mething."

"But who will buy it?"

"I don't know."

There was a long consultation among the girls, and at last Billie managed
to write the letter.

"There," she said, when she had given it to the store boy to post, "now I
feel better. The confession part of it is off my mind, anyway. If I can
only pay for the old statue--or buy another one like it--I'll be
happy--or nearly happy."

She added the "nearly happy" as the thought came to her that even with
the broken statue paid for and off her mind she had still another ordeal
before her. In a couple of weeks their vacation would be up at Cherry
Corners, and soon after that she would have to see Violet and Laura and
the boys, except poor Chet, go off to boarding school, while she and her
brother would be left behind.

Oh, well, she would not think of that just yet. They could at least enjoy
the time they were to spend at Cherry Corners.

And they did enjoy it! There was never a minute of the day for which
something interesting was not planned.

Then one night, when they had almost forgotten that the house was
supposed to be haunted, they had an experience that brought back all
their old fears of the place--"and then some," as Teddy said.

Billie sat up in bed suddenly with the familiar chilly feeling up and
down her spine and her hair showing a tendency to pull away from her
prickly scalp.

The piano was sounding--all the way from treble to bass! And it was the
middle of the night with everybody in bed!

She put out a hand and shook Laura and Violet to consciousness.

"Oh, girls, it _is_ the ghost this time!" she said in a scared whisper
that made them wide awake in an instant. "It--it's playing the piano!"

"A--a musical ghost?" giggled Laura hysterically, but Billie pinched her
into silence.

"Keep still," she cried. "There it is again!"

The girls listened to the eeriest, weirdest music they had ever
heard, and Violet slipped shivering under the covers and hid her face
with the sheet.

"C-come out of that," cried Billie, pulling at the sheet. "What g-good do
you suppose it's going to do to put the sheet over your head? Come on,
I'm going to investigate."

With sudden determination she slipped out of bed and stood up.

"Billie," gasped Laura, "you're never going to go down there?"

"I'm going to call the boys," said Billie, who, despite all her
determination, could hardly stand up her knees trembled so. "We'll all go
and rout that old ghost. He's