“You’re a baby,” one said.
“And you nearly spoiled it all this afternoon.”
“I never thought it would be this way.
I’m so sorry I—” said the second
voice.
“Goodness sake, stop whimperin’.
Aren’t you satisfied? Hush, there’s
someone on the bench.”
“Shirley and Sarah,” whispered Jane in
Judith’s ear.
But the two figures on the path had turned, and were
now lost in the darkness along the lonely hedged-in
walk.
“Imagine!” said Judith indignantly.
“Those two little freshmen away over here instead
of being at their books!”
“And did you notice Shirley was blaming little
Sarah for whimpering? I tell you, Judith, there
is something queer about that Shirley. She has
money yet she came in on a scholarship. Then,
there was the registered package of jewelry that brought
disaster upon you and the messenger boy, Tim.
He said it was addressed to Sarah. She surely
shows a woeful lack of luxury, yet someone was sending
her jewelry.”
“And Dol Vin was receiving their mail, including
the box,” Judith summed up.
“I am sure it was Sarah I heard sobbing in that
back room,” insisted Jane.
“There are the girls looking for us. We
will have to plead headaches and need of fresh air,
for you know I promised them the real story of my
incarceration,” sighed Judith, following Jane’s
lead toward the group of searchers who came down the
path calling and whistling for Jane and Judith.
“Do tell it to them, they have been so splendid,”
pleaded Jane. “Besides, we have a night’s
work before us if we can escape on the ghost hunt,
and a good yarn will do a lot to settle all our nerves.
Remember, you are not to come unless you simply can’t
stay in bed, and if you remain in our building you
may be able to allay suspicion when Fairlie comes
snooping. ’Lo girls!” to the whistlers.
“Here we are! Judy needed the air.”
With an all star cast and such headliners as were
scheduled for Jane and her constituents on that particular
night, it was not easy to anticipate the outcome.
If the ghosts would only do their part and appear
on time!
A TWICE TOLD TALE
Judith tried to beg off on her story of the great
adventure, but the girls were insistent. “Just
tell us what happened when you got inside the Beauty
Shop,” begged Velma, who had secret dreams of
C. O. D. dimples and longed to hear of such possibilities.
“It was like a screen comedy,” replied
Judith, who had been beautifully pillowed up and otherwise
made comfortable on Janet’s solo-couch.
The audience was scattered around on cushions, on the
floor, on chairs, and even on the one narrow window
sill. Queening it from her pillows Judith looked
quite Romanesque, with Jane perched on a cretonne
pedestal above the divan’s level, waving her
riding crop regally. The pedestal really was a
specially favored trunk of Jane’s which had
escaped storage quarters and served many useful and
practical purposes, the present being one in point.
