A figure in long cloak and conical cap, leaning on a long wand, appeared suddenly beside the curtain. A blue light seemed to glimmer faintly around the Hallowe'en figure and outline it.
"Oh!" gasped Lucy Poole, "there's the very Old Witch of them all, I do declare!"
"The Old Wizard, you mean," laughed Agnes, who knew that Neale O'Neil was hidden behind the long cloak and the false face. He looked quite as feminine in this rig as any witch ever does look.
"Silence!" commanded again the husky voice from behind the screen.
With some little bustle the party fell still. The Hallowe'en Witch raised the wand and rapped the butt three times upon the little stand near by.
"Oh! oh! real spirits," gasped Eva. "They always begin with table-rappings, don't they?"
"Hush!" commanded the husky voice once more.
"This is a perverse and unbelieving generation," croaked the witch. "Ye all doubt black magic and white astrology, and ghostly visitations. I am sent by Those Who Fly By Night--at the head of whom flies the Witch of Endor--who commune with goblins and fays--I am sent to convert you all to the truth.
The ears of the company were almost deafened and their eyes blinded by a startling crash like thunder behind the screen and a vivid flash of zig-zag light across it.
"See!" croaked the supposed hag. "Even Thunder and Lightning do my bidding. Now! Rain! Sleet! Advance!"
The wondering spectators began to murmur. An almost perfect imitation of dashing sleet against the window panes and rain pouring from the water-spouts followed. Joe Eldred, behind the scenes, certainly managed the paraphernalia borrowed from the Milton Opera House with good effect.
As the murmurs subsided the voice of the Hallowe'en Witch rose again:
"To prove to you our secret knowledge of all that goes on--even the innermost thoughts of your hearts--I will answer any question put to me--marvelously--in the twinkling of an eye. Watch the screen!"
Primed beforehand, one of the boys in the back of the room shouted a question. The witch whirled about and pointed to the screen. Letters of fire seemed to flash from the point of the wand and to cross the sheet, forming the words of a pertinent reply to the query that had been asked.