ould be glorious." Barbara
got up and began pacing back and forth. She saw nothing of the dingy
garret room. Her imagination was traveling at express-train speed. Bab
stood leaning back against the heavy wainscoting, with her eyes fixed on
the ceiling, thinking.

"Oh, Barbara!" called Ruth's voice from the foot of the stairway.

"Yes?"

"Come down. Mercy! What was that?" A mighty crash shook the old house to
its foundations. The shock seemed to come from above. Ruth sped up the
stairs on winged feet. Those below stairs heard her utter a frightened
scream.

"Come! Oh, come quickly!" cried Ruth Stuart in a voice of terror.

CHAPTER XIII

THE MYSTERY OF THE ATTIC

THE sound of running feet was heard on the floor below following Ruth's
cry for help. Olive, Mollie and Grace had heard it from the foot of the
stairs on the ground floor. Mr. and Mrs. Presby, sitting in the dining
room, had also heard the cry and started for the stairs. Tom, who was
down in the cellar, heard the girls running, and started up the stairs
three steps at a time, instinctively realizing that something was wrong.
His first thought was that the girls in the garret had set the house on
fire.

The three girls fairly tore up the stairs to the attic in response to
Ruth's cry, getting in each other's way on the narrow stairs as they
ran. Tom was close at their heels, while his father and mother followed
more slowly.

At first they could distinguish nothing but Ruth's figure dimly outlined
in a haze of dust that filled the air.

"Fire!" cried Grace.

"No!" roared Tom. "It's dust. Somebody's been kicking up a fine smudge
here. What's the matter? Have you folks gone crazy?"

"Ruth! Ruth! What is it?" cried Olive.

"It's Bab," moaned Ruth.

"Bab?" cried the girls.

For the first time since reaching the attic their thoughts turned to
Barbara Thurston. But where was she? Nowhere in sight. Mr. Presby came
limping into the room, followed by his wife very much out of breath.

"Wha--wha--what is the cause of all this uproar?" demanded Mr. Presby
testily.

"It's Bab! It's Bab, I tell you," almost screamed Ruth. "Oh, what has
happened?"

"That's what we would like to know," retorted Mr. Presby.

"Where is Bab?" demanded Tom, who had been nosing around the room like a
terrier.

"She--she's gone," moaned Ruth. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with
fright. Tom rushed to the windows, which were tightly closed.

"What fell?" he question