s trying to get in!” Terry whispered hoarsely.
Arden was awake instantly. “Where, Terry?” she murmured.
“Downstairs, I guess. Sh-h-h! Listen!” Terry put a warning finger to her lips.