She flung open the door, as she had done at every rehearsal, in an absolutely wooden manner, and with neither interest nor curiosity in her tone; but her expression changed when she saw the vision in the passage, and for once in her life she accomplished a very excellent representation of the part. She shrieked with a horror that was only too natural, and drew back with a face as white as that of the sham ghost outside. The girls applauded furiously. "Well done!" "Good!" "Splendid!" "Why, what's the matter?" "Lorna, are you acting?" "Oh, I say! Catch her, quick; she's really fainting!" CHAPTER IX Chinese Lanterns Aldred's plot had been only too successful. Lorna's nerves were not of the strongest, and the apparition in the passage had been utterly unexpected; so, although she did not actually lose consciousness, she lay for a few moments with her eyes shut, and considerably terrified the other girls. "Bring some water, somebody!" said Mabel, who was kneeling on the floor, holding the luckless Fatima in her arms. "I'll get it!" cried Aldred, springing up before anyone else could volunteer, and darting hurriedly out of the room. It had just occurred to her that she might probably be blamed for this incident, and she wanted to avoid that if it were still possible. "You must go, Nellie!" she whispered to the housemaid. "The girls will tell Miss Drummond if they catch you, and you'll get into trouble!" "But I thought it was to be a bit of a joke, miss!" remonstrated Nellie, who could not see where the fun had come in. "They don't see the joke. You'd better run! Do you want Miss Drummond to find you playing ghost, when you ought to be turning down the beds?" Aldred had been forcing Nellie along the passage as she spoke, and now she tore the sheet from the latter's shoulders, and flung it down the back stairs. "Go and wash your face!" she commanded. "I didn't ask you to whiten it. You've made far more of this than I intended." Nellie departed to the kitchen regions, highly offended. She considered she had been badly treated, but, as she certainly did not wish Miss Drummond to learn anything of the affair, she took Aldred's advice, washed her face, put the sheet away, and only aired her grievance to her fellow-servants. Aldred, congratulating herself upon the success of her promptitude, fetched a glass of water to the classroom. Lorna had in a great measure recovered herself, but she was still pale and shaky, and anxious to claim sympathy. "I saw something all in white in the passage!" she was assuring the other girls. "Nonsense!" said Aldred brusquely. "How could you? Drink this, and you'll feel better." "She must have seen something!" declared Phœbe and Ursula. "Well, there's nothing there now, at any rate. Go and look for yourselves, if you don't believe me!" "Perhaps the Third Form were playing us a trick," suggested Dora. "It's extremely probable," returned Aldred. "Phyllis Carson loves practical jokes."