"I'd better take the lamp, hadn't I?" queried Esther, inwardly dismayed at the prospect of ascending alone to those awful regions, and yet unwilling to refuse so small a service.
"Yes, take the lamp. You know there's no light in that end of the hall. You're not afraid, are you?"
"N-no, not really. I can't help thinking of those foolish stories the girls tell, though I know there's nothing in them."
Esther took up the lamp and started. She did not wish to appear cowardly before her room-mate, though she really dreaded the short journey.
As she walked past the dark trunk-rooms and up the uncarpeted stairs, her heart beat fast at the "swish" of her own skirts on the boards.
When she opened the observatory door, she couldn't help noticing how very dark the room was, and how feebly the rays from her lamp illuminated it.
Instinctively she glanced toward the telescope to see that there was no white figure behind it, and breathed a little more freely when she saw that there was not.
She searched a long time for the book, standing with her back to the door. At last she found it under a pile of others.
Glad to have accomplished her task, and inwardly peopling all the shadowy corners of the room with ghostly visitants, she turned round to begin her return journey, when—
What was that by the telescope? A white, tall figure stood by the instrument.