"I say, Terry," said Turly, "isn't the house awfully quiet? You wouldn't think there was any kitchen or places downstairs, because they make no noise. At school you are always hearing things, doors banging and voices speaking, and you can smell the dinner. It's a very quiet place, Gran'ma's is. There's no smell, and there's no sound." "It's very far downstairs here, you know," said Terry sagaciously. "It's a big house. And we do smell our own dinner when it comes up. Now, don't we, Turly?" "Oh, yes!" said Turly, yawning; "but I like to know all that is happening to everybody. I say, Terry, do you know there's another story of house above the part we're living in?" "Two stories," said Terry. "Have you never been up in them?" said Turly. "No," said Terry. "I peeped up the stairs once or twice, but it looked rather lonely, so I didn't care to." "I think it would be great fun to go up and see what they're like," said Turly. "Some of them are servants' bedrooms," said Terry. "But there are other parts besides, I know." "Do come up and see, Terry." "There might be a ghost." "If there is, I'll soon knock him on the head," said Turly. "I'll take the poker with me." "Oh, you silly! The poker would pass through him. They have no bodies." "Then they couldn't hurt us," said Turly, "so who cares? But there might be rats, so I'll just take the poker with me." "I don't like rats," said Terry; "and mind, Turly, it's you this time, if anything goes wrong." "Now, I hope you're not going to turn into a common girl, Terry," said Turly. "You used to be such a brick." All this made Terry feel that she couldn't possibly be going wrong to-day. Turly was always said to be good, and he was reproaching her with too much goodness. They might just go up the stair and take a look around. There couldn't be any harm in it. Still, they went very softly for fear of being overheard. It would be so disappointing if Nursey were just to come out of Gran'ma's room and say "Come back, children!" Up the stair they went. On the first floor they came to were bedrooms, chiefly rooms where servants slept, and one or two lumber rooms with nothing very interesting about them. So the children decided to go up higher still. A winding stair led to the topmost story of the big house, which consisted of a range of attics. They looked into all, but none of them was attractive. The expedition was threatening to prove a failure when they arrived at the last door and pushed it open. [Illustration] This place certainly seemed more promising. Large black presses were standing against the wall, looking as if they were full of everything. It wasn't exactly a lumber room, but a kind of place where very particular old things had been put away. A rocking-cradle in a corner caught their eyes. "I wonder if Granny was rocked in it!" said Terry. "She would have to be very little," said Turly dubiously.