ANOTHER GHOSTLY VISITATION
That evening, at the Clydes' country home, Nell called up some of her
friends and asked them to drive over for an evening of good times.
Perhaps half a dozen girls and boys came, initiating Jannet into the
pleasures of country life. It was a new atmosphere to Jannet and she
liked it. They were all a little stiff at first, pleasant, but waiting
to see what the girl from the city school was like. Soon, however, when
Nell and Chick started some games and they found Jannet throwing
herself into everything with a real delight, the party waxed merry.
The next morning Jannet and Jan rode home. Jannet heard Jan and Paulina
in more than one mild argument as she tried to pack for him and he
objected to her packing. "Of course I'm going to take that, P'lina.
That is one of the most important things. If you can't get that in,
I'll tumble the whole mess out and pack it all over myself. What's the
idea? Do you think that you have to do it?"
"Now, Jan, your ma--" but Jannet shut the door to hear no more. She
supposed, as she smiled over what she had heard, that some treasure
like a bat or a ball glove or mask had been omitted. She was beginning
a diary, suggested to her by her mother's having kept one. But Jannet
decided that she would never destroy hers, because it would be such a
good history for her children, if she had any.
Jannet spent a good part of the morning in this way, after a good visit
with Mrs. Holt. Then Paulina came in to sweep and clean her room. There
was another servant to help with this sort of thing, but Paulina, who
almost felt that she had part ownership in the place, liked to take
care of this old part of the home herself. Paulina was "queer," Jannet
thought. She could not tell what Paulina thought of her, but she rather
hoped that Paulina did not hate her, for "Old P'lina" was a family
institution, it seemed. She grew older and older in Jannet's thought,
for Paulina's face was much more lined than Uncle Pieter's, in spite of
the dark hair. Nell said that P'lina must dye her hair, but Jannet knew
that Nell was wrong.
Nell and Chick Clyde did not arrive until long after supper and said
that they had company at home, unexpected company for supper. But they
enjoyed the evening together, Mrs. Holt keeping her promise of the
"party," which meant something good to eat at the proper time.
Jannet wondered if Uncle Pieter would have approved, for they had
chicken and biscuits, with other accompaniments, for a first course,
and Paulina's delicious angel food cake with a whipped cream "salad"
over it or "by" it, as Jannet put it. Nuts, maraschino cherries and
pineapple made this toothsome. But this was Jan's last evening at home.
Sometime the next day he was leaving for school. "Yes, Nell," said he,
"hard-hearted Uncle Pieter is responsible for my leaving; but after all
Chick could scarcely get his lessons without me, and it will be fun to
see the other boys."
After the refreshment the boys were restless. It was not far from
bedtime and Jan suggested that Chick go with him to the attic den to
see his latest invention.
"You might invite us, too, Jan," said Jannet, with a freedom which she
was beginning to feel in this new environment.
"Oh, girls wouldn't understand, and besides, it doesn't work yet. I
want to get Chick's ideas about it. Then the attic is where the ghost
usually begins, you know."
"Honestly, Jan, did you ever hear or see anything strange?"
Jan looked mysterious, then laughed. "'Honestly,' Jannet, I think most
of the noises might be from some ordinary cause. But once I did--oh,
well, there are lots of odd sounds and things in an old house. But no
ghost has ever come into my attic den so far as I know."
"I wouldn't go up there after dark for worlds!" Nell declared.
"Silly!" So her brother commented. "Jan's den is a real room, at a
gable, and used to be a bedroom, Paulina says. There's a rambling sort
of hall, and a door, that Paulina keeps locked, into the rest of the
attic, which isn't all floored, she says. Paulina says 'Keep Out,' in
large letters, doesn't she, Jan?"
"Yep," answered Jan, with a look at Chick which was intended to mystify
the girls.
"Maybe P'lina is the ghost, then," Nell suggested, and Jannet thought
to herself that it was not impossible.
"I'll tell P'lina that I want to see if any of my mother's boxes or
trunks are up there, and perhaps she will give me the key!"
"You wouldn't _dare_, Jannet!"
"Yes I would, Nell!"
