" Then Robin gathered up the bank-notes.
"Though I did wish we had more nice things for the house and now we can
get them. But isn't this an awful lot of money?" For she had seen a one
and two ciphers in a corner of one bank-note. "I never had so much in my
life."
At this Mrs. Budge sniffed and, the Christmas celebration apparently
abandoned in the excitement of the strange letter, she departed
kitchenward.
Harkness volunteered to escort Susy and Mrs. Lynch back to the village.
In a twinkling the house had quieted so that the girls' footsteps, as
they climbed the stairs, resounded strangely.
Robin leaned for a moment against the banister and looked back into the
shadows of the great, dimly-lit hall.
"Listen a moment, Beryl! Can't you hear tiny echoes of voices and
laughter? Don't you s'pose even the things we think and feel get into
the air, too--and linger?"
Beryl tugged at her arm. "Oh, come on, Robin. You make me creepy. You'll
be seeing ghosts in a moment. I want to have a good look at that letter.
_Wasn't_ it a surprise, though?"
But after a close study of it, Beryl threw the letter down in
disappointment.
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