by A. M. Williamson and C. N. Williamson

“ It seemed to me that there was the devil to pay already, a devil in woman's form, unless my imagination had made a fool of me. I shivered with disgust at the thought of these two witches, the middle-aged witch and the old one.
If I did hand over my prize to the elder witch, he was lost to me. I should never get a second chance to catch my fox with cake! And even were I sure that he wouldn't blab, or that Kram wouldn't, the secret of our meeting was certain to leak out. In that case, the red-baize door would never again open to my knock, so what was I to do? ”

“ It doesn't matter, though. Plenty of light comes from the garden side.”
“Where was Cecil before you went to live in the wing?” I asked. “Was she in the house?”
“Oh, she'd been in that wing for weeks before father and I moved in,” said the boy. “Mother slept there at night. And Cecil could look out as much as she liked, because there was no one about except us and Krammie. Krammie doesn't count! She's the same as the family, because she's so old she nursed mother when mother was a baby. Seems funny she could have been a baby, doesn't it? But Krammie loves her better than any one, except me. ”

“ Mother says she's in a decline.”
“Oughtn't she to see a doctor?” I wondered.
“Mother thinks a doctor'd be no good. Besides, I don't expect she'd let one see her, anyhow. I told you she won't let any one in.”
“Why does your mother give Cecil a room whose window looks over the moat, if it's so important she should hide?” I persisted.
“All the rooms in that wing where we live are like that,” Bertie explained. “They've windows on the little court inside and windows outside, on the moat. But the outside window in Cecil's room is nailed shut now, so she couldn't open it if she tried. ”

“ Now, the likeness of the name and the boy's babblings made me suspect the plot of an old-fashioned melodrama.
“Oh, I guessed about her hair and eyes, because you said she was so pretty, and dark eyes and auburn hair are the prettiest of all,” I assured him gayly. 'I'm great at guessing things. I can guess like magic! ”

“ And those old panes set in lead are thick as thick! I don't believe you could smash one unless you had a hammer. Father says you couldn't. I mean, he says Cecil couldn't. And since the day mother scolded Cecil for looking out, the curtian's nailed down. ”