"I wonder where she can be?" I said loudly.
There was a long silence. At last Dorothy grew desperate. "Look under
the armchair in the hall," she called.
Christopher and I smiled to ourselves. Then suddenly we heard her
creeping towards the door. I blame Christopher for what followed.
"She's coming," he whispered excitedly. "Let's hide."
There was no time to think. We slipped rapidly under the table. A
ridiculous thing to do, of course; so undignified. I kick myself when
I think of it, but at the time---- Well, it was Christopher's fault for
getting excited. So there we were squashed under the table when the
door opened and Dorothy appeared.
"I don't believe----" she began, and then stopped. "Why, they're
not here," she gasped. And then Christopher spoilt everything by
spluttering. I strangled him at once and we hoped that Dorothy hadn't
heard. We saw her legs standing very still by the door. Then they
moved quickly round the table to the fireplace. Christopher and I held
our breaths and waited. We saw that Dorothy was pulling our chair
round to face the fire. Then she sat herself in it and all we could
see was the back of the chair.
There was a great silence. Christopher and I looked at each other and
decided that something must be done.