"Dreaming, Barbara! Oh, no, it was far too vivid for a dream. I had been fast asleep for I don't know how long, when suddenly I was awakened by hearing my name pronounced quite close to me, as if the speaker were bending over my bed. A second time my name was spoken, and then I knew that it was Isabel who was calling me. I sat up and gazed around, but no one was visible. Then Isabel called me again, and this time the voice seemed to come from outside the door. I got out of bed, put on my dressing-gown, and went out into the corridor. Still, no one was there. Then the voice spoke again, simply calling my name, nothing more; but this time it sounded further away--away down the corridor, and near the head of the stairs. While I was looking and listening, I seemed to see a white figure, very faint and vaguely defined, standing in the dim starlight, near the staircase window, and beckoning to me to follow it. I followed without hesitation, for I had no fear; and yet that seems very strange. As I advanced the figure vanished, and then, when I reached the head of the stairs, I heard my name spoken again, as if from below. Then I descended the stairs and followed the voice till it led me here--here, Barbara! Do you not understand?"
Miss Pengarvon's sallow cheeks grew still more sallow. She understood only too well. But before she could say a word, Miss Letitia went on in a strangely eager way:
"But now that I am here she does not speak. I have called her, but she will not answer; and yet she must be in trouble, for it was enough to make one weep to hear the way she spoke my name. It is strange--very strange! She has brought me all the way here, and now she hides herself from me."
"Strange indeed, Letitia; but we will talk more fully in the morning," answered Miss Pengarvon, with an unwonted tremor in her voice. "It is very late now, and very cold; and we had better go back to bed."
"But what if Isabel were to call again? What if she were really to want me for something?"
"I will sit up and listen, and if she--if anyone should call you, I shall be there to attend to the summons."
"But you will wake me, will you not, if Isabel should ask for me again?"
"I promise you that I will."
"Then I will go back to bed; though how you can say it is a cold night, Barbara, is more than I can think. I am all in a glow; feel at my hands."
Miss Pengarvon said no more, but drew one of her sister's hot hands under her arm, and hurried her away.