At last they came, and Bessy flew down to meet her parents with delight, for she felt lonesome and queer.
Mamma called Ann to light the big lamp on the round table; then she looked at her little girl, sat down, and took her on her lap, saying:
"Well, what have you been doing, little one? You look tired and cold. Have you had your tea?"
How Bessy longed to tell them of the wonderful good luck in store for them! But she remembered her promise, and only answered:
"Yes, mamma. I am sleepy."
So mamma took a candle from the mantel-piece, and led Bessy to bed, undressed her, and listened to her little prayer, and tucked in the quilt; then she said:
"I'll be back for the light after I have had my supper. Shut your eyes, like a good girl, and go to sleep."
As soon as her mother left the room Bessy slid off of the bed and into the next room, which was her mother's, to hunt for two pairs of shoes. After some fumbling, she found a pair of slippers of her mother's and a large pair of boots of her father's. She put them in a row by the door, and then jumped into bed again.
It was not until after what seemed to Bessy a long, long time that she heard her father and mother come out of the dining-room. Then she heard papa say:
"Why, what's the matter with the key? I can't turn it." She heard the key taken out, and papa say again: "What is this in the key? It looks like wax."