Erica merely sighed blissfully. Words were beyond her. All her worries and troubles had broken like the early-morning mists about them, and the sun of a happy present and a joyously beckoning future was shining through. CHAPTER IX As they turned the corner into Mount Vernon Street, a new problem occurred to Erica. She stopped short and faced Lister ruefully. “How are we going to get in without waking them?” she demanded. “Of course, when I slipped out this morning, I didn’t know I was coming back, so I never thought of leaving the door on the latch. If Cousin Kate and your mother have to know I tried to run away to sea, they’ll think I’m more hopeless than ever.” She caught at Lister’s coat sleeve beseechingly. “You don’t think I ought to tell them, as long as I _didn’t_? You see, they’d never understand. I’ll tell father when the _Sea Gull_ gets back, and even if he doesn’t approve—and of course he won’t—he’ll understand I wasn’t just being naughty. That’s the beautiful thing about father, he sees into people’s real thoughts.” Lis looked thoughtful for a moment. “No, I guess if you tell Uncle Eric, that’s enough,” he conceded. “There’s no sense in worrying the others. Now let’s put our heads together and try to think up a way to break in without rousing the house.” They had reached Cousin Kate’s steps by this time, and stood there in the street, gazing up at the white-painted, closed door. The sun was almost up now, and the grey twilight of early morning was already shot with cheerful color. In a very little while the household would be astir. They had to think quickly if Erica’s escapade was to remain a secret. Luck, however, was with them. A stronger puff of wind swept about the corner and the white door rattled under its onslaught, widened a crack, and then gently swung open before the astonished eyes of the girl and boy. Erica uttered a little cry. “I don’t believe I pulled it quite to, after all,” she whispered, jubilantly. “Hurry and let’s slip in before anyone wakes. My! what a piece of good fortune! Only, I didn’t really deserve it,” she added, honestly, as they mounted the steps on tiptoe. Standing in the dim hallway, Erica closed the door cautiously behind them, and motioned Lis toward the still darker parlor. “Go in there and wait till they come down,” she commanded under her breath. “I’ll run up and get rid of these,” touching Tommy’s discarded suit rather shamefacedly. She had scarcely gained her own room when she heard footsteps moving about on the floor below, where her aunt’s and Cousin Kate’s bedrooms were. Then some one, she was not sure which of the two it was, started down the stairs. Standing at her door, Erica listened breathlessly, and an instant later she heard a startled, incredulous cry from Aunt Callie. ”_Lister!_ My darling boy!”