“I don’t quite know. What is there?”
A wine bottle that had been quietly standing in front of White lurched suddenly forward, as though in answer to the question. At the same moment the table began to heave, the glasses to rattle, and a little stool, covered with books, toppled over with a prodigious crash.
“Haven’t you some other room we can go to?” stammered Jim.
“Nonsense, it is only some silly trick of Cargill,” said White. Nevertheless all three guests wished themselves well out of it, especially when the dim light suddenly grew dimmer, and the shadows in the room increased. In a few seconds the boys were barely able to see one another.
At this point a mournful moan rang through the room, the curtains were seen to open, and a white figure glided from between them and passed out through the door.
“Let’s get out of here, the place is haunted!” cried White, rising from his chair.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” a ghostly laugh issued from the flowers in the center of the table, and was echoed by the clock on the mantelpiece.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!”—but the guests could stand it no more, and, scrambling and struggling, they rushed downstairs, with White at their head. Panting and scared they did not stop until the hall was reached, when they stood still, staring at one another in dismay.
“What is the matter?” a sweet voice greeted them. The whole party turned to find Cargill’s sister standing at the dining-room door, looking from one to the other in frank amazement. None of them cared to reply. It is no pleasant thing to tell a pretty girl that you have been afraid.
“The ghost, Dolly,” gasped her brother after a moment, and in a shaky voice he recounted their mysterious adventures.