confess that they had come out ghost-hunting, and had mistaken her
for a spirit. She emptied the vials of her scorn upon their dejected
heads.

"Don't let me hear of any more nonsense of this sort!" she finished. "I
should have thought you were too intelligent to believe in such rubbish.
As for leaving your dormitory at this hour, you deserve to be locked in
the cycle-shed for the night. I shall, of course, report you to Mrs.
Best, and none of you will play tennis for a week, as a punishment."

Miss Burd, bristling with anger, swept the delinquents before her to the
door of the hostel, and watched them flee upstairs, then went to lay the
matter before Mrs. Best.

In Dormitory 2, four girls got into bed at topmost speed.

"Of all the ill-luck!" mourned Fil.

"I didn't know Miss Burd prowled about the garden in a dressing-gown,"
exclaimed Ingred.

"She _did_ look exactly like a ghost!" confirmed Verity.

"Tennis off for a whole week! Blossom will be furious! It's too
absolutely grizzly for anything!" groused Nora. "I wish the wretched old
ghost had been at Jericho before we went to look for it!"

CHAPTER XX

Under the Lanterns

It is an ill wind that blows nobody good, and though Nora, Fil, Ingred,
and Verity might chafe at being debarred from tennis for a whole week,
their adventure in the garden had given them an idea. How it exactly
originated could not be decided, for each fiercely claimed the full
credit for it. Its evolution, however, was somewhat as follows:

Stage 1. How lovely the garden looked in the evening.

Stage 2. Why should we not _all_ enjoy it some time?

Stage 3. Miss Burd evidently does.

Stage 4. And looked very fascinating in her white dressing-gown.

Stage 5. It was exactly like a fancy dress.

Stage 6. Why should not we all wear fancy dress?

Stage 7. _Let us ask Miss Burd to let the hostel have a fancy-dress
dance in the school garden._

Great minds generally think in company, and often hit upon the same
invention at the same moment, so perhaps all four girls had an equal
share in the brain-wave. They communicated it cautiously to companions,
and as it "caught on" they sounded Mrs. Best, and finding her favorably
disposed to the scheme, begged her to intercede for them with Miss Burd.
The head-mistress was wonderfully gracious about the matter, gave full
permission for the dance, promised to be present herself, and allowed
the