CHAPTER II.

A MIDNIGHT VISITOR.
HE bell had rung several times before Frank and I put in an appearance at breakfast next morning.
“Lazybones!” said Nora when we did appear at last. “We're nearly finished, and you've lost a lot of time on our first holiday.”
Dr. Naismith laughed. “Plenty of time before you, miss,” he said, “and the boys must have a little allowance their first morning.—Got to be up pretty sharp at Brotherton, Humphrey, eh ?”
“Yes, 7.30 sharp and breakfast at 8; any one who is late gets lines.”
“ How horrid!” said Nora.
“You see what you have escaped by being a girl,” said Dr. Naismith gravely. “The trials boys have to endure are terrible. Remember that when next
you wish you had been a boy.”
20 A MIDNIGHT VISITOR.
“Never mind his teasing, Nora,” said Mrs. Nai- smith. “When I was your age I longed to be a boy too.”
“Oh, did you, mother? And don’t you wish it still ?”
“Well, no; one’s views change with the years,” replied Mrs. Naismith, smiling —“ But, dear me, Frank, is that your fourth slice of toast ?”
“Yes, mother; I’m awfully hungry.”
“T am glad your work has not interfered with your appetite, Frank,” said his father, with a sly look at Nora.‘ Now, my dear,” to his wife, “if you'll excuse me I’ll be off.”
“Well, I’ll come to the gate and see you start,” said Mrs. Naismith, rising—‘“ You can take my place at the head of the table, Nora.”
“ Frank,” said Nora, when she had poured me out another cup of tea and spilt most of it on the table- cloth—* Frank, what were you doing last night ?”
“Sleeping.”
“No, but really. I won't tell.”
Frank paused with a large slice of bread and jam halfway to his mouth.
“ Won't tell who?” he asked, staring, and regardless of grammar. “ What are you driving at?”
A MIDNIGHT VISITOR. 21
“Was it really not you? Then it must have been Humphrey,” said Nora, turning in triumph to me. It was my turn to stare now.
“What was me?” I asked, rather mixed.
“T don’t know what you were doing, but I heard you moving about in the study, and then I heard you outside.”
“But I wasn’t up!” I gasped. “I slept like a top all night, and only woke—” “In time for breakfast ” was on my lips, but suddenly the memory of my first awakening flashed across my mind.
“Well?” asked Nora as I paused, her gray eyes bright with curiosity, while Frank stared at us open- mouthed,
“When did you hear me moving about?” I asked, replying to her question with another.
“Oh, I didn’t look; but it must have been the middle of the night, because it was dark.”
“Then it wasn’t me you heard, because I did not wake till very early—just about four.”
(2?
“Then you were up!” said Frank in amazement. “Ves, at least for a few minutes. I went to the window to look out—” “And you saw somebody,” cried Nora—‘“you saw
something !”
22 A MIDNIGHT VISITOR.
“Yes, I saw somebody come across the lawn to- wards the house and then go back again.”
“Who was it?” asked Frank.
“T think it was Chew Win Kee,” I said, not feel- ing so confident now that, in broad daylight, I tried to recollect the scene.
“There! I knew it! Didn’t I tell you he was a wretch ?” cried Nora triumphantly.
“ Who is a wretch?” asked Mrs. Naismith, entering the room.
“The colonel’s Chinaman, Win Kee. I heard him moving about in the study last night, and Humphrey saw him sneaking away,” said Nora, all in a breath.
“No, no; I didn’t say that,” I protested.
“Do you mean to say you really heard some one in the house last night, Nora?” asked her mother,
“Well, I heard something moving in the study, mother.”
“And you saw the Chinaman going away from the house, Humphrey ?”
“No, he came towards the house from the road and went back again, but I am not at all certain that it was Win Kee. Besides, it was long after Nora heard the noise.”
“JT wonder what he wanted, whoever he was,” said
A MIDNIGHT VISITOR. 23
Mrs. Naismith. “ After all, there is no reason to sup- pose he had been in the house; but we can look into the study and see if there are any signs of an intruder. Come along.”
We all trooped after her. The drawing-room was on the opposite side of the hall from the dining-room, and the study was beyond it again, facing the passage leading to the kitchen. As Mrs. Naismith turned the handle and entered the room a thrill of expectation went through us all. But the room seemed just as usual, with no signs of having been entered. After a hasty look round, Mrs. Naismith rang the bell.
