CHAPTER X
Among the Boarders
Mavis and Merle, being day girls at The Moorings, have occupied so muchof our attention that we have somewhat neglected the boarders. In theirown estimation, however, they were a very important part of thecommunity. There were twelve of them altogether, and though, duringclasses, they mixed with the rest of the school, they were rather proudof the fact that, as far as possible, they "kept themselves tothemselves". They had all sorts of little secrets that day girls mightnot share, signs and passwords and mysterious references, which gavethem great satisfaction, and were calculated to provoke envy, hatred,malice, and all uncharitableness in the breasts of those who did notunderstand the allusions, and whom they sternly refused to initiate.
Many of the boarders were the children of parents who were out inIndia. Some of them had been born there, and could remember burningskies and temples and native bazaars and elephants, and many otherun-English things. Mamie and Jessie Drew could even speak Hindustani, alanguage which all the Indian-born children had talked in their infancy,though most of them had forgotten it in a very short time after landingin Britain. With the exception of Iva Westwood, Nesta Pitman, and AubreySimpson, the boarders were all juniors, and an uncommonly lively littlecrew, who sometimes led their seniors a dance, and were capable of aconsiderable amount of ragging among themselves.
The two who were generally at the bottom of most of the mischief wereWinnie Osborne and Joyce Coleman, nicknamed by Iva "the firebrands".Under Miss Pollard's gentle rule their escapades sometimes got ratherout of bounds, but they had a wholesome respect for Miss Fanny, who didnot often interfere with the management of the boarders out of schoolhours, but who dealt out discipline if she happened to catch anybodytripping.
Among the silliest of the boarders was Nita Howard, a child who was aborn gossip, and who sometimes made trouble by repeating conversationsor remarks which she had overheard, and which she had very much betterhave kept to herself. Nita had no discretion. Miss Pollard often toldher her tongue was too long, and certainly on many occasions it gotherself and her chums into scrapes. One evening, just after it grewdark, she came running into the recreation-room in a state of muchexcitement.
"I've got news for you, girls?" she chirped.
"No! What?" exclaimed Mamie and Alison, her particular friends, lookingup with interest from the scrap-books that they were engaged in making.
"Well, I'll tell you then," said Nita, sitting down by the table andlowering her voice. "The ghost has been seen again in Poplar Lane!"
"I say, shut up there, Nita," murmured Nesta, who was painting at thesame table. "Do you want those kids in umpteen fits?"
Nita beckoned her chums away from the vicinity of the smaller childrenin question, so that she might continue her thrilling story in private.
"It has really!" she assured them in a whisper.
"O-o-h!" came in a horror-stricken chorus. "How do you know?"
"I've just heard Bella telling Cook. It's Bella's evening out, and shewent down the back carriage drive into Poplar Lane to take a short cutto meet a friend, and just when she got under the shade of the trees shesaw something all in white coming towards her. She shrieked and ranstraight back to the house, and she says she daren't go out again, eventhough her own cousin is waiting for her at the other end of the lane."
"Bella's rather a goose," put in Nesta, who had moved to the end of thetable so as to overhear. "I shouldn't believe a word she says."
"It's quite true though. She saw it with her own eyes."
"She certainly couldn't see it with anybody else's," retorted Nestascornfully. "It was probably a white cow coming down the lane."
"No, it wasn't. It was really the ghost. Bella felt a most extraordinaryfeeling as if the blood was freezing in her veins. She says she neverremembers anything like it since the night a dog howled under her windowand her grandmother died. Her heart stood absolutely still for two wholeminutes."
"Bunkum! Bella hasn't had physiology lessons or she'd know that'simpossible. Why she wouldn't be alive to tell the tale!" snorted Nesta."How can you swallow such precious stuff, you little silly?"
"It's not stuff."
"Indeed it is."
"Then don't listen."
"I certainly shan't," and Nesta, moving her painting things along thetable, went back to her original place.