"_Much_ you would," and Jan's disbelieving eyes laughed into Jannet's
sparkling ones. "Wait till I come home again anyhow," he added.
"Perhaps I will, Jan," his cousin conceded.
The boys said goodnight, leaving the two girls in the quaint old
kitchen, where they had made taffy in one of the old kettles, by the
express permission of Mrs. Holt, and under her supervision, for Paulina
had not wanted to have the "trouble and muss" of a fire here, among the
cherished antiques of the kitchen. "Before the weather gets too hot,"
meditatively said Jannet, taking a last piece of the sticky but very
delicious sweet from one of the pans, "I'd like to have an
old-fashioned taffy pull and invite some of the girls and boys that I
met at your house, Nell. I'm afraid that Uncle Pieter and Old P'lina
might not like it, but perhaps Cousin Di could get permission for me."
"Perhaps so," doubtfully answered Nell, "but remember that Chick and
Jan leave to-morrow."
"That's so. Well, perhaps I'll be here next winter. I've read about the
good times in the country in the winter and I almost wish I needn't go
to school."
"Your uncle intends to keep you here, Jannet. I heard Mother say so."
Jannet looked inquiringly at Nell, but made no comment. That might not
be so nice after all, not to go back to the girls and Miss Hilliard.
But Miss Hilliard was her guardian, and she would do the deciding.
Mrs. Holt came hurrying in to say that she had almost forgotten them,
and that by all means they must get to bed. With a kind goodnight she
left them, and they heard her routing the boys from their attic den.
The sound of their descent by the attic stairs could have been heard in
Philadelphia, Nell said.
The girls went upstairs by the front staircase, turning to the right
with the dark, curving rail of the banisters. To Jannet's door there
was only a step, and Nell looked on along the railing to the front of
the upstairs hall. "That front room on this side," Jannet explained,
"belonged to my grandfather and grandmother, and the big chimney, with
gorgeous fireplaces, is between their room and what was my mother's,
now mine. There are plenty of other fireplaces, though," she added,
"only this seems to be the biggest chimney. See, my door almost faces
the corridor that leads to the new part, where Cousin Di sleeps, and
Paulina's room is right off the back hall, there. Jan's room is
downstairs. He picked it out himself."
"Chick says that he has a cot in the den upstairs, too."
"Is that so? I shouldn't think that he would want to sleep there."
"Why, Jannet! I thought that you didn't believe in ghosts!"
"I don't but just the same,--" and Jannet stopped to laugh at herself.
By this time they were in the room, Nell wondering a little at Jannet's
having to unlock the door. But she did not ask her why she kept the
door locked, and Jannet did not explain. One thing after another had
interfered with her having had an opportunity to open the secret drawer
in her desk for a glimpse of the pearls. First she had been expecting
Paulina in to clean. Then, after some delay, the cleaning took place. A
call, plans with Cousin Di and a long drive with her and Cousin Andy,
partly for the sake of errands, completely filled the day till time for
the Clydes to come.
But now, as Jannet displayed her room to her guest, placing the little
overnight bag, and quietly mentioning her pleasure in having her
mother's room and her mother's picture, she was anxious to assure
herself of her new possession in the desk and felt impatient with
herself for not having locked the door against everybody long enough to
see that the pearls were safe. Of course they were, though.
What was Nell saying? Oh, yes, she was commenting on the size of the
house, admiring it, but telling Jannet the gossip. Some said that her
uncle intended to turn it into a summer hotel, and others said that he
had expected his daughter's family to occupy it with him, as well as
his son's. "Andrew was going to be married, if he hadn't gotten all
banged up in the war."
"Oh,--too bad!" exclaimed sympathetic Jannet. "Wouldn't his sweetheart
marry him?"
"More likely he would not let her."
"Dear me, I'll never catch up with the why and wherefore of our family.
Can you keep a secret, Nell?"
"Try me. Even Chick says that I can."
Nell had admired the desk before, but Jannet led her to it again.
"I want to show you a secret drawer, Nell, and what I found in it,
something wonderful,--my mother's pearls, the ones she has on in the
picture!"
Nell leaned over with the greatest interest, while Jannet seated
herself in front of her desk, now open, and pressed the spring as she
had done before. Out came the drawer, more easily than before,--but
empty!
