"Oh, my God!"
"And H.M. pointed out something in the contract they didn't know themselves. They intended to use Rupert's Five-Acre, which would have been bad enough. But H.M. said wouldn't it be a wonderful attraction if they had lines of booths and stalls and freak-shows up the main drive to the front door? And that's not the worst, either. Have you ever ridden in a Ghost-Train?"
Martin had. But he wanted to let Jenny pour her heart out.
"It's a big place like a house, dark inside. You ride in a little railway through terrific screams and howls and screeches. Do you know where H.M. persuaded them to put the Ghost-Train?"
"No, my sweet"
"Under Grandmother's bedroom windows," said Jenny.
“Er — yes. What I mean is: I see "
"On the roof of the Ghost-Train house," said Jenny, "there's a papier-mache skull on a pole. It's painted green. It turns round, and round. And, every time it turns round, it looks in the bedroom window and chatters two sets of teeth."
"Jenny," said Martin, "wait just one minute. Hold the line and wait The culprit's here. I'll…"
With a shaking hand he put down the 'phone beside its cradle. To say that he did not know whether to laugh or swear is to understate a real conflict of mind: it boiled inside him, tearing him both ways. Grandmother Brayle was not due home until this afternoon. To watch her behaviour then would be worth much. On the other hand, H.M.'s craftiness seemed always to separate him from Jenny; and he was resolved to get Jenny away today.