Possibly the girl might have been argued out of her absurd fear had she not won her mother to her side. She took the same view.
“What then is to be done?” asked Chester a trifle impatiently.
“Nothing; they can’t get the safe open, if they work till daylight.”
“They can do it in a few minutes if they use dynamite, and at the same time blow out the whole end of your house.”
To this terrifying declaration the lady could make no reply except to say:
“We may as well go back to our rooms.”
It was on the point of Chester’s tongue to ask in view of this conclusion why Nora had knocked on their door, but he thought best to refrain.
“Whisht!” whispered Mike; “let’s go to the parlor, where we have the moonlight to help us.”
Walking on tiptoe and as silent as so many cats, the party moved through the hall to the front room. The straining ears heard nothing more from below stairs, though there could be no doubt that their visitors were still there.
As Mike had intimated, the round, clear moon was in the sky, and looking from the windows it seemed almost as bright as day. The party stood just far enough back to be invisible to anyone in the street below. A row of elms lined each side of the highway, being mutually separated by a dozen yards or so. They were small, having been set out only a few years before, but were in full foliage and the most remote ones cast a shadow into the highway. On the same side of what was the main street, each frame house that served for a dwelling had a yard, shrubbery and flowers in front. Farther to the left was the small grocery store, while to the right on the same side as the post office was the pert little village church to which reference has already been made.