But he always found her ready to wait on him and fetch and carry for him, and now there was no Dawn to take her part, he took advantage of her good nature and rather bullied her.
The atmosphere of the house with the bustle and preparation for Christmas guests infected Puggy with mischievous ideas. He was in and out of every room. He locked up the old butler in his pantry for two hours; he seized a big tray and used it as a toboggan down the front stairs; he abstracted tarts and mince pies from the larder, and finally retired to the turret room after the schoolroom tea, and locking himself in, remained in perfect seclusion for an hour and a half.
Christina was in the schoolroom helping Connie to decorate the pictures with holly and evergreen. Downstairs Mr. and Mrs. Maclahan with their guests were just going into dinner, when they were startled by wild shrieks, and two or three maids came tearing along the passages and down the front stairs in a panic of fright.
"The ghost! The ghost in the turret!"
Tipton, the old butler, turned upon them furiously and drove them into the servants' hall. For a moment young Mrs. Maclahan looked really vexed.
"Of course it is Puggy!" she said. "He deserves a good whipping."
"But," said a young girl, Eva Mowbray by name, "I have always heard there is a genuine ghost in this house. Please don't destroy the illusion. It is so respectable to own a ghost."
"I hope that boy won't be playing pranks with Christina," said Mr. Maclahan as he took his seat at the dinner table. "She will not bear much fright I fancy!"
"She is most likely helping him in the invention," his wife said carelessly. "No, Eva, we really don't own a ghost, or else it is taking time to make its appearance. I have seen no signs of it since I have been here."
The subject was dismissed. Other topics took the place of it, and no more disturbance was heard; but when the ladies came into the drawing-room, Tipton asked Mrs. Maclahan if she could speak to the housekeeper for a moment.