our knowledge.

"So, plucking up our courage, we went to the lumber-room door. I felt so
certain that but a moment before, some one had opened it, that I took
hold of the knob quite confidently and turned it, just as one always
does to open a door. The handle turned, but the door did not yield. I
stooped down to see why; the reason was plain enough: the door was still
locked, locked as usual, and the key in the lock! Then Helen and I stared
at each other: _her_ mind was evidently recurring to the sound she had
heard; what _I_ began to think I can hardly put in words.

"But when we got over this new start a little, we set to work to search
the room as we had intended. And we searched it thoroughly, I assure
you. We dragged the old tables and chairs out of their corners, and
peeped behind the cabinets and chests of drawers where no one _could_
have been hidden. Then we climbed upon the old bedstead, and shook the
curtains till we were covered with dust; and then we crawled under the
valances, and came out looking like sweeps; but there was nothing to be
found. There was certainly _no one_ in the room, and by all appearances
no one could have been there for weeks. We had hardly time to make
ourselves fit to be seen when the dinner-bell rang, and we had to hurry
downstairs. As we ran down we agreed to say nothing of what had happened
before the servants, but after dinner in the drawing-room we told our
story. My mother and brother listened to it attentively, said it was
very strange, and owned themselves as puzzled as we. Mr. Conroy of
course laughed uproariously, and made us dislike him more than ever.
After he had gone we talked it over again among ourselves, and my
mother, who hated mysteries, did her utmost to explain what I had seen
in a matter-of-fact, natural way. Was I sure it was not only Helen
herself I had seen, after fancying she had reached her own room? Was
I quite certain it was not Fraser after all, carrying a shawl perhaps,
which made her look different? Might it not have been this, that, or the
other? It was no use. Nothing could convince me that I had _not_ seen
what I had seen; and though, to satisfy my mother, we cross-questioned
Fraser, it was with no result in the way of explanation. Fraser evidently
knew nothing that could throw light on it, and she was quite certain
that at the time I had seen the figure, both the other servants were
downstairs in the kitchen. Fraser was perfectly trustworthy; we wa