"I now remembered that the bureau must be behind me, for I had merely turned when I encountered Annie and dropped the candle. There were probably matches upon it: yes, there they were. I struck one and easily found the candle: then Annie rose with the meekest air possible, and, without looking at the obnoxious corner where the bed stood, we walked into the other room and locked the door.
"It was not until the gray morning light crept into the window that we felt quite safe. Every crack in the floor or nibbling mouse caused us to start, and at each quarter the clock of the station would strike as if to warn us to be on the alert. But the bed was not bad, and the house remained quiet; and as soon as the dawn made our candle useless, we began to think we had been very foolish, and the result was a sound sleep.
"When we awoke it was ten o'clock: the morning was bright and clear, and the terrors of the night had all departed during our refreshing rest. The room certainly looked shabby, but if that were a crime, half the houses in the world would be sent to prison. There was nothing in the least mysterious about it. Our courage rose with the day, and we teased and joked each other about our fright. Then, anticipating the glories of the Exposition, we congratulated ourselves that we had come.
"'We won't breakfast here,' said Annie as she was dressing: 'we will go down town to a nice restaurant, and sit at a window and see the people go by. Afterward we will look up our friends and find a good hotel or boarding-house; and we must go to the Exposition this very day. We shall have a famous time. We can make up parties to drive out, and go monument-hunting and sight-seeing, and to the theatre. Ain't you glad you came?'
"'The first thing we do must be to go back to the station and leave these bags with our trunks until we find lodgings,' I remarked.
"Nan went into the next room to get some of the clothing she had left there. When she returned, lowering her voice she said, 'Jane, there is a door behind my curtains.'
"'Very well, let it alone: I suppose it is a closet.'
"'No such thing: it don't look like a closet; and why would they hide a closet, I should like to know? Come in and see it.'
"She walked back, and as I followed drew the curtain aside, and there in fact it was.
"'I am going to open it before I leave the room,' she said in a determined tone: 'there is something not right about it.'