SOME FUN--AND SOMETHING ELSE
Did they never study or work? Was it all fun and adventure at Lakeview
Hall? No, no, indeed! There was plenty of work, and Nan Sherwood, with
Bess Harley and her other friends, said they were "actually worked to
death" by some of the teachers. For the very reason that they did do so
much, their minds in hours of relaxation turned to such frolics as this
one planned at the haunted boathouse.
Mademoiselle Loro was a little, dried, winter-leaf Frenchwoman, as quick
and active as a cat and with beadlike black eyes, more like a bird's
than those of a human being.
Mademoiselle Loro fairly slaved to make stubborn and careless girls
attain a Parisian accent.
"And about all we get from the poor old dear," Laura said, "is a
Paris-Kentucky accent and an ability to shrug our shoulders. Goodness!
she's got me doing that, too."
As for the German teacher, Frau Deuseldorf, she was of a different type
entirely. A tall, formidable looking woman was Frau Deuseldorf, with a
magnificent air, no waistline, and a wart on her nose. Nan, whenever
she stood before the good lady, never _could_ see anything of the
teacher's face save that unfortunate blemish.
Perhaps the teacher whom the girls as a whole disliked the most was
Professor Krenner. He was a martinet in mathematics; whereas Nan found
him a most lovable and delightful instructor in architectural drawing.
It finally became a regular practice for the architectural drawing class
to attend the professor's lecture at his own cabin, one afternoon a
week. And these afternoons were most delightfully spent.
Nan did not go alone. She had interested in the study another girl, and
oddly enough that was "Procrastination Boggs." Amelia Boggs, from
Wauhegan, was certainly peculiar; but Nan had learned to like her very
quickly.
Amelia told Nan all about the clocks and watches. Her father owned a
store in Wauhegan, which had been let to a jeweler and clock-dealer. Mr.
Boggs could not collect his rent, and Amelia undertook to do so. The
clock-dealer had no money, but he offered to pay his rent out of his
stock-in-trade.
"I took him up on that, for Pop was too easy," explained Amelia, "and I
went through his shop, looked at the price-tags, and picked out enough
clocks and watches to fill a wheelbarrow. My brother Johnny wheeled 'em
home. We sold some, and I expected to sell some of these I brought with
me. But the girls think it's such a joke I'll never be able to get rid
of 'em. Never mind. It only makes 'em laugh, so where's the harm?"
That they laughed at her and her peculiarities, did not bother Amelia.
With Nan and her friends, the girl from Wauhegan was happy; and if she
did not get along very fast in some of her studies, it was not so
serious a matter. Amelia was delighted to get down into the kitchen (she
had bribed the cook with a clock) and there she concocted little dishes,
some of which found their way to Dr. Prescott's table.
"Mercy on us!" said the preceptress, laughing. "Amelia will have me
start a course in domestic science; and that is not what their parents
have sent these girls to my school for."
However, once enlisted in the cause of Nan's banquet in the haunted
boathouse, Amelia Boggs became very helpful. It was she who borrowed
tablecloths and napkins from the cook for use at the feast. Henry kept
the door of the unused part of the boathouse locked, only to be opened
when Nan and Bess and Amelia went there to make final preparations for
the banquet on the afternoon of the day selected.
They laid the cloths, trimmed and filled the hanging lamp, and laid the
fire ready to light. Then the key of the door was entrusted to Walter
Mason and he ran around into Freeling port in his motor boat just
before supper.
Nan thought Linda Riggs and Cora Courtney had been lingering about the
boathouse, listening and peeping; but she did not suspect these girls,
disagreeable and objectionable as they were, would be mean enough to
tell any teacher about the proposed banquet.
"I suppose they are only wondering if we are to have a finer spread than
they will have at their banquet," Nan said to Bess.
"I just hate their snooping around so," grumbled Bess.
Soon after supper Walter telephoned to his sister from their own house
that all was well. He had delivered the goods at the boathouse and, with
the help of the Masons' gardener, had carried everything into the unused
part of the building, as agreed. The key had been left in a secret
corner known only to himself and Nan, and--he wished the girls good
luck!
Nan and her friends were all excitement that evening. Not much
preparation was made for the following day's tasks. Had Mrs. Cupp not
been very busy about her own affairs, she would surely have noticed that
some of her charges were in a great flutter.
Miss Sadie Vane, Mrs. Cupp's sister, had come to see her on this
evening, and in great excitement again. As soon as the matron was
relieved of her supper duties she put on her wraps and left for the
village with Miss Vane.
This relieved the minds of Nan and Bess not a little. They ran down to
the boathouse and found the key. But Bess utterly refused to go in
without a light, and without the other girls for company.
"Oh, all right," said Nan. "I guess everything is safe. And all of the
girls are so afraid of the place after dark that if they could get in
they would not dare."
The evening dragged by. Curfew rang and still Mrs. Cupp did not return.
Heavy-footed Susan went up through the corridors and looked to the
lowering of the lights. Then she returned and the older girls were left
to themselves--supposedly for the night.
"When the cat's away the mice can play." It was then figures stole out
of certain rooms, and along the corridors, and down the stairs. A rear
door had been unchained. One by one the softly flitting figures gathered
in the back garden.
There was a wan moon to give them light enough to find the way to the
foot of the bluff. But it was a ghostly moon, too, and aided objects
along the way in casting weird shadows. May Winslow clung close to Nan
and Bess. Grace and Lillie made up the rest of the trembling group who
looked to Nan for comfort and support. Laura Polk and "Procrastination
Boggs" brought up a more or less courageous rear. In between were girls
in all stages of excitement, from a state of hysterical fear to equally
hysterical laughter.
They came finally to the foot of the long flight of steps and Nan
marshalled her forces. "Now, girls, pluck up your spirits. Close ranks!
Forward--march!" she commanded.
"Wha--what's that?" quavered Lillie Nevin.
"Oh! oh!" from Grace.
"Now, you sawneys!" called the red-haired girl from the rear. "Behave!
Don't try to give us all a conniption fit."
"What's that?" demanded one of the other girls.
"Huh! are you seeing things, too?" cried Amelia.
"No. What kind of a fit is a 'conniption'?"
"Don't know," admitted Laura. "But I've heard my grandmother from New
England speak familiarly of 'em. What's the matter up front?"
"Oh, Lil and Grace are balking," declared Nan, with disgust. "_Do_ come
on, children. I have an electric lamp. We sha'n't be entirely in the
dark."
"I--I saw something," quavered the flaxen-haired Lillie.
"Oh!" gasped Bess, more than a little inclined herself to be
panic-stricken.
"Do come along!" urged Nan.
"There it is!" squealed Grace, suddenly.
Half the girls thought they saw the black figure dart around the corner
of the building; the other half were looking in an entirely different
direction at the moment. But all together emitted a chorused:
"Oh!"
"For pity's sake, girls!" gasped Nan. "Don't!"
"It's the ghost! the black ghost!" quavered May Winslow, groveling in
the very depths of superstition.