“Was the window shut this morning when you drew up the blind, Jane?” she asked the servant who appeared.
«Yes, ma’am.”
“You always see that all the windows on the ground floor are shut and fastened before you go to bed ?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Thanks, Jane; I just wished to make sure.” And Jane withdrew.
Mrs, Naismith then went carefully over the room, and we assisted her. She examined the sill for
marks of mud or boots, but found none. Frank,
24, A MIDNIGHT VISITOR.
who was a great admirer and follower of Sherlock Holmes, went down on his knees and crawled about the floor for “clues ;” Nora counted the ornaments on the mantelpiece, the books in the bookcase, and even the pictures on the wall; while I turned my attention to Dr. Naismith’s writing desk. Everything seemed in good order; and the drawers were all locked, though the key was in the top left-hand drawer. Mrs. Naismith came over as I was trying them.
“The drawers seem all right,” I said.
“JT am very glad to hear it,’ she said ; “ ] remember now that my husband told me that he had drawn some money the other day and put it in his desk. We shall soon see if it has been touched.”
We stood round while she unlocked the drawers one after another, and a bundle of bank notes was dis- covered in the second top drawer on the right side. Mrs. Naismith counted them. “Four fives and one ten,” she said with a sigh of relief; “that is all right.”
“Then there hasn’t been any burglar after all,” ex- claimed Frank, in a disappointed tone; “ Nora must have been dreaming.”
“Indeed I wasn’t,” said Nora. “I did hear some-
thing move, but perhaps it was a—”
A MIDNIGHT VISITOR. 25
“A rat,” I suggested.
Mrs. Naismith smiled. “Whatever it was I don’t think it was a burglar, or Bouncer would have barked, and these notes would certainly have disappeared. Don’t you think so too, dear?” she asked, drawing Nora to her.
“Yes, mother,” said Nora, hugging her.
“Well, now, run along, you two, and look out your fishing rods; enough of the morning has been wasted already. Humphrey will help me to tidy up the desk.”
“Come on, Nora,” said Frank; “we'll have the tackle ready in two ticks, long before Humphrey is _ ready.”
“Now, Humphrey,” said Mrs. Naismith when they had left the room, “I have something to tell you. Frank is too shy.”
I wondered what it could possibly be that made Frank shy, and Mrs. Naismith seemed to guess my thoughts.
“He is not usually backward in that way,” she said, smiling, “but he preferred that I should speak to you about this. You have no doubt always heard him speak of Nora as his sister, and we all regard her
and treat her as such; but she came to us in a strange
26 A MIDNIGHT VISITOR.
way some years ago, and we adopted her.” She paused, and went on softly. “Two years after Frank was born I had a little baby, a girl, who only lived a few weeks. I felt her loss very keenly, and so did my husband. Shortly after her death we had a most unusually severe storm here, and the next morning a little girl was washed ashore, lashed to a spar, just a mile or two up the coast. My husband was passing at the time, and earried her here and revived the faint spark of life that was flickering out. Several bodies were washed ashore, but no clue was found to lead to the identification of the vessel which had foundered, and indeed so many were missing after that disastrous gale that it would have been im- possible to say for certain to which vessel they each belonged. Our baby’s clothes bore no name, though a cross was marked on each thing. had evidently been pinned to the clothes, but only a fragment remained, and the pencil writing had been hopelessly blurred by the sea water. We made every inquiry, but no relatives were discovered, and so we adopted the baby in the place of our own little one and called her Nora. We judged that she would be only a few months old when she came
ashore, and that is eleven years ago next month. She
A MIDNIGHT VISITOR. 27
has become so much one of the family that we are apt to forget that she may yet be claimed by her relatives. Nora -herself is rather sensitive on the subject, poor girl, though she is perfectly happy with us. And so I wished to tell you myself rather than let you hear about it from the people round about, who, of course, all know.”
Frank’s voice was heard shouting, and I turned to go.
“Off with you now and have a good time,” said Mrs. Naismith, rising. “J am sure you will take care not to hurt Nora’s feelings about this in any way.”
“ Rather,” I said, fumbling with the door handle. “Tt’s awfully hard luck on her—at least I don’t mean that, but about her not knowing about her people; and Tm awfully sorry about the—the baby, you know,” I blurted, awkwardly enough; but Mrs. Naismith stooped suddenly and kissed me.