Show and he o l 1 PEGGY P V a s RELEASE CHAPTER I 1 Miss It wa was Annies Annie's voice lifted above the roar of ot a truck in the backyard Hits de feed teed man All right Annie Megan looked I up from the desk where she was writing labels for tor the latest batch of I canned goods The moneys money's In the tha theold theold I old brown teapot Aln Ain no money In de brown tea tea- teapot teapot pot Miss shouted Annie after a moment Jes' Jes a dime dimen an n two pennies Megan sat very still for tor a moment and nd felt her heart go down Into her worn shoes Dad had found f und her secret ecret cache cachel I That was why he had been so BO eager to take advantage advantage advantage tage of ot Mr McCurties McCurtie's offer to drive him into the county seat that morning Annie vast and black loomed In Inthe Inthe inthe the doorway Her eyes were gentle and end warm with affection Miss Meggie yo yo Paw she began impulsively but Megan silenced her with a glance and reached for tor her checkbook Annie Arnie accepted the unspoken rebuff I good and said helpfully help tully consulting a slip of at paper in her I hand Hits foteen to teen dollars art arf six six- ty fo cents Miss Megan nodded wrote the check ripped it out and signed the slip Annie extended Annie padded out and the door closed behind her For a moment Megan sat still her elbows on the desk her chin propped In her hands She could have bave wept and yet she tried hard to laugh at herself for tor the wave of ot discouragement that swept over her ber She had been carefully hoarding the egg money In that old brown tea tea- teapot teapot teapot pot to pay for tor feed teed She had been so BO lure sure that her father tather knew nothing about bout its being there He must have prowled prowled prowled-or or else he had spied on her ber Neither thought was pleasant Megan finished the last of at the labels and end straightened wearily As she went out of ot the small sit sit- sitting sitting ting Ung room that was her office she glanced across the road and saw sa w the glimmer of ot lights In the shabby little cottage well back from the road that was her nearest neighbor So Alicia Stevenson had returned from her visit to Atlanta She knew U moment of sharp envy for tor Alicia ease and freedom from tram the grueling farm labor that was the lot of ot practically all the residents of at Pleasant Grove Busy with milking a task which she ahe had done so many times that It was purely automatic she found herself thinking about Alicia The shabby little tittle old cottage across the road from tram the MacTavish place had stood tood vacant for years ever since Old Man Brigham had died six months after the death of his wife wite Then late one June evening the New York Limited which ordinarily ily Uy raced through Pleasant Grove with merely a derisive toot of ot its ita whistle had stopped and a woman had alighted a woman of at perhaps forty smartly dressed according to Pleasant Grove standards and sur sur- surrounded surrounded surrounded rounded by a sea of ot luggage She had announced herself herselt in Burns Mercantile Pleasant Groves Grove's general store as Alicia Stevenson only child of at the Brighams and stated that she had come to live in inthe inthe the old Brigham place place place-at at least leut for the duration d III a tion From the tile first Megan had been established as Alicia's best friend although Megan was ashamed to admit to herself that she neither liked nor trusted Alicia There was something about her that was to Megan almost sly perhaps the rel rel- relish relIsh ish with which wl ch she pounced on the smallest morsel of at gossip and rolled It about on her tongue and found exactly the moment to mention It when it It would do the most harm Occasionally Alicia departed on a trip She was wa quite closemouthed about where she was going and why wh Megan suspected that liked being a woman of mystery and that It fed ted her sense seMe of at importance importance Importance tance to know that people wondered where she ahe went and why wh Annie Megan finished the milking and she and Amos Amoa took the brim brim- brimming brimming brimming ming milk palls pails to the spring house cool and dark where the milk would be left over night and where In the morning Annie would churn Coming back across the back back- backyard backyard backyard yard almost completely dark now that the sun had gone and twi twilight tight light was WES deepening she saw a aman aman aman man standing waiting for tor her at the steps and was startled He was a stranger and strangers strangers especially