The midland journal., 1946-06-14

OF granite.
'Of course MOTT never hap
pened! / didn't say it-I never even
think it. Forget it, will your" said
Tom in that harsh, strained voice.
He took up the milk and the basket
of eggs and went swiftly out of the
house. The sound of his footsteps
on the old broken-brick walk were
the most final sounds Megan had
ever heard in all her life. She stood
listening until the last one had died
to silence, and then she leaned, weak
and shaking, against the cabinet be-
hind her and put her cold, trembling
hands over her face.
She became conscious Of Annie's
presence, when Annie said very
quietly, her old voice gentle and
warm with tenderness, "Yo' paw
done come, honey"
She was too dazed to wonder how
long Annie had been there, to won
der how much of that taut little
scene Annie had witnessed. Some
how that didn't matter at the mo-
ment. She only knew that she must
accept Annie's words as warning
and pull herself together before she
faced her father.
He had gone directly to his room.
She heard him moving around up
there as she and Annie finished get
ting supper on the table. When he
came down, he was freshly shaven
and his shirt was immaculate. He
had bathed and shaved and changed
before supper, as he had done ever
since she could remember. 1t had
been one of the things that, as a
child, she had been proud of. When
she had gone home to supper and
to spend the night with some school
friend, and the school friends IA
ther had come to the supper table,
collarless, a stubble of beard on his
tired face, still wearing the sweat
stained, grimy clothes he had worn
in the field, she had thought always
of her father with pride, if not with
affection.
He came into the dining room,
moving wearily, and when he had
seated himself, he looked straight
at her across the table and said
sternly, 'iYes, / know about it. We
won't discuss it, if you don't mind"
''Of course not" she answered, ac-
cepting the dish Annie offered her,
and serving herself without in the
least knowing what the food was.
She managed to eat, without the
faintest awareness of what she was
eating.
Her father was equally silent. He
was pale and there were haggard
circles beneath his eyes and his
hands were not quite steady. And
she did not know when the evil, stag
gering thought began to creep slyly
into her mind; when she began to
remember the unusual stealth and
caution with which he had let him.
self into the house last night; the
way he had climbed the stairs on
tiptoe; the way his door had closed
behind him. Suddenly the thought
stood clear and hot in her mind:
where had he been?
She set her teeth hard to keep
them from chattering, and locked
her hands tightly in her lap. She no
longer could 60 through the mechan-
ical motions of putting food into her
mouth, of forcing herself to swallow,
while the evil thought crept through
her mind. He had said, when she
called to him through his closed
door, that he had fallen asleep over
his paper in the living room; but
she had known that he was not tell
ing the truth. For there had been
no glimmer Of light anywhere in
the house when she had come in.
When she had come inl
It had been after one o'clock when
she had come in. That mysterious
grapevine by which a secret whis-
pered in the kitchen of a house at
one end of town will reach the far
thermost house on the other side of
town, in any small place like Pleas
ant Grove, reported that the doc
tor felt Mrs. Stevenson had been
killed sometime between ten o'clock
and midnight! And she, Megan
MacTavish, had been on the Ridge
with another woman's husband from
eleven o'clock until almost one!
Her father had come into the
house bit later.
The silent meal ended and she
helped Annie clear the table. When
Annie refused her help with the
dishes, she went reluctantly into the
living room, where her father had
already established himself with the
weekly newspaper, which he had
read last night. When she came
into the room, he was sitting staring
straight before him, his face white
and still, his eyes bleak and fright
ened.
She came then and sat down in
the chair opposite him, in front of
the small, cheerful fire, and took up
her basket of mending. And then
she saw that her father was watch
~ nf h.