no answer. As they stood listening for sounds
from below they heard the automobile which had brought them start up and
drive away from the house. After that there was not another sound of any
kind. An unnamable terror seized them both. Each read the other's fear
in her eyes. Rushing to the window, they looked out. There was nothing
to be seen but the lake stretching out before them, calm and smiling in
the May sunshine. The boom of the waves sounded directly beneath them,
and they knew that the tower was on the extreme edge of the bluff.

"This is not Norma Bates's house," said Nyoda in a frightened voice.
"She said that they were a hundred feet back from the lake."

"Whose house is it, then?" asked Gladys.

"I can't imagine," said Nyoda. "It's all a mistake somewhere."

"But that was the Bates's automobile, all right, that we got into," said
Gladys.

"Yes," said Nyoda reflectively; "bright blue with a cane streamer,
standing at the corner of ----th Avenue and L---- Street. _But was it
the right one?"_ she asked suddenly, putting her hands to her head.
"That driver never said a word, just got in and drove off. What on earth
are we into?"

Gladys's face suddenly went as white as chalk. "Nyoda!" she gasped,
clutching the other girl's arm.

"What is it?" asked Nyoda.

"You read every day in the papers of girls disappearing," said Gladys
faintly, "never to be heard of again. Have we--have we--disappeared?"

"I don't know," said Nyoda, with thoughts whirling. She turned away from
the window, toward the elevator. Not a sound of any kind had been heard,
and yet when she turned around there was the elevator up again with the
same woman in it who had brought them up. Instead of opening the door,
however, she pressed something and a little slide opened at about the
height of her head. Through this she passed a supper tray, which she set
on a shelf on the wall at the side of the elevator. Gladys and Nyoda
hastened toward her.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Nyoda. The woman made no answer.
"In whose house are we?" demanded Nyoda. Still no reply. "Answer me,"
said Nyoda sharply. The woman pointed to her ears and shook her head,
then pointed to her lips and shook her head. "She's deaf and dumb!"
exclaimed Nyoda. The woman pressed a button and the elevator sank from
sight.

Nyoda and Gladys faced each other in consternation. The mystery was
becoming deeper. Beyond a doubt they were not in Mrs. Bates's house;
beyon