The Little Colonel at Boarding-School
Page 10
CHAPTER VII.
THE HALLOWE'EN MASQUERADE
"I'LL make a light," said Betty, groping across the room with a handfulof matches which she had taken from the box in the hall. Lloyd startedto follow, but, stumbling over a footstool, felt her way to the bed andsat down on the edge of it to wait for a light. On the way up fromsupper she had started to repeat a funny story which she had heard atClovercroft that afternoon, and she kept on with it as Betty, havingfound her way to the table, struck a match. But she stopped again, asthe match went out with a sudden puff, as if a strong draught had blownit.
"There! It never fails to do that when I'm in a hurry," exclaimed Betty,striking another match as she spoke. It was extinguished as suddenly asthe first. She tried another and another with the same result.
"How strange!" she said, wonderingly. "There isn't a window openanywhere, is there?"
"It's the witches," declared Lloyd, laughing. "There must be onestanding there by yoah elbow."
The laugh ended in a piercing shriek as she felt something clutch herankle. "Murdah! Murdah!" she yelled. "Ow! There's something awful undahthe bed! It grabbed me by the foot! Ow! Ow!"
"Hush up, goosey!" commanded a familiar voice, and as Betty struck herfifth and last match, which burned steadily, they saw Allison dashing tothe door to lock it. Doors were opening all along the corridors, andfootsteps hurrying from every direction in response to Lloyd's terrifiedcry.
"Tell them that it's all right! That it's only a Hallowe'en scare,"demanded Allison, in a stage whisper. "Don't let them in. I blew out thematches, and it's only Kitty and Katie under the beds."
"It's all right," called Lloyd, in a quavering tone, but the matron'sknock was imperative, and Betty, beckoning the girls frantically towardthe closet, fumbled with the bolt until they had whisked into hiding.The one brief glimpse of the rag dolls, falling over each other in theirmad haste to escape, was so comical that both Lloyd and Betty werechoking with laughter when the matron entered. They could hardly controltheir voices while they tried to tell her how the matches had gone outand Lloyd had imagined that there were witches in the room.
Smiling indulgently at their foolishness, which she attributed to theexcitement of the occasion, the matron withdrew. She could hear themstill laughing when she passed through the hall again, several minuteslater, for the rag dolls, coming out of the closet as soon as shedisappeared, began taking one ridiculous pose after another, in themiddle of the floor. The solemn silence in which they struck their limp,boneless attitudes, made the scene all the funnier, and as the girlslooked at the surprised expressions Allison had painted on the flatmuslin faces, they went into such hysterical laughter that the tearsstreamed down their faces.
"Oh, girls, _do_ stop!" begged Lloyd, finally, wiping her eyes. "I'velaughed till I ache, and it's time for me to dress, for I promisedMagnolia to help her into her costume."
Katie and Kitty subsided into a heap on the divan. "Could you have toldwho we were if you hadn't known we were coming?" asked Katie.
"Never in the world," answered Betty. "I couldn't tell which is whichnow, if it were not for your voices."
"We're not going to say a word to any one," said Katie. "We oughtn't totalk, you know, if we carry out our part as it should be. We'll slip upinto the gymnasium pretty soon, and be sitting on the floor in a cornerwhen the others come up. We'll lop around and watch the fun till theunmasking begins, then we'll come down here and wait for the rest ofyou."
All the time they had been performing, Allison had been busy before themirror, and now turned around in her spectral attire.
"The ghost of the veiled lady!" cried Lloyd. "Oh, Allison, yoah make-upis splendid. You're enough to freeze the blood in one's veins. Therecouldn't be anything moah spooky-looking than that thin tulle veil. Iwish Mom Beck could see you. I've heard her talking about that queahlittle woman whose house used to stand where the seminary cellah is dugnow, till I couldn't close my eyes at night. All the darkies believe shestill haunts the place."
Betty had never heard the story, so Allison repeated it while shedressed, adding, "You two must do all you can to spread the report thatI'm lurking around. You have seen me yourself, you know. If I had mylump of ice, you'd soon feel the touch of my clammy fingers. I wishyou'd give me a piece of newspaper to wrap it in, Betty. Then it won'tdrip."
"I wish we could carry a lump of ice around with us," gasped Kitty. "Allthis cotton packed around my head and neck makes me so hot I canscarcely breathe."
* * * * *
Miss Edith and Mrs. Clelling, putting the finishing touches to thedecorations in the gymnasium, looked around, well pleased. A score ofjack-o'-lanterns grinned sociably from the brackets between the windows.Two more kept guard on each side of the piano, and at least a dozenlighted the long table stretched across one end of the room, on whichthe spread was arranged. Graceful sprays of bittersweet-vine trailedtheir bright berries over the white cloth. A huge pumpkin-bowl piledwith grapes formed the centrepiece. A pitcher of sweet cider stood ateach end, and nuts, persimmons, pop-corn balls, gingerbread, and applesfilled all the space between.
"It is well worth the trouble," said Miss Edith, lighting the lastcandle. "The girls will enjoy it thoroughly."
