ont to back. A generous stairway of white-painted wood
with slender mahogany railing ascended to an upper floor. Some large
paintings and portraits hung on the walls, but the candle did not throw
enough light to permit seeing them well. The furniture in the hall
consisted of several tall, straight-backed chairs set at intervals
against the walls, and at one side a massive table covered thick with
the dust of years. There was a distinctly old-fashioned, "different" air
about the place, but nothing in any other way remarkable.

"You see!" remarked Cynthia. "There isn't anything wonderful here, and
the air is simply horrid. I hope you're satisfied. _Do_ come back!"

"But we haven't seen a quarter of it yet! This is only the hall. Now for
the room on the right!" Joyce hauled open a pair of closed
folding-doors, and held the candle above her head. If they were
searching for things strange and inexplicable, here at last was their
reward! Both girls gasped and stared incredulously, first at the scene
before them, then at each other.

The apartment was a dining-room. More portraits and paintings shone
dimly from the walls. A great candelabrum hung from the ceiling, with
sconces for nearly a hundred candles and ornamented with glittering
crystal pendants. An enormous sideboard occupied almost an entire end of
the room. In the middle, a long dining-table stood under the
candelabrum.

But here was the singular feature. The table was still set with dishes,
as though for a feast. And the chairs about it were all pushed awry, and
some were overturned. Napkins, yellowed with age, were fallen about,
dropped apparently in sudden forgetfulness. The china and glassware
stood just as they had been left, though every ancient vestige of food
had long since been carried away by the mice.

As plain as print, one could read the signs of some feasting party
interrupted and guests hastily leaving their places to return no more.
The girls understood it in a flash.

"But why--why," said Joyce, speaking her thought aloud, "was it all left
just like this? Why weren't things cleared up and put away? What could
have happened? Cynthia, this is the strangest thing I ever heard of!"
Cynthia only stared, and offered no explanation. Plainly, she was
impressed at last.

"Come on!" half whispered Joyce, "Let's see the room across the hall.
I'm crazy to explore it all!" Together they tiptoed to the other side of
the hall. A kind of awe had fallen upon