The Bluebeard Room by Carolyn Keene

wide-eyed as she glimpsed a gowned, bare-footed figure above her. It was Lisa! Nancy called out to her softly but got no response.
    “Lisa—?” she repeated in a louder voice. Her friend continued up the tower stairs. She’s walking in her sleep! Nancy realized. Her own skin chilled to gooseflesh at the eerie sight.
    More curious than ever, and uncertain whether or not to wake her friend, Nancy followed step by step. The climb was exhausting, yet Lisa showed no sign of awakening. She passed a door which, Nancycould see through a window in the tower wall, led out onto a walkway along the battlements. Evidently she was heading for the very top of the tower!
    At last she emerged onto the stone roof. Nancy, following her, could see the notched stone parapet surrounding them in the moonlight. Lisa walked straight toward one of the notches.
    A gasp of horror rose in Nancy’s throat as she suddenly sensed her friend’s intention. Nancy choked off the sound before it reached her lips, for fear of waking and startling Lisa into losing her balance. Already Lisa was climbing up into the embrasure or opening in the parapet! Another moment and the sleepwalker would be poised to step off into empty air!
    Nancy’s heart was thudding in panic. What to do?! There was no time to reason out the wisest course. Acting on blind instinct, she rushed forward and grabbed Lisa around the waist. For a second both girls tottered perilously as Nancy struggled to restrain her friend! Then Lisa seemed to go limp and the two girls sagged backward to safety, collapsing on the stone roof of the tower!
    Footsteps were pounding toward them. As the mist of terror cleared from Nancy’s eyes, she became aware of a man bending over them. It was Hugh, clad in pajamas and robe, his face still aghast at the heart-stopping drama that had just taken place. “Lisa! Lisa, darling!” he exclaimed in a voice hoarse with emotion. “Thank God you’re all right!”
    He gathered his young wife tenderly in his arms as if she were a child. Tall and powerfully built as he was, Nancy had wondered earlier if he might be capable of violence when provoked by rage or opposition to his wishes. There was no sign of any such tendency in his nature now. Never had his deep love for Lisa seemed more apparent. He murmured words of gratitude to Nancy. Then, with his wife in his arms, he strode across the roof and started back down the stone steps.
    Nancy paused to peer down through the notch in the parapet. The sheer drop to the rocky ground below almost left her giddy! Would Lisa have gone over the brink . . . or would some instinct of self-preservation have awakened her in time? The very thought of what could have happened made Nancy feel sick!
    As she turned away, her eyes caught a distant glimmer of light. It was coming from a point somewhere west of the castle. Peering intently, she could make out a tall smokestack in the moonlight. . . . The engine house of the old abandoned tin mine! Nancy felt a surge of excitement.
    She hurried after Lord Penvellyn and followed him down the tower stairs. In the doorway of the couple’s room, she hesitated uncertainly as he deposited his still-sleeping wife on the bed.
    “Can I help in any way?”
    “I think she’ll be all right now, thank you,” Hugh replied. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you,Nancy, for saving Lisa!” He was clearly unused to making such emotional speeches and spoke in a tone of gruffly awkward sincerity, adding with a shudder, “My God, when I think what might have happened—!”
    “Has she ever sleepwalked before?”
    “Not that I’m aware of, but . . . who can say?” Hugh shrugged helplessly. “I don’t usually wake up at night, but she must have made some slight noise in leaving the room. I awoke, and when I discovered Lisa was gone, I ran out into the hall and saw that the tower door was open.”
    After talking a while longer, Nancy returned to her own room. But instead of going back