which Valerie, who was nearest the
door, replied with a low, "Sh--!"

Farther up the corridor two others listened. Not a sound was heard in
the hall, and Betty Chase cautiously opened the door a few inches. A
board in the floor creaked, and she shut the door so quickly that she
forgot to be careful, and one might have heard it the length of the
hall.

"Oo-oo!" whispered Valerie. "You let me manage that door, please, the
next time it's opened."

"When'll the next time be?" whispered Betty with a chuckle.

"Now!" whispered Valerie, and stepping out into the hall, they carefully
closed the door, then ran softly along to Vera's door, and tapped upon
the panel with a hat-pin for a knocker. The door opened and they were
only too glad to have it close behind them. Yet a bit longer they
waited before lighting up, and while they waited, they sat upon the bed
and talked in whispers.

The street lamp threw a band of light across the room.

Five minutes later, the blankets were taken from the bed and hung over
the door, that no ray of light from the room might be visible in the
hall, through either crack or keyhole.

A second blanket was pinned to the curtains, that neither coachman nor
maid returning from the town might catch a glimpse of light.

Then the fun began.

They had become bolder, and forgetting to whisper, talked in undertones.
Vera, mounted on a cushioned stool, was holding the can over the gas
jet, and watching eagerly for some sign of boiling.

"The milk is steaming," she announced. "S'pose it's done?"

"Not yet, goosie!" Elf replied, "and I _know_," she continued, "'cause I
remember hearing our cook say that the stew was ready when the oysters
looked all puckered around their edges."

"O gracious! If that's true, somebody'll have to come and hold this old
can a while. My arm is about broken!"

Betty seized the can, and mounted the stool, and Vera, thus relieved,
ran to the closet, returning with the cream-cakes and the fudge.

The white counterpane stripped from the bed, and spread upon the floor,
served as a lunch-cloth, and when the "goodies" were set upon it, the
big can in the center, steaming, if not boiling, the four sat
cross-legged around the feast, and prepared to enjoy it.

Salt and pepper in abundance had been thrown into the can, so that while
it lacked sufficient cooking, it surely did not lack seasoning.

Bravely each tried to eat her share, but so salt was it, that it almost
brough