Doris tiptoed across the sitting room and after a brief hesitation stooped down and peeped through the keyhole. Through the tiny aperture she looked into a barren and dismal bedroom. The curtains were drawn and at first she could distinguish little. The weird sounds had begun again, but Doris could not decide where they came from. Kitty was tugging at her hand, trying to induce her to retreat. “Just a minute,” Doris whispered. “I can—” With a start she broke off as she beheld a strange sight. She made out a figure stretched out on the sagging bed and her first thought was that it must be Cora and that she was in severe pain. Yet she knew this could not be, for the housekeeper was in the kitchen. “Oh, what is it?” Kitty demanded as she heard another loud moan. This time Doris knew that the sound had fallen from the lips of the woman lying on the bed. But was it a woman? As the figure turned slightly on the bed, Doris saw that she had been mistaken. It was a girl not more than eighteen or twenty years of age. Her face was childish, almost baby-like, but tortured with pain and suffering. Then Doris’s eyes traveled farther and she beheld the twisted body and misshapen limbs. The child was a cripple! “Who can she be?” Doris asked herself. “And why is she hidden here?” Instantly the answer flashed through her mind. Undoubtedly this child was the daughter of Henry and Cora Sully whom the world did not know existed. But why did they keep her secreted? Was it because they were ashamed of her or merely indifferent? “What are you looking at?” Kitty whispered nervously. “Let me see!” Doris moved aside to permit her chum to peep through the keyhole. One glance was sufficient for Kitty. “Oh, how dreadful!” she whispered. “Who can she be?” “I thought she might be a daughter of the Sullys.” “There is a marked facial resemblance,” Kitty agreed. “Do you suppose the Misses Gates know she is here?” “Why, they must. They come up here nearly every day ostensibly to read their Bibles. They probably come to see this crippled child.” “Poor thing,” Kitty murmured, “I feel so sorry for her. Dare we go in?” “I don’t see why we shouldn’t. She’s likely dying of lonesomeness.” Doris took hold of the door-knob but she did not turn it, for just at that moment the girls heard the sound of footsteps on the floor below. The door at the bottom of the stairs closed. The girls exchanged frightened glances. Some one was coming and they were trapped! How could they explain their presence in the suite? Doris cast a frantic glance over the sitting room and noticed a closet. “Quick, we must hide!” she whispered to Kitty. They tiptoed across the room and entered the closet, softly closing the door behind them. They were not an instant too soon, for whoever was coming had reached the top of the stairway.