y give dull knives to? It's insane people! This room was
undoubtedly designed for some one afflicted in that way. That is why the
window is barred, and there is no door, and why the room is done in
lavender. Lavender has a soothing and depressing effect on people's
nerves and would probably keep an insane person from becoming violent.
We got here through some awful mistake."

Gladys shuddered violently. "How horrible!" she said. "I suppose that
woman actually considers us insane. How long do you suppose they will
keep us here?"

"Only until they find out their mistake," answered Nyoda, "which I hope
will be soon. I shall write a note and give it to the woman when she
comes up again."

Both their spirits revived when they arrived at this theory, and they
returned to their supper with good appetites. "I wish I could cut this
meat," sighed Gladys. Then she brightened. "I have my Wohelo knife in my
handbag," she said, rising and going over to the bed where her coat lay.
She stopped in disappointment when she opened the bag. The knife was not
there. "I remember now," she said; "I took it out just before we left
home and must have forgotten to put it back in again, we left in such a
hurry."

"What will the girls think, anyway, when we fail to arrive at the
Bates's?" said Nyoda.

"They'll probably telephone to town," said Gladys, "and mother will know
I didn't get there and she will be frantic." She lost all her appetite
with a rush when this thought came to her.

They waited impatiently for the return of the woman with the tray. Nyoda
wrote a note and had it ready for her. It read:

"There has been some mistake. We are not the persons you intended to
keep here."

But the woman did not come. Darkness fell outside the window and they
lighted the lights in the room, but still there was no movement of the
elevator. They spent the evening pacing up and down the room, discussing
the mysterious situation in which they found themselves, until from
sheer weariness they lay down on the bed. They did not undress and they
left the lights burning, intending to watch for the return of the woman.
They set the tray on the floor at some distance from the elevator.

"Can it be possible," said Gladys, "that it was only this afternoon that
we broke into our house? It seems years ago." Nyoda lay staring at the
elevator shaft, awaiting the return of the cage.

"This purple glare over everything hurts my eyes," she said. She closed
the