Page:The Rejuvenation Of Miss Semaphore.pdf/74

 the Venetian blinds, the sound of passing cabs, a neighbouring clock chiming three, all reassured her.

With a sigh of relief she turned over to sleep again, when a weird wailing attracted her attention. Miss Prudence listened. Her heart beat fast. The wailing seemed close at hand. Did it come from above or below? Noises are proverbially difficult to locate. Miss Prudence subscribed to "Borderland," and a thousand unpleasant conjectures assailed her. There was something unearthly, she fancied, in the cry, and though she muttered "ridiculous," the exclamation did not entirely restore her presence of mind. So far, indeed, was the idea from being really ridiculous to her, that, as the sound continued to rise and fall feebly, Miss Prudence lay back in bed, and pulled the clothes over her head. She could not be happy thus, however. Half suffocated, she emerged from time to time to hear if it still continued. When at last it ceased, somewhat tranquillised by the silence, she pulled down the blankets and began to consider what the cause of disturbance could possibly be.

A solution flashed through her mind—the kitten! She remembered suddenly that Mrs.