It had been cool when they went to bed, with rain and a fresh gale blowing; so the windows were only open an inch or two at bottom and top. Prince went to the hall door and crouched down, sniffing at the crack. Then he whined. "Prince!" said the little girl sleepily. "Come here. You'll wake mamma." He seemed to come to her reluctantly, squatted down beside her bed and laid his head on the coverlet where her hand could rest lightly upon his muzzle. Then she fell asleep again and she dreamed a very unpleasant dream. She dreamed two men came into her room and took hold of her. One held her body so that she could not squirm and the other put his hand over her mouth and nose so that she could not breathe. Carolyn knew the men. They were the chauffeur of the man who had given her the twenty-dollar bill for the pale lady and the dark man with the very black eyes and eyebrows--both of whom she had last seen at the Corners when she visited Uncle Joe Stagg. The black-browed man was he who in her dream put his hand over her mouth. The little girl woke up struggling and trying to scream. She was very much frightened, and when she got her eyes open she was even more surprised than she was terrified. It really was very difficult for her to breathe. There was a feeling of oppression on her chest. She could not see very clearly, for the air was thick and there was a strange, lurid glow in it. Prince had dropped down upon the mat and was curled in a round ball. He was sleeping sterterously. "Oh, Mamma! Mamma Cameron!" Carolyn called, panting for the breath which, when she drew it in, seemed to hurt her. She could not hear her mother at all. She crept out of bed, and almost fell over Prince, who roused with none of his usual promptness. He, too, seemed oppressed by the stifling quality of the atmosphere in the rooms. "Mamma! Oh, Mamma Cameron!" sobbed the little girl again. She was very much frightened as she stumbled into the larger chamber with Prince whining and coughing at her heels. CHAPTER XVIII THE NIGHT ALARM At first the light was so hazy in her mother's bedroom that Carolyn May was not sure she was in bed. And when the little girl did see her, Mamma Cameron lay so still that she was the more frightened. Carolyn remembered how the pale lady looked that time she fainted in her hot little apartment. Mamma Cameron lay just as still in the bed, one bare arm outside the covering, her face strangely buried in the pillow. The room was filled with a choking, yellowish vapour. The child seized her mother's shoulder suddenly--desperately--and with both hands tried to shake her. The woman's body lay limp and seemingly lifeless. The gasping cry of the terrified little girl did not arouse her in the least. She made no sound, nor did she move! "Oh! Oh!" choked Carolyn. "Princey, something awful's happened to mamma!"