"It must be witches; thieves wouldn't knock," whispered Siller, tearing her back hair. "Hear 'em rattle that door! That was what it meant when I saw that black cat, just before sundown, worritting the doctor's dog. I thought then it was an imp." The door continued to rattle, and the children's teeth to chatter; also Siller's, all she had left in her head. "O, if we had a silver bullet," said she, "that would clear 'em out." Poor little Patty! You may guess at the state of her mind when I tell you she was speechless! For almost the first time in her life she was too frightened to scream. The knocking grew louder and louder; and Siller, seeing that something must be done, and she was the only one to do it, began to behave like a woman. "Stop shaking so, children," said she, with a sudden show of courage. "Keep a stiff upper lip! I've got an idea! It may be flesh and blood thieves come after the doctor's chany tea-cups!" "O, throw them out the window," gasped Mary. "No, Polly; not while I'm a live woman," replied Siller, who really had some sense when she could forget her fear of hobgoblins. "Into the hampshire, both of you, and let me button you in." The "hampshire" was a large cupboard, the lower part of which was half filled with boxes and buckets; but the children contrived to squeeze themselves into it. "It isn't fair, though," said Mary, putting her head out. "I ought to help you, Siller. Give me the shovel and tongs, and I will." Siller only answered by buttoning the hampshire door. Patty, feeling safer, screamed "Fief!" once more; and Mary gave her a shaking, which caused the child to bite her tongue; after which Mary hugged and kissed her with the deepest remorse. Who knew how long either of them had to live? What if the man should break down the kitchen door and get into the house? He was knocking harder than ever, and had been calling out several times,-- "Let me in! Why don't you let me in?" "There, I do declare, that sounds like Dr. Hilton," whispered Mary to Patty. And sure enough, next moment the voice of Siller was heard exclaiming, in the utmost surprise,-- "Bless me, doctor, you don't mean to say that's _you_!" It was the most welcome sound that the little prisoners in the "hampshire" could possibly have heard. And the laugh, gruff and cracked, which came from the doctor's throat, as soon as he got fairly into the house, was sweeter than the song of a nightingale. "Let us out! Let us out!" cried they, knocking to be let out as hard as the doctor had knocked to be let in, for Mary was beating the door with a bucket of sugar and Patty with a pewter porringer. But Siller was "all of a fluster," and it was the doctor himself who opened the hampshire doors after the little girls had almost pounded them down.