TURNING THE TABLES
For the next two days the three girls bent their efforts toward
discovering the plot on foot against Elfreda, but to little purpose. So
far, Grace had refrained from imparting her vague knowledge of what
impended to Mabel and Frances. Her naturally self-reliant nature would
not allow her to depend on others. She preferred to solve her own
problems and fight her own battles if necessary. Whatever the two
sophomores had planned was a secret indeed. By neither word nor sign did
they betray themselves, and by Thursday evening Grace was beginning to
show signs of anxiety.
"I haven't been able to find out a thing," she declared dispiritedly to
Anne. "I suspect one other girl, but I'm not sure about her. Anne, do
you think Virginia Gaines is in this affair, too?"
"Hardly," replied Anne. "She and Elfreda are not friendly, and Elfreda
could not be coaxed to go where she is likely to see Miss Gaines."
"But suppose Virginia Gaines kept strictly in the background, yet
helped to play the trick," persisted Grace.
"Of course she could easily do that," admitted Anne. "But what makes you
think she would?"
"Just this," replied Grace. "I saw her in conversation to-day with Mary
Hampton. They were standing outside Science Hall. They didn't see me
until I was within a few feet of them. Then they said good-bye in a
hurry, and rushed off in opposite directions. Now, what would you
naturally infer from that?"
"It does look suspicious," agreed Anne.
"That is what causes me to believe Virginia Gaines to be one of the
prime movers in this affair," was the quiet answer. "They are all very
clever. Too clever, by far, for me."
A knock at the door caused Grace to start slightly. "Come in!" she
called, then exclaimed in surprise as the door opened: "Why, Miriam,
where did you go? You disappeared the moment dinner was over."
"I had to go to the library," replied Miriam quickly. "Do you know
whether the girls on both sides of us are out?"
Grace nodded. "What's the matter, Miriam?" she asked curiously. "What
has happened? You look as mysterious as the Three Fates themselves."
"I've made a discovery," announced Miriam, taking a book from under her
arm and opening it. "I found something in this book that you ought to
see. I was in one of the alcoves to-night looking for a book that I have
been trying to lay hands on for a week. It has been out every time.
To-night I found it and inside the leaves I found this." She handed
Grace a folded paper.
Grace unfolded it wonderingly and began to read aloud:
"Dear Virginia:
"We decided that the haunted house plan would be quite likely to subdue
a certain obstreperous individual. We have already invited her to a
moonlight party at Hunter's Rock, as you know. Once she is there we will
see to the rest. Sorry you can't be with us, but that would give the
whole plan away. A little meditation in spookland will do our friend
good, and this time if she is wise she will keep her troubles to
herself. Of course, if any one should see her going home in the wee
small hours of the morning it might be unpleasant for her, but then, we
can't trouble ourselves over that.
"Yours, hastily,
"Bert."
Grace stared first at Anne, then Miriam, in incredulous, shocked
surprise.
"What a cruel girl!" she exclaimed. "Poor Elfreda!"
"Of course, the writer meant Elfreda," agreed Miriam. "'Bert,' I
suppose, stands for Alberta. In the first place, what haunted house does
she mean?"
"I don't know," answered Grace, knitting her brows. "Wait a minute! I'll
go down and ask Mrs. Elwood."
Within five minutes she had returned, bristling with information. "I
found out the whole story," she declared. "It is an old white house not
far from Hunter's Rock. Two brothers once lived there, and one
disappeared. It was rumored that he had been killed by his older
brother, and that the spirit of the murdered man haunted the place so
persistently that the other brother left there and never came back. They
say a white figure, carrying a lighted candle, walks moaning through the
rooms."
"How dreadful!" shivered Anne. "It is bad enough to think of those girls
coaxing Elfreda to go there. I believe they intend to persuade her to go
there, then leave her, too."
"We might show Elfreda this note," reflected Miriam. "No; on second
thought I should say we'd better make up a crowd and follow the others
to Hunter's Rock. Of course, we won't stay there. Those girls are
breaking rules by going there at night. We shall be breaking rules, too,
but in a good cause."
A long conversation ensued that would have aroused consternation in the
breast of a number of sophomores, had they been privileged to hear it.
When the last detail had been arranged, Grace leaned back in her chair
and smiled. "I think everything will go beautifully," she said, "and
several people are going to be surprised. Miriam, will you see Mabel
Ashe, Constance Fuller and Frances Marlton in the morning? Anne, will
you look out for Arline Thayer and Ruth? That will leave Leona Rowe and
Helen Burton for me, and, oh, yes, I'll have a talk with Emma Dean."
