A red glow in the east banished my last fear , and , wrapping the drapery of my couch about me , I soon lay down to quiet slumber , quite worn out . The sun shining in my face waked me ; a bell ringing spasmodically warned me to hurry , and a childish voice calling out , `` Bet-fast is most weady , Miss Wee , '' assured me that sweet little spirits haunted the cottage as well as ghostly ones . As I left my room to join Margie , who was waiting in the porch , and looking like a rosy morning-glory half-way up the woodbine trellis , I saw two things which caused me to feel that the horrors of the night were not all imaginary . Just outside the back bedroom door was a damp place , as if that part of the floor had been newly washed ; and when , goaded by curiosity , I peeped through the keyhole of the haunted chamber , my eye distinctly saw an open razor lying on a dusty table . My vision was limited to that one object , but it was quite enough , and I went up the hill brooding darkly over the secret hidden in my breast . I longed to tell some one , but was ashamed , and , when asked why so pale and absent-minded , I answered , with a gloomy smile , -- `` It is the clams . '' All day I hid my sufferings pretty well , but as night approached , and I thought of another lonely vigil in the haunted cottage , my heart began to fail , and , when we sat telling stories in the dusk , a brilliant idea came into my head . I would relate my ghost story , and rouse the curiosity of the listeners to such a pitch that some of them would offer to share my quarters , in hopes of seeing the spirit of the restless Tucker . Cheered by this delusive fancy , when my turn came I made a thrilling tale of the night 's adventures , and , having worked my audience up to a flattering state of excitement , paused for applause . It came in a most unexpected form , however , for Mrs. Grant burst out laughing , and the two boys , Johnny and Joe , rolled off the piazza in convulsions of merriment . Much disgusted at this unseemly demonstration , I demanded the cause of it , and involuntarily joined in the general shout when Mrs. Grant demolished my ghost by informing me that Bezee Tucker lived , died in , and haunted the tumble-down house at the other end of the lane . `` Then who or what made those mysterious noises ? '' I asked , relieved but rather nettled at the downfall of my romance . `` My brother Seth , '' replied Mrs. Grant , still laughing . `` I thought you might be afraid to be there all alone , so he slipped into the bedroom , and I forgot to tell you . He 's a powerful snorer , and that 's one of the awful sounds . The other was the dripping of salt water ; for you wanted some , and the girl got it in a leaky pail . Seth wiped up the slops when he came out early in the morning . '' I said nothing about the keyhole view of the harmless razor , but , feeling that I did deserve some credit for my heroic reception of the burglar , I mildly asked if it was the custom in York for men as well as turkeys to roost in trees . An explosion from the boys extinguished my last hope of glory , for as soon as he could speak Joe answered , unable to resist the joke , though telling it betrayed his own transgressions .
`` XXXXX planned to be up awful early , and pick the last cherries off that tree .
Bet-fast Johnny Margie Wee explosion morning night slops snorer transgressions