The several male instructors at Lakeview Hall did not reside there, but lived near by in the village of Freeling. That is, the other gentlemen of Dr. Prescott’s staff did so. Professor Krenner, who was unmarried, lived in a cabin he had built under the bluff on the lake shore.
“I am not far from the old boathouse, which is quite a famous place, by the way, as you will find when you get to the Hall. I am not troubled much with visitors because of my proximity to the boathouse. That is taboo with most of the young ladies.”
“Why?” queried the curious Bess, promptly.
“I believe it is considered to possess one of those rare birds, a ‘hant,’” chuckled the professor. “By night, at least, it is given a wide berth by even the most romantic miss in the school.”
“Oh! a real ghost?” gasped Bess, deliciously excited.
“That is quite impossible, is it not?” queried Professor Krenner, in his gentle way of poking fun. “A ghost must necessarily be impalpable; then, how can it be real?”
Bess did not like being “made fun of,” so she whispered to Nan; but the latter liked to hear the professor talk. That he was an odd man she was sure; but he was nothing like Toby Vanderwiller, the lumberman, or the other crude characters she had met at Pine Camp. What would Bess have said to Mr. Fen Llewellen, for instance? Or what would her chum think, even, of her cousin, Tom Sherwood?
Bess soon became anxious for a change and she begged Nan to come into the dining car for luncheon.
“But we have our lunch,” Nan pointed out.
“I don’t care. I don’t want a lot of stale sandwiches and fruit,” Bess declared.