"Oh, yes, you will," said Billie, trying hard to make her voice sound natural and unconcerned. "We're all so tired we couldn't help sleeping anywhere."
"Just as I thought," said Mrs. Gilligan, referring to the object she had stubbed her toe against. "Your suitcase, Billie, and the creepy noise we heard was when it slid off the trunk. Come on now," she added, holding her candle high over her head again, "let's see what we can find in the way of bedrooms."
"Let's go in the first door we reach," suggested Billie, and at the moment Mrs. Gilligan's candle showed a wide, high doorway leading into a black cavern of a room.
"Well, here's the first one," she said. "If we have luck and find some bedding—"
She was already feeling her way cautiously between several chairs and tables, with the girls following close behind.
"There's the bed!" cried Laura. "Oh, isn't it funny? A regular old four-poster."
"With a canopy over it!" marveled Violet.
"And it's made up with clean things," added Billie, making another discovery. "Goodness, it makes you feel like the 'Little Princess' when she found all the good things in her room."
"Sure enough, it has been made fresh," said Mrs. Gilligan, as she wonderingly turned down a somewhat dusty spread and disclosed snowy sheets beneath.
"Somebody's been keeping house anyway," said Laura.