“No sleighs out in front that I can see,” remarked Grandpa Ford.  “Where do the bells seem to you to be?” he asked Daddy Bunker.

“Up in the attic!” called Russ from his room.  “That’s where they sound.”

“I believe he is right,” said Grandma Ford.  “I have a good ear for sound, and that jingling is certainly up in the attic.  Father, you’d better take a look.”

“Aren’t you—­aren’t you afraid?” asked Rose, rather hesitating over the words.

“Afraid of what?” inquired Grandpa Ford.

“Well, it’s so dark up in the attic,” went on Rose, and Russ, hearing what she said, knew what she meant.  It was the ghost Rose was thinking of, and not the dark.

“I can take a light,” said Grandpa Ford.  “Then it won’t be dark.  But you mustn’t be afraid in the dark.  It can’t hurt any one.”

Just then the bells gave a very loud jingle, just as if some one had hold of the string and was shaking it hard.

“Oh!” exclaimed Rose.

“I’m goin’ to sleep!” announced Mun Bun, and he covered his head with the bedclothes.

“So’m I,” said Margy, and she did as her little brother had done, snuggling under the covers.

Rose and Russ heard their father ask Grandpa Ford: 

“Did this ever happen before?”

“No,” answered Grandpa Ford.  “We have heard many strange noises at Great Hedge, noises we thought were caused by—­well, you know what I mean,” and he nodded at Mr. Bunker to show that he did not want to use the word “ghost.”

Of course, Russ and Rose, being in bed in different rooms, could not see this nod, but they guessed what Grandpa Ford meant.

“Well, we’d better go up and see what it is,” said Daddy Bunker.  “We can’t sleep with all that jingling going on,” and even as he spoke the bells rang out again.

“I’ll get a light,” said Grandpa Ford.  “A lantern will be best.  There is always more or less breeze up in the attic, and a candle or lamp might blow out.  Come on.”

Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford went up into the attic, while the six little Bunkers, two of them with their heads under the covers, waited to hear what would happen.  So did Mother Bunker and Grandma Ford.

The two men were heard tramping around in the attic, and then, suddenly, just as the bells gave another jingle, there was a loud laugh.

“There!  It’s all right,” said Mother Bunker.  “They’ve found the—­the—­whatever it was,” she said quickly.  “And it must be funny, for hear them laugh.”

Down came Daddy Bunker and Grandpa Ford.  Grandpa Ford carried the lantern, and Daddy Bunker had something in his hand.

“Here’s what caused all the trouble!” he said, and he held out something round and red.

“An apple!” cried Russ, who had come out in the hall to see.

“Just an apple,” went on Daddy Bunker.  “This apple made all the noise, or, rather, was the cause of the bells jingling.”