Hungry Horse news and Columbian. [volume] (Columbia Falls, Mont.) 1946-1948, 1947-08-01
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: hours. The hall ' as furnished wit
more buttoned plush chairs an
hung with yet more chrome.
Coming out of it into this roor
! was like stepping from one cen
tury into another. There was
plain broadloom rug; there was
good, ordinary bedroom suite o
double bed, vanity and chest an,
chair and bed table, certainl.
bought within the past few years
It was more than an anachrorism
in some mysterious way it was al
most an insult to the eyes.
Mrs. Peabody must have reaG
her thoughts or her expression. I'll
was the only one we did over. Most
of the rest of the house is just
dreadful, of course, and we'd meant
to get at that, too, when we could
afford it; but of course I shouldn't
think of touching it until Gilbert
comes home. There isn't going to
be one thing different" she said
fiercely, as if challenged, and gave
her dark head little shake. In the
next moment she was all business.
1.-THE cot is right here, in the sew
ing room. Oh, no, it isn't. We must
have taken it up attic, the last time
l made Mary Helen dress; it's so
seldom l really get around up here.
I'll 60 up and make sure"
Among the rats?" Georgine in
quired, with an attempt at laugh
ter.
my dear, I keep telling you they
never appear -"
The moon, a night or two past
it's full, poured light through the
angled bay window; that must
have been what awakened her, for
the sounds in the garnet were bare
ly perceptible. Pattering, scraping,
now and then a little rafting
shower as if bits of plaster had
fallen.
Georgine, burrowing deeper into
bed, hoped it was true that nobody
ever saw the rats. She wondered
drowsily what it was they did that
sounded like tapping, very far off
but regular. It was true that the
old house creaked and cracked
alarmingly as its atmosphere grew
cooler. She was glad she knew the
reason for it, because those sounds
could not be laid to the rats, nor
could the impression that she had
heard a door closing somewhere
below.
She was also glad, the next
morning, that she hadn't let her
self imagine anything sinister, for
t was plain that at some time dur
ng the night one of the other &C.
of the house had arrived.
seorgine saw him, to their shared
in the hall; tall, young
sh man, his blond hair in a mat
# DISAGREEMENT, lightly clad in
he lower half of his pajamas and
ust emerging from the bathroom.
Great God!" the man exclaimed,
'eering nearsightedly at the open
DOR of her room; and then bolted
ncontinently across the hall to
disappear behind one of those
ther doors.
Georgine had clutched her dark
ilk robe more tightly around her
t this vision, but was moved more
o laughter than to horror. That
must be Horace, whom Mrs. Pea
'ody had mentioned; what was he,
Ter nephew, cousin, or what? She
poke of him as part of "the fam
ly." Well, if Horace never let his
.unt know when he was coming
lone, it served him right to be
onfronted by strange women.
When she returned, Barby was
lp, bristling with energy after a
ourteen-hour sleep. She jigged
rom one foot to the other as
ieorgine attempted to braid her
lair and button her dress. "Mam-
ma, this is fun! Just think, night
efore last we stayed at a hotel and
asst night we stayed here. l wish
We didn't ever have to 60 back
lome."
II DON'T" said her mother,
rushing vigorously.
well, l guess I'd like to be back
or Betty Dillman's birthday par
y, but l love it when we go on
ravels like this. Mamma, where'd
oddly sleep? Can l go and wake
i'm up, if he's right down the hall?
listen, Mamma, when kiss To-day
pick out that little smooth spot
light under his eye; if l try any
yhere else his whiskers prickle me.
DON'T they ever prickle your"
Todd, coming quietly in and
at the three ladies', said
hat he was hungry.
'Toddy," Barby squeaked hap
lily, ibid your brain come back
ogether again?"
''That was a figure of speech,
3arby," said Georgine repressive-
Y; but their hostess looked an
lstonished question:"
81 had the feeling that I'd been
lere before; l had it last night,
nd Barby heard me mention it,"
odd said with an odd gravity.
Nella Peabody said how becom-
ng that orchid cotton print was