Without really being aware of what she did, Dorothy advanced toward the door, Sarah following perforce because she did not dare loose the hold of her companion's gown, and the two halted only when they were close to the threshold.
"Surely you are not going to open that door!" Sarah cried in alarm.
"Of course not; but I have a mind to lock it, and then Scip will be forced to beg us to let him in."
"But we would be here alone!"
"We are alone now, and it will be safer if the door is locked. Any straggler could get in if we left it as it is."
As she spoke Dorothy took hold of the big key, using all her strength to turn it in the lock; but her efforts were in vain.
"Don't try," Sarah said imploringly. "It is too heavy for you to turn."
"I have done it many times before," and Dorothy persisted, perhaps because her friend intimated that she could not, until to her great surprise she found that despite all efforts the key remained immovable.
Then she laid hold of the door handle, and thus discovered that the bolt had been thrown into the socket.
"It is locked! Scip must have gone out again!"
"He couldn't do so and leave the key inside,"
