Arden was almost shaking with fright, so much so that she faltered in the dance. She glanced quickly at Jane to learn whether she had noticed the face, but now Jane was smiling over Arden’s head at the antics of some capering freshman.
As she circled the room with Jane, Arden’s fears subsided somewhat, and she resolved to say nothing about it to Jane. Then, when the record had played itself out, that dance came to an end. For a moment following the last strains of the music there was a lull in the noise of talk and laughter.
Then, suddenly, breaking in on the happy, peaceful silence, as though it had been planned, came the slow and mournful tolling of a heavy bell.
Dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
“What is it?” questioned several.
“Do we unmask now?” others wanted to know. They thought it a signal.
“I’ve never heard a bell ring like that since I’ve been here at Cedar Ridge,” said a demure little sophomore in a low voice.
“It hasn’t rung—in a long time,” said one girl in a low voice.
“But what is it?” Arden demanded.
“Why does it ring now?” Terry wanted to know.