Читать книгу The Ghost of Melody Lane - Lilian Garis - Страница 6

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Glenn didn’t answer. It may have seemed an unanswerable question to him. Certainly it was to Carol. The sudden accumulation of troubles had stirred in Carol every ounce of her determination to fight them. But there were so many. What was far from a minor one was means of getting back and forth to Long Hill, now that she had a job there. Even the afternoon performances with Carol at the organ would mean arrival at the movie house early, so that she would have to cut school classes beyond repair. The things she had to think of just now were those she had to do, not those she hated doing, although they were, just now, identical.

Glenn swerved the car to avoid a bump in the road, and when they were running steadily again he remarked:

“You say Cecy had to hurry over to Mrs. Becket’s? I didn’t pay much attention at the time. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I was so excited about getting this job, I didn’t give it much thought myself. But it seems that Mrs. Becket was taken suddenly ill—frightened, Thalia said—she begged me to go over with her, but I didn’t dare.”

“Didn’t dare? You don’t mean you were afraid?”

“No, but I didn’t dare pass up this chance for a job. I might not get another opportunity.”

“Oh, I guess you would, all right. But what could have frightened Mrs. Becket?”

“It’s hard to say. Oh, Glenn, do you know they tell the craziest things about Mrs. Becket’s place?”

“Sure, I do. Who doesn’t? The old organ seems to harbor a ghostly Saint Cecilia.”

“It’s terribly silly, of course——”

“But Jane Jackson is no fool, and she stopped going there for lessons. Says it’s too spooky.”

“Jane Jackson has stopped her lessons? Why, Glenn, that’s awful.”

“Why is Jane so important?”

“Because she’s rich, and all the girls follow her. It might even break up our Choral Club.” Carol was now truly dismayed.

“What can I do about it?” Jane Jackson was not exactly a rival of Carol’s, but everybody knew Jane liked Glenn.

“Maybe you could do something about it, Glenn,” Carol told him. “If it’s all a trick, we’ve got to run it down, that’s all. Certainly Thally seemed worried about Mrs. Becket being sick. She wanted me to go right over there, and when I couldn’t, she took Cecy.”

“Well, Cecy’ll know all about it,” he answered good-naturedly. “She surely loves detective stories.”

“Yes, too much. She just thinks of nothing but mysteries and reading silly movie stuff. But she’s got to do something now.” Carol meant that.

“She will; you’ll see. Cecy’s all right, but maybe not busy enough.” Glenn wasn’t the boy to say more than that about any girl.

“But she talks to that awful boy, Stubby. I’m afraid her interest in mysteries may lead her too far.”

“Stubby is not good company,” Glenn grudgingly agreed.

“But, Glenn, haven’t you any plans for running down the organ ghost? We can’t let Jane’s scare get all over town.” Carol returned to that important subject as they neared home.

“Maybe I could get Jane to reconsider.” Glenn was being “foxy” about Jane. But Carol didn’t mind, at least she pretended she didn’t. Her hand still on the open door of the roadster, she smiled her sweetest into Glenn’s eyes and assured him that he could do just that very thing about Jane if anyone could, adding:

“I hope you will!”

Glenn burst into a roar of laughter at what Carol said, covered her hand with his own firm clasp, and called her a good little sport.

“But, Carrolla,” he teased, “don’t worry about everything. The ghost is O. K.; that’s a good healthy worry, and I’ll bet it’s an all right ghost too. We’ll get after that if we have to bust the famous organ of Melody Lane.”

“Nothing could be hidden in the organ,” Carol insisted.

“Oh, mice and things, bats maybe, or some sort of gibbering animals——”

“No, nothing so simple,” Carol again insisted. “But wait until we hear Cecy’s story. Maybe she’s home. Come along in and hear the ghostly details.”

“If you insist——”

“There’s Thally’s car coming now. We’ll make a fine audience for them, for they’re sure to have a thrilling story.”

