Down it went from step to step, and presently it had slipped through the light, and was down; and a little later it came back again, through the light, and up the stairs, and back into that unused room.
And then David slapped his knees jubilantly, and ran down to his room, and slept all the rest of the night.
Next morning he was very mysterious about his discoveries of the night before.
“Oh, yes, I saw the ghost,” he said to Maggie. “There; don’t ask so many questions; I’ll tell you more about it to-morrow, maybe.”
And that was all the information she could get from him. It was very provoking.
That day David made a purchase down town and brought home a bulky bundle, which he hid in his own room and would not let his sister even peep at.
“I’m going to try to catch a ghost to-night,” he said, “and you know how it is; if I brag too much beforehand, I shall be sure to fail.”
He was working with something in the hall after the others had retired; but he did not sit up this time. He went to bed, and Margaret listened at his door and found that he was soon asleep.
But away in the night they were all awakened by a squealing that brought them all into the hall in a great hurry; and there, at the head of the stairs, they found the huge rat-trap that David had set a few hours before, and in the midst of the toils was a rat.
“Why, David,” exclaimed the mother, “I didn’t know that there was a rat in the house.”