"Ptolemy," I began, "a young lady, who is a reporter for a big newspaper, has come from many miles away to write up the haunted house and the ghost, and they will be pictured out in the Sunday edition."
Ptolemy"s eyes glistened, and "Them Three" were instantly "at attention."
"Oh, say, stepdaddy," begged the young chief, "let me play ghost right for her, just once, will you?"
"You may for tonight," I said, "but you will have to be very careful and not overdo the matter, for she isn"t the kind that is easily fooled. She"s had to keep her eyes and wits sharpened, else she wouldn"t be on a newspaper, so I want you to be very careful and not bungle. Make a neat job of it."
"I"ll do it up brown, you bet!" he cried gleefully.
"Naw, do it up white," drawled Pythagoras.
"Show me your ghost stuff by daylight," I demanded, "and let me see how you are going to rig him up."
He brought forth a head and shoulders and arms that were ghastly even in sunlight, and proceeded to explain them.
"I got this skull out of father"s study, and the arms came off a skeleton mother had in her antiquities. I dressed them up in a pillow case and the white cotton gloves are Huldah"s. I can get some phosphorus in the woods and put it in the eyes. And Demetrius bought two electric flashlights yesterday, and Pythagoras can snap them once in a while from the lower windows."
"You are some little property man," said Rob in admiration. "But tell me who produces those heart-rending shrieks?"
"That was Pythagoras who did the high ones. And Em came in with low groans. Show "em, boys."
Pythagoras uttered high-trebled, thin-toned whines and ever and anon Emerald added a _ba.s.so profundo_ accompaniment, making a combination that was most trying to the ears at close range.
"I don"t know," said Rob, "as I want Beth subjected to such a realistic performance. We will loiter in the distance."
"Your rehearsal," I a.s.sured Ptolemy, "is very good, but you must remember that Miss Frayne is used to encountering things far more terrible than ghosts. She may insist on coming right in here to investigate. Of course, if she does, I can"t refuse or she"ll think I am afraid, or else that I put up a fake ghost here, myself."
"We"ll lock the door with a chair," suggested Emerald.
"She"ll be quite capable of breaking into a little house like this, but I"ll keep her back until you have time to haul in your ghost and make a quick and quiet getaway by a back window. Then another thing, she"ll be over here tomorrow morning to take some pictures of the house, so by sunrise I want you all to take up your abode in the tent you have in the woods and stay there until I come and tell you the coast is clear."
"We"re dead on," a.s.sured Ptolemy. "I"m glad there"s going to be something doing. We"re getting tired of being here alone. I had to tie Demetrius up this morning. He was bound to go over to the hotel and see mudder."
"Don"t one of you dare to make such an attempt," I said peremptorily.
"You keep right on here for a few days. Some of us, either Rob, or Beth and I will drop over every day. If you play your ghost just as I tell you and keep out of sight, I"ll bring you over some ice cream tomorrow."
"Bring me a bigger bat."
"Bring me a mitt."
"Bring me a boat," came in chorus from Ptolemy, Emerald, and Demetrius.
"What"ll you give me to stay here?" asked Pythagoras, who was a born bargain-driver.
"I"ll give you a licking if you don"t stay," was the only offer he gleaned from me.
"Be good boys," adjured the softhearted Rob, "and I"ll bring you everything I can find at the hotel."
It was long past the luncheon hour when we returned. We found Miss Frayne wondering at Rob"s sudden disappearance and Beth was accordingly mystified.
I planted myself directly in front of Miss Frayne.
"May I take you to the haunted house tonight at the yawning churchyard hour?" I asked. "I am most eminently fitted to be your guide, for I was the first one of this a.s.sembly to see the ghost _in toto_."
"He saw it over a stone fence," remarked Rob.
"Indeed you may, thank you very much," she said enthusiastically.
Silvia"s face was a study.
"And will you come with me, Beth?" asked Rob. "Of course, the ghost is an old story to us, but we really should hover in Lucien"s wake out of regard to the conventions."
"Is Miss Frayne interested in ghosts?" asked Beth.
Miss Frayne turned and answered the question.
"Not personally," she admitted frankly, "but the newspaper I am on is, and they sent me up here to get a story."
"Oh, you are a reporter?"
"Yes; on the _Times_."
"She won"t be one long, though," a.s.serted Rob cheerfully, "because she is going to marry my cousin in the fall."
Beth"s expression remained neutral at the announcement, but I noticed throughout the afternoon that she was extremely affable toward Miss Frayne, and that she had the whiphand again with Rob, and meanwhile he seemed to be gathering a grim determination to do or die.
"Lucien, how did you come to ask Miss Frayne to go to that awful place tonight?" asked Silvia when we had gone to our room for a siesta, which seemed impossible by reason of the bellowing of Diogenes, who balked at being required to lie down.
"Rob asked me to," I informed her, when I had cowed Diogenes, "so he could have a free field for Beth. I believe he planned this expedition so he could storm the citadel."
She reflected.
"Well, maybe he is wise. Girls like Beth have to be taken by storm sometimes. I shouldn"t wonder if Rob could be a bit of a bully, too, but--"
She ended her speculations in a shriek.
"Oh, Lucien! Diogenes has jumped out the window."
We rushed down stairs, Silvia informing the guests in transit of the awful catastrophe.
Silvia paused at the door opening on to the veranda.
"I can"t see him," she said faintly, closing her eyes. "You"ll have to tend to it alone, Lucien."
Beth was already at the telephone, which connected with the country doctor"s. Rob joined me. We located our window, and began hunting underneath for the pieces.
"Where in the world do you suppose he landed?" asked Rob.