CHAPTER X
OLD FURNITURE
Laura screamed and Violet jumped clear out of her seat.
They stared at Billie, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
"Wh-what did you say?" asked Laura when she could get her breath.
"I said," said Billie, speaking very distinctly and enjoying thesensation she had caused, "that Aunt Beatrice left me a haunted house."
"Th-then I wasn't dreaming," stammered Violet, while Laura just continuedto stare. "Is th-that all, Billie?"
"Isn't that enough?" asked Billie, just as her father had done a fewhours before.
"It's either not enough or it is too much," replied Violet. "If I had tohave the ghosts, I should want some very substantial compensations tomake up for such housemates as those airy and playful ladies andgentlemen are said to make."
"But it is a house," persisted Billie. "And you know it isn't everybodywho can own a haunted house."
"A haunted house!" said Laura, speaking in a hushed tone. "Is it a realhaunted house, Billie, or are you fooling?"
"Well, I don't know that it is a regular honest-to-goodness one,"admitted Billie reluctantly. "You see, it is the house Aunt Beatriceused to live in when she was at home, and she left it to me, witheverything in it."
"How perfectly glorious!" cried Laura, clapping her hands with delight."Tell us about it, Billie. What made you say it was haunted?"
Then did Billie tell them all that her mother had told her abouther inheritance and, if the truth be told, even added a few detailsof her own.
However that may have been, the fact remains that when she had finishedthe girls were as perfectly wild as Chet had been to visit the queer oldplace and, if need be, even confront its "ghosts!"
"Think!" cried Laura, clasping her hands rapturously. "Just think ofbeing able to roam all over that romantic old place and pry intocorners--"
"And get your hands dirty," interrupted Billie drily.
"Why, Billie," Laura stopped in her transports to regard her friend withwide eyes, "aren't you simply wild about the place too?"
"Oh, I suppose so," said Billie, adding as a shadow crossed her face:"The folks think I'm awful, all 'cept Chet, and I suppose I am--but I'dgive the whole place, tunnels, spooky hallways, ghostly attic, andeverything for just a few little hundred dollar bills."
The girls were silent for a few minutes, realizing that Billie's strangeinheritance did not do a thing toward solving the old problems of thebroken statue and of going to boarding school.
Then Violet, who was always thinking up some happy way out of adifficulty, gave a little bounce in the swing.
"How do we know," she cried, as the girls looked at her half hopefully,"but what you could sell some of the furniture in the old house and getenough to pay for the statue?"
"We might, at that," said Billie, her face lighting up again. "But mothersaid it must all be awfully old," she added doubtfully.
"All the better," cried Violet, growing more and more enthusiastic. "Yousay that the old house dates back to revolutionary times, Billie. How dowe know but what some of the old furniture would be very valuable asantiques?"
"Violet, you're a wonder!" cried Billie, hugging her so hard that shegasped for breath. "I'd never have thought of that in a thousand years.Now you speak of it," she added thoughtfully, "I remember some antiquefurniture that Uncle Bill has in his library. He says it's worth allsorts of money, but I wouldn't give two cents for it."
"Well, as long as somebody will, what should we care!" cried Lauraflippantly. "Maybe you'll make a fortune for yourself after all, Billie."
"Oh, and think what it would mean!" cried Violet, her eyes shining. "Itwould mean that you could pay for that beastly old statue, Billie. And itwould mean that you could go to Three Towers with us."
"And Chet could go to the military academy with Teddy and Ferd,"Laura added.
"For goodness' sake!" cried poor Billie wildly. "You make me feel dizzy.What is the use of getting my hopes all raised? Probably Aunt Beatrice'sfurniture will be old, fallen-to-pieces stuff that nobody would give twocents for."
"Goodness, what a wet blanket!" cried Laura reproachfully.
"Well, I'd rather be a wet blanket," retorted Billie desperately, "thanto plan for a lot of fun and then be disappointed. I--I've beendisappointed enough, goodness knows."
There was a quiver in Billie's brave little mouth and instinctivelyViolet and Laura put an arm about her.
"We know what you mean," said Violet, soothingly. "And if you don't wantus to, we'll try not to hope too hard."
"Or if we do, we'll keep it to ourselves," added Laura, and Billiehugged them fondly.
"I don't want you to stop hoping," she cried plaintively. "And I don'twant to be a wet blanket, either. I'm just afraid, that's all."
