Bed-time at last, and me there, close shut up in our own room; but not
before I had run to the end of the passage and tried the end door to see
if it was open; and it was--it was! Clara was, after all said and done,
nearly as much excited as poor I; and once she sighed, and said that she
could almost have wished for the poor Signor to have been there, but I
did not tell her I was very glad that he would not be. Then Miss Patty
must want to know what we were whispering about, and declare that she
would tell Miss Furness, for we were making fun of her; and turn huffy
and cross, till she got into bed, and then lie staring with wide-open
eyes at the window, just because we wanted her to go to sleep.
"Ma's going to send me a cake on Toosday," she said at last, after I had
kissed and told her we were not laughing at her; and I must do her the
credit of saying that she always was a most good-tempered creature, and
never out of humour for long together. "And when my cake comes," she
continued, after five minutes' thought, "I'll spend fourpence in ginger
beer, if you will each spend the same, and we'll have a supper."
"I do wish you would go to sleep, instead of keeping on bothering,"
cried Clara.
"I dare say you do, Miss Consequence," said Patty; "but I shall go to
sleep when I like."
And then, if she did not lie awake until nearly twelve, though we
pretended to be both fast asleep, and would not answer any of her
foolish, chattering questions, when, as usual, she began to snore; and
after waiting until I felt quite sure that she was asleep, I jumped out
of bed, and began to dress myself as quickly and quietly as possible.
As soon as I had finished and then lain down once more, Clara got up
too, and followed my example, even to the lying down again when she had
finished; for it was too soon to go yet, and we both felt that it would
be safer the nearer we were to the middle of the night; and of course
one felt determined to do nothing this time to frustrate one's designs.
We had tried more than once dressing in bed under the clothes, and, of
course, lying down; but that really is such terribly hard work, as any
one will find upon testing it, that we both soon gave it up, and waited
till we felt sure of Patty being sound asleep; and she really was the
heaviest sleeper I ever knew. So we both dressed in the dark; and that
is bad enough, I can assure you--dreadfully awkward, for one gets one's
strings so crossed, and tied wrong, and in knots, and muddled about,
till one is horribly uncomfortable, besides being twice as long as at
any other time.
At last, I whispered to Clara that it was time to go, but there was no
answer; and on getting off the bed and touching her, she quite started.
For she had been asleep, and when I reproached her--
"Well, of course," she said, peevishly; "it's sleeping time, is it not?"
But she roused up directly after, and stood by my side, as I went down
upon my knees by the bottom drawer, and tried to pull it out very
gently, without making any noise, so as to get at the cord. For the key
was in it all right when I came up, and I thought that I would leave it
there, though I was all in a fidget for fear any one had been in and
looked and seen the cord, while Patty was so curious that I dare not
look to see; though if any one had taken it away, what should I have
done?
"Cree-ea-ea-ea-eak," went the drawer as soon as I pulled it, after the
lock had shot back with a loud noise like a small pistol; and at this
dreadful sound I stopped and turned cold all down my back; for I felt
sure that the Fraulein would hear it. So there I knelt upon the floor,
trembling like a leaf, and not daring to move; for Clara cried "Hush!"
very loudly, and I'm sure I did not know what would come next. In fact,
I almost expected to see the bedroom door open, and the Fraulein
standing there.
"You should have put some soap upon it," whispered Clara.
"Yes, same as you did upon the basin," I said, viciously, and that
silenced her; though I believe the mischievous thing was chuckling to
herself all the while.
At last, after five minutes had passed, which seemed like as many hours,
everything was quite still, so I gave the drawer another pull.
"Craw-aw-aw-aw-awk," it went, louder than before, and as if on purpose
to annoy me; but I was so desperate that I gave the thing a horrible
snatch, and pulled it out far enough, when I pushed in my hand and drew
out the cord, hardly expecting to find it; but there it was, all right,
and holding it tightly, I still knelt there trembling.
"Er-tchisher--er-tchisher," came now, as loudly as possible, from Patty
Smith's bed; and then we heard the tiresome thing turn on one side.
We waited a little, and then I rose, and stood close to the door,
waiting for Clara to join me; when if the stupid thing did not forget
all about my open drawer, which I dare not attempt to close, and went
blundering over it, making such a dreadful noise, that I rushed into bed
and covered myself up; and, from the scuffling noise, I knew that she
had done the same, for it was too dark to see.
"Oh, my shins!" said Clara, in a whisper.
Then I could hear her rubbing and laughing, not that I could see
anything to laugh at; while if the Fraulein did not tap at the wall
because we were so noisy, and with disappointment gnawing me, I knew
that we must not stir for at least another half-hour, when it was quite
late enough as it was.
"Oh, what a comfort it is that Patty is such a sleeper!" I thought to
myself. And there I lay--wait, wait, wait, until I felt that we dared
move, when I again cautiously slipped to the door, and, as I had taken
the precaution of rubbing it well with pomatum, the lock went easy.
