For the first part of the night Billie slept soundly, but just as the clock downstairs was striking two, she awakened suddenly and lay still in bed listening. She was frightened, though she could not have told why.
Rigidly she lay there hardly daring to breathe.
CHAPTER VII
A STRANGE BURGLAR
What was it that had awakened Billie Bradley?
Hardly had the girl asked herself that question when she heard it—a padding, stealthy, creeping noise that made her clutch the bed clothes and draw them tighter about her.
Then in a panic she realized that whatever it was had started upstairs.
Nearer, nearer came the stealthy padding, till Billie realized it had reached the landing. Her scalp crept and her hair began to stand on end. Her door was the nearest to the stairs, and she was all alone in the house with Chet!
Swiftly, she threw off the covers, jumped out of bed, and with her limbs trembling under her, ran to the door and softly turned the key in the lock.
Then she leaned weakly against the door and listened for the noise, but it had stopped. Evidently the burglar, if burglar it was, had paused to get his bearings.