"Why, Daphne, what is the matter?"
"There's something in the room." She paused, and looked fearfully around her. "I don't know what. A black shape—a shadow. It was bending over me."
I cast a glance over the room, but nothing unusual met my eye, and I concluded she had been dreaming.
"You are dreaming, Daphne. Do not cry so. There is no one here but you and me."
"Yes, yes, there is!"
All the guests, roused by the screams, had risen from their slumbers, and in various stages of dressing were thronging around the open door, becoming round-eyed as they took in the character of the scene.
"Heyday! what's the matter here?" exclaimed my uncle, entering at this juncture; and all the rest, imitating his example, entered too.
"I came because I heard Daphne calling for help," I replied.
"Oh, papa," said Daphne, withdrawing her arms from me and placing both hands in his. "I have been frightened, and could not help screaming out, and Frank came."
"Frightened? What was it that frightened you?"