Mrs. Jaynes crossly complained to Mrs. Ebbetts that she was kept awake all night long—and all day, for that matter! But as she never put her head out of her room after the lights were lowered in the corridors, she did not discover the soft-footed spectres of the night.
"But," she complained to Mrs. Ebbetts, "it is the noisiest room I ever was in. Such a squeaking you never heard! And all the time, day and night."
"I do not understand that at all," said the puzzled housekeeper.
"I'd like to know how the girl who had that room before I took it, stood that awful squeaking noise," said the visitor.
"Why, Mrs. Jaynes," said the housekeeper, "no girl slept there. It was a sitting-room."
"Even so, I cannot understand how anybody could endure the noise. If I believed in such things I should declare the room was haunted."
"Indeed, Madam!" gasped the housekeeper. "I do not understand it."
"Well, I cannot endure it. I shall tell my sister that I cannot remain here at Ardmore unless she finds me other lodgings. That awful squeak, squeak, squeak continues day and night. It is unbearable."
In the end, Dr. McCurdy found lodgings for his sister-in-law in Greenburg. The girls of Ruth's corridor were delighted, and that night held a regular orgy in the recovered sitting-room.
"Thank goodness!" sighed Jennie Stone, "no more up and down all night for us, either. We may sleep in peace, as well as occupy the room in peace."