"Why, for goodness sakes!" cried Thankful. "What are you doin" here? I thought you"d gone to bed long ago."
Emily"s reply was given in an odd tone. She did not look at her cousin when she spoke.
"No, no," she said, quickly. "I--I haven"t gone to bed."
"I see you haven"t, but why?"
"I didn"t want to. I--I"m not sleepy."
"Not sleepy! At two o"clock in the mornin"? Well," with a sigh, "I suppose "tain"t to be wondered at. What"s happened this night is enough to keep anybody awake. I can"t believe it even yet. To think of his comin" back after I"ve given him up for dead twice over. It"s like a story-book."
"Where is he?"
"Up in bed, in one of the attic rooms. If he hasn"t got his death of cold it"ll be a wonder. And SUCH yarns as he"s been spinnin" to me.
I--Emily, what"s the matter with you? What makes you act so queer?"
Emily did not answer. Mrs. Barnes walked across the room and, stooping, peered into her face.
"You"re white as a sheet!" she cried, in alarm. "And you"re tremblin"
all over. What in the world IS the matter?"
Emily tried to smile, but it was a poor attempt.
"Nothing, nothing, Auntie," she said. "That is, I--I"m sure it can"t be anything to be afraid of."
"But you are afraid, just the same. What is it? Tell me this minute."
For the first time Emily looked her cousin in the face.
"Auntie," she whispered, "I am--I have been frightened. Something I heard upstairs frightened me."
"Somethin" you heard upstairs? Where? Has Georgie--"
"No, Georgie is asleep in his room. I locked the door. It wasn"t Georgie; it was something else."
"Somethin"--Emily Howes, do you want to scare me to DEATH? What IS it?"
"I don"t know what it is. I heard it first when I came out of Georgie"s room a few minutes ago. Then I went down the hall to his door and listened. Aunt Thankful, he--he is in there talking--talking to someone."
"He? Talkin"? Who?"
"Mr. Cobb. It was dreadful. He was talking to--to--I don"t know WHAT he was talking to, but it was awful to hear."
"Talkin"? Solomon Cobb was talkin"? In his sleep, do you mean?"
"No, he wasn"t asleep. He was talking to someone, or some THING, in that room. And that wasn"t all. I heard--I heard--Oh, I DID hear it! I know I did! And yet it couldn"t be! It couldn"t!"
"Emily Howes, if you keep on I"ll--WHAT did you hear?"
"I don"t know. . . . Aunt Thankful, where are you going?"
Thankful did not answer. She was on her way to the front hall and the stairs. Emily rushed after her and would have detained her if she could, but Thankful would not be detained. Up the stairs they went together and along the narrow dark hall. At the end of the hall was the door of the back bedroom, or the larger room adjoining it. The door was closed, but from beneath it shone lamplight in sharp, yellow streaks. And from behind it came faintly the sound of a deep groan, the groan of a soul in agony.
"He"s sick," whispered Thankful. "The man"s sick. I"m goin" to him."
"He isn"t sick. It--it"s something else. I tell you I heard--"
Thankful did not wait to learn what her cousin had heard. She tiptoed down the hall and Emily followed. The two women crouched beside the closed door of Mr. Cobb"s room. And within that room they heard Solomon"s voice, now rising almost to a shriek, now sinking to a groan, as its owner raved on and on, talking, pleading, praying.
"Oh, don"t--don"t, Abner!" cried Mr. Cobb. "Don"t, no more! PLEASE don"t! I know what you mean. I know it all. I"m sorry. I know I ain"t done right. But I"ll MAKE it right; I swear to the Almighty I will! I know I"ve broke my word to you and acted wicked and mean, but I give you my solemn word I"ll make everything right. Only just quit and go away, that"s all I ask. Just quit that--Oh, there you GO again! QUIT! PLEASE quit!"
It was dreadful to hear, but this was not the most dreadful. Between the agonized sentences and whenever the wind lulled, the listeners at the door heard another sound, a long-drawn gasp and groan, a series of gasps and groans, as of something fighting for breath, the unmistakable sound of snoring.
Emily grasped her cousin"s arm. "Come, come away!" she whispered. "I--I believe I"m going to faint."
Mrs. Barnes did not wait to be urged. She put her arm about the young lady"s waist and together they tiptoed back to Thankful"s bedroom.
There, Mrs. Barnes"s first move was to light the lamp, the second to close and lock the door. Then the pair sat down, one upon the bed and the other on a chair, and gazed into each other"s pale faces.
Emily was the first to speak.
"I--I don"t believe it!" she declared, shakily. "I KNOW it isn"t real!"
"So--so do I."
"But--but we heard it. We both heard it."
"Well--well, I give in I--I heard somethin", somethin" that. . . . My soul! Am I goin" CRAZY to finish off this night with?"
"I don"t know. If you are, then I must be going with you. What can it be, Auntie?"
"I don"t know."
"There is no other door to that room, is there?"
"No."
"Then what CAN it be?"
"I don"t know. Imogene"s in her own room; I looked in and saw her when I took Jedediah up attic. And Georgie"s in his with the door locked.
And you and I are here. There can"t be a livin" soul in that room with Solomon, not a livin" soul."
"But we heard--we both heard--"
"I know; I know. And I heard somethin" there before. And so did Miss Timpson. Emily, did--did you hear him call--call it "Abner"?"
"Yes," with a shudder. "I heard. Who could help hearing!"
"And Cap"n Abner was my uncle; and he used to live here. . . . There!"
with sudden determination. "That"s enough of this. We"ll both be stark, ravin" distracted if we keep on this way. My soul! Hear that wind! I said once that all the big things in my life had happened durin" a storm and so they have. Jedediah went away in a storm and he"s come back in a storm. And now if UNCLE ABNER"S comin" back. . . . There I go again!