the play depended upon this
particular situation being adequately depicted, and was determined that
Lorna should be forced to give a genuine start; and with that end in
view she hatched a little plot. The rehearsals took place in the
classroom, and Fatima was accustomed to use the ordinary door, to
represent that of the fatal cupboard. Aldred persuaded one of the
servants to dress up in a sheet and wait about in the passage, so that
when Lorna looked out she should see something calculated to surprise
her. Nellie, an under-housemaid, willingly entered into the scheme, and
even improved upon it, according to her own ideas, by whitening her face
with flour, so as to make herself as ghost-like as possible.

Aldred felt quite excited when Scene III was begun. She managed, without
attracting anybody's attention, to take a stealthy peep through the
doorway. Yes, there was Nellie, standing quite ready, and horrible
enough to make even Aldred jump, though she was expecting to see her.
All was in good training, and Lorna was rapidly coming to the fatal
lines. She delivered them with her usual lack of fire:

"The key fits well--now, wherefore should I fear?
I will at last discover what's in here!
Bluebeard's a hundred miles away in Spain;
In ignorance no longer I'll remain.
Turn, little key! Ope, door, for good or ill!
Reveal your secret--know I must and will!"

She flung open the door, as she had done at every rehearsal, in an
absolutely wooden manner, and with neither interest nor curiosity in her
tone; but her expression changed when she saw the vision in the passage,
and for once in her life she accomplished a very excellent
representation of the part. She shrieked with a horror that was only too
natural, and drew back with a face as white as that of the sham ghost
outside.

The girls applauded furiously.

"Well done!"

"Good!"

"Splendid!"

"Why, what's the matter?"

"Lorna, are you acting?"

"Oh, I say! Catch her, quick; she's really fainting!"

CHAPTER IX

Chinese Lanterns

Aldred's plot had been only too successful. Lorna's nerves were not of
the strongest, and the apparition in the passage had been utterly
unexpected; so, although she did not actually lose consciousness, she
lay for a few moments with her eyes shut, and considerably terrified the
other girls.

"Bring some water, somebody!" said Mabel, who was kneeling on the floor,
holding the luckless Fatima in