that evening the boys had no end of fun teasing the girls. that dorothy and tavia should have been so easily frightened, that tavia should have "turned turtle," as ned put it, and that dorothy "should have run under fire," and left the coveted tree behind, seemed to the boys beyond explanation.
listening to their telling of the affair, major dale became interested, and soon discovered that the old mayberry mansion, in tanglewood park, was none other than the former home of a veteran of the war, who had been in the same regiment with the major.
"i knew him well," volunteered dorothy's father. "he was a fine fellow, but always a little queer. seems to me he had a sister or step-sister. her name was—pumfret. yes, that was it. i always thought it such a queer name, and many a time saw it written by the captain on his letters home."
"and was he killed?" asked tavia. "do you suppose it is his ghost that haunts the castle?"
this provoked a very gale of laughter, even little roger considering it a great joke that tavia should take the matter so seriously.
"indeed, he was not killed," replied the major. "he had done good service and was made captain. seems to me the last i heard of him he was traveling abroad."
"then it's miss 'plumpet's' ghost," declared nat. "i'm sure, uncle frank, you must have forgotten that name. more likely to be plumpet than pumfret."
"oh, no; i remember very well. it was pumfret, and i used to think she would have plenty to 'fret' about when nick mayberry went home, for he could keep a whole regiment busy while in service."
"then he has turned the castle into a barracks," declared joe. "i'll wager that solves the mystery. he has got a lot of old 'vets' walled up in there, and they——"
"go on parade every night about time for reveille. now we have it. and i propose we take a trip out there some evening at about the same hour," put in nat.
"leave the girls at home," suggested ned, with an arch glance at dorothy.
"indeed, i'm not the least bit afraid," declared his cousin. "i did hear something like a scream, and i don't believe in ghosts. therefore i should very much like to have a chance to investigate the matter."
"now, see here, children," put in mrs. white, "i want you all to retire early. there are so many little things to do for the holidays, and i will need a lot of help to-morrow."
this order broke up the evening party, and as the girls were quite tired after the run to the woods and its consequent incidents, they made no protest.
there was, however, some whispering between the boys before they left the room. then nat stayed behind and detained the girls—he had something very important to consult them about. ned and the younger boys went directly upstairs.
a half hour might have passed, during which time nat seemed at his wits' end in his efforts to keep the girls interested. finally dorothy jumped up and declared she was going upstairs. tavia followed, but nat managed to reach the second landing in advance of them by going up the servants' stairs.
he called good-night from the hall that led to his own room, and soon all was quiet, and the ghost of mayberry hall evidently forgotten.
between the two alcove rooms, occupied by dorothy and tavia, was a long wardrobe closet. into this both girls put such belongings as might not be used daily—a sort of "dress-up" clothes' closet. it was in this closet that street apparel was placed, so that on the night of the auto ride both dorothy and tavia had something to hang on the padded hooks there.
"i'm going to town in the morning," said dorothy to her chum as she went to the hall closet. "i simply could not do any shopping the other day. do you want to come, tavia?"
"i don't think so," replied tavia; and as she spoke a shadow crossed her face. "i simply hate to shop."
"oh, very well," said dorothy somewhat stiffly. "i only thought you might have some more things to buy."
"i'm—i'm—broke," declared tavia frankly. "i always am at this time of the holiday season," and she seemed anxious to restore a more genial atmosphere.
a moment later she followed dorothy out to the hall closet. dorothy had stepped back to make room for her chum. tavia pushed some garments rather roughly aside to make a place for the heavy cloak, thrusting her arm well into the depths of the closet. no sooner had she done so than she jumped back, uttering a scream of fright.
"what's that?" she cried. "i thought i felt—dorothy, turn up the light!"
then, as the fear took greater hold on her, she cried:
"oh, help! there's a man in the closet! run, doro! run! help, somebody!"
dorothy did not pause to turn up the lights. she swung around and fled with tavia, who continued to scream, while dorothy, too, uttered frightened cries. there were calls sounding throughout the house—voices anxiously demanding to know what the matter was. the girls ran down the front stairs, and then swung around and darted up the rear flight that they might reach the room of the boys without passing the closet which contained something that had frightened them so terribly.
"oh!" screamed tavia, pounding on the boys' door. "do come out—quick! there's a man in the big hall closet! he—he almost grabbed me!" she panted.
but somehow the boys could not seem to hurry. dorothy and tavia were almost in hysterics before ned finally opened the door, just as if nothing had happened. he was fully dressed, and it did seem as if he might have responded more quickly to the frightened summons.
"what did you say?" he asked, as if just awakened from a sound sleep.
"a man—a man—in the hall closet—he nearly grabbed me!" cried tavia, "i put my arm in—to hang up my cloak—i shoved the clothes aside—then i—i felt—something—terrible. then i'm sure i saw—oh, for pity's sake get help—don't go alone—he may kill all of us!"
tavia trembled and seemed about to fall in a faint.
"oh, come on," exclaimed ned as he stepped out into the hall. "i guess we can manage a little thing like this. come on; we'll see what it is that frightened you. likely it was only tavia's excited imagination."
"oh, please don't go alone!" pleaded dorothy, holding her cousin back by the arm. "i—i saw—him—it—too. the awfullest-looking——"
"ghost!" finished ned with a laugh. "well, i'm not afraid of anything, from ghosts to—gillies!"
at this he lightly shook off dorothy's detaining hand, and started down the long hall toward the closet. nat and the other boys were in the hall now, and in spite of her terror dorothy noticed that they were all dressed, though it was supposed they had all retired—especially roger and joe, who should have been asleep long ago.
"now, come on out, whoever you are!" exclaimed ned as he strode up to the open closet. "where is he?" he asked, poking through the garments hanging on the rear hooks. "nothing doing here."
"then he has hidden himself in some other part of the house," declared tavia.
but at this joe and roger could hold back their laughter no longer. the others also joined in. but tavia would not be convinced.
"i certainly saw—him—it," she insisted. "it did not look like anything human!"
"come and see if it's here now," invited ned, who could not seem to find a trace of whatever it was that had frightened the girls.
"never! never!" cried tavia. "i had enough in that one look! didn't you, doro? no more ghosts for mine, thank you!"
"well," put in nat, "it's a good thing to know when you've had enough—even of ghosts."
"i'll go and take a look," volunteered dorothy. "there can be nothing harmful there if ned did not discover it."
she advanced toward the closet, in which her cousin was partly hidden, seemingly hunting for the ghost.
"be careful," cautioned roger, "he'll eat you up, doro."
at that moment dorothy leaped back. she did see something.
"look there!" she cried to ned.
"where?" he asked innocently, "i don't see anything. look again, doro."
she had the courage to look again.
then she covered her face with her hands and burst out laughing.
"you horrid boys!" she exclaimed as soon as she could do so. "to play such a trick!" and she proceeded to bring out from the closet the "ghost." "i might have known you were up to something!"
"then why didn't you?" asked joe, still dancing about; jubilant over the success of their joke.
"just look at this, tavia," said dorothy, dragging from the closet the stuffed figure of a man. "isn't he perfectly lovely? such a——"
"fine figure," ventured tavia, now quite calm, and perhaps a trifle embarrassed, for she had made such a fuss, saying he almost grabbed her, and all that.
the joke surely had been a success, and it took some time to allay the spirits of the boys, from ned to roger.
each seemed to attribute the success of the "ghost" to his own particular talent in that line, and when finally mrs. white insisted that every one go to bed, echoes of laughter would peal out from behind closed doors, and the girls promised to get even, if they had to do so out in tanglewood park, "where the real ghost would not stand for any nonsense."