The girls swung back and forth in silence for a few minutes. Then it wasLaura who spoke.
"When are you going out to look over your property, Billie?"
"Why, I don't know," answered Billie thoughtfully. "As soon as we canarrange it, I suppose. Dad says it's a full day's trip to get there, sowe would have to make some arrangement to stay over night."
"Couldn't you spend the night in the house?" suggested Violet.
"We might," Billie answered doubtfully. "Although I must say I wouldn'tlike to--not the first night anyway. I'd want time to become acquaintedwith the place first."
"If you will promise on your word of honor not to laugh at me," saidViolet after another short silence, "I'll tell you that I haveanother idea."
"We won't laugh," they promised, and Billie added eagerly: "Tell us aboutit, Violet. Even if we do laugh at your ideas at first, we generally endby following them."
"But you said you wouldn't laugh this time," Violet reminded her, adding,as the worst threat she could think of: "If you do I won't let youfollow out my idea."
"All right," said Billie. "As Chet would say--'shoot.'"
"Why, I was just thinking," said Violet, looking at them intently, "thatwe haven't a plan in the world for spending our vacation--"
"Vi!" cried Laura joyfully, not waiting for her to finish, "you _have_a good idea this time. You were going to say, why not spend ourvacation there?"
"At Cherry Corners?" asked Billie surprised, adding with a demureglance: "Nobody seems to think of asking me about it. And it's myproperty, you know."
"Gracious, isn't she stuck up?" cried Laura flippantly. "I'll have youknow you're not the only property holder in the community, BillieBradley. Dad gave me the deed to three lots in some outlandish place, Idon't even know where it is."
"Probably didn't have anything else to do with them, so wished them onyou," said Billie cruelly.
"Shouldn't wonder," said Laura, adding with a rueful little smile:"I've never been able to find out whether it was an April Fool'spresent or not."
"Well, I don't see what all that has to do with my proposition," put inViolet patiently. "Now own up--don't you think it's a great idea?"
"Wonderful," said Billie unenthusiastically. "I don't know when I'veever heard of anything so brilliant."
"There's something wrong with Billie," said Violet, beginning to lookanxious. "Don't you think we'd better send for a doctor, Laura?"
"I think you are the one who needs a doctor," retorted Billie. "Who everthought of spending a vacation out in the wilderness a million miles orso from nowhere in an old tumbled-down house that makes your flesh creepand the hair rise on your head just to look at it?"
"My, but that must feel funny," said Laura, the irrepressible. "That'sone experience I never did have."
"What?" asked Billie.
"Have my hair rise on my head. Please excuse me, Billie," as Billie inher turn looked threatening. "What was it you were about to say?"
"Goose," commented Billie and then turned to Violet. "Did you really meanthat about spending our vacation there?" she asked.
"Of course I did," said Violet. "And I don't see what's so very funnyabout it anyway. We could take a chaperone
, and maybe the boys could comealong too."
"Oh, that would be fun," cried Billie, then flushed as she metLaura's laughing eyes. "I meant," she added, angry because of theblush, "that the place wouldn't be quite so lonesome and horrid withthe boys around."
"Oh, yes, we know," said Laura, with an aggravating twinkle that madeBillie long to shake her. "We know all about it, honey."
Why, thought Billie, as she ignored the remark, pretending not to hearit, would Laura always be such a goose as to make a joke of the veryreal friendship between her and Teddy Jordon? She liked Teddy immenselyand she was not going to stop liking him even if Laura would persist inbeing foolish.
"Then you will admit it is a good idea?" Violet asked eagerly.
"I liked it all, but Billie only likes the last part--about the boys,"said Laura, and again Billie had a wild desire to shake her.
"It will be lots of fun," she said, beginning to see the possibilities ina vacation spent at Cherry Corners. "Mother says the rooms are large andthere are plenty of them so we could have as big a party as we wanted.But I don't know how comfortable you would be," she warned them.
"Who cares about being comfortable on a lark like that?" cried Lauraairily. "The more uncomfortable we are the more fun we'll have. I say,Billie, don't you think we'd better take Gyp along?" Gyp was athoroughbred bull terrier of which Laura was the proud owner. "He mightcome in handy if any ghosts showed up."
The girls laughed at her.
"As if Gyp would be any good against ghosts!" scoffed Violet. "Why, theywould walk right through him."
"Well," said Laura, with a little chuckle, "he could at least bark andlet us know when they were coming!"