Mrs. Harper smiled. “Yes, I know you, Dora,” she said. “Mrs. Merrill’s little girls are ladies even when they wear pillow-cases.” “What did she mean?” Dora asked Lucy as they went down the steps. Lucy didn’t know, but when they asked Mother, she seemed to understand, though she didn’t tell them. [Illustration: “GHOSTS, MAMMA! COME AND SAVE ME!”—_Page 173._] After they had called on all the people they knew in that part of town they went to Olive’s house, but she was out, having a Hallowe’en frolic herself. Next, the children joined one of the groups in the street. It was holding hands and dancing around a bonfire. The fire was right in the centre where one street crossed another and the automobiles could not pass. The automobiles did not like it at all, but there stood Mr. Waterman, the tall policeman, and he made them all go around another block. This night belonged to the children. Lucy and Dora danced for a time and then began to feel rather tired. The fire was dying down and Mr. Waterman yawned behind a veil of smoke. Before they reached home they met Father, who seemed to be out for a walk. He did not _say_ he was looking for them, but it was not usual for him to walk about the streets at night unless he were going to church or to a lecture or to his lodge-meeting. Father offered to carry their lanterns and both were willing to let him. Even small pumpkins grow heavy when carried around for an hour and a half. The front porch was peppered with beans which boys had blown through air-guns. Mother thought it wrong for them to waste food in that way. “Did you have any callers while we were gone?” Lucy asked. “Yes,” said Mrs. Merrill. “Ten different ghosts have called on me. I gave each an animal cracker and they went away at once. One ghost said that elephants didn’t agree with him, so might he have a lion.” “Did you change it for him?” asked Dora. “I did,” said Mrs. Merrill. CHAPTER XII A BUSY SATURDAY When November came, an interesting thing happened to the Merrill children. There had been a number of letters from Miss Chandler. Mother and Father talked about them after the little girls were in bed. Father had taken the letters to show Mr. Thorne. One afternoon Mother told Lucy and Dora that both were to have music lessons. Lucy was to learn to play the piano properly, not with two or three fingers the way she picked out tunes now, but with all ten fingers and according to rule. Miss Chandler and Miss Page and Mr. Thorne thought it would be nice for Dora to have a little violin. Miss Chandler was sure that Dora could learn to play. She had a friend who had already chosen a fiddle for Dora. It wasn’t full-sized, but was otherwise just what grown people used. Dora thought it was beautiful. Alice Harper had a fiddle also, and when Mrs. Merrill spoke to Mrs. Harper about a teacher for Dora, Mrs. Harper asked Dora to come to her house every Saturday morning when Alice had her lesson, and take one from the same teacher.