"He did'nt seem to doubt it at all." I laughed.

"Did you tell him you thought she had been taken off in this way ?" "Yes, and he said, 'Very likely.' And well he might, for I heard the men talking in her room, and--" "You heard men talking in her room--when ?" "O, it must have been as late as half-past twelve.

I had been asleep and the noise they made whispering, woke me." "Wait," I said, "tell me where her room is, hers and yours." "Hers is the third story back, mine the front one on the same floor." "Who are you ?" I now inquired.

"What position do you occupy in Mr.
Blake's house ?" "I am the housekeeper." Mr.Blake was a bachelor.
"And you were wakened last night by hearing whispering which seemed to come from this girl's room." "Yes, I at first thought it was the folks next door,--we often hear them when they are unusually noisy,--but soon I became assured it came from her room; and more astonished than I could say,--She is a good girl," she broke in, suddenly looking at me with hotly indignant eyes, "a--a--as good a girl as this whole city can show; don't you dare, any of you, to hint at anything else o--" "Come, come," I said soothingly, a little ashamed of my too communicative face, "I haven't said anything, we will take it for granted she is as good as gold, go on." The woman wiped her forehead with a hand that trembled like a leaf.
"Where was I ?" said she.

"O, I heard voices and was surprised and got up and went to her door.