Some one called both teachers from the room just then, and in theirabsence two uninvited guests, who had been waiting behind the door,hurried in and seated themselves on the floor in the dimmest corner.
"I should say it _is_ worth the trouble," whispered one rag doll to theother, as they looked around the room at the fantastic decorations."It's lots more fun coming here this way, than having the party at home,and it's more fun than if we'd been invited."
"I'm nearly roasted," panted the other one, "but I'm glad I'm here. Oh,how pretty!"
It was the entrance of one of the older girls in court train andpowdered hair that caused the exclamation, and while they were trying toguess who it could be, the others began to arrive. Old King Cole andPocahontas came in arm in arm, followed by Red Riding Hood and abrownie, while Puss in Boots proudly escorted Aladdin with his lamp.
Little Bo-Peep and Boy Blue were soon recognized, for Betty had made noattempt to hide the brown curls which helped to make her such a prettylittle Dresden shepherdess; and while Lloyd had gathered up her long,light hair under the wide-brimmed hat with its blue ribbon, everygraceful gesture and every step she took, holding herself erect with aproud lifting of the head, proclaimed the Little Colonel.
For once in her short life, little Magnolia Budine tasted the sweets ofsocial success, for no one there was more popular or more admired thanthe saucy Knave of Hearts. With the putting on of the costume she hadput on a courage and self-possession that never could have been assumedwith the old-fashioned tight-waisted blue merino and the stiff shorttails of hair. Grasping the stolen tart firmly in her chubby hands, andlifting the little slippers with their huge bows and buckles in thehigh, mincing step Miss Katherine had taught her, she swaggeredcoquettishly up and down the room, her red mantle sweeping behind her.Wherever she went a flock of admiring girls crowded around her.
For many a month afterward her red and white crown hung over her mirror,not only as a souvenir of the jolly revel, but as a token that for onenight, at least, she had found favour in the eyes of the Princess. Notonly had Lloyd circled around her when she was dressed, exclaiming againthat she looked perfectly lovely, but when they chose partners for theghost-walk, to march solemnly through the halls to the slow music of theDead March, the Princess had chosen her. Lloyd had looked around forIda, who had come as a Puritan Maid; but the cap and kerchief werenowhere to be seen. She had evidently grown tired of the affair and goneto her room.
"'THIS LITTLE KNAVE MUST BE MY PARTNER.'"]
Magnolia did not know that she was second choice. Her cup of happinesswas overflowing when Boy Blue turned away from Aladdin and Red RidingHood, who were both trying to claim her, and said, "No, this littleKnave must be my partner. He has stolen my heart as well as the
queen'starts."
In their corner near the piano Kitty and Katie sat stiffly against thewall, seemingly incapable of moving themselves. Several times some ofthe larger girls made an attempt to lift them, and in whatever positionthey fell when they were dropped, they lay with hands thrust out andheads lolling to one side. There was a laughing crowd around themcontinually.
"Oh, my country!" gasped Katie, as the first solemn chords of the DeadMarch struck her ear and all light in the room was suddenly extinguishedexcept what gleamed from the eyes and mouths of the jack-o'-lanterns."They've gone and dragged in old Sally, the skeleton. It's bad enough tohear her bones rattle in the physiology class in the daytime; but thisis more than I bargained for."
"Now is the time for us to go," whispered Kitty. "They'll unmask soon.We've seen how they all look and set them to guessing, and we'd bettermiss the refreshments than run the risk of being discovered."
Katie eyed the table wishfully. "It seems a pity to miss all thatspread. Couldn't we creep around the wall to the far side and slipsomething into our apron pockets? The cloth is so long it would hideus."
"What's to hinder our getting under the table and staying through thewhole performance?" suggested Kitty. "The cloth comes nearly to thefloor, and I don't believe anybody would think of looking under it. Thenwe could hear them wonder who we are and where we've disappeared to whenthey unmask and we are missing."
"Quick, then, while their backs are turned!" exclaimed Katie, notwaiting to consider consequences or means of escape later in theevening. Slowly, solemnly, with measured tread, the long processionfiled by, and, wheeling to the music, started back toward the other endof the long gymnasium.
Creeping on hands and knees, fearful lest some backward glance mightdiscover them should they stand erect, the two girls, like wary mice,scuttled across the room and disappeared under the shelteringtable-cloth.
Grown bold with their successful venture, Kitty proposed that each timethe procession turned away from them, they should reach out and grabsomething from the table. It was an exciting performance. Time aftertime, as the motley figures turned their backs, two ludicrous headspopped up above the table, and four white woollen gloves clawed hastilyat different dishes. When the marauders dropped from sight the lasttime, there was a goodly store of provisions gathered up in each ginghamapron.
"I wouldn't have missed this for anything," giggled Katie some timelater, when the unmasking began, and the girls crowded around the tablefor nuts and apples with which to try their fortunes. In such a babel ofvoices there was no danger of being overheard.
"Listen! we can tell from the different remarks who every onerepresented," they whispered to each other.
"Oh, Evelyn Ward, I knew all the time that you were the court lady. Irecognized your rings."
"That's what fooled me about Aladdin. Susie Figgs had changed rings withAda."