Quickly Nell looked into her friend's face, which was blank with
surprise. "Gone!" Jannet exclaimed. "Why, Nell, it's just as it
happened before! Mother lost them, too, or they were stolen from her
desk. Oh, _who_ could have done it! Why _did_ I leave them there!"
Jannet dropped her hands in her lap and sat there looking at Nell, who
drew up a chair and took one of Jannet's hands to pat it and try to
comfort her.
"I ought not to care so much, perhaps," said Jannet, almost ready to
cry, "but I loved to think that Mother has worn them. I'd think it a
dream, but Nell, I put them on my neck and loved to have them
there,--don't tell me that I'm quite crazy!" Jannet, smiling, was
herself now.
"Of course you are not crazy. I believe that the pearls were there, and
where could they have gone? They did not walk off by themselves
certainly, and there isn't another thing in the drawer. Could there be
a crack in the bottom?" Nell tapped the delicate wood with her finger.
"Not big enough to lose a big case full of pearls, Nell. Well, it can't
be helped. I'll examine the desk to-morrow and see if they _could_ have
been put in another drawer,--or something." As she spoke, Jannet began
to open the little drawers which she knew, while Nell exclaimed over
the tiny springs and the skill with which the drawers had been hidden.
But Jannet did not want to make Nell have an unhappy time over her lost
pearls. In a few moments she was her philosophical self again. "It
can't be helped, Nell, and as I never did have them before, I can get
along without them now. Let's get to bed. I'm glad that you think the
room is pretty and the things nice. I'm wealthy enough in my mother's
things without the pearls. It seems now as if I have been waiting all
my life to come to this room!"
It was as they settled down in bed, after putting the windows at the
proper height and turning off the light, that Nell happened to think of
something. "Jannet, you'll find your pearls! Didn't your fortune say
that you would lose something and find it again?"
"'You will find what you look for,'" replied Jannet, in such a good
imitation of the old fortune-teller's cracked tones that Nell laughed
and Jannet apologized, saying that she ought not to have made fun of
Grandma Meer.
"Poor old soul," said Nell, drowsily. For a wonder the girls did not
lie awake to talk. It had been a full day and soon they were asleep;
for Nell was an easy-going girl, not nervous about fancied ghosts in a
room as bright and pleasant as this, while Jannet, accustomed to share
her room and often her bed with Lina Marcy or some other school-girl,
felt it quite natural to have company.
What time it was when Jannet was suddenly wide awake, she did not know.
A confused dream, the result, she well knew, of taffy and other good
things to eat, was floating away from her. Nell was not stirring the
least bit and she could not even hear her breathe. That was odd.
Cautiously she turned, sighed, and reached over to touch her friend
lightly, when suddenly Nell clutched Jannet's hand and reached Jannet's
lips with her other hand to insure silence.
Jannet squeezed Nell's hand to indicate understanding, but she was a
little frightened. What was it? The same old ghost, a burglar, or was
Nell only startled at some little sound? Jannet had bolted her door,
but it would be possible for some one to climb up on the trellis and
climb into the window which opened upon the little balcony, she
remembered. That one she had not raised very high and the screen was in.
It was pitch dark. There were no glimmerings of lights outside as in a
city. The night was cloudy, without star or moon visible. Quite a
breeze was stirring. Perhaps there would be another storm, though there
were no flashes of electricity.
"Tap, tap, tap, tap," she heard. Well, that might be the broken branch
that she had noticed hanging against the pergola outside.
Then a weird sound began. Perhaps that was what had wakened Nell. That
must be the "Dutch Banshee" that Jan had mentioned. It was
indescribable, something like the whistling of the wind, then a little
like the hooting of an owl. Was that what Paulina meant, then?
That _was_ a queer, rustling sound. Yes, it _did_ sound like someone
lightly coming down a stairway; why, it sounded right in the wall,
Jannet thought! Step, step, step, step, slowly. Paulina would be saying
"That's '_Her!_'"
Could it be true that there was something sinister and evil, or
something unhappy, that could not rest, that came back to its old home?
