kle. "Well," she added, getting up and
starting for the door, "whatever it is, or was, we needn't go without
our breakfast because of it. How would you like some bacon and eggs and
biscuits?"

The suggestion worked like a charm, and before Mrs. Gilligan had finished
the girls were out of bed and feeling about for their clothes.

"You know the room doesn't look half bad by daylight," remarked Violet,
as she was arranging her hair before an elaborately framed old mirror.
"And it surely is quite clean."

"But it's horribly gloomy, just as mother said." Billie was regarding the
dingy woodwork, now almost black with age, and the huge four-poster with
its funereal canopied top, and the large pictures of dead and gone
ancestors that adorned the walls. "The only really good things in the
whole room are the tables and chairs. They look," she added hopefully,
"as if they might bring in a little money. Perhaps I'll be able to pay
for the statue after all."

"Oh, and I'm just crazy to see the rest of the house by daylight," said
Laura, clapping her hands. "Come on, you slow pokes, aren't you ever
going to be ready?"

"We're ready now," said Billie, putting an arm about Violet and hurrying
her to the door. "Oh, is that bacon I smell--and coffee?" she asked as
through the open door came a whiff of the good things below.

"You said it!" cried Laura, making a rush for lower floor with Billie and
Violet not very far behind her. "And it isn't going to be more than
about two minutes before I taste that same bacon and eggs."

When they reached the lower hall they were surprised to see that it
looked almost as gloomy and forbidding as it had the night before, in
spite of the fact that the front door was open and sunlight was
streaming through.

"Ugh!" said Laura, with a shudder, "I don't wonder that they had gloomy
dispositions in the old days if they had to live in houses like these.
It's enough to give one the creeps."

"I'm glad you like my property so much," said Billie, with a demure
little smile. "I haven't heard you say one nice thing about it yet."

"We have treated our hostess rather rudely, haven't we?" laughed
Violet, putting an arm about Billie and drawing her out into the
sunshine. "But really, Billie, we're quite sure that you don't like it
any better than we do."

"And you are quite right," Billie assured her, then added, breaking away
and running a little in front of them: "Girls, let's see if we can find
any s