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 that one thing was brandy, which, of course, being the one thing needful, was not included in Aunt Agatha's remedies. I felt that it was necessary to stifle Ermyntrude's curiosity once and for all. 'Ermyntrude,' I said slowly and expressively, and thinking what Bucklew in the 'Bride of Lammermoor' said to his friends after he too had had an adventure in the night, 'you found me under the bed when you came in this morning, and it's no good pretending the mosquito-net is not torn. I'm not going to tell you anything more as to how I came to be under the bed. You may accept the fact as due to a little eccentricity of mine, or as anything else you like, but I forbid you to mention it to anyone here.' I'm afraid really that that only made Ermyntrude more curious still, but of course she had nothing more to say. I was determined at all costs that my adventure should not be known. I would not become a laughing-stock as the girl whose first visitor in Slumpanugger was a baboon. I drank my tea in silence and great dignity, while Ermyntrude busied herself about the room. I still felt a little weak, but quite brave again. I suppose I must have an extraordinary constitution. Or is it quite a usual one? I've never known myself anything but brave by day, whereas by night—well you have heard.

'That's very strange,' I heard Ermyntrude murmur, searching all round the bare expanse of floor, on the other chair, on my trunks, and