CHAPTER V
LIGHTS AND NOISES
While Barbara Winters turned the lucky ring over and over in her hand she was uncomfortably conscious that the eyes of Samuel James were upon her in an intent, speculative look.
After a moment she raised her own candid gray eyes to his, a little troubled and questioning.
“You--have you something to say to me?” she asked.
“I have debated whether what I have to say had better not be left unsaid,” the lawyer replied.
His tone was so grave that even Grandfather Winters looked up inquiringly.
Bab felt a chill of apprehension strike across her elation.
“What is it?” she cried. “Is anything wrong? Didn’t Uncle Jeremiah leave the house to me, after all?”
“He left it to you. There can be no doubt of that,” the dry tones of the lawyer responded. “But I feel it my duty to warn you that there have been stories circulated in regard to your inheritance, Miss Barbara, that are anything but--er--pleasant.”
Mr. Winters was all alert now. Bab could not but think as she looked at him of a small boy on the scent of a promising adventure.
“What do you mean? What sort of happenings?” he asked, before Bab could speak.
Mr. James cleared his throat and rubbed a thin hand over the blue-black stubble that adorned his chin.
“Ahem! Lights!” he said. “And noises within and about the house----”
“Ooh--haunted!”
All three started and turned, to find Gerry Thompson standing in the doorway regarding them with sparkling eyes.
“Sorry, Bab,” she said, meeting the gaze of her chum. “I simply _had_ to listen!”
Samuel James, after his first start of surprise, appeared distinctly put out. He looked from Mr. Winters to Barbara and back again indignantly, as though demanding to know the meaning of so unseemly an interruption.
Bab beckoned to her chum, however, and patted the seat beside her.
“This is Geraldine Thompson,” she informed the lawyer, half-apologetically. “She is my best chum and knows all about my inheritance.”
For a moment it appeared that the attorney was about to request Gerry’s swift expulsion from the room. However, he swallowed the impulse and replied rather sourly to the questions of the excited girls.
“You said lights had been seen in and about the house,” Bab stated. “How do you know this, Mr. James?”
“It is the talk of the countryside,” the lawyer returned. “One cannot spend an hour in the village of Clayton and not hear the entire history of the happenings in the old brown house in the glen.”
“Bab, each moment adds a thrill,” cried Gerry irrepressibly. “You have inherited not only five hundred dollars and a house, but a ghost as well. I’m absolutely thrilled to death!”
Bab gave an excited giggle.
“I imagine more--and worse--thrills are in store for you, then,” she retorted. “Wait till we get up there!”
Mr. James started and regarded the two girls closely. Then he turned to Mr. Winters.
“You certainly do not mean,” he said incredulously, “that your--er--granddaughter intends to--er--visit her property?”
Mr. Winters, who had been watching the two girls with smiling indulgence, appeared surprised.
“Why not?” he queried. “Surely, it is the natural thing for an heiress to want to have a look at her inheritance.”
“After what I have told you I should have thought you would have changed your mind,” observed the attorney. “If you will permit me to say so, I think that that gloomy old house is no place for a young girl----”
“There will be two,” corrected Gerry, in an all-but-inaudible murmur.
“But there are unpleasant stories about the place,” persisted the lawyer. “Of course, no one believes the story about ghosts. Bah! That is ridiculous----”
“Just so!” murmured Gerry. Bab sent her a warning glance.
“But there is a mystery that I truly believe has its foundation in some sinister fact. That fact, in my estimation, should be discovered and the shadows surrounding the place dispelled before Miss Barbara should be permitted to visit her inheritance.”
Mr. James’ eloquence appeared suddenly to have exhausted him. He sat back, relapsing once more into his dry and dusty manner.
“However, you must judge these things for yourself,” he added. “I must consider my duty discharged when I have warned you of what you may expect.”
“I have one or two questions to ask,” Mr. Winters broke in quietly. “Have you yourself seen anything of these--er--curious happenings, lights and so forth, that you have so eloquently described?”
Mr. James fumbled with some papers in his portfolio before replying. The girls held their breath for his answer.
“I have seen with my own eyes,” he said slowly, “a light that traveled from one room to another, flickering now and then as though blown upon by a strong wind though at the time no windows were open in the house and there was scarcely a breath of wind outside.”
“The ghost!” cried Gerry dramatically. “Why didn’t you charge in and seize him?”
“Or her!” said Bab.
“We--I was in the company of the sheriff--searched the place thoroughly,” continued Samuel James in a frigid tone that plainly rebuked the frivolous interruption. “The candle flickered out as we approached the house and we saw no sign of any one. The building was apparently deserted.
“Yet,” he paused and regarded them intently, while Gerry and Bab slipped closer together on the couch and clasped hands, “all during our search we were conscious of some one or some _thing_ following us----”
“Glorious!” cried Gerry, with an ecstatic shudder. “Something that followed you----”
“Keeping always in the darkest corner and just beyond the rays of the lantern we carried,” said Mr. James, his voice losing none of its dry and dusty quality as he continued. “At times we were sure that, by merely reaching out a hand, we could touch it, but never once did we feel anything but empty air between our fingers!”
He paused and the girls leaned toward him, their eyes intent upon his face.
Mr. Winters’ expression was interested, though half incredulous. It seemed to say that he was not ready to believe all he heard.
“Sometimes the sound was above our heads. Sometimes we thought we heard tiny feet pattering along the hall behind us,” continued Mr. James. “But never did the light from our lantern fall upon anything, either human or animal, that might have caused the sounds we heard.
“We were glad, I assure you, cold-blooded, unemotional men that we were, when the door closed behind us and upon that mysterious presence in the house.”
“You say you saw lights before entering the house,” said Bab slowly. “Do you connect these lights with the queer sounds you heard?”
“My dear young lady, I do not presume to connect anything with anything regarding that dreary old house in the glen. I have given you the facts honestly, as I believe it my duty to do. It remains for you and your guardians,” with a fugitive glance at Mr. Winters, “to decide whether these facts are worthy of your consideration.”
After the door had closed behind Mr. Samuel James a few minutes later, Bab and Gerry watched him from the window as he ambled down the walk, hat set primly on his bald head.
“Old kill-joy!” said Gerry resentfully. “Why does he have to come here with his foolish stories about ghosts and mysterious lights and try to spoil the party?”
“Well, he can’t! Look; here are the keys!” Bab jingled them challengingly. “And here is the lucky ring!” She held it up so that all might see. “Oh, Gran dear, say that we may go at once!”
She flung both arms about her grandfather’s neck and pressed her cheek to his.
“I want to try the keys. I want to pry into that mysterious old house, and, if there is a fortune, I want to find it. Say we may go in a day or two! Promise, Gran!”
Bab knew from long experience that her grandfather could refuse her nothing when she asked in that fashion. He did not refuse her now.
“I don’t see why not, little girl,” he said, twining a lock of fair hair about one big finger. “After all, the house is yours.”
Grandmother did not yield so easily to the cajolery and wheedling of the two girls. The old brown house in the glen was in a lonely situation, and it was hard to imagine on what facts the disquieting rumors concerning the mysterious lights and patterings were based. However, in the end she, too, gave in, saying:
“I suppose I have outlived my adventurous days and am over-cautious, and it would be asking you to give up something that does not often come in a young girl’s way. So go, Bab dear, if you want to.”
Wild with excitement and delight, Gerry grabbed Bab around the waist and waltzed her about the room and out into the hall.
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