was caught up by lusty voices in the outer hall and Mr. Seth's deep
tones leading.

"They've come! They've come--and it must be all right, else they
wouldn't sing like that!" cried Molly Martin, infinitely relieved on
her friend's and room-mate's account; she and the sedate Jane being as
close chums as Dolly and the other Molly were.

"The Campbells Are Coming," whistled Herbert merrily, and with the air
of a courtier led the embarrassed Jane into the midst of the circle.
She jerked her hand away with the reproof:

"Don't be silly! I've made trouble enough without acting foolish over
it."

She seemed so completely ashamed of herself that Dorothy pitied her
and hastened to put her arm about her and say:

"Why should you think of trouble to anybody else since you're--alive?"

"Alive! Did you think I might be dead, then? That makes it worse,
still. I was never in the slightest danger. I was only just a--dunce."

"You couldn't ever be that, Jane Potter!" cried Molly Martin,
enthusiastically embracing the restored one from her other side.

But Jane shook herself free from the caresses of both and calmly
explained:

"Since you'll all want to know I may as well tell just how thoughtless
I was. I wanted to find that secret staircase Jim had told about, and
the hidden chamber above it, under the roof. I couldn't at first. It
led out of the paneled chamber, he said, where all the side walls
looked like doors and only one of them would move. Finally, after I'd
tried 'em all, and that took some time, I slid one open. It was the
secret stair; nothing but a close sealed cupboard, so little that even
I could hardly squeeze up it. It wasn't a regular stair, only tiny
three-cornered pieces of board nailed in the back angles, first one
side and then another. They are far apart and some are gone. I thought
I'd never get up the thing, but I hadn't stayed behind to be worsted
by a sort of old grain-chute like that."

"Weren't you scared? Didn't you feel as if some enemy were after you?"
Molly Breckenridge interrupted to ask.

Jane coolly sat down and glanced contemptuously at the questioner. All
the company felt a trifle disappointed by Jane's manner. They had
expected a more exciting revelation.

"What should I be afraid of? I haven't any enemies, as I know."

"But it must have been very dark in such a place, a shut-in box like
that," protested Helena, who as well as the others thought Jane might
have made more out of her a