“Yes, she certainly disappeared, and in a passage where there were no doors.”
“Do you remember the story I told you of the lady whose astral double left her body during sleep, and haunted a friend’s house?” began Veronica darkly.
“Don’t tell any ghost stories up here—don’t!” implored Fauvette. “I’ll have hysterics in another minute!”
“I’m frightened!” whimpered Joan.
“I vote we go downstairs,” suggested Morvyth. “I don’t want to play any more hide-and-seek at present.”
Nobody else seemed anxious to pursue the game. The attics were too charged with the occult to be entirely pleasant. Everybody made a unanimous stampede for the lower story, passing down the winding staircase with a sense of relief. Once on familiar ground again, things looked more cheery.
“Back already?” commented Miss Gibbs, who had met them on the landing. 231
“Yes, we’re all—er—a little tired!” evaded Hermie, with one of her conscious blushes.
“Better go to the dining-room and get out your sewing, then,” replied the mistress, eyeing her keenly.
The girls proceeded soberly downstairs, still keeping close together like a flock of sheep. Raymonde, however, lagged behind. For a moment or two she stood pondering, then she ran swiftly up the winding staircase again into the attic.