Carolyn had no time to answer, for Leander came plunging into the room fresh from the pen where he kept his fowls. He announced that the wind was going down, and that it was time for "Rod 'n' Prue" to be back. He was besought by his mother to go to bed, but refused utterly, saying that he was going to sit up for Prue. He threw himself down on the rug before the fire, and in less than five minutes was asleep. The three women sat on. Occasionally Prudence's mother inhaled the odor from her vinaigrette and made some insignificant remark. She was evidently trying to keep awake. At last, when the clock struck eleven, she rose and said that she must try to be fresh for the next day, and that Prue was very thoughtless to stay out so long. Thus Carolyn and her mother and the sleeping boy were left in the room. The girl went herself and brought more wood, which she placed carefully on the coals, as carefully as if her own fate depended upon the sticks igniting. Presently the flames curled up about the fuel, licking the bark, with a purple light at the edges. Mrs. Ffolliott leaned back and dozed a little; Carolyn gazed steadily at the fire. After awhile the clock struck twelve. The wind had subsided now, save for an occasional long-drawn moan about the house. Mrs. Ffolliott sat up straight. She tried to look as if she had not been asleep. "Really," she exclaimed, "I must say that they are very thoughtless, very thoughtless, indeed. I wonder at them." Carolyn made no reply. She did not change her position in the least. She sat with her arm across her mother's lap, her face towards the hearth. "Yes," Mrs. Ffolliott repeated; "I do wonder at them. Are you going to sit up any longer, Caro?" "Just a little while longer," was the answer, in a quiet voice; "but you go, mother; you'll need the rest." "No, no; I'll stay with you." The speaker drew the afghan more closely over the boy asleep on the hearth. Then she put her head against the back of the chair and again fell asleep. When she had breathed heavily for a time, Caro carefully withdrew from her position beside her and walked noiselessly to the window. She flung aside the curtain and looked out. A heavy rack of cloud was in the east and south, but above the stars shone clearly. Carolyn stood with her hands pressed closely on her breast, gazing up at the heavens where the stars glittered. "I must keep still,--still," was her only coherent thought. At last she began to walk towards the door, going noiselessly, lest she waken the sleepers. Silently she opened the door, and silently she closed it. She lingered a brief space, leaning against the wall and listening. "They may be coming now," she was thinking. She bent her head forward. Had she heard steps and voices? No, she had heard nothing; it was her own fancy. Her temples were throbbing so that she could not hear plainly.