She turned toward the door, but with her hand on the brass knob, stood tensely listening. Someone was tiptoeing along the hall. It occurred to her that the mysterious organist might have escaped from the music room by means of a secret panel which opened directly into the adjoining corridor. Even now he could be effecting his escape to the lower floor.
Crouching against the wall, Penny waited. She was startled to hear the footsteps coming closer. Then the door opened a tiny crack and the beam of a flashlight slowly circled the room.
“Penny!” an anxious voice whispered. “Where are you?”
Penny laughed in relief as she reached out to grip Rosanna’s hand.
“Oh! How you startled me!” the girl gasped. “I’m so glad you’re safe, Penny. You stayed up here so long that I was frightened.”
“I had to wait for the ghost.”
“I heard the music,” Rosanna said in awe. “It broke off so suddenly.”
“That was because I frightened the ghost away. At first I thought perhaps I had dreamed it all, but if you heard the music too then it must have been real.”
“It was real enough. But it lasted only a minute or two.”
“When the organist saw me I suspect he slipped out of the room by means of a secret panel,” Penny reported. “But where he went is a mystery. You didn’t see anyone as you came up the stairs to find me?”