"I am frightened!" she whispered.
"So am I," I offered, to reassure her. "You are not afraid of rats, are you?"
"No-o!"
"Bully!" I cried. Then I laughed.
"How can you laugh? It is horrible!" she protested.
"You would come, though I heard your uncle warn you. Look at it the way I do. It's a huge joke, and years from now you'll have great fun telling it to your grandchildren."
"I wish, at this moment, I could see so far ahead—What was that?"—seizing my arm.
Click!
Somebody had locked the door behind us!