"Miss Wise--Miss Wise--are ye to home?" It was a woman's voice. "Sarah Allen!" Phoebe exclaimed under her breath. "Whatever shall we do?" Rebecca replied. "Miss Wise," the voice repeated, and then their visitor knocked again, much more loudly. "I'll go to the door," exclaimed Phoebe. "But----" "I must. She'll raise the whole town if I don't." So saying, Phoebe walked noisily to the door and unlocked it. "Is that you, Mis' Allen?" she asked. The door was opened, and Phoebe found herself face to face with a short, light woman whose white garments shone gray in the night. "Why, you're up'n dressed!" exclaimed Mrs. Allen. She did not offer to enter, but went on excitedly: "Miss Phoebe," she said, "d'you know I b'lieve you've ben robbed." "What!" "Yes; on'y a minute ago I was a-comin' up the road from M'ria Payson's--you know she's right sick an' I've ben givin' her massidge--an' what sh'd I see but a man comin' out o' your gate with suthin' on his shoulder. I couldn't see who 'twas, an' he was so quiet an' sneaky without a light that I jest slipped behind a tree. You know I've ben dreadful skeery ever sence Tom was brought home with his arm broke after a fight with a strange man in the dark. Well, this man to-night he put the bundle or what not into a wheelbarrow an' set off quiet as a mouse. He went off down that way, an' says I to myself, 'It's a robber ben burglin' at the Wise's house,' says I, an' I come straight here to see ef ye was both murdered or what. Air ye all right? Hez he broken yer door? Hev ye missed anythin'?" As the little woman paused for breath, Phoebe seized her opportunity. "Did you say he went off to the north, Mis' Allen?" she said, with feigned excitement. "Yes." "Oh, dear--oh, dear!" cried Phoebe, wringing her hands. "Didn't I say I heard a noise--I told you I heard a burglar, Rebecca," she went on, hysterically, turning to her sister. "Is Miss Rebecca there?" asked Mrs. Allen. Rebecca came forward in silence. She was quite nonplussed. To tell the truth, Phoebe's sudden outburst was as great a tax upon her nerves as Mrs. Allen's unwelcome visit. Surely Phoebe had said nothing about a burglar! It was Droop that Mrs. Allen had seen--of course it was. She dared not say so in their visitor's presence, but she wondered mightily at Phoebe's apparent perturbation. Phoebe guessed her sister's mental confusion, and she sought to draw Mrs. Allen's attention to herself to avoid the betrayal of their plans which would certainly follow Rebecca's joining the conversation. "Mis' Allen," she exclaimed, excitedly, "the's just one thing to be done. Won't you run's quick's ever you can to Si Pray, an' ask him to bring his gun? You won't meet the burglar 'cause he's gone the other way. Rebecca 'nd I'll jest wait here for you an' Si. I'll get some hot water from the kitchen, in case the burglar should come back while you're gone. Oh, please will you do it?"