The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-09-16
Rachel

9 1913 NEA Service. Ioe.

that she did not want to talk. so
! she sat formally at the big table.
as aloof and naughty as Elaine
herself would have been.
Afterward, when she offered to
help with the dishes, the old woman
shook her head impatiently. Just
you leave me be, Miss Elaine" she
said. I'm used TO workin' my own
way
Very we'll" Ruth replied. III
not offer again. But just remem-
Der I'm willing"
She felt lonely for the wistful
old woman who had first made her
welcome here, who had seemed to
need companionShip. 1t was loss,
not to be needed any more.
Ruth had thought that when she
tumbled into bed that night she
would sleep the sound deep sleep
of physical exhaustion, but for some
unknown reason this boon did not
come to her. She lay tossing for
an hour, two hours, before she de-
cided to go to the library and get
Travels of a Donkey"
She got up quietly, lighted her
candle, put on bathrobe and slip
perS and went downstairs. In the
library she set the candle on the
table and went to the shelf where
she had placed the volume.
1t was not there. The entire set
of Stevenson was missing. The
gap had been filled by some odds
and ends of books which she had
stored behind the reference books.
"Of all things!" she said Her
mind yielded to the darkness of
utter surprise. She knew that she
had left the books there.
"Or did -" she asked in confu-
ton. Maybe I put them in an
other place, without realizing"
She began to look through the
shelves. After almost an hour had
been licked away by the GRANDPA
theirs clock in the hall she was
forced to admit that the books were
not in the room at all. And that's
that" she said grimly, going out
and closing the door.
II
IT was past midnight as she
Il passed the clock in the hall 1t
had long ago ceased to strike, but
it kept perfect time. At least Ber-
| tina had several times assured her
that it did, as she wound it before
retiring.
Tonight, with its noisy ticking re-
sounding through the quiet hall and
with its yellowed face shining in the
candle light, the clock seemed to
Ruth to be a living creature.
She wondered what stories it
would tell if it's clicking old tongue
could speak. 1t had been witness
to all the old house had experienced
the happiness and sorrow, the
births and deaths, the joys and
honorS, the diSagreementS and part
ings. Was it all over now for the
| old house, or was there something
more to come? Ruth had the feel
ing that the blue door was waiting
for something. Or was it only she
herself who waited?
In her room once more she blew
out her candle and tried with firm
ness and determination to sleep. 1t
was then that she heard the foot
steps, They went back and forth
with ceaSeless regularity like some
one pacing.
Penny must be Sick!" she
thought. She remembered how
Great-Aunt Matilda had paced the
floor with neuralgia many night
when Ruth was child. Floor walk
ing always suggested pain to her.
She got out of bed again and
opened the door. Penny" she
called, still hearing the steps. Pen
ny! Are you Sick?"
Immediately the walking ceased,
but there was no answer. Ruth
went back into her room, locked the
door and got into bed. Lying there,
she realized that the sounds had
not come from the second floor at
all, but from somewhere overhead.
! Penny'S room was at the rear of the
/ second floor, down the hall from
Ruth'S own.
She thought irritably If Penny's
pacing the floor, why doesn't she do
it in her own territory? Or
can she be sleep walking?"
The latter seemed possible Either
that. or Penny was suffering from
insomnia like herself chad the cof-
fee been too strong at superb and
was she working off her energy by
cleaning the third floor
That's no more senSeleSS," Ruth
told herself, than stealing half
her own cake and carrying off a
set of books when she can't see to
read them. There's just no use ex-
pecting Penny to act like other per-
sons"
Having arrived at this conclu-
sion, Ruth pulled a blanket snugly
around her healthy young body and
fell asleep.
When the pacing started again
toward dawn, she did not hear it.
She was dreaming that she was
walking down the highway, very
tired and confused. and John Nc
Neill overlook her in his car and
said, Get in and ride, darling" And
she got in and they drove till they
came to a green and white kitchen
where a piano and two violins we're
playing Victor Herbert's music, eX-
L