especially masculine strangers were sum sull- rare in Pleasant Grove to arouse a bit of ot surprise Miss MacTavish he came towards her smiling and she saw that he was tall and rugged looking and Imd that be must have been close to forty Im Tom Fallen your Fallon-your your neighbor down the road there Weve We've Just moved in in and they told me that you might be willing to supply ui w with milk and butter and Why yes I think so go said Megan and then remembered Oh youre you're Professor Protessor Fallon Fallen the th new high school Welcome to Lo Pleasant Grovel Thank you au said Tom and hi his handshake was warm and friendly very kind of at you youIt's It Its going to be nice to have someone in the Westbrook place said Megan pleasantly Id like to call on Mrs Fallon as 88 soon as you are settled She saw the shadow fall tall over his face tace Even in the dusk she could sense the tightening the stiffening that made him look older and some some- somehow somehow somehow how aloof Youre very kind he told her formally But Mrs Fallon is is-an is an I invalid Her lIer health does not per per- mit her to have callers Her lieI sister lives with us and takes care of at her Oh Im I'm sorry said Megan quickly and meant it You will let letus letus letus us know though If there is any any anything ny- ny thing we can do to help We pride ourselves on being neighborly In Pleasant Grove Tom smiled and the darkening of his face was gone now He said pleasantly Id almost forgot that such a thing existed existed neighbor neighbor- ness I mean You dont don't find any evidences of it in a city any more The Fallons had moved into the Westbrook place early In Septem Septem- ber But by the time school was In Its second week people were speaking approvingly of ot Tom Fal- Fal Fali i I I f I e r k kh iii h G III f e r rI t ti tl l i I She saw law a 1 man maD standing waiting I for tor her ber at al the steps and was startled I Ion Professor lon Professor Tom they were I calling him and gradually It came cameto cameto 1 to the term fessor I was right worried at first first ad ad- admitted admitted admitted old Mrs Stuart helping Megan make sauerkraut Seemed like he didn't have enough spunk to tomake tomake tomake make the older boys bOYI behave Seemed like he ought to a took a aUck astick Uck stick to em moren he did dId but but now seems like the has haa settled down right nice with him And they say the other teachers teacher is crazy about him Megan Me an said quietly He seems i ivery very nice 1 I think we are fortunate to get a man like him In a small smalltown town school Mrs Stuart shot her a glance you he come to a little bitty place like this she won won- wondered wondered wondered dered Innocently Folks says that with good teachers hens hen's teeth Just about everywhere e In the country you'd think a man with all an anthem them fancy tancy diplomas and papers and things could get him a better Job than this un an here Megan frowned a moment in deep thought hesitating Well Wen he said his wife was deli deli- delicate cate maybe cate-maybe maybe he wanted a mild cli cU- climate climate mate for her she suggested at last Mrs Stuart paused In chopping the crisp hard cabbage beads heads and shot hot Megan a look You hear any any- anything anything anything thing bout what's wrong with his wife she alle wanted to know an odd tone in her voice that made Megan look at her sharply Why no she answered Well I thought maybe you sell sell- selling selling ing log him hirn milk and eggs and things maybe you might a heard some some- something something something thing or seen something Mrs Stuart was almost on the defensive Folks say theres there's something mighty peculiar about her ber kind of ot sick lick lickness sickness ness ness ness- Oddly enough Megan found her her- herself herself self suddenly furious I dont don't suppose it would be Alicia Stevenson who said that would ItT it she asked dryly Mrs Stuart chuckled and aud her col col- color color color or deepened a little n Well Wen now that you yoa ask me I do believe It was something Ste Ste- Stevenson Stevenson venson said day when we was all sewing for tor the Red fled Cross Crossover Crossover Crossover over at her house she admitted She made a right smart story out o 0 it Said she went over to call cal some chrysanthemums from her garden and some new maga maga- magazines magazines and a book likely a woman that was an Invalid might like to read well read well she says this big looking husky woman a Miss Mar Mar- Martha Martha ar- ar artha tha come to the door and fairly glared at her and wouldn't