Show th C d C MURDER 1 SYNOPSIS living in a barn C converted into a dwelling mrs penfield Is manager of an apart ment building known as the custard cup originally cluster court her income Is derived from laundry work her chief pa tron being a mrs horatius weatherstone whom ehe she has never seen living with her are crink and thad homeless email boys whom she has adopted they call her penzie th thad R d tells penzie a strange man wa was ig inquiring tor for her under her matlen name A tenant mrs bussle bosley induces penzie to take charge of a package which she does with some misgivings searching a refuse dump tor for things which might be of value crink veteran at the game en counters a small girl lettle who proves a toeman foeman worthy of his steel he lie takes her to pen benzle ale and lettle gets adopted into the family the stranger proves to be mrs penfield a uncle jerry he announces he Is going to re main in the vicinity of the cus CUB tard cup uncle jerry arranges to occupy the loft above mrs pen fl id ids a abode uncle jerry meets prudence hapgood no longer young but attractive and the two appear to hit it off well lorene percy young friend of penzie Is s tells her of her engagement to dick chase also a mutual friend friendship developing between un cle jerry and frank bosley hus band of bussle worries penzie calming a tenant mrs sanders on the verge of a nervous break down mrs penfield reveals the tragic story of her own life the sudden den death ath of her three children in an epidemic and the subsequent death of her husband CHAPTER IX continued 9 the child stood still in the middle of the kitchen and considered this possibility III neer nener get over it she said slowly it Is in me to stay oh no it isn t contradicted mrs penfield mildly by and by your na turell get widened out more more and all the hate 11 drain off naturally the only place that hate can live in is a small dark hole where tl e sunshine of good nature never can find it be s lettle to know how aay easy Us to scare hate out of your system why if you so much as let a smile get near it lettle came nearer I 1 er ees shone say lenzie honest do sou like mr bopple there are times when truth Is an inconis master follow him faithfully cheerfully whole heart edly and all of a sudden he leads you into an impasse points a ma Wll cious finger at you and shouts now what are jou ou going to do through the instrumentality of let tie mrs penfield was confronted by difficulty evasion was no part of her policy feltl er would it have with stood the unerring instinct before her playing for time she replaced the cover on the saucepan and smiled lazily why lettle ev dently you got the wrong idea bout feelings you 1 cant can t divide the world into folks that you like and folks that you don t they re all the time hopping back and forth over the line from bad to good and from good to bad way with toe me I 1 like most ev I 1 know and what do you do with the others persisted lettle mercilessly why 1 I 1 I don dont t do nothing t all im willing they should itie cause I 1 rp R h ettie glowered back joaw t the lord knows what ho bo made avem vem em for even if I 1 cant see it they dont never bother me lettle I 1 don t scarcely cely pay much real attention cause taint tain t worth while fleetle looked at her solemnly I 1 get 3 lou on she said briefly the worst of it was v as that she did in 4 en lin accustomed silence she arev drev v in the adrice edvice with the implications that clung to it incubated it diligently and in a few hours developed a product which ehe she was able to use most effectively As soon as she had wiped the lunch dishes she set out on a project banned iu lanned in the morning and persist wag in spite of mrs penfield s at tempts at discouragement it was the thild s own notion that she must con tribute as much as she cost and her greatest zeal went to the 11 florence orence bingham LiAng livingston ston by b george H doran company supply of fuel an item of consider able seriousness in a household which had no modem modern methods of dealing with cooking and laundry work per haps it was fortunate that bettles industry was largely centered on gath ering inflammable material of all descriptions script ions and certainly she enjoyed it on this particular day she kad discovered a pile of cornstalks that had been discarded as po no longer use ful or even amusing to cows it was part of lettle s business to intercept the process of natural disintegration whenever possible she believed thor hughly that the vegetable world should be wiped out by fire and in her immediate locality she was rak ing the earth fairly clean of plant life that was as not thought much of by its growers an enthusiastic coworker worker was fill buster caesar penfield the family pup As lettle dragged a heavy company of cornstalks around the house he fol followed loved after plunging at the long rustling leaves barking at this imagined prey charging with a force that severed the more brittle sections and sent them flying flying where why over the walk into the side yard of mr josiah bopple this piece of trespassing was the easier because there was no fence to inter fere the boundary being marked only by a few old posts returning from the second trip let tie found results well under way ray mr bopple with a highly injured espres slon sion was ostentatiously sweeping tat of corn tissue to bogett getler er with a great deal of soil across the comma anity walk into mrs Pen fields yard when he saw lettle he paused and gl glowered at her lettle stopped short and glowered back and she did it well meli too glowering was a specialty with her on similar occasions you d better be careful he said I 1 alli aint t goin to have my yard all littered up I 1 didn t do it she returned fil done it this was the way they usually began gradually working up to a tern tem pera ture that Is dangerous to body and soul if you was m as my child I 1 id d leam learn you to do sides traipsing you shut up advised lettle lettie tersely her pale cheeks grew a shade