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Show - 166 - anxiety to get away from the house unnoticed, she had forgotten about the ghost. Chang Lin had said that she must bring her. "Claudine, are you there?" she said in a loud whisper. "What on earth are you doing?" said Vicky in a terrified whisper. "Don't we have enough problems being out here in the middle of the night without your calling the ghost in on it too!" She shivered and drew her jacket collar closer around her neck and pulled her cap over her ears and forehead until it almost covered her eyes. Penny was fast losing her patience and she said in a hissing whisper. "Will you be quiet! Without Claudine, we can't do anything." Again, she called. "Claudine. Where are you?" "I am here, Penelope," Both girls turned around. There she stood, but tonight her dress, for the first time, looked exactly as it did On the day of her wedding to Andre' Junot. The smell of gardenias filled the night air and her veil was draped over her face. In her hands was the same bouquet she had carried as she walked down the aisle surrounded by her attendants and on her face was the look of sadness. For some reason it alarmed Penny. "Claudine, why are you dressed like this tonight?" she asked. "This is the night of my final agony. If I cannot receive forgiveness from my love, I am doomed to haunt this earth throughout eternity as you see me now, wearing this reminder of my tragic folly, never to be accepted in the spirit world." It took all of Vicky's courage to keep from turning tail and running as fast as she could, back to the house, up to her room and burying herself under the blankets. For that matter Penny felt the same way. For the first time since she had met Claudine that night over a year ago in her bedroom, she actually felt fear, but her determination, and self-preservation for that matter, steeled her. |
