THE LosT CHILD 63

in a room haunted by ghosts? Are you sure you are not
afraid, my good girl?”

“T am willing to try this very night,” she replied. “I
would only ask you to give me some food to cook for my
supper, for I am very hungry.”

Orders were given that she should be supplied with every-
thing she wanted, and indeed enough food was given her, not
for one supper only, but for three. With the food, some dry
firewood and a candle, she entered the room. Like a good
housewife, she first lit the fire and put on her saucepans, then
she laid the table and made the bed. This filled up the early
part of the evening. The time passed so quickly that she was
surprised to hear the clock strike twelve, while at the last
stroke, footsteps, as of some one walking, shook the room,
and dismal groans filled the air. The frightened girl ran from
one corner to the other, but could not see any one. But the
footsteps and the groans did not cease. Suddenly a young
man approached her and asked, “For whom is this food
cooked?”

“For myself,” she said.

The gentle face of the stranger saddened, and after a short
silence he asked again, “ And this table, for whom is it laid?”

“For myself,” she replied.

The brow of the young man clouded over, and the beauti-
ful blue eyes filled with tears as he asked once more, ‘And
this bed, for whom have you made it?”

“For myself,” replied she in the same selfish and indif-
ferent tone.

Tears fell from his eyes as he waved his arms and

vanished.