must not give up," she said aloud. "I should be sorry in the morning
if I did. I must stand it somehow, even though the night does seem as if
it would never end. I must bear it."

Fortified by this determination she drew a chair to the window and tried
to distract her thoughts by humming softly to herself.

"I know," she thought, tiring of this pastime. "I'll see if I can't make
up some poetry, and forget all about the horrid thing. If it were not
for father I would not stand it for a second. Let me see! I have it:

"Bee was an ugly duckling,
And Adele a princess fair;
Bee's locks were black and heavy,
Adele had yellow hair.

"Pshaw! That's sing-songy. I'll try again:

"Adele's hair is sunny and golden,
Mine is as black as sin;
For there's nothing yellow about me
Excepting my yellow skin.

"Dear, dear! It's most as hard to make rhymes as to be beautiful. How
long the night is!"

She arose and paced the floor restlessly. Eleven, then twelve o'clock
struck. In all her life she had never spent a night without sleep. A
first experience is very trying, and the hours seem interminable. At two
o'clock she was about as miserable as she could well be, and only the
thought of her father made her hold to her determination to stick it
out. Suddenly she remembered that she had left a book she was reading on
the library table.

"I'll go down and get it," she ejaculated, pleased with the distraction.
"If anything will make me forget myself it's the 'Woman in White.'"

Suiting the action to the word she lighted a small night lamp, and
glided softly down the stairs to the library. Turning the knob gently
she opened the door, stepped across the threshold, and then--It was a
wonder that she did not shriek aloud; for there in the room were two
men, one of whom held a bag into which the other was putting the
household silver which was piled on the table in front of them. They
wore slouch hats drawn well down over their faces, and were working by
the light of a dark lantern.

Beatrice entered so quietly that they did not notice her and for a
second she stood unobserved, too frightened to speak. Then something
made one of the men look up. A look of terror flashed into his eyes and
his face whitened. The other turned to see what his companion was doing,
but at sight of the figure that stood in the doorway he uttered a yell,
dropped the bag, and ran for the window.

"It's a sperrit, Bill,"