d come from a side room.

The thing stretched out two white arms, and hands clutched themselves in
Mollie's long hair, which had come loose and was hanging down her back
in glorious tresses. Then a snarling voice cried:

"So you've come back; have you! Well, you won't get away from me again!
Now you get in there!"

Mollie screamed. The others, adding their startled voices to hers,
beheld the white figure catch the frightened girl by the arm, and thrust
her into the room. Then the door was slammed shut, a key turned in the
lock, while the white figure turned and fled down the passage, as a
flash of lightning threw its ghostly outlines into weird relief, and a
crash of thunder followed.

CHAPTER XVII

CONSTERNATION

The other girls and Mrs. Mackson stood spellbound for the moment, and
then their senses came back to them, and they realized the need of
acting at once.

"Mollie! Mollie!" cried Betty. "Where are you? What happened?"

She started back down the hall, but Grace caught her.

"Don't--don't!" Grace pleaded.

"But I must--I shall--Mollie--some one Has taken her--thrust her into
that room!"

"Yes--it was the ghost--I saw it!" Grace fairly screamed, "and they'll
get you!"

"I don't care if they do! We must go to Mollie. Come, girls, to the
rescue!" cried Betty, resolutely.

"But let us get some one to help us first!" insisted Amy. "We ought not
to face that--that thing alone!" and she gasped, so rapidly was her
heart beating.

"We're not alone!" insisted Betty. "There are four of us, to one--one
man."

"How do you know he was a man?" demanded Grace.

"Didn't I hear him speak? It was a man's voice. Some man, for purposes
of his own, is masquerading as a ghost, and he probably tried to
frighten Mollie and the rest of us to keep up the reputation of the
mansion for being haunted. If none of you are going back, I'll go
alone!"

Betty started down the hallway, and her example was one of the things
needed to infuse courage into the others. Not that Cousin Jane
especially needed it, for she had already made up her mind, as had
Betty, that something must be done, and that soon.

"Of course we must rescue Mollie!" the chaperone declared, emphatically.
"Anyhow, that fellow ran away, after locking her in the room. Come back
there."

Rather timidly, it must be confessed, they advanced until they stood
before a door. There were several along the hall, opening into various
rooms, apparently.

"