"Welcome, sister lamb," she said, squeezing Blue Bonnet"s hand. "You"re game, my dear. Our hats are off to you. You didn"t balk once."
The sheets were quickly changed for heavy bath-robes, for the sky parlor was cold and draughty. j.a.panese fashion the girls sat on the floor around the food, which had been gathered from different quarters for several days. Deborah Watts" suitcase had, as usual, played an important part. Delicious cake, home-made bread, generous slices of ham for sandwiches, testified gloriously to her mother"s housekeeping. The other girls had added their full quota. One might have imagined that Huyler"s and Pierce"s had been raided, from the candies and other delicacies that greeted the eye; but the initiation of the Lambs was always an "Occasion."
"Remember the time the Proctortoise caught us up here?" Sue Hemphill asked, helping herself to her sixth sandwich. "Proctortoise" was one of Fraulein"s many appellations. "I never was so scared in my life. That was my first midnight feast, and I thought for some time it would be my last."
"I reckon I do remember," Annabel said. "I lost my privileges for a month because I owned I got it up. It was the time Mother sent me that huge box of good things on my birthday. Wasn"t that the grandest box, Wee? Remember how sick you got from eating so much of Mammy Jane"s fruit cake and mince pie?" Mammy Jane was Annabel"s old nurse, who regarded Annabel as the apple of her eye.
Wee rolled her eyes heavenward and laid her hand on her stomach tenderly.
"Remember! Well, I guess I do. I"ve never touched a piece of fruit cake since."
"I"m the same way about lemon pie," Sue admitted. "I ate a whole one up here at a feast once, and I"ve never been able to stand the sight of one since."
"This old room could tell some great tales if it could speak, couldn"t it?" Patty Paine said, looking about. "It"s a barren hole, but I adore it. I"ve had some great times here. Remember the night we thought we heard some one coming and we got into the trunks? That was the time Angela fell down-stairs and had hysterics. It was initiation night, too, wasn"t it? My, but wasn"t Miss North furious! I thought she"d freeze into an icicle. It took her weeks to thaw out."
"Had you a suspicion that she _had_ thawed out?" Ruth inquired.
"Oh, she isn"t so bad, Ruth," Patty defended. "I"ve got a right soft spot in my heart for Miss North--"
"Girls! what was that noise?" Angela Dare interrupted in a whisper. "I"m sure I heard some one walking."
A hush fell over the room. The girls strained their ears.
"Oh, Angela! You"re always hearing things. Your imagination is worse than your conscience. They"re both ingrowing," Ruth declared. "I don"t think you heard a blessed thing!"
"Yes, she did, Ruth," Blue Bonnet insisted. "I heard it, too."
"You did?"
"Yes--shh--there! You heard it then, didn"t you?"
All admitted that they did hear some sort of a sound and sat with bated breath.
"It"s a rat or a mouse! Oh, see--there it goes--look, behind that big brown trunk!"
The appearance of Fraulein accompanied by Miss North could scarcely have caused greater confusion. The girls scattered in every direction. Wee Watts made an attempt to climb the wall in her anxiety to escape, turning over an old chair that fell with dreadful clatter.
"Wee Watts," Annabel said sternly, "stop acting so silly. Get down off that old box instantly. It"s going to break with you. We"ll every one be caught here in another minute. Exercise some sense!"
But Wee, her limbs shaking with fright, clung helplessly to the rough beams in the old attic wall, beseeching the girls to let her alone.
"I"ll faint if it comes near me--I know I shall," she wailed, her teeth chattering. "Oh--oh--there it goes again--oh, oh, don"t scare it this way--don"t--don"t, Annabel! Please--please--"
Blue Bonnet climbed up beside Wee and put her hand over her mouth.
"Hush!" she said. "Do you want to get us all in trouble? I thought you had such courage--met big things so well--"
"Oh, I do, Blue Bonnet--I really do--but this is a little thing--such a horrid little thing--oh, oh--it"s under this box--oh--" A piercing scream rent the air.
