“Well, with the telephone in order we can go to bed, I guess,” Agnes remarked. “Though I would like to know who rang our front doorbell and ran away.”
“Perhaps the lightning did that, too,” said Luke, with a somewhat wan smile.
“Maybe,” agreed Ruth. “And now don’t talk any more, Luke; get up to bed. Uncle Rufus will help you.”
“Oh, I’m not as much knocked out as all that, Ruth.”
But he was weaker than he thought and staggered a bit as he started for the stairs, so he was rather glad of the assisting arm of the old colored servant.
Gradually the wonted silence of the night settled over the Corner House and there was peace and quietness following the outburst of the storm and the other disturbances. But to Ruth, sleepless for a long time, it seemed that some strange mystery overshadowed the old mansion which overlooked the Milton Parade Ground.
In the morning Luke was almost himself again, and soon after breakfast he proposed an examination of the cellar. Sammy and the younger girls were told only as much of the affairs of the night before as would explain why the others were so interested in searching the basement.
“Are you looking for the treasure?” asked Dot.
“No, just for traces of two tramps who got in here during the storm last night, my dear,” explained Ruth.
“We’ll help,” offered Tess, and at intervals the younger Corner House girls poked into the dark corners of the cellar.