ight and that grave way you have of staring. With that baby-face,
couldn't they see that your dignity is all on the outside?"

Robbie said nothing, but if Miss Cutter had not been quite so
near-sighted she might have spied deep in the violet eyes a glint of
black remotely resembling anger.

"Think of appealing to a sixteen-year-old infant--really you are
literally in-fans, which is to say, one without the power of speech!
Fancy me applying to you to compel quiet in the halls! Imagine that
boisterous crowd trailing after Miss Abbott and Miss Leigh et al.--Hist!"
She lifted her head like a warhorse sniffing battle near. "There they are
now."

Robbie Belle lifted her head too and listened, although indeed the noise
would have penetrated to the most inattentive ears. A multitude of feet
were marching lock-step past the door to a chorus of giggling, stifled
squeals and groans, while at intervals a voice choking with emotion rose
in shrill accents: "There was an old woman all skin and bones, o-o-oh!"
When it faltered and collapsed on the o-o-oh, the other voices joined in
and dragged out the syllable to lugubrious and harrowing length. Then
some one giggled hysterically and another squealed. The soloist took up
the verse: "She went to the church to pray, o-o-oh!" The chorus wailed
and moaned and croaked and whimpered and groaned in concert. Miss Cutter
regarded Robbie Belle sternly.

Robbie Belle's shoulders rose and fell over a deep breath. She stepped
across to the door and closed the transom softly just as the next weird
line hissed out above the tumult and then sank into its smothering welter
and moan of vowels. Robbie spoke more loudly.

"One of them said that they were going to dress up in sheets and
pillow-cases to-night. They are practicing for the Hallowe'en party. It's
only fun."

Berta's voice--it was Berta who did the solo--here rose in a quavering
shriek that halted not for keys in their holes or transoms in their
sockets: "The worms crawled in and the worms crawled out, o-o-o-oh!"

Miss Cutter rose to her indignant feet. "Roberta Sanders, as you are the
corridor warden for this neighborhood, I appeal to you. I make formal
complaint----"

"They've gone." Robbie Belle smiled in relief and sat down rather
quickly. The lock-step had receded into the muffled distance and the
ear-splitting wail wafted back in tones that grew steadily fainter.

Miss Cutter took off her glasses, rubbed them bright, put them on