The girls had been asleep for an hour or more when Cora was awakened by a knocking on the front door.
“Who on earth can that be at this hour of the night?” she wondered, as she raised herself on her elbow to listen.
The knocking continued, and as nobody else seemed awake to answer it, Cora slipped out of bed, donned a kimono, and softly woke Bess and Belle.
“What is it?” asked Belle drowsily.
“Go away and let me sleep,” murmured Bess, turning over on her pillow.
“There’s somebody knocking at the front door,” explained Cora. “I’m going down to see who it is, and I want you girls to go with me.”
“It may be a burglar!” exclaimed Belle.
“You might get hurt!” protested Bess, wide awake now.
“Nonsense!” laughed Cora. “Burglars don’t usually announce their coming by knocking at the door. Besides, I’ll find out who it is before I open. Slip on your kimonos and come along.”
They obeyed, not without some inward shrinking.