"I will send Henry down town with a note at once to her. She shall sleep in peace to-night, after all, if my assurance of good will and sympathy will help her to do so."
The news of the German teacher's trouble circulated among the girls and it was noticeable that those who took German were more careful about giving the good, if excitable, lady trouble during the weeks that immediately followed.
Meanwhile Bess finished the "fascinator." The other girls friendly to the chums in Room Seven, Corridor Four, brought gifts, too. Beautiful Beulah had an afternoon reception that was the talk of the Hall for weeks.
Of course, the little folk came; Nan was friends with every child in the primary grades, and she invited them to come and bring their dolls.
There was tea and cakes enough for all; and the "reception" overflowed into the corridor. Mademoiselle Loro (who had taken a great fancy to Nan Sherwood) presided at the tea-table. The little Frenchwoman had by no means forgotten her youth and she did not cast any "damper" upon the occasion, as Bess Harley was afraid she would.
"I don't know how it is, Nan," said Bess, when the entertainment was over and they were alone. "You are just the funniest girl I ever heard of. Any other girl would never have thought of inviting a teacher to a doll's party; if she had, the girls would have been afraid to come. But we had a splendid time, and I shall try to please Mademoiselle more in the future. She's an awfully nice old thing."
Nan only smiled. In her wise little brain this very result had been foreseen. She had begun to see that when the girls and the teachers only met in the classroom, or at meals, they did not "warm up to each other"; social intercourse with their instructors made the girls less antagonistic toward them.
The weather grew colder and the ice was pronounced safe. Skating began, and the chums from Tillbury soon showed the other girls how well they could skate together. Walter Mason declared he had just as soon skate with Nan Sherwood as with any boy he knew.
Nan and Bess went down to Mrs. Cupp's room one day to ask for the privilege of going to town to get their skates sharpened. It was late afternoon and growing dusky in the stairways. There was no light in Mrs.
Cupp's room.
Before the girls reached the top of the flight leading to the basement they heard the matron scream. Then a sharp, shrill voice cried:
"I want my money! Give me my money! You and Miss Vane are trying to keep it from me. I want my money!"
"Go away! Go away!" the startled girls heard Mrs. Cupp murmur.
"I'll haunt you! I'll foller you----"
Bess had uttered a cry. Out of the matron's room scuttled a thin, black figure, which darted down the stairs.
"The boathouse ghost!" gasped Bess, clinging to Nan, in fright.
"Goodness!" returned Nan. "If it is, he's a long way off his beat, isn't he? Boathouse ghost, indeed!"
But when they went into the matron's room they found Mrs. Cupp lying back in her chair, in a pitiable state of fright.
CHAPTER XXIX
ALL ABOUT THE BOATHOUSE GHOST
Susan, her black face set in a very grim expression, came to wait upon Mrs. Cupp. "Go 'long, chillen," she commanded, "I'll 'tend to her."
"But she's been dreadfully frightened, Susan," cried Nan, sympathetically.
"She saw a ghost, Susan," whispered Bess, perhaps a little wickedly.
Susan rolled her eyes. "Go 'long, chile! Wot ghos'?"
"The boathouse ghost, I declare!" said Bess, with decision. "Wasn't it, Nan? All black--and small--and it squealed. Didn't it, Nan?"
"It was a boy," said her chum. "And he ran down cellar. Somebody ought to look into it."
"Into the cellar?" asked Bess, with a giggle, as Susan "shooed" them out of the matron's room and shut the door at their backs.
"Yes. Just that," said Nan, decidedly.
"Where do you suppose that boy went--if it was a boy?"
"I know," Nan said, hesitating at the top of the stairs.
"You _know_?" cried Bess.
"Positively!"
"Goodness me! Is this another of your secrets, Nan Sherwood? You are the very meanest girl for a chum----"
"I never told you about this because so many other things came in between and made me forget," confessed Nan, quickly. "Come on! Let me show you."
She started down the basement stairs, but Bess hung back.
"I don't know about following a ghost."
"Nonsense! It's only a boy," said Nan. "He's the very boy who pulled me out of the water the other morning. And he's somebody else, too!"
"I don't know what you mean, and I don't know where you're leading me,"
grumbled Bess.
"To the trunk-room," said Nan, answering one question.
"But that boy could not get in there. The door's locked."
"We'll see," said Nan, hurrying on.
In a few moments they were down the dark passageway and at the door. It was wide open.
"Now, how do you suppose that happened?" queried Bess. "Mrs. Cupp is so particular about keeping it locked."
"The boy opened it when he came through," said Nan.
"_From the inside?_" gasped Bess. "Do you think he's been hiding in one of the trunks?"
Nan showed her quickly that the knob of the spring lock was on the inside of the trunk-room door. One could easily get out of the room without a key.
"But for goodness' sake!" cried Bess. "Tell me how he got in here?"
"That's what I am going to show you," said her chum, laughing. As they walked down the long room, Nan snapping on a light here and there to show the way, she told her chum about the movable part of the partition and how she had made the discovery.
Bess' interest and curiosity was roused to the highest point.