In the daytime Jannet would not have had these fearful thoughts, but it
was eerie, indeed, to lie in a dark room and listen to sounds that she
did not understand.
A faint moaning sound began and suddenly stopped with a little choke or
gasp.
"Is Chick a ventriloquist?" whispered Jannet.
"No," replied Nell, "and neither is Jan."
For a few moments there was no sound at all. Then the "Dutch Banshee"
began again. Jannet whispered, "Static,--Jan's radio!"
"No," whispered Nell. "Keep still!"
Jannet listened. Yes, it did sound more like a voice now. How scarey it
did make a body feel! Anyhow it wasn't in the room. Jannet sat up in
bed, determined not to be frightened as she had been before. If there
were anything going on, she was going to see it, come what might! She
wished again for the flashlight that she had forgotten and left at
school. Nell gained courage and sat up, too.
Now there was an odd light from somewhere. Why,--there was a dim veiled
light on the wall, as if shining through! What in the world! There, it
was gone. But some one was moaning,--no, sobbing!
Next the sound, tap, tap, tap. Jannet again thought of Paulina's
expression: "I suppose that's 'Her' coming down some stairs somewhere,"
she whispered to Nell, who still clutched her hand.
"Let's put on the light and run to Paulina's room," Nell whispered,
trying to pierce the darkness, and looking in the direction of the wall
where the light had appeared. There it was for a moment again! Now it
faded; then it came more strongly and went out again.
"It looks as if somebody were passing back and forth behind a screen,
Nell," whispered Jannet. "Come on." But just then there came that
clicking sound that Jannet had heard on that other night. "Wait, Nell,"
she whispered. "I'll get to the door, and if nothing gets me, come,
too."
"No," again said Nell, holding Jannet as if to keep her in bed. There
was somebody,--something,--in the room! A cover of the bed began to be
drawn off, as before. Gently it moved. Jannet, ready for an experiment
to find out if this were a person or a ghost that entered her room so
mysteriously, reached for the slowly moving cover and gave it a jerk
back toward her. She met with no resistance at all, and pulled the
cover in a little heap around her by the force of her own effort.
This was too much! Jannet leaped out of bed, seized Nell by the arm,
and ran in the direction of the electric button and the door. As she
pushed the button, she was sure that she heard a similar sound behind
her, but she only glanced behind to see that no one was after them, as
she pulled out the little bolt and pushed Nell into the hall ahead of
her.
Barefooted and breathless, the girls stood in the hall a moment,
listening. Nothing followed them. They peeped back into the room after
a few minutes. It was not cold, but both girls were shivering.
"Do you suppose that the boys could fool us in some way?" asked Nell,
who remembered her brother's tricks.
"Perhaps one of them hid somewhere," said Jannet. "But how did he get
out? This business of pulling a cover off happened once before, Nell.
Perhaps there is a way of getting into the room. The windows were 'way
up to-night, too."
"Let's run down and see if the boys are in their room," suggested Nell.
"All right, but the other time was before Jan got home."
Back the girls went, somewhat timorously, to be sure, to put on
slippers and kimonos. Thus clad, they slipped quietly down the back
stairs, and Nell stepped close to the door to listen. A heavy pin, with
which she had fastened her kimono, fell out at this juncture and in the
stillness of the hall it made quite a little noise.
"What's that?" they heard Chick say, and presently a low grunt answered
him. The bed creaked and the girls flew upstairs as fast as they could,
Nell retrieving her pin first.
"Well," said Jannet, as they entered the room again, "shall we wake up
Paulina and get things stirred up? You will be afraid to go to sleep
again, won't you?"
"I g-guess not," shivered Nell. "Put down the windows and leave the
light on."
"We'd smother, child," said Jannet.
"Look under the bed, then. I refuse to get into it unless that is
done." Nell tried to be jolly with poor success.
"Perhaps that is where--It--was. Say, that was a funny feeling, Nell,
to jerk that coverlid and find it come just too easy!"
As before, Jannet went all over to see what she could see. There was no
sign of any one's having been in the closets or in the bath room. The
vines on the porch looked undisturbed. Jannet put the windows down to a
point where they would have to be raised to admit anyone. Again she
went over the paneled wall to see if there were a hidden door between
her room and the next one. "But that light was too near the big
chimney," she said. "Perhaps there might be an opening of some sort
there."