Her curiosity, however, got the better of her. She had sharp ears andshe caught most of what followed, losing a few details, for Nita waswhispering and Nesta was too proud to move nearer. The other two puttheir heads very close to Nita's in order to hear the interestingparticulars.
"I didn't know Poplar Lane was haunted," said Mamie.
"Yes, it is, by a woman in white. She appears quite suddenly standingnear our gate. But she hasn't been seen for a long time."
"I thought only old houses had ghosts," ventured Alison. "The Mooringsisn't so very old, is it?"
"It's quite old enough to have a ghost. There's a story about it--an_awful_ story! Bella told it to me."
"What is it?"
"I don't know whether I ought to tell it to you."
"Oh, go on!"
"Well, a gentleman used to live here once," began Nita, in tones ofdelighted importance. "His name was Mr. Morrison. Late one night--it wasexactly at midnight--he happened to look out of the window, and he saw awhite carriage with a pair of white horses drive up to the door, but itdidn't make the least sound of wheels or hoofs. And, do you know, hedied afterwards."
"Of course he died afterwards," was heard from Nesta's end of the table."He couldn't very well die before, could he? Perhaps it was twenty yearsafterwards."
"I thought you weren't listening. No, it was quite soon afterwards.Wasn't it horrible?"
"What's the white lady got to do with the carriage?" asked Alison. "Wasshe sitting inside?"
"I'm coming to that presently. Mr. Morrison had a son called Meredith,who did all kinds of wicked things. When his father died this son wasworse than ever, and spent both his mother's money and his own ongambling. He used to ride away on his horse at night and not come backtill very, very late, and his mother used to go and stand in Poplar Laneto watch for him. She told him that when she died her spirit would standthere still. But he didn't care in the least what she said. On the nightafter her funeral he rode off on his horse just as usual, and when hecame back, there was her ghost all in white, waiting by the gate forhim. He gave a fearful cry, and fell from his horse--dead!"
"O-o-o-h!" came from Mamie and Alison.
"Rubbish!" grunted Nesta from the other end of the table.
Nita felt she had scored a success. She could seldom get the girls topay any attention to her, but they were certainly listening now. Thefour smaller ones, who were supposed not to overhear, had, of course,had their ears wide open as little pitchers always will. Doreen hadturned quite white, Prue was clutching Elsbeth's hand, and Jessie, aftera surreptitious glance at Nesta, had crept nearer and asked under herbreath who had told Bella.
"I don't know," answered Nita, "but somebody who knew all about it. Thehouse was to let for a long time before Miss Pollard took it. Bella saysshe'd never have come here if she'd known there was a ghost. She meansto give notice and get another place as soon as she can."
"Does it ever come indoors?" gasped Elsbeth.
"I don't think so," replied Nita, keenly enjoying herself, "but, ofcourse, you never can tell. When a place is haunted it's haunted, andyou must be ready for anything."
"I shan't dare to go to bed," wailed Elsbeth.
"No more shall I," moaned Jessie. "I don't believe I shall even dare topractise in a room by myself. Suppose I saw it standing by the piano?What _should_ I do?"
"Ask it to sit down and play you a tune," said Nesta, shutting herpaint-box. "Nita, how can you frighten them in this silly way with yourprecious ghost tales? You oughtn't to talk to the servants if Bella onlytells you such whoppers. Doreen's eyes are nearly dropping out of herhead. By the by, what's become of Winni
e and Joyce?"
"I haven't seen them. I thought they were practising. Do they know?"asked Mamie.
"Not yet," replied Nita mysteriously, "but, of course, we shall have totell them. Oh, here they are now!"
"What's the matter?" cried the pair in question, seating themselves atthe table.
"The ghost has been seen in Poplar Lane!" exploded Jessie, before Nitahad time to get the words out herself.
A look of intelligence passed between Winnie and Joyce.
"Hold me up! When?"
"Where?"
"To-night. Just by the gate. Bella saw it herself."
"If Bella saw it herself it must have been there!" burbled Winnie.
"Or some other thingumbob very like it," piped Joyce, who seemed on thepoint of adding more, only Winnie trod on her toe, so she stopped short.