whiter with a jerk she grasped her cornstalks more firmly and dashed lashed with them to the back yard fil buster thinking this meant the end of a conversation to which he had listened with manifest disapproval pounced eagerly upon the rus aling mass and detached portions for immediate distribution but lettle had merely cleared the decks unencumbered she turned to her protagonist what s eating you anyhow she demanded in disgust we hain t done you no harm you been lit litterine terin my yard he maintained we faint littered it sol so I 1 all fil done was vms playing and just two or three leaves I 1 nobody alsed ha no em I 1 tell you they uttered littered and I 1 won wont t have it you ain aln t to meddle on my prop pronty ty neither you nor your nasty old dog lettle s thin chest lifted as if a steel hook had pulled it upward her hands clenched he ain t a nasty old dog he hes s worth a darned sight moren more n you are that s a he lie taint a lie turn you loose and you couldn t find a home way fil done wouldn t nobody have you this shot gave lettle a temporary advantage mr bopple willing to subscribe to well nigh anything for the sake of disagreement hesitated mo ment menta arlly rily before the vivid picture of himself seeking charity from door to door possibly some misgiving about the outcome of such a venture checked his rejoinder splotches of red appeared in his sallow cheeks like spatters of anger the hand on the broom handle shook visibly pres antly he returned the personality with a choice one ote of his own devising you re a sassy tyke if you was my child the growing possibilities of belong ing to mr bopple e s family circle vi were ere cut short by the efforts of filibuster caesar to relieve the stiffness of the scene having detached halt half a corn stalk with branches pendant he plunged joyously into mr bopple s yard careening madly in intersecting curves giving up scraps of corn ma aerial to the thorny grasp of rose bushes as he passed raising the broom threateningly mr bopple started for the intruder here get out I 1 he shouted darn you get out filibuster caesar was in his element nose to the ground mouth full of corn stalk eyes fixed attentively he await ed the coming of his supposed play pay 1 mate mr air bopple brought the broom doan do with force and excellent aim alm only that fil caesar was no longer there he had bad frisked to one side ide Is in position as before playing the game after the manner of checkers mr stopple was infuriated anger mounted to passion the more rapidly because lettle was vociferously applauding pla the successful strategy of fil caesar he ho struck repeatedly at the little dog but fil was too quick for him dashing out of ranee range with low ruff ruffs of delight and mischievous challenge round and round the small yard they raced and struck and dodged good old fill encouraged lettle clapping her hands ha fil fits S too much for youl you I 1 now what do you think of a sudden mr bopple changed his tactics dropped the broom broom and seized the old hose which his indolence left always attached A twist t f the faucet I 1 spit spurt I 1 the young filibuster patiently hold ing his position pointed nose on the ground small body lifted at an angle ot of forty five degrees had not foreseen what was coming instantly he was drenched with a choking yelp of dis tress be he bounded into the air but not out of the sharp spray coming back to earth he held to it rushing in dif ferent directions but followed in every one of them by a strangling stream of water let him alone let him alone shrieked lettle pumping the air with her fists lie he baina done nothing let him alone I 1 ill fix him retorted mr bopple chuckling with triumph good rid dance it if I 1 kill him with a yell that split ane neighbor ing atmosphere into two distinct parts di I 1 shouts barks threats water filled the air lettle made a dash tor for mr josiah bopple you got me going she shrilled now look out much may be done with water and in a short pace of time much was done with it in the bopple penfield bards in the next five minutes at first it was managed sylvely by mr bopple who played his old hose on lettle and fil buster caesar with not able impartiality whenever fil could draw a dry breath he charged upon the enemy no longer in play but with low growls that had bad been bequeathed by some fighting ancestor finally these attempts culminated it was while lettie thoroughly soaked from head bead to foot gyrating in fruitless efforts to escape the stream of water bit b it at the same time draw ing steadily nearer shortening the range in such a way as to increase the force with which she was being pelted it was while lettle was mccu pyeng the whole attention of a pair of beady malicious eyes that filibuster caesar penfield sprang at mr pie pies s hand band snapped in reversion to a distant bulldog then fortunately reconsidered at the behest of some mild er relative that had sat docilely on cushions and by the fireside with a cry of fright josiah pie dropped the hose and took turns with lettle at the jumping game murder I 1 murder 1 he snarled im bit III have v 0 lord I 1 in bit sic him fil urged lettle bite him some more bite him a lot hed oughter aughter be et sic him I 1 fil caesar thus encouraged on the gory path sprang to do the bidding of his mistress but was met by violent opposition during the scramble the crafty lettle was able to seize the hose and with an inarticulate whoop of triumph she flooded the person of mr josiah bopple with a superlative skill that proved a well trained eye and a steady hand shouts barks threats water filled the air increasing mud modified ev era eribo body dys s intentions faces appeared at neighboring windows but no one interfered or even spoke this was not so much dee due to an ethical atti attl tade tude in the custard cup as to an un written law of freedom in speech and act that no spectator r might be de deprived of the full performance of any drama that was started all Is lettle we got to pull together or not tall 0 TO BE CONTINUED |