"Oh, dear!" she added to Joyce, as she lay back once more on her pillow.

"Why is it that I am always doing such mortifying things! I am _so_ ashamed of myself." The lights went out again, and after a few final giggles from Lloyd and Betty, silence settled once more over the house.

But the terror of the nightmare had taken such hold upon Mary that she could not close her eyes.
"Joyce," she whispered, "do you mind if I come over into your bed?
I'm nearly paralyzed, I'm so scared again." Slipping across the floor as soon as Joyce had given a sleepy consent, Mary crept in beside her sister in the narrow bed, and lay so still she scarcely breathed, for fear of disturbing her.

Presently she reached out and gently clasped the end of Joyce's long plait of hair.

It was comforting to be so near her.