“Nora, you should tell Mrs. Manton! It is not safe to hide anything so serious as that. Suppose the Thing comes crawling down some night and Vita is not there to drive it back?”
“Oh, she doesn’t drive it back,” Nora had not actually visualized the terror in that way. “She just kept me from finding out——”
“What?” interrupted Alma when Nora paused from sheer excitement.
“I don’t know what!”
“What do you think?”
“Well, maybe it’s a—really Alma, I don’t dare think. I did not know how frightened I was till I started talking about it. Why, I am just all creeps,” admitted Nora. “Here Cap,” she shouted, as the dog attempted to wander off, “don’t go away. Come on, Alma. I guess we had better go out by the road. Why, I am just as frightened as if the—Thing were around here!” she gasped.
“Maybe it is,” said Alma cruelly, picking up her knitting upon which she had not taken a stitch, and following Nora out of the little woodland into the more open field that flanked the narrow roadway.
They hurried. Alma tripped and Nora almost screamed.
“Why, what is the matter?” asked the Scout. “You haven’t seen anything?”
“No, but I feel so queer. You know, Alma” (she loved an audience), “I am queer and I do believe I sometimes feel things in advance. Miss Baily always said I did.”