"Well, I guessed nearly everybody the first half-hour, except thoseridiculous rag dolls. Does anybody know where they have gone?"
That started the discussion the two under the table had been waitingfor, and the various guesses, falling wide of the mark, were so amusingthat their mirth nearly betrayed their hiding-place. Once they thoughttheir discovery was certain. They had been feeding themselves from thestore of provisions in their aprons as well as the size of their muslinmouths would allow. The mouths had been only small slits at first, butthey had stretched and torn them with their fingers until they werelarge enough to allow them to take a good-sized bite of apple. As theysat there, munching nuts and pop-corn, Kitty whispered, "We're like theman in the verse:
"'There was a young man so benighted, He never knew when he was slighted. He went to a party, And ate just as hearty As if he'd been really invited.'"
Katie tried hard not to laugh, but the effort ended in a snort, and shealmost choked on a grain of pop-corn. If some one had not upset ajack-o'-lantern just then and started a wild scramble to put out thecandle before it burned the cloth, the unbidden guests must certainlyhave been discovered.
Gradually the crowd around the table dwindled away, as little groupsgathered in different parts of the room, intent on various ways offortune-telling. Having eaten all they could, and not being able to hearanything more of interest, the girls under the table began to grow tiredof their position. Moreover, the heat of their costumes seemed to growmore unbearable every minute.
"We're in a trap," groaned Katie. "How we are ever going to make ourescape is--"
Kitty never heard the rest of the sentence, for half a dozen girls, whohad ventured down the cellar steps with candle and looking-glass, camebursting into the room almost hysterical with fright. Breathless fromtheir headlong race up three flights of stairs, they gasped out theirnews in broken sentences, each voice in a different key.
"Oh, a real ghost! None of your sheet and pillow-case affairs!"
"White hair and a face like marble and a long floating veil!"
"And it clutched Mary Phillips with fingers that were like the dead!Didn't it, Mary?"
"No, it didn't come out of the cellar. It just _appeared_!"
"The most awful wail as it vanished!"
"The cook saw it earlier in the evening, floating away toward thegraveyard, not walking, you know, but _floating_! About a foot above theground!"
"Allison has evidently had as much fun as anybody," whispered Kitty."Oh, will you listen! There goes Lloyd vowing it's the spirit of theveiled lady, and that she saw it twice this evening."
"And Betty, too! That will convince them if anything could. Betty isalways so serious in the way she tells things."
"Now is the time to go, while they're all so excited and in the otherend of the room," whispered Kitty. "Let's make a wild dash for the doornearest us, bang it behind us, and blow out the hall light. Then we canslide down the banister, put out the light in the lower hall, and besafe in the west wing before they come to their senses. Now, ready!"
It was a daring move, but it proved successful. Every one heard ascramble, and turned in time to see two crouching figures dash into thehall. They were too startled to know whether they were human or not.Somebody screamed when the door banged violently, and Mary Phillips,who had been in a tremble ever since her flight from the cellar, wasnearly paralyzed with fright. She clutched her nearest neighbour,wailing, "Oh, what is it?"
By the time matches were brought and the lamps were relit, Katie andKitty were safely locked in Lloyd's room, tearing off their disguisesand wiping the perspiration from their flushed faces. For a few minutesthey waited, half-expecting that a search would be made, but as timewent on and no one ventured into that part of the house, they began totry the Hallowe'en charms that they could not take part in up-stairs.When Allison came in half an hour later, she found them whirling appleparings around their heads and flinging them over their shoulders, tosee what initials they would form in falling.
By the time Allison had washed the powder from her face and picked thecotton from her hair, Lloyd and Betty came in. It seemed as if theycould never settle down enough to think of sleep. There was so much totalk over. Allison curled up on the divan, announcing that it was notworth while to undress, as it would soon be time for them to start home.Kitty and Katie followed her example, appropriating Lloyd's single bed.Lloyd and Betty took the other one, and they lay whispering untilmidnight.
Just as the clock struck twelve Lloyd got up and lighted a candle. Fiveeggs, which she had boiled in the chafing-dish earlier in the evening,lay on a plate on the table. The yolks had been removed and the spacefilled with salt. According to a previous agreement, each girl got upand took one of the eggs. Standing in the middle of the floor in solemnsilence they ate them stoically, although the salt burned and chokedthem. Then without a drop of water afterward, they walked backward tobed. According to the charm, whatever they dreamed after thatperformance would come true, and unless they were to be old maids, someone would appear in their dreams bearing a cup of water. That one wouldbe their "fate."
She had to shake Kitty several times, and when she at last staggered toher feet she yawningly quoted old Aunt Cindy's expression, that she was"as tired as a thousand of dawgs," and vowed she could never get homeunless she was dragged there. Katie complained of a headache and amiserable "after the ball" feeling. It was a sorry-looking little triowhich finally stumbled down the back stairs and out into the frostydawn. Not a word was spoken on the way home. In silence they slipped upthe stairs at The Beeches; in silence they undressed and crept into bed,and three hours later, when Barbry came as usual to call them, sheknocked half a dozen times before she succeeded in arousing them.