...______1______...

^^^"NO,"said Jackson with shy little smile. " I'm sorry. I won't play hide and seek. "^^^

      It was Christmas Eve, and there were fourteen of us in the house. We had had a good dinner, and we were all in the mood for fun and games - all, that is, Jackson. When somebody suggested hide and seek, there were loud shouts of agreement. Jackson's refusal was the only one.

^^^It was not like Jackson to refuse to play a game. 'Aren't you feeling well?' somebody asked.^^^

...'I am perfectly all right, thank you,' he said. "But," he added with a smile that softened his refusal but did not change it, "I am still not playing hide and seek. "...

^^^"Why not?" someone asked. He hesitated for a moment before replying. " I sometimes go and stay at a house where a girl was killed. She was playing hide and seek in the dark. She didn't know house very well. There was a door that led to the servants' staircase. When she was chased, she thought the door led to a bedroom. She opened the door and jumped - and landed at the bottom of the stairs. She broke her neck, of course."^^^

 We all looked serious. Mrs Fernley said, " How terrible! And were you there when it happened?"

^^^Jackson shook his head sadly.'No,' he said, 'but I was there when something else happened. Something worse. '^^^

"What could be worse than that?"

^^^"This was," said Jackson. He hesitated for a moment, then he said, " I wonder if any of you played a game called 'Smee '. It is much better than hide and seek. The name comes from " It's me ", of course. Perhaps you would like to play it instead of hide and seek. Let me tell you the rules of the game.^^^

'Every player is given sheet of paper. All the sheets except one are blank. On the last sheet of paper is written "Smee ". Nobody knows who "Smee " is except "Smee " himself - or herself. You turn out the lights, and "Smee " goes quietly out of the room and hides. After a time the others go off to search for "Smee " - but of course they don't know who they are looking for. When one player meets another he challenges him by saying, "Smee ". The other player answers "Smee " , and they continue searching.

^^^" But the real "Smee " doesn't answer when someone challenges. The second player stays quietly beside him. Presently they be discovered by a third player. He will challenge and receive no answer, and he will join the first two. This goes until all the players are in the same place. The last to find "Smee " has to pay a forfeit. It is s good, noisy, amusing game. In a big house it often takes a long time for everyone to find "Smee ". Perhaps you would like to try. I will happily pay my forfeit and sit here by the fire while you play. "^^^

...' It sounds good game," ........

.....

...

To be continued.

"It sounds a good game, " I remarked. " Have you ever played it too, Jackson? "

'Yes,' he answered. "I played it in the house that I was telling you about."

..."And she was there? The girl who broke... ."...

^^^"No, no, no, " said someone else. " He told us he wasn't there when she broke her neck. "^^^

Jackson thought for a moment. " I don't if she was there or not. I'm afraid she was. I know that there were thirteen of us playing the game, and there were only twelve of us in the house. And I didn't know the dead girl's name. When I heard that whispered name in the dark, it didn't worry me. But I tell you, I'm never going to play that kind of game again. It made me quite nervous for a long time. I prefer to pay my forfeit at once! "

We all stared at him. His words did not make sense at all.

...Tim Vouce - was the kindest man in the world. He smiled at us all....

"This sounds like an interesting story, " he said. 'Come on, Jackson, you can tell it us to instead of paying a forfeit.'

" Very well, " said Jackson. And here is his story.

: (Jackson says)

...______ 2 ______...

^^^Have you met the Sangstons? They are cousins of mine, and they live in Surrey. Five years ago they invited me to go and spend Christmas with them.^^^

It was an old house, with lots of unnecessary passages and suitcases. A stranger could get lost in it quite easily.

Well, I went down for that Christmas. Violet Sangston promised me that I knew most of the other guests. Unfortunately, I couldn't get away from my job until Christmas Eve. All the other guests had arrived there the previous day. I was the last to arrive, and I was only just in time for dinner. I said 'Hullo' to everyone I knew, and Violet Sangston introduced me to the people I didn't know. Then it was time to go in the dinner.

