"Here's room for two of you girls," said Mrs. Gilligan.
"Oh, we all three want to sleep together," cried Violet, fearful that she might be picked to sleep alone. "There's safety in numbers."
"All right, but I have to sleep somewhere," Mrs. Gilligan reminded her with a wry little smile. "Aren't you going to help me find some place? This may be the only bed that's in sleeping condition in the house."
"Then we'd have to sleep four in a bed," said Billie, with a chuckle.
"But come on, let's see if some kind fairy hasn't prepared for you too,
Mrs. Gilligan."
Laughing, the girls pushed out into the hall and looked for the next doorway. They no longer glanced fearfully in the corners for something they were afraid to see. The thought of the nice clean bed pushed all their weird fancies into the background. Ghosts and clean beds did not seem to go together!
They found another room just as clean as the other one, and also with a canopied four-poster in one corner. With cries of delight the girls discovered that it also was ready for occupancy.
"Goodness, I wonder who could have done it?" mused Violet, as she dropped down on the edge of the bed and regarded the girls wonderingly.
"Maybe it was a ghost," said Laura, with a chuckle, and Violet glanced around uneasily.
"Can't you forget about ghosts for five minutes?" she asked rather irritably, for she was tired after the long day's trip. "Just when I'm beginning to be happy—"
"There, there," cried Billie soothingly. "Don't go and get mad, Vi, darling, or our last hope will be gone. I guess Aunt Beatrice left it this way. Gracious! what's that?"