`` There 's -- SOMETHING -- in the house , RINGING A BELL , '' said Peter , in a shaking voice . Not the Story Girl herself could have invested that `` something '' with more of creepy horror . We all drew close together . I felt a crinkly feeling along my back which I had never known before . If Peter had not been so manifestly frightened we might have thought he was trying to `` pass a joke '' on us . But such abject terror as his could not be counterfeited . `` Nonsense ! '' said Felicity , but her voice shook . `` There is n't a bell in the house to ring . You must have imagined it , Peter . Or else Uncle Roger is trying to fool us . '' `` Your Uncle Roger went to Markdale right after milking , '' said Peter . `` He locked up the house and gave me the key . There was n't a soul in it then , that I 'm sure of . I druv the cows to the pasture , and I got back about fifteen minutes ago . I set down on the front door steps for a moment , and all at once I heard a bell ring in the house eight times . I tell you I was skeered . I made a bolt for the orchard -- and you wo n't catch me going near that house till your Uncle Roger comes home . '' You would n't catch any of us doing it . We were almost as badly scared as Peter .
There we stood XXXXX a huddled demoralized group .
about along as before in near of that till to