Nellie departed to the kitchen regions, highly offended. She considered she had been badly treated, but, as she certainly did not wish Miss Drummond to learn anything of the affair, she took Aldred's advice, washed her face, put the sheet away, and only aired her grievance to her fellow-servants.
Aldred, congratulating herself upon the success of her promptitude, fetched a glass of water to the classroom. Lorna had in a great measure recovered herself, but she was still pale and shaky, and anxious to claim sympathy.
"I saw something all in white in the passage!" she was assuring the other girls.
"Nonsense!" said Aldred brusquely. "How could you? Drink this, and you'll feel better."
"She must have seen something!" declared Phœbe and Ursula.
"Well, there's nothing there now, at any rate. Go and look for yourselves, if you don't believe me!"
"Perhaps the Third Form were playing us a trick," suggested Dora.
"It's extremely probable," returned Aldred. "Phyllis Carson loves practical jokes."
"It must have been Phyllis," said Lorna. "It looked very like her, and it is just the kind of thing she'd enjoy doing."
"It was a great shame of whoever it was, to give you such a scare!" said Mabel. "It's never safe to frighten people, and I hate sham ghosts myself. Do you feel well enough to go on with the scene, or shall we stop for to-night?"