I didn't dare go over those stairs. I just stood
there and called, and finally I heard the entry door open and Mrs.
Bird called back:
"'What is it? Did you call, Miss Arms?'
"'Come up here; come up here as quick as you can, both of you,' I
screamed out; 'quick, quick, quick!'
"I heard Mrs. Bird tell Mrs. Dennison: 'Come quick, Amelia,
something is the matter in Miss Arms' room.' It struck me even
then that she expressed herself rather queerly, and it struck me as
very queer, indeed, when they both got upstairs and I saw that they
knew what had happened, or that they knew of what nature the
happening was.
"'What is it, dear?' asked Mrs. Bird, and her pretty, loving voice
had a strained sound. I saw her look at Mrs. Dennison and I saw
Mrs. Dennison look back at her.
"'For God's sake,' says I, and I never spoke so before--'for God's
sake, what was it brought my coat upstairs?'
"'What was it like?' asked Mrs. Dennison in a sort of failing
voice, and she looked at her sister again and her sister looked
back at her.
"'It was a child I have never seen here before. It looked like a
child,' says I, 'but I never saw a child so dreadful, and it had on
a nightgown, and said she couldn't find her mother.
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