To all appearances, Friday dawned as prosaically as had all the other
days of that week, but in the breasts of a number of the students of
Overton stirred an excitement that deepened as the day wore on. As is
frequently the case, the object of it all went calmly on her way, taking
a smug satisfaction in the thought that she was the only freshman
invited to the select gathering of sophomores who were to brave the
censure of the dean, and picnic by moonlight at Hunter's Rock. For
almost the first time since her arrival at college Elfreda felt her own
popularity. Despite her native shrewdness, she was particularly
susceptible to flattery. To be the idol of the college had been one of
her most secret and hitherto hopeless desires. Now, in the sophomore
class she had found girls who really appreciated her, and who were ready
to say pleasant things to her rather than lecture her. She was glad,
now, that she had dropped Grace and her friends in time, and resolved
next year that she would put the width of the campus between herself and
Wayne Hall.
As she slipped on her long blue serge coat that night--the air was
chilly, though the day had been warm--a flush of triumph mounted to her
cheeks. Then glancing at the clock she hurriedly adjusted her hat. Her
appointment was for half-past seven. Alberta said the party was to be in
honor of her and she must not keep her friends waiting. She looked
sharply about her to see who was in sight. She had been pledged to
secrecy. Alberta had said they would return before half-past ten, so
there would be no need of asking Mrs. Elwood to leave the door unlocked
for her. Then she walked briskly down the steps and up the street.
Fifteen minutes before she left the house, three dark figures had
marched out single file down the street. Two blocks from the house they
had been met by a delegation of dark figures, and without a word being
spoken, the little party had taken a side street that led to Overton
Drive, a public highway that wound straight through the town out into
the country. The company had proceeded in absolute silence, and finally
leaving the road had turned into the fields and plodded steadily on. It
was the new of the moon and the landscape was shrouded in heavy shadows.
On and still on the silent procession had traveled, and when their eyes,
now accustomed to the darkness, had espied the outlines of a
tumble-down, one-story house that stood out against the blackness of the
night a halt had been made and each dark figure had taken from under her
arm a bundle. Then the faint rustle of paper accompanied by an
occasional giggle or a smothered exclamation had been heard, and last
but most remarkable, the dark figures had given place to a company of
sheeted ghosts who had glided over the fields with true ghost-like mien
and disappeared in a little grove just off the highway.
In the meantime, Elfreda had been received with acclamation by the
treacherous sophomores, who vied with each other as to who should be her
escort. There were nine girls, and each of them also bore a bundle,
which contained not sheets, but the eatables for the picnic. This
procession also set out in silence, which was broken as soon as the
town was left behind. Alberta, who walked with her arm linked in
Elfreda's, began to relate the story of the haunted house.
"Do you suppose for one minute that that house is really haunted?" said
Elfreda sceptically.
"No one knows," was the disquieting reply. "People have seen strange
sights there."
"What sights?" demanded Elfreda.
"They say the murdered brother walks through the house and moans,"
replied Alberta, shuddering slightly.
"That's nonsense," said Elfreda bravely. Nevertheless, the idea was not
pleasant to contemplate. "I don't believe in ghosts," she added.
"I dare you to go into the room where the man was murdered," laughed
Mary Hampton.
"I'm not afraid," persisted Elfreda.
"Prove it, then," taunted Mary.
"All right, I will," retorted Elfreda defiantly. "Show me the room when
we get there and I'll go into it."
"I don't think we ought to go near that old house at night," protested a
sophomore. "We'd get into all sorts of trouble as it is, if the faculty
knew we were out."
"Now, don't begin preaching," snapped Alberta Wicks. "If you are
dissatisfied, go home."
"I wish I'd stayed at home," growled the other sophomore wrathfully.
While this conversation was being carried on, the party was rapidly
nearing the haunted house. They halted directly in front of it, and Mary
Hampton said, "Now, Miss Briggs, make good your promise."
Elfreda walked boldly up to the house, although she felt her courage
oozing rapidly.
"I'll go inside with you, and show you the room. It's that little room
off the hall," volunteered Alberta.
The outside door stood wide open. Elfreda peered fearfully down the
little hall, then stepped resolutely into the little room at one side of
it. A door slammed. There was the sound of a key turning in a lock, a
rush of scurrying feet; then silence. Across the field fled the dark
figures, nor did they stop until they had crossed the highway and
entered the little grove that led to Hunter's Rock.