That it perhaps why I didn't hear the name of. A tall, dark- haired handsome girl whom I hadn't met before. Everyone was in rather a hurry and I am always bad at catching people's names. She looked cold and clever. She didn't look at all friendly, but she looked interesting, and I wondered who she was. I didn't ask, because I was sure that someone would speak to her by name during the meal. Unluckily , however, I was a long way from her at table. I was sitting next to Mrs Gorman, and as usual Mrs Gorman was being very bright and amusing. Her conversation is always worth listening to, and I completely forgot to ask the name of the dark , proud girl.

There were twelve of us, including the Sangstons themselves. We were all young - or trying to be young. Jack and Violet Sangston were the oldest, and their seventeen-year old Reggie was the youngest. It was Reggie who suggested 'Smee' when the talk turned to games. He told us the rules of the game, just as I've described them to you. Jack Sangston warned us all. "If you are going to play games in the dark," he said, "please be careful of the back stairs on the first floor. A door leads to them, and I've often thought about taking the door off. In the dark a stranger to the house could think they were walking into a room. A girl really did break her neck on those stairs."

I asked how it happened.

"It was about........."

^^^To be continued^^^

"It was about ten years ago, before we came here. There was a party, and they were playing hide and seek. This girl was looking for somewhere to hide. She hear somebody coming, and ran along passage to get away. She opened the door, thinking it led to a bedroom. She planned to hide in there until the seeker had gone. Unfortunately it was the door that led to the back stairs. She fell straight down to the bottom of the stairs. She was dead when they picked her up."

We all promised to be careful. Mrs Gorman even made a little joke about living to be ninety. You see, none of us had known the poor girl, and we did not want to feel sad on Christmas Eve.

Well, we all started the game immediately after dinner. Young Reggie Sangston went round making sure all the lights were off, except the ones in the servants' rooms and in the sitting room where we were. We then prepared twelve sheets of paper. Eleven of them were blank, one of them had 'smee 'written on it. Reggie mixed them all up, then we each took one. The person who got the paper with 'Smee' on it had to hide. I looked at mine and saw it was blank. A moment later, all the electric lights went out. In the darkness I heard someone moving quietly to the door.

After a minute somebody blew a whistle, and we all rushed the door. I had no idea who was Smee. For five or ten minutes we all rushing up and down passages and in and out of rooms, challenging each other and answering, "Smee? - Smee!".

^^^After a while, the noise died down, and I guessed that someone had found "Smee". After a time I found group of people all sitting on some narrow stairs. I challenged, and received no answer. So "Smee" was there. I hurriedly joined the group. Presently two more players arrived. Each one was hurrying to avoid being last. Jack Sangston was last, and given a forfeit.^^^

"I think we're all here now, aren't we?" he remarked. He lit a match, looked up the staircase and began to count.

"..... Nine, ten,eleven, twelve, thirteen," he said, and then laughed." That's silly - there's one too many! "

The match went out, and he lit another and began to count. He got as gar as twelve, then he looked puzzled.

"There are thirteen people here! " He said." I haven't counted myself yet."

"Oh, nonsense!" I laughed. "You probably began with yourself, and now you want to count yourself twice."

His son took out his electric torch. It gave a better light than the matches, and we all began to count. Of course there were twelve of us. Jack laughed. "Well" he said, "I was sure I counted thirteen twice."

From half way up the stairs Violet Sangston spoke nervously. "I thought there was somebody sitting two steps above me. Have you moved, Captain Ransome?"

The captain said that he hadn't. "But I thought there was somebody sitting between Mrs Sangston and me."

...Just for a moment there was uncomfortable something in the air. A cold finger seemed to touch us all. For that moment we all felt that something odd and unpleasant had just happened - and was likely to happen again. Then we laughed at ourselves, and at each other, and we felt normal again. There were only twelve of us, and that was that. Still laughing, we marched back to the sitting - room to begin again....

**\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ 3 \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_**

^^^This time I was "Smee"....^^^