At the same instant seven girls darted for the door. They tumbled over each other in a mad effort to escape. Blue Bonnet found herself alone in a dark hall not knowing which way to turn. She stood still a moment, her heart beating violently. It was not a pleasant situation. The other girls knew the building perfectly--every nook and cranny--just where to go. She felt against the wall and a k.n.o.b met her fingers. A second later she was in a room lit by a dim moon. Feeling her way along the wall to the window she threw up the blind. In the nearest corner a form huddled.
"Who is in this room?" Blue Bonnet whispered.
"Oh, Blue Bonnet," came the answer, "is it you? I was going back to find you. I thought you"d be scared to death. Isn"t this the worst ever? Who would have thought Wee could have been such a fool! Take hold of my hand; I know every step of the way."
"Do you think any of the girls have been caught, Annabel?"
"I don"t know. If they haven"t it"s good luck, not good management. Look out--there ought to be a step here--yes, there is, walk carefully. No sprained ankles to-night."
Just how they reached their rooms Blue Bonnet never quite knew. She trusted Annabel and followed meekly as a newly born lamb should. When they parted at Blue Bonnet"s door Annabel gave Blue Bonnet a swift hug.
"You"re game clear through," she said. "I think everything is all right. I can"t hear a sound anywhere."
Somewhere down the length of the hall a clock struck. Annabel and Blue Bonnet both counted: one--two--three!
"Three o"clock and all is well!" Annabel said. "Good night. Don"t worry."
It was at breakfast the next morning that Madam de Cartier remarked to one of the girls at the French table:
"I fancied I heard a scream last night--or this morning, rather. It sounded down Commonwealth Avenue. A piercing scream, as though some one were in great distress. Did any one else hear it?"
"Yes, Madam de Cartier," Sue Hemphill said, equal to the occasion. "It was dreadful, wasn"t it? As if some one were horribly frightened. It was about three o"clock, I think. I was awake and heard the clock striking on the lower corridor. What could it have been?"
"I really don"t know, Miss Hemphill, though I have a theory. I may be quite wrong, however. It seems strange, doesn"t it? This street is so eminently respectable and quiet."
Sue met Madam de Cartier"s eye unflinchingly. There was an unfathomable twinkle in Madam"s that meant much or little. Madam was naturally merry. Nevertheless, Sue, for all her bravado, was worried. She changed the subject immediately.
"Sue"s perfectly furious at Deborah," Annabel said, catching up with Blue Bonnet on the way to chapel. "She won"t speak to her this morning.
I ran in to borrow a tie a minute before breakfast, and Wee had been crying. Poor old Wee! I feel sorry for her. She"s such a good sport generally. I reckon she can"t help being afraid of mice. Some people are, you know--awfully!"
"Do you think anybody knows about what happened?" Blue Bonnet asked.
Annabel laughed.
"I don"t know. Miss North acted awfully queer this morning. One of the girls asked if anybody heard that scream in the night, and the funniest look came over Miss North"s face. To tell the truth, I think the teachers know all about it and the joke"s on us. I haven"t been so scared in an age. It"s pretty risky for a Senior to be up to such high jinks."
"Will Miss North do anything about it, do you think?"
"No--I hardly think so. She"s pretty lenient to the "Lambs." We help support her pet charity. She"s terribly interested in settlement work.
Anyway, I don"t believe she half minds a little innocent fun; but, of course, she couldn"t sanction it openly." Annabel stifled a yawn. "I"m so sleepy I don"t know how I"m ever going to get through this day. I scarcely slept a wink all night. I got to worrying about that candle we left burning in the sky parlor; and finally, after numerous and painful visions of the building burning down at my own personal expense, I got up, felt my way along those dark halls, and put it out."
"You went back alone!" Blue Bonnet gasped.
"I did. I think myself I deserve a medal--don"t you?"
"You deserve several, Annabel. It was too plucky for anything. Why didn"t Ruth go with you?"