O.

THE "GARRET."

The children all thought that Pennie's best stories were about a certain
lumber-room in the vicarage which was called the "Garret." They were
also the most dreadful and thrilling, for there was something about the
garret which lent itself readily to tales of mystery and horror. The
very air there was always murky and dim, and no sunlight could steal
through the tiny lattice window which came poking out from the roof like
a half-shut eyelid. Dust and cobwebs had covered the small leaded panes
so thickly that a dusky gloom always dwelt there, and gave an unnatural
and rather awful look to the various objects. And what a strange
collection it was! Broken spindle-legged chairs, rickety boxes, piles
of yellow old music-books and manuscripts, and in one corner an ancient
harp in a tarnished gilt frame. Poor deserted dusty old things! They
had had their day in the busy world once, but that was over now, and
they must stay shut up in the silent garret with no one to see them but
the spiders and the children. For these last came there often; treading
on tiptoe they climbed the steep stairs and unlatched the creaky door
and entered, bold but breathless, and casting anxious glances over their
shoulders for strange things that might be lurking in the corners. They
never saw any, but still they came half hoping, half fearing; and they
had, besides, another object in their visits, which was a great great
secret, and only known to Pennie, Nancy, and Ambrose. It was indeed a
daring adventure, scarcely to be spoken of above a whisper, and
requiring a great deal of courage. This was the secret:

They had one day succeeded in forcing open the rickety lattice, which
was fastened by a rusty iron hasp, and looked out. There was a steep
red-tiled piece of roof covered with little lumps of lichen which ended
in a gutter and a low stone balustrade; there were tall crooked
chimneys, and plenty of places where cats and children could walk with
pleasure and safety. Soon it was impossible to resist the temptation,
and one after the other they squeezed themselves through the narrow
window, and wriggled cautiously down the steep roof as far as the
balustrade. It scraped the hands and knees a good deal to do this, and
there was always the danger of going down too fast, but when once the
feet arrived safely against the stone coping, what a proud moment it
was!

Standing upright, they surveyed the prospect, and mingl