Suddenly a piercing scream rang out. It was followed by a succession of
wild cries, and with one accord the terror-stricken conspirators made
for the highway. But at every step a white figure rose in the path
filling the air with weird, mournful wails. Fright lent speed to
sophomore feet, and without daring to look behind, eight badly scared
girls ran steadily along the road to Overton, intent only on putting
distance between themselves and the terrifying apparitions that had
sprung up before them. If they had stopped to deliberate for even five
seconds they would, in all probability, have stood their ground, but the
silent, ghostly figures that had bobbed up as by magic, coupled with the
tale of the haunted house which Alberta had related, was a little too
much for even vaunted sophomore courage.
A death-like stillness followed the ignominious flight of the plotters.
Then from behind a tree stepped a white figure and a cautious voice
called softly: "Come on, girls. They have gone. We must hurry and let
Elfreda out of that awful house." At this command a ripple of subdued
laughter rose from all sides and the ghosts began to appear from their
nearby hiding places.
"Wasn't it funny?" laughed a tall ghost with the voice of Frances
Marlton.
"I know several sophomores who will walk softly for the rest of this
year at least," predicted another ghost, ending with the giggle that
endeared Mabel Ashe to all her friends.
"These masks are frightfully warm," complained a diminutive spectre. A
quick movement of her hand and the mask was removed, showing the rosy
face of Arline Thayer.
"Keep your mask on, Arline," warned Gertrude. "Even in this secluded
spot some one may be watching you."
The party proceeded with as little noise as possible to the haunted
house. Pausing at the front door a brief council was held. Then removing
their masks and the sheets that enveloped them, Grace and Miriam
resolutely entered the hall and went straight to the locked door, behind
which Elfreda was a prisoner. The key had been left in the lock. It
turned with a grating sound. Slipping her hand in the pocket of her
sweater, Grace produced a tiny electric flashlight which she turned on
the room. In one corner, seated on the floor, her back against the wall
and her feet straight in front of her, sat Elfreda. She eyed the
flashing light defiantly, then saw who was behind it and said grimly: "I
might have known it. If I had taken your advice I wouldn't be here now."
"Oh, Elfreda!" exclaimed Grace. "I'm so glad you are not frightened. It
was a cruel trick, but, thank goodness, we found out about it in time."
Elfreda rose and walked deliberately up to Grace and Miriam. "I'm sorry
for everything," she said huskily. "I've been a ridiculous simpleton,
and I don't deserve to have friends. Will you forgive me, girls? I'd
like to start all over again."
"Of course we will. That was a direct, manly speech, Elfreda," laughed
Miriam, but there were tears in her own eyes which no one saw in the
darkness. She realized that in spite of her childish behavior she was
fond of the stout girl and was glad that peace had been declared.
"Let us forget all about it, shake hands and go home," proposed Grace,
"or we may find ourselves locked out."
The two girls shook hands with Elfreda, and all around again for good
luck, then linking an arm in each of hers they conducted the rescued
prisoner to where the rest of the party awaited them. During their
absence the ghosts had doffed their spectral garments and the instant
the three joined them the order to march was given. Once fairly in
Overton, conversation was permitted, and on the same corner where they
had met, the rescuers parted, after much talk and laughter.
"Come into my room and have tea to-night, Elfreda," invited Miriam, as
they entered the house. "I have a pound of your favorite cakes."
"I'd like to come to stay," said Elfreda wistfully. "But I've been too
hateful for you ever to want me for a roommate again."
"It's rather late for you to move now," replied Miriam slowly. "But I'd
love to have you with me next year."
"Would you, honestly?" asked Elfreda, opening her eyes in astonishment.
"Honestly," repeated Miriam, smiling.
"I'll think about it," returned Elfreda, flushing deeply.
"But there is nothing to think about," protested Miriam. "I wouldn't ask
you if I did not care for you."
"That isn't it," said Elfreda in a low tone. "It isn't you. It's I.
Don't you understand? You are letting me off too easily. I don't deserve
to have you be so nice to me."
"We wish you to forget about what has happened, Elfreda," said Grace
earnestly. "Everyone is likely to make mistakes. We are not here to
judge, we are here to help one another. That is one of the ways of
cultivating true college spirit."
"I'll tell you one thing," returned Elfreda, her eyes shining, "whether
I cultivate college spirit or not, I'm going to try to cultivate common
sense. Then, at least, I'll know enough to treat my best friends
civilly."