"And it _may_ come inside the house," volunteered Doreen with a shiver.
"What a blossomy prospect! I should think it very probably will," saidWinnie.
"Ghosts generally like houses better than lanes," echoed Joyce.
"Isn't it dreadful, though?" said Nita, who felt that neither wassufficiently impressed, and was anxious to keep up the full horror ofthe situation.
When bedtime arrived the younger children were in a state bordering onpanic. Mademoiselle could not understand why they insisted upon goingupstairs so very close together, why they shot past the dark doorways ofother dormitories, nor why Elsbeth begged her almost in tears not toturn the light out, and to leave the door open so that they could hearthe elder girls come to bed. Mamie and Alison were in hardly bettercase. They had retailed all the ghost stories they had ever heard, andhad worked themselves into a thoroughly nervous condition. At the returnof daylight, however, they were inclined to laugh at their fears andagree with Nesta that it was silly nonsense.
"I don't think Winnie and Joyce minded in the least," ventured Alison.
"No, I couldn't quite make them out," replied Mamie. "They were so queerover it and kept looking at each other. Didn't you notice?"
"I never thought about it," said Nita. "They're always having privatejokes. You can hardly say anything without Joyce poking Winnie or Winnienudging Joyce. I get sick to death of their precious secrets."
Everybody seemed ready that morning to make fun of the ghost, but whenevening came again, superstitious terrors revived in full force. JessieDrew spent a miserable half-hour practising with one eye on the window,having an uneasy sensation that the spectre would probably be glidingabout the garden. She had not the strength of mind to draw down theblind, and so shut out the chance of the vision, and in consequence madesuch a peculiar rendering of her piece that Miss Fanny came in herself,scolded her sharply, and sat down by her side to insist upon her playingit properly.
"I didn't mind the scolding in the least," Jessie told her chumsafterwards. "I was so thankful to see anybody I'd have been glad ifshe'd boxed my ears. I was so afraid she'd go away again I played wrongnotes on purpose. She said she'd never known me so stupid."
"Miss Pollard sent me to her bedroom to fetch a book," said Nita. "Iwas simply shaking all over. That long passage is so dreadfully dark,and I saw something white at the end of it. It was only Bella's apron,though, that she'd hung over the banisters. The moonlight was coming inthrough the landing window, and, it looked so like ghosts I daren't goby, so I went down the back stairs and through the kitchen. I askedBella if she'd seen anything more, and she said a big bird had flownagainst the window, and that's always a bad omen. Miss Pollard asked mewhy I'd been so long fetching the book, but I didn't dare tell her. Iwonder what the bird was an omen of! I forgot to ask Bella."
Evening preparation went on as usual, after which most of the boarderscollected in their own recreation-room to read or paint or otherwiseamuse themselves. Iva and Aubrey were practising, but Nesta was sittingwith the juniors, of whom only Winnie and Joyce were missing. These twoseemed to have mysteriously disappeared. Joyce came back after a shorttime, looking rather red and excited, but she made no remark, and takinga book began to read.
"I can't find my post-card album anywhere," complained Nita, huntingdisconsolately round the room, "and I did so want to put in those extracards I got last week. I'm sure I left it on the bookcase."
"I saw it in the cloakroom on the boot-rack," volunteered Joyce.
"However could it get there?"
"I don't know, but I saw it."
"Miau! I daren't go and fetch it. I simply daren't. The cloakroom willbe quite dark. Won't somebody go with me? Alison, be a mascot!"
"No, thanks! You won't stir this child."
"I'll go," proclaimed Joyce, jumping up briskly. "I don't mind at all.Come along Nita!"
"Oh, you saintly girl!"
The two went out of the room, Nita clutching tightly to Joyce's arm andvolunteering gasping little remarks.
IT CERTAINLY WAS A MOST ALARMING SPECTACLE _Page 137_]
"The others are piggy to-night!--Mother always says I'm so nervous!--I'mreally afraid of the dark, even when there are no ghosts!"
