“I heard! — did not you hear a noise, Isabella?” said Matilda.
“A noise! — No; where?” said Isabella, and went on talking alternately to her mother and Mad. de Rosier, whom she held fast, though they seemed somewhat inclined to retire to rest.
“Indeed,” said Matilda, “I did hear a noise in that closet.”
“Oh dear, Miss Matilda,” cried Grace, getting between Matilda and the closet, “it’s nothing in life but a mouse.”
“A mouse, where?” said Mrs. Harcourt.
“Nowhere, ma’am,” said Grace; “only Miss Matilda was hearing noises, and I said they must be mice.”
“There, mamma! there! that was not a mouse, surely!” said Matilda. “It was a noise louder, certainly, than any mouse could make.”
“Grace is frightened,” said Isabella, laughing.
Grace, indeed, looked pale and terribly frightened.
Mad.
