It was only when they were all seated at the supper table that the new-comers began to ask all sorts of questions about the tea-house, which Marjorie and Marie Louise did their best to answer.
“Are we going down to inspect it tonight?” inquired Alice, who had shown perhaps the most animated interest.
“Mercy no!” cried Lily. “Don’t forget the ghost Agnes Taylor told us about!”
“What ghost?” demanded two or three girls at once.
“Oh, there’s nothing to it!” replied Marjorie, contemptuously. “Just because two or three deaths occurred in the house, somebody has to invent the story that the place is haunted.”
“And the ghost comes out only at night,” added Lily, in spite of what Marjorie had just said.
“Then I take it we’re not going down tonight?” asked Alice.
“No, we’re not,” replied Marjorie. “But that isn’t the reason; it’s because we all need to rest. Then tomorrow we’ll begin in dead earnest. We’re to meet Mrs. Hadley there at ten o’clock.”
“I’d laugh if we didn’t have enough money to equip it,” remarked Florence, cynically.
“Don’t worry—we’ll manage somehow!” replied Marjorie. “Now, Ethel, tell us what you meant about that surprise—the one you spoke of before supper!”