let her herin herin In Said ter fer a minute she didn't think she was goin gain to let her leave the flowers and she wouldn't let her leave the books and magazines Said Fallon didn't want to be read to to and she was in bed so she couldn't read to herself Ste Ste- Stevenson Stevenson venson said the house what she could see of it leastways was leastways was neat and clean but like Professor Protessor Fallon Fanon said that his wife's wife sister lived with them and took care of at her said Megan dry dry- ly Of Ot course it would be like Alicia Stevenson to make up a story about mystery over there I 1 Imag imaR- Imagine imagine ine me Mrs Fallon may be crippled crippled- there could be any anyone one of at a lot of t reasons reasons anyway anyway she is an Invalid and not permitted to have company so why cant can't we just leave it at that Well Wen I there aint much else we can do admitted Mrs Stuart but b t it was plain that her lively curiosity was far tar from tram satis- satis satisfied satisfied fied fled with any such decision There was something about Tom Fallon that made Megan feel teel sorry for him something too that put her on the defensive when he he- and his family affairs were being dis dis- discussed cussed Pleasant Grove was a small town where everybody knew everybody else's business ss you might think you had secrets from your neighbors perhaps neighbors perhaps they let you think so but so-but but occasionally there would be little spatters of at rumor whispers revelations that your se se- secret secret cret was no secret at all but that your friends and neighbors were perfectly willing that you should think they were Megans Megan's favorite relaxation when she could find time for tor it was a walk to the top of at the lying low-lying hill beyond the meadow that rejoiced in the ambitious title of at the Ridge Here she crawled under a barbed wire fence tence walked a hundred yards more and was on top of the Ridge Here there were lordly pines whose green feathery tops seemed almost to brush the sky here the aisles between the pines were kept clean and free tree of at underbrush and thickly carpeted with resinous slippery brown pine needles Here there were several big flat fiat rocks that of of- offered offered a pleasant place to sit and andrest andrest andrest rest after the walk And from tram here one had bad a beautiful view over rolling roll roll- rollIng Ing meadowland and pasture and green woods On an afternoon late in October Megan emerged from the barbed wire fence tence and straightened to tG look back down the low meadow valley The dogs were scampering wildly Dixie the small black water span span- spaniel spaniel iel leI who was a superb hunter self- self taught had treed game and was barking his head off oil Bessie the pointer was racing through the un un- underbrush underbrush un- un at the edge of at the pines her tail tall quivering with delight at atthe atthe atthe the scent she had disturbed while the cats were climbing trees with joyous abandon But as she stepped out of at the pines pinel to the small clearing where the rock lay she paused and said sald startled Oh Im I'm Im I'm sorry I sorry I didn't know there was anyone here Tom stood up smiling eager Well Miss MacTavish I How are you Am Ana I trespassing on your property he said quickly Oh no as 81 a matter of fact tact this property belongs to your place Megan assured him The circus and I just use it as al a finish to our walk Shall Shan I go goT suggested Tom lightly Of Ot course not how not how pro pro- protested p protested tested Megan swiftly After Atter all ail all there are two rocks and plenty of room for tor both of us I Thanks said Tom and smiled as he be watched her settle herself herselt on the rock while he be selected another one The four cats shy of strangers stepped daintily into the clearing saw him and drew back startled I velvety ears erect fluffy plumy I tall tails quivering a tittle tiny growls growl starting deep in their soft throats I Behave yourselves boys boy l Me Me- Megan Megan Me-I Me gan ordered sternly and Tom laughed as the arched tails relaxed i ia a little and the cats went on about j i their business of ot investigating fas tas- fascinating fascinating I scents yet keeping wary ary I golden eyes on him bim as they did dill so to They are beauties lulles arent aren't they said Tom in quite honest bon est admira admira- admiration admiration tion Well Weft naturally Da I think so to Me Me- Megan gan gaD laughed Tom nodded Im Tm a Little that Cut Cutway way 17 myself he be admitted TO TV 1 BE CONTINUED |