“Once I caught him perched up on the ledge of one of the high gymnasium windows, peering in. He jumped down and ran away as I came along the walk, but I had a chance to see him, and also to note that he was wearing some kind of a mask, that of an evil old man.”
“Oh!” gasped Sim. “The face you saw at the dance, Arden!”
“Yes, it must have been,” Arden agreed.
“Oh, then you saw that trick?” asked Mr. Pangborn.
“I just had a glimpse of a face at the window,” Arden answered. “Then the bell rang, and we all hurried out to try to solve the mystery.”
“Yes, that was the night,” young Mr. Pangborn agreed.
“But what could he hope to gain by such a trick?” asked Arden. “He really didn’t frighten me.”
“I think that was to have been the start of a campaign on his part for a certain purpose,” the late Tom Scott answered. “He probably thought the girls would report to the dean about a strange face peering in at them out of the night. Then Anson, very likely, might have offered to drive the Peeping Tom away, which he could easily do by just ceasing his own antics. In this way he would be commended, I think he expected.”
“How strange!” murmured Sim.
“He must be crazy!” echoed Terry.