Penny did not linger, but darted past the group and groped for the door. In the darkness she could not immediately find it. Her shining robe, on the other hand, made her an easy target for Al Gepper.
Angrily the medium strode across the room, seizing her arm. She jerked away, but he grasped a fold of the robe. It tore and was left behind.
At that critical instant, Penny’s hand encountered the door. She swung it open, and bounded down the stairway.
In the séance chamber a light went on, then the hallway became brilliantly illuminated. But by that time the girl was in the dining room.
She could hear Al Gepper clattering down the steps, intent upon capturing her. Penny was determined that he should never learn her identity.
Letting herself out of the house by way of the kitchen door, she decided that if she attempted to cross the yard, the medium certainly would recognize her. The woodpile offered a hiding place and she crouched behind it.
Scarcely had she secreted herself, when Al Gepper ran into the yard. He glanced about carefully and circled the house twice.
Finally, convinced that the “ghost” had escaped he came back to the porch. His customers, greatly agitated by what had occurred, were demanding explanations.
“Someone played a prank,” Gepper explained briefly. “It will be impossible to resume the séance for the spirits are offended. You will leave, please.”
The customers departed and the medium locked himself in the house. He did not bother to lower the upstairs hall blind, and Penny caught occasional glimpses of him as he moved to and fro.