The girls looked up into the chimney with its bricks discolored by many
a fire. "What's on the other side of the chimney?" Nell asked.
"That other room just like this,--are you afraid to go in there?"
"No," answered Nell, beginning to get over her scare. But they found
the door of the other room locked and looked at each other as much as
to say, "Perhaps the mystery lies here."
"Nothing hurt us anyhow, Nell, as I thought before. We'll leave the
side lights on and put that little screen I have up on a chair to keep
the light out of our eyes. I haven't heard another sound, have you?"
"No, I guess the ghosts have gotten through. What time is it, Jannet?"
Jannet looked at her wrist watch but it had stopped. "The ghosts were
too much for my timepiece, Nell, but it must be 'most morning. It is
about the same time, I think, that the comforter went off my bed and
never did come back. I've always wanted to ask Paulina about it, but
someway, she is so sure about ghosts that I hated to stir her up, or
draw any questions. I declare, Nell, I'm different here. _It's_ so
different!"
"I should say it is,--and yet you like this room."
"Yes, Nell, I do, and I'm going to find out what or who does this.
Maybe it's Paulina."
"For half a cent I'd like to see if she is in her room. Don't you
suppose she heard that moaning?"
"I don't see how she could help it, and with our putting on and off
lights all around, too."
Jannet had scarcely stopped speaking when there was the sound of an
opening door. The light went on in the hall again. "Girls," said
Paulina, "did you hear it?"
Jannet almost laughed out, for Paulina in her long muslin gown looked
so funny. She had thrust her feet into immense woolen slippers, wore
the little shoulder shawl, and--of all things--a night-cap,--over her
hair!
"Yes, Paulina, and we almost lost the coverlid, as I lost the blue
comforter one night."
"What?" asked Paulina, "that blue comforter that I put on your bed?"
"Yes. I've never seen it since."
"It's in the closet. I thought that you put it there."
Jannet and Paulina eyed each other. Nell laughed. "It was us in the
hall, with the lights on, Paulina."
"I thought so. It was _Her_ in your room, then, I suppose."
"Who is she, Paulina?" asked Jannet. "Not Mother, of course."
"No. Ask your Uncle Pieter who cries and sobs and goes through walls.
Go to bed. There'll be nothing more to-night. I'll not call you early."
"Thank you, Paulina. I'm going to leave on one little light."
Paulina made no reply to this remark, but went off in the sudden
fashion she had, and the girls heard her door open and close.
The human contact, and the assurance of "Old P'lina" that there would
be no further disturbance, relieved the situation for the girls. Nell,
with a sigh of relief, crawled between the sheets. "Ghost or no ghost,
I'm going to sleep, Jannet."
"So am I. But the next time, I'm going to '_yell_' for Paulina, and not
try to see it through myself. Who do you suppose she meant when she
told me to ask Uncle Pieter?"
"His wife, I suppose. But there is a lots older ghost than she is, and
I 'spect P'lina's mad at your Uncle Pieter about something. She's
terribly queer herself, you know."
"I'm going to get acquainted with Paulina and find out all about the
family history. I've been afraid to ask her so far. I'm so sorry, Nell,
for all this. I hope that you will sleep now."
"I will. Don't worry. Some day I'll tell of this to my grandchildren
and you will see their little eyes bulge out if you are around."
Jannet laughed, as she arranged the screen and shook off her slippers
to hop into bed. "Perhaps in time I'll get so used to our ghost," she
said, "that I'll miss her if she does not perform every so often."
"Sh-sh, Jannet! You might get her mad at you!"
Jannet thought this so funny that she laughed till the bed shook, and
Nell giggled with her. But both girls within were really rather serious
over the affair, wondering and thinking for some time, Jannet's mind
dwelling on the pearls as well. "Nell," she said, sleepily, after a
little, "perhaps the ghost has my pearls. I've thought up a name for
them,--Phantom Treasure. Now it's there, and now it isn't, but the
ghost that has it had better beware!"