The matter was talked over by the Bobbsey family several times that day, and Mr. Bobbsey remained awake nearly all of that night, on the watch for the ghost. The following night Mrs. Bobbsey watched, and then Dinah took her turn, followed by Sam, who sat in the upper hall in a rocking chair, armed with a club. But the ghost failed to show itself, and after a week the excitement died down once more. "Perhaps you were dreaming, Nan," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "No, I wasn't dreaming, mamma, and Bert says he wasn't dreaming either." "It is strange. I cannot understand it at all." "Do you believe in ghosts, mamma?" "No, my dear." "But I saw something." "Perhaps it was only a reflection. Sometimes the street lamps throw strange shadows on the walls through the windows." "It wasn't a shadow," said Nan; and there the talk ended, for Mrs. Bobbsey knew not what to say to comfort her daughter. In some way the news that a ghost had been seen in the Bobbsey house spread throughout the neighborhood, and many came to ask about it. Even the boys and girls talked about it and asked Nan and Bert all manner of questions, the most of which the twins could not answer. The "ghost talk," as it was called, gave Danny Rugg a good chance to annoy both Nan and Bert. "Afraid of a ghost! Afraid of a ghost!" he would cry, whenever he saw them. "Oh, my, but ain't I afraid of a ghost!" "I think it is perfectly dreadful," said Nan one day, on returning from school. Her eyes were red, showing that she had been crying. "I'll 'ghost' him, if he yells at us again," said Bert. "I'm not going to stand it, so there!" "But what will you do, Bert?" "I'll fight him, that's what I'll do." "Oh, Bert, you mustn't fight." "Then he has got to leave you alone--and leave me alone, too." "If you fight at school, you'll be expelled." "I don't care, I'm going to make him mind his own business," said Bert recklessly. Danny Rugg was particularly sore because he had not been invited to Grace Lavine's party. Of all the boys in that neighborhood he was the only one left out, and he fancied it was Nan and Bert's fault. "They don't like me and they are setting everybody against me," he thought. "I shan't stand it, not me!" Two days later he followed Bert into the schoolyard, in which a large number of boys were playing. "Hullo! how's the ghost?" he cried. "Is it still living at your house?" "You be still about that ghost, Danny Rugg!" cried Bert, with flashing eyes. "Oh, but wouldn't I like to have a house with a ghost," went on Danny tantalizingly. "And a sister who was afraid of it!" "Will you be still, or not?" "Why should I be still? You've got the ghost, haven't you? And Nan is scared to death of it, isn't she?" "No, she isn't." "Yes, she is, and so are you and all the rest of the family." And then Danny set up his old shout: "Afraid of a ghost! Afraid of a ghost!"