Cecy sprang out of the car, but Thalia couldn’t wait. Had to go right off with no more than hellos and good-bys. But Cecy would make up for the loss. In fact, she had already started.

“What happened?” asked Glenn.

“Oh, you’d never guess——”

“Come inside. I’m cold,” urged Carol. “Besides, we’re all tired. Let’s get sitting down.”

They found the living room empty, only the low light awaiting them.

“Dad’s asleep. Don’t let’s talk loud.” Again it was Carol who admonished them.

“But oh, really,” Cecy had flopped down, was tossing off her hat and all but kicking up her heels, the way she swung herself back in a big easy-chair. “Honest, poor Mrs. Becket!”

“No parking, Cecy,” ordered Glenn. “Put out your hand and keep going. What does the ghost look like?”

“Look like? Who knows! But you ought to see poor Mrs. Becket. She looks like a ghost, all right,” Cecy was not to be stampeded into telling her story too rashly.

“Is she really sick?” Carol asked.

“I’ll say she’s sick. I would have stayed with her if I hadn’t been afraid to.”

“Does she need someone tonight?” Carol pressed.

“Well, she didn’t say she did. But Thally said she hated to leave her.”

“What happened?” Direct-action Glenn.

“She wouldn’t say just what happened. But she did say that things were happening around there—things hard to understand.”

“Now, Cecy, don’t be silly. You know she didn’t say anything like that,” Carol objected.

“Well, she said she hadn’t slept for nights. And Stubby won’t pump the organ any more, and the electric thing is disconnected. And all the girls are quitting their lessons.” Cecy’s feet both went up and down so violently at that statement, her left pump almost dropped off.

Glenn and Carol were talking in glances. Plainly they both agreed something should promptly be done about the beloved Mrs. Becket, who was worse than alone because she seemed to be among enemies. There was that crabbed old caretaker, Jacob Vroom, who lived in the gate house, and his wife Lena, who acted as though afraid to draw her own breath without his permission. The queer episode of the carpenter was still Carol’s secret. Then there was a girl at the Vroom cottage, a niece or some relative of Lena’s, but no one ever saw her around unless she was shaking a rug or hanging up clothes. And now Cecy had just said that Stubby, the queer boy who always had pumped the organ in spite of some other indefinite mechanical arrangement, was on a strike. Wouldn’t go near the thing because it was too spooky, as he said.

“Well, what do you think?” Cecy demanded impatiently, for the language of their glances was not entirely lost upon her, although Carol was keeping things quiet, lest her father might be awakened. “Isn’t it simply terrifying?”

“What?” asked Glenn exasperatingly.

“Ghosts, of course,” snapped Cecy.

“Ghosts,” repeated Carol scornfully.

“Ghosts!” echoed Glenn whimsically.

After that chorus and refrain they all subsided into a silence that might mean anything. But to Carol it meant just one thing. She must go to Mrs. Becket at once.

“I guess I’ll go over and stay with Cousin Kitty tonight,” she said with as much indifference as she could assume. “I have a lot to tell her, anyhow. Things have happened to me since I saw her for a moment this morning.”

“Carol Duncan! It’s a wonder you wouldn’t stay home and tell me,” accused Cecy. “Besides, I’ve got some extra school work to do and with breakfast——”

“I wouldn’t kick if that were all I had to do,” Carol reminded her. “And from my latest financial reports you had better consider the plan we mentioned.” She referred to the idea of Cecy getting some extra hours in the pretty yellow and white Vienna Bakery, where any girl who had had domestic science at school might have been glad to show off.

But Cecy glared at Carol. She wouldn’t even mention that before Glenn. Her working in a bakery!

“Take me over, Glenn,” begged Carol.

“To Cousin Kitty’s? Certainly. Maybe we can run down the ghost on the way.”

Which wild idea did more to make Cecy satisfied with Carol’s absence from home that night than all Carol’s promises to let her have a night off very soon.