“Well, you’d be queer, too,” Grace asserted, “if you’d seen and heard what I did. I was coming down the corridor alone thinking of Nan and the new cabin when I heard someone say in a mean rasping voice, ‘Well, you find out the answer pretty soon, or you’ll never live to see Scotland again.’
“I was scared and would have run, but the cabin door opened. As it did, I ducked into another and waited. Oh, it seemed as though I was there for hours in some strange person’s cabin, afraid to stay and afraid to go. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I opened the door quietly and looked out. There was no one in sight. I tiptoed down the corridor, and was just about to come in here, when I saw that awful looking hunchback standing out there.
“I’m sure he was watching this cabin. I would have turned and run or gone right past him, but I saw his eyes.” Grace shuddered.
“They’re terrible eyes. I couldn’t go on. I had to come in here.” Grace looked up at Nan as though asking for approval for what she had done.
“Of course you did, Grace,” Nan said quietly and soothingly. “Of course, you had to come in. But tell me,” she questioned further. “Why did you say he followed you?”
“Did I say that?” Grace looked puzzled.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Grace shook herself as though she had difficulty in remembering clearly. “I guess I was just afraid he was, and I knew that his eyes were on me. Why should he watch this cabin?” She looked up at Nan. The others followed her glance. They too felt, somehow, that Nan knew the answer.
Nan sat silently considering.
Should she tell them what she knew or shouldn’t she? Could she trust them? She looked around at their faces, at Rhoda’s and Amelia’s, and was tempted to tell. Both of these girls seemed to be calm in all the excitement. “They might be able to offer some help if needed,” Nan thought. Then she heard Grace stifle a sob and saw again how frightened and worried the girl looked. She hesitated. She looked up at Bess, her closest friend, and was tempted again.