The midland journal., 1946-06-14
CHAPTER x

She undressed in the dark and
slipped into bed. She felt little
ashamed now of the violence of emo
tion that had sent her flying from
the house to the Ridge; in the face
of the grief and heartache that Tom
carried with him twenty-four hours
of the day, seven days week, her
own seemed trivial.
She was half asleep when she
heard the downstairs door open and
her father start up the stairs. There
was something in the stealth, the
furtiveness of his tread on the
stairs, and the way he opened his
door, inching it shut, that reused
her more than noise would have
done. He so seldom bothered to be
careful about noise. He walked
into the house and up the stairs and
closed his door forcefully, no matter
what time he came in; but tonight
he had crept so cautiously that she
was puzzled, and she slid out of
bed, caught up her cotton crepe XII
mono, and stepped into her bedroom
slippers.
She listened at her fathers door,
and when she heard only a soft,
rustling sound, she tapped and
asked, "Is that you, Father?'
''Who the blazes did you think it
was?" he snapped at her.
81 was afraid it might be bur-
glar-"
"Oh, for the love of-what the
devil would a burglar want here? I
fell asleep over my paper down.
stairs, and tried to get upstairs with
out waking you. Hereafter, I'll see
to it that you are awakened" There
was something odd about his voice
that she couldn't quite distinguish.
He seemed to be breathing hard,
as though he had been running or
were laboring under some terrific
excitement.
GO to bed!" he called to her
sharply, and she turned and went
back to her room.
1t was near noon the following
day and Megan was busy in her
perennial border along the walk, re-
setting some clumps of phlox and
thinning out some of the other
perennials that were taking too
much room for themselves, when a
sudden sharp scream of terror rent
the peaceful, mild air.
Megan jerked to her feet as the
scream came again-from the direc-
ton of Alicia's house, and now she
saw girl whom she recognized as
Betty Hendrix, whose father owned
a dairy, come stumbling down the
path from Alicia's house, wringing
her hands and screaming.
"What in the world" somebody
asked. One of the men ran up the
walk to the house, stepping over the
milk pail, whose contents had
splashed over the porch, and looked
through the haf-open door of Ali
cia's house.
He gave a yell and stepped back.
Then others crowded close and
looked in and instantly stepped back
as though they had received a
blow.
The first man who had reached the
place-Bill Logan, it was-pulled the
door shut and said sternly, Mustn't
anybody go in there till the police
get here. Might mess up a clue or
something. Somebody 60 call the
law"
''But what is it? What's hap
pened? Bill, for Pete's sake"
cried Mrs. Stuart, as usual one of
the first at the scene of any catas-
trophe or unusual event in Pleasant
Grove.
''Miz' Stevenson,s been = MUIR
dered," said Bill, swallowing hard
and looking little green.
There was stunned moment of
silence and then a little buzz ran
around the crowd, and the word
murder" was the only word that
could be distinguished in that buzz.
Murdered? Fiddlesticks, Bill Lo-
gan-you read too many O. them
mystery stories," snapped Mrs.
Stuart, thrusting her way forward.
"Maybe Miz' Stevenson's got hurt
an accident. Get away from that
door and lemme see. We ought to
see how bad hurt she is"
"She's dead!" Bill said grinnly.
and Mrs. Stuart saw the greenish
tinge to his sallow face. "Ain't no
mistake about that. And the police
always want to be the first ones to
get into place where there's been
murder. So I'm standing right
here till the cops get here and there
amt nobody going in till them"
Megan stood at the end of the
walk, still holding the sobbing Betty
close. Betty was stammering, her
voice choked with sobs, II brought
her milk, like ! always do, and /
stopped at the. door and said syoo-
hoo-it's me, Mrs. Stevenson-can
come in?' And when she didn't say