Page:Cornelia Meigs--The Pool of Stars.djvu/147

 bade her good-night at Mrs. Donovan's door with suspicious alacrity and, having seen it safely closed, turned once more up the lane. By David's advice they were to pass the cottage, climb higher up the hill and find the spot where the boundary wall was nearest the ruins of the house.

"If we wait by the pool," he explained, "we might not see anything. It might not come near, whatever It is."

Betsey shivered a little. She was ashamed of the thrills that were running through her and the tendency of her teeth to chatter unless she kept them firmly closed.

They walked briskly, but some one who came behind them was walking quicker still. A man passed them as they trudged upward, a man quite indistinguishable in the dark, save for the faint white of his collar and of his face. Betsey could make out that he was a broad person, not very tall, with an alert, though rather heavy step. They lagged a little after he had passed, to let him get well ahead of them so that they could go on with the discussion of their plans unheard.

"Usually it's not very late when the light comes," David said. "I don't believe we will have very long to wait."

In spite of his haste, the man who had passed them must have lingered a moment at the Reynolds'