"Is it the carriage?" said Isabel Murray.

"I don't know. Something woke me,
but I can't tell what. Yes, it must be,"
continued Lucy, as the dog went sniffing
to the door, and she opened it and looked
out. "I hear footsteps, but there is no
light. How quietly they have come in!"

Just then Pincher, who had run out
when the door was opened, came cowering
back with drooping tail, and at the same
moment came the grating sound of a door
turning on rusty hinges, and then quietly
closed. Isabel sprang to Lucy's side, and,
softly closing all but a chink of the door,
stood listening. Nothing more was heard.
The girls looked at each other, and drew a
long breath. " There's something wrong
here, Lucy," said Isabel. Lucy quickly shut
the door, and bolted it.

"Oh! Isabel, I am so frightened! Only
think if anybody can get in here in the
dead of the night! We may all be
murdered!"

"We must tell Eleanor, and, of course,
it must be looked to. But the strange thing
is, that the door seems as if it had not been
opened for a century."

"Oh dear, that's nothing. These people
are up to all sorts of tricks— "

"What people?"

"Why housebreakers and burglars!"

"I don't think it can be a burglar," said
Isabel, " as he has been here already, and
nothing appears to have been stolen.
Perhaps one of the maids has a follower whom
she lets in by stealth. What is there on
the other side of that door?"

"I don't know. Oh yes, I do! A sort of
lumber-room and carpenter's workroom."

"We ought to go to-morrow and examine
it on that side. I do not think there is
any danger for to-night, as the intruder,
whoever he be, seems to have departed.
What's become of Pincher? Did you shut
him out?"

On examination the dog was found under
the bed, pressed closely against the wall,
and trembling all over. Lucy had some
difficulty in coaxing him out, and even when
she had got him in her arms her caresses
failed to restore him to his usual spirits.
"Is he ill, poor fellow?" asked Isabel.

"Only frightened, I think; but he is
usually so courageous! I cannot understand
it. You may be sure he has seen some one
who has terrified him somehow. I wish
the others were come home!"

After this the raking pot of tea was not
so jovial an affair as they had intended. The
two watchers had not quite got over their
alarm, and the others heard their account
with anxiety and uneasiness. Eleanor
agreed that the first thing to do was to
scrutinise both sides of the door, but
cautioned them all to keep entire silence on
the subject, meantime.

The next day they made their investigation
of the carpenter's workroom, which
was entered by an outside wooden stair.
Eleanor made the pretence of wanting a
piece of old-seasoned wood for a drawing-
board, which gave them an excuse for
poking about unsuspected. Not only were
the door and all its adjuncts as rusty and
cobweb-tapestried here as on the inside;
but they found heaped against it a quantity
of wood which had been cut up for making
new hurdles.

"They might be put there only for a
blind," Isabel suggested in a whisper; so
the astute Eleanor put a leading question
immediately.

"Have you not been a long time about
those hurdles, Jones?"

"Well, ma'am, the hurdles is ready, and
has been any time these three weeks. It
ain't my fault they bean't put up long ago,
and I'd be glad to get 'em out of my way
lumberin' here. Perhaps you'd speak
about it?"

Eleanor promised to do so, and remarking
that her father's illness had caused
some neglect of out-door work, gave directions
about her board, and withdrew.

"No light thrown on the mystery yet,"
she observed, as they walked away. " That
door cannot have been opened for years, I
am positive." The Murrays were to leave
the lodge next day. " I shall move into
that room to-morrow. When the servants
know one of the family is close by, they
will hardly dare to carry on any clandestine
meeting."

"But that's no good," said Lucy; " if it
is one of the servants the man will be let
in elsewhere. Dear Nellie, do get to the
bottom of it. I am sure if you do not, I
never can feel that we are safe for a single
night."

"My child, it is not proved that anybody
did come in. On the contrary, it seems
impossible."

"We will watch to-night, anyhow," said
Effie.

When night came, however, Eleanor
desired her sisters would go to their own
rooms, as she thought so many of them
together could hardly keep quiet enough to
avoid giving some warning to the
mysterious visitor. She also begged the