"It was not a dream. I was away out in the country by the hickory grove of the twins' Haunted House--I left the car and walked along the creek--" "Did you see the Corduroy Crab?" asked Treasure eagerly. "Maybe he lammed her on the head," said Zee, touching her own curly brow suggestively. "I did not see any one. And I went right back to the road-- You know I couldn't go way out there on foot, father." "You must have been walking in your sleep, dear," said Rosalie. "Maybe you only dreamed you were there. You are home now, anyhow, and the car is here, and everything is all right." "Rosalie, do you think I am out of my head?" demanded Doris sharply. "I think it was a bad dream, dearest." "Come on back to the house," said their father pleasantly. "Be glad the car is here." "I'll bet the old place _is_ haunted, and they've put a spell on Doris. Maybe it was the Curious Cat--he says he can put charms," suggested Zee. Doris smiled at that. As far as she could see, it was the only explanation possible--the Curious Cat had certainly put his charm upon her. She was very cross at Rosalie--for Rosalie insisted that Doris lie down, and she herself stayed at home from school to do the work, and father sat by the cot all morning--it was perfectly infuriating. They looked at her with tender solicitude, and Rosalie made more hot coffee for her, and bathed her brow every few minutes, and Doris fumed impotently. For she was helpless. Father had said, "I think you'd better, dearest," and when father said things in that quiet settled voice even the General refrained from argument. But to lie there like an invalid--when she had only been on the trail of mystery and-- She had found mystery, though! She could swear by her life's blood that she had driven the car out to the hickory grove. And she had certainly walked home. But how in the world came the car safely back in the manse garage? It was more than Doris could understand. When the girls came home to lunch they kissed Doris tenderly and spoke to her in a softly soothing way that made her long to shake them. When they were eating their lunch Zee was called to the telephone, and she crossed the room on tiptoes, and whispered "Yes," very softly, and then she gave a little scream. "You--did?--Mercy! Well, thank goodness! Oh, you horrible thing, won't Doris rage?--Why, no, Mr. Curious Cat, your charm did not work worth a cent. It was not Treasure and I at all. It was Doris, and the poor thing had to walk all the way home, and she is in bed, and we thought she was out of her mind, and she said the car was stolen." She hung up the receiver abruptly, and did not hear the sharp exclamations at the other end of the wire. Doris rose from the cot, and the family rushed from the table. "Tell it, and talk fast," commanded the General.