The rest of the boarders went on with their various occupations, but ina few moments they were interrupted by the sudden opening of the door,and Nita burst in with a white face.
"Girls! Oh, I say! I've seen the ghost! It's in the cloakroom! Oh, it'stoo awful! I'm ready to faint. Don't go, Nesta, don't!"
"Of course I'm going," said Nesta. "We've had enough of this nonsense,and it's time it was put a stop to. Come along, everybody. We'll take alook at this ghost."
She valiantly led the way, and the juniors followed more timorously,Elsbeth and Doreen, in the rear, giving squeals of terror, across thehall and past the dusky corner where the croquet-box was kept, then downthe steps to the cloakroom door. They peeped in fearfully. At the sightthey saw most of them backed with shrieks. The room was in completedarkness, but at the far side stood a figure which seemed to be shroudedin white, its face and uplifted hands shining with a brilliant lightthat gave it a most unearthly and uncanny appearance. It certainly was amost alarming spectacle, and enough to strike horror into any breast.Alison and Nita were almost in hysterics, and the rest would have runaway if Nesta had not stopped them.
"Don't be a set of sillies," she commanded. "I'll soon show you who itis."
She dived into the cloakroom, and, after a sharp scuffle, came backhauling a kicking, struggling, protesting spectre that could evidentlyuse both arms and legs in a particularly human fashion.
"Winnie!" exclaimed the girls, as, in the light of the hall, Nestapulled off the sheet and disclosed the well-known blue-serge dress andshort lank hair of the champion ragger of the school.
Everybody burst out laughing, even Nita and Elsbeth.
"You absolute blighter!"
"How priceless!"
"Win, you're the limit!"
"How did you manage to make your face and hands shine? They looked tooawful."
"I wet them and rubbed them with matches. Look! If I hold up my hand inthe dark it's all steaming and glowing with phosphorus yet."
"What a beastly trick."
"You did give us spasms."
"Come along and tell us about it."
"Where's Joyce?"
Joyce had been close by, enjoying the fun, and now joined with her chumin relating the story of their rag.
"Of course we were the ghosts all the time," began Winnie. "Last nightJoyce and I went to the side door. It was lovely moonlight, and we daredeach other to run down the back drive. We'd got as far as the gate whenwe heard somebody behind us. It was Bella, so we dodged out into theroad and a few yards up Poplar Lane. We thought Bella was going theother way. She stood still a minute and waited, then she turned and camestraight towards us. I thought if she saw us she'd report us to MissFanny, so I whispered to Joyce, 'Get behind me and I'll act ghost!' andthen I held my dress high above my head with both hands, and began tobow myself up and down and moan."
"Bella yelled," explained Joyce, taking up the tale. "She ran back upthe drive as
fast as she could, and rushed round to the kitchen door. Wewere going to tell you about it, but when we got in you were full ofBella's story of having seen the ghost in Poplar Lane. So we thought wemight as well have some fun out of the thing, and play a rag on you."
"It was ever so difficult, though," continued Winnie. "We couldn't do itanywhere else except in the cloakroom, and we didn't know how to get youthere. It was Joyce's idea to take Nita's post-card album away. Oh, howshe and Alison screamed! I haven't got over it yet."
Winnie was still hinnying and dabbing her eyes with a ratherphosphorousy pocket handkerchief.
"Look here, now," said Nesta, "we've had enough of this. You mustn't tryany tricks on the maids."
"Oh, just on Bella! It would be such a stunt to stand in the housemaid'scupboard and let her find me when she goes upstairs."
"No!" decreed Nesta. "It's dangerous to frighten people. Bella mayhave a weak heart, and in any case she'd be certain to drop her jug ofdrinking-water. I'm a senior and you juniors have got to do what I say.No, Winnie! It's no use pulling faces and nudging Joyce. I mean it. I'mno tell-tale, but if I find either of you trying on this rag again Ishall just march straight off and fetch Miss Fanny. So you know what toexpect. There!"