Clara joined me, and then, drawing the door after us, we glided along
the passage, hand in hand, listening at every step until we reached the
end, where the empty room door was ajar, just as I had left it when we
came up to bed. Then we slipped in so quietly that we hardly heard
ourselves, and, pushing-to the door, I tried to secure it, but it would
not fasten without making a noise; so, as we were right away from the
other rooms, I left it, and went across and tried the window.
The hasp went rather hard, but I soon had it gliding up; and then I
stood looking out into the dark night, and listening, till I heard a
little soft cough from below, which I answered; when my heart began to
beat very fast, for I knew that, after all, we were not too late, and he
was there.
But there was no time to lose, and, as fast as I could, I undid the
nasty tangley cord, which would keep getting itself in knots, and
rustling about upon the floor, like a great, long, coiling snake. But I
managed at last to have it hanging down, and began fishing about, like I
used at Teddington, with papa, till I got a bite; for, after a bit, I
felt it softly tugged at--just like the eels under the fishing punt--
then it went jig, jig, two or three times, as it was shaken about, and
then there was a long jerk, and a soft cough, as if for a signal; and I
began to pull up something which grew heavier every moment.
It seemed very long, and I could have fancied that I had pulled all the
cord in twice over; but more still kept coming, and I must have had it
all close to the window, when Clara suddenly cried "Oh!" when, of
course, I started and let go, and down it all went with a rush in
amongst the carnations at the bottom.
"Oh, his poor head?" I thought, as I turned sharply round; when, what a
task I did have to keep from shrieking!--for there, dimly seen in the
open doorway, stood a figure in white, staring at us in the most
dreadful way imaginable. There was something so still, and tall, and
ghastly about the figure, seen there in the gloom, that I could not
stir, neither could poor Clara, as we held tightly by one another while
the thing glided softly into the room, closed the door, and stood there
staring.
If I could only have sunk through the floor, I would not have cared.
One moment I thought of rushing into one of the empty beds in the room;
but I restrained myself, because there were no clothes upon them in
which to bury oneself. The next moment I was for jumping out of the
window to Achille; but it was too far; and we neither of us dared to go
into hysterics and scream for help. So that we stood, frightened to
death, till Clara sank down at my feet and buried her face in my lap,
while I stood staring at the figure, which now came closer and closer as
I walked away, Clara shuffling upon her knees to keep up to me.
For a moment I thought that it might have been a teacher _en
deshabille_; but the horrible silence soon showed that it was not. And
at last, when I felt that I could bear no more, but must scream, having
been walked right up to the wall by the hideous thing, it spoke, and the
words seemed to act upon us both like magic, sending the blood coursing
through our veins, making our hearts throb, and a warm glow to return
where a moment before all was frozen and chilling; for just as I was
sinking--feeling myself gliding slowly down upon kneeling Clara--I
started up, for it said, in a loud, thrilling whisper--
"What are you two a-doing of?"
Then it sneezed.
Of course it was Patty Smith, who had pretended to be asleep, and
watched all the time, following us along the passage, and thoroughly
upsetting all one's plans again. She could see plainly enough that we
had the window open, and knew pretty well what was taking place; so we
had to make a virtue of necessity, and tell her, in as few words as
possible, all about it. Not that I think she would have told tales,
even if we had not enlightened her; but we knew she would watch us, and
find out for herself; so upon the principle of its being better to make
a friend than an enemy, she was told all.
"Won't you make your cold worse, dear?" said Clara. "You are not
dressed."
"I don't care," said the stupid thing; and then she stopped, while I
went to the window again; and though I had lost my string, and knew that
it was of no use to try any more that night, I gave a gentle cough and
then waited a moment. I was about to cough again, but Patty, who was
close behind me, sneezed once more loudly; and at last, after waiting a
few minutes and coughing again and again, Clara and Patty both grumbled
so about the cold that I was obliged reluctantly to close the window.
After waiting for awhile, we one by one stole back to the bedroom, where
Patty declared that it was such good fun, and that she would go with us
next time--just as if we wanted her; while poor I laid my cheek upon my
pillow, disappointed, disconsolate, and upset to such a degree that I
could do nothing else but have a good quiet cry for I don't know how
long; but I know how wet my pillow grew, so that at last I was obliged
to turn it before I could get to sleep.
And what was the use of going to sleep, to be in such trouble that I did
not know what to do--dreams, dreams, dreams, and all of such a horrible
kind! Now it was Achille in danger, now it was the white figure coming
in at the door, and one moment Patty Smith, and then changing into Mrs
Blunt and Miss Furness, Miss Sloman and the Fraulein; while, last of
all, if it was not mamma, looking dreadfully cross, and then scolding me
for my bad behaviour. Oh, it was terrible! And I don't think that I
ever before passed such a night.