“I’ve told you about all there is to tell,” said Anna, wearily. “Except that I had a warning from the spirit world—for you girls!”
“A warning?” repeated Marie Louise, her eyes wide open in amazement. “Oh, girls, what did I tell you!”
“Go on—go on, Anna!” urged Marjorie.
“Well, I guess my aunt told you that I went down stairs to make sure we had locked the back door, because I thought I heard some noises back by the stable. Well, when I found that it was surely locked, I started through the hall to the stairs again. I got to the cellar—”
“You didn’t go down the cellar!” cried Alice, in horror. “Not alone?”
“No! I fell down the cellar!” announced Anna. “Some of the boys had been joking about looking for ghosts down the cellar, and had gone down during the evening. They must have left the door all the way open, and I guess I walked into the cellarway instead of coming back through the hall, and tumbled full length to the bottom.”
“Heavens!” exclaimed Mrs. Munsen; “it’s a blessing you weren’t killed!”
“Did you scream?” demanded Marjorie.
“I don’t know—I honestly don’t remember anything clear till I woke up at the bottom of the steps, right before I came here!”
“But Anna, you couldn’t have been there all the time!” protested Ethel. “The policemen searched the place thoroughly last night, and two of the girls went over the whole house this morning!”