“Why? What should I be afraid of? I slept alone at boarding school and the winds made dreadful noises sometimes.” protested Nora.
“Never mind. You be Vita’s good baby and Vita give you nice—very good cake tomorrow,” coaxed the woman, who now seemed anxious to leave the attic herself. She stirred uneasily.
“Well,” sighed Nora, “I suppose I can’t have any peace if I don’t.” She threw down the coverlet. “But see, my little clock says eleven, and I don’t want to disturb anyone on my very first night. You go down whatever way you came up, Vita; and I’ll creep down the front way.”
The woman’s relief was so evident Nora scarcely knew whether to be grateful or suspicious.
“Now everything be all right,” whispered Vita happily, “and you sleep just like the angel. Here Cap, you go very still,” and she patted the dog with a little shove that urged him toward the door. He understood, evidently, for very quietly indeed he shuffled down, his four feet softer than velvet slippers, as he carried his huge body down the darkened stairway.
Nora first poked her head out to make sure the coast was clear, then with a motion to Vita, who stood with candle in hand at the attic door, she swept down the stairs and entered the yellow room, into which a soft light from the hall fell in a welcoming path.
The bed covers were turned down—Vita must have been determined that Nora should use that bed, and the window was properly opened, for the soft breeze stirred the scrim curtains, and a wonderful woodland scent stole into the room.
“It is much better down here,” Nora was forced to admit as she snuggled into the gold and blue coverlet. “I guess I was a nuisance to be so obstinate.”
A few minutes later a step in the hall glided to the electric light button, and the click that followed turned off the light.
That must have been Ted, of course, and she must have known that Nora was now safely tucked in the comfortable bed in the guest room.