It took the boys perhaps a second to fling out of the room, jump down the
steps of the porch and circle the house to the window.

And yet, in that second, the man was gone, leaving no more trace than if
the earth had opened and swallowed him up. For almost an hour the boys
searched the woods about the lodge, refusing to allow the girls to
accompany them, saying truly that they would hamper them more than they
could help.

"You see, I was right after all," Amy stated for at least the tenth time.
"From the moment the idea came to me, I felt almost sure that poor crazy
Professor Dempsey was this thing that was frightening us."

"But did you ever see such an awful face in all your life?" said Mollie,
shuddering at the recollection.

"And the look in his eyes as he stared at Roy," Grace added in a hushed
voice. "I shouldn't wonder if--if we hadn't been there, he might have
murdered him."

"Oh, Gracie, don't!" Amy clapped her hands to her ears. "We are frightened
enough without having you say things like that"

"Suppose," said Mollie, in a sepulchral voice, "he should come back before
the boys do?"

"That's just what I was thinking," said a quiet voice behind them, and
they jumped and cried out in alarm. The next moment they saw it was Mrs.
Irving and felt ashamed of themselves.