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Show jdOfes GGY BN wrm release zSyiSX THE 8TORT THUS FAR! Alicia lUrti a rumor that there "U someUUni mlitaty peculiar" about Mrs. ralloa't sickness. II it discussed la the aelchborhood and Mif aa bears It. She learnt that a "Miss Martha," a sister of Mrs. Fallon, lives with the principal and his wife. Mesaa felt sorry tor Tom Fallon, and she thoucht a (real deal about the gossip about him and his wife when the started to her favorite rettlnf place on the top of a low hill beyond the meadow. Tom Falloa was sluing on the rock the nied as a bench whea she arrived. When she Inquired about his wife's health, he replied: "She Is mentally 111." Whea Meg went to a quilling party at Mrs. Stuart's, Alicia pricks her about Tom. CHAPTER III "I dunno at any of ui think the 'fessor's exactly hidln'," she said curtly. "An" I dunno's any of us think Pleasant Grove li such a hick place, come to think of It Some folks seem to like it. If they didn't I reckln they could go somewhere'i else." Alicia colored darkly and shrugged. "I'm sorry I even mentioned men-tioned the fact that I saw you," she said ungraciously. "But after all, the Ridge is public property. It's not posted or anything. I had as much right to be there as you and Mr. Fallon! I was merely gathering a few Autumn leaves and some bittersweet bit-tersweet berries to put In the blue pottery bowl in my front window." Megan was trembling a little, though she knew she was being silly. The little scene with Tom Fallon had been so absurdly Innocent; yet there was something In the sly, furtive fur-tive manner of Alicia's mentioning It that had made it seem evil and scheming. Megan, still furious with Alicia and her nasty tongue, got away from the quilting party as early as she decently could. At least Mrs. Stuart understood, when, at the door she drew Megan aside and said forthrlghtly, "Now look here, Megan, Me-gan, don't pay no attention to that woman. Someone ought to take gun to her and blow her to Kingdom Come, and that's a fact!" Halfway down the road, she heard a cheerful voice and turned as a pretty girl of seventeen, her arms laden with schoolbooks, came running towards her. "Ill, Meggle," said the girl, flushed and smiling, and very pretty pret-ty In a childish, round-faced, bright-eyed way. "Hello, Susie you're late getting home from school!" said Megan lightly. "Had to stay after school and write a composition. Like a fool, I thought I could get away with not doing one according to the law of averages, I shouldn't have been called on today, but the darned law let me down. Miss Pound's a holy terror seems to look at you and know without asking a question whether you've done your homework," home-work," answered Susie bitterly. They walked together In companionable compan-ionable silence down the wide, tin-psved tin-psved road, until suddenly Susie said bitterly, "I hear the Alicia dame dug her little stiletto Into you and Professor Fallon today! That makes you a member, In good standing, of my own club." Megan caught her breath and stopped stllL "How on earth did you hear" she began In amazement Susie's little chuckle was dry and quite without mirth. "Oh It's all over the place," she said. "By supper time, there won't be a man, woman or child within a mile of the place that won't know you've been meeting the professor secretly in the woods" "Susie." Megan walled. "That's not true" "Of course not but d'youjhlnk for a minute that's going to stop the story T Don't be twerp, Meggle Meg-gle you know It won't)" said Susie. "It wasn't true that I was sneaking off to meet Bill Esmond either but you'd have a hard time convincing con-vincing anybody In this town that It Isn't! Just because one afternoon I happened to run into him at the county aeat and had soda with him. My mother hit the roof, on account of because Bill's folks are not well, not quite as high hat as mother thinks we ought to be" Her young voice trembled a little and aha blinked hard to clear her syes of threatened tears. Megan asked curiously. "Is that all there Is to that story, Susie?" Susie flushed and her eyea were stormy. "Absolutely! Up to then." she added. "Oh, sure, I liked BUl-we all did! He was an honor student, and the kids were crazy about him and he played football like nobody's business but I'd never had date with him In my life. How could t, when dad and mother practically lock me up nights? But that afternoon, after-noon, mother was sick with a headache, head-ache, and she wanted some stuff from the county seat that Burns Sldn't have, and I took the car and trove over. And I ran Into Bill. He'd Just had his physical and was all but ready to be taken Into the Cadet Air Corps, and we celebrated celebrat-ed by having soda." Susie drew a deep breath and laid quietly, "Blll's-qulte a fellow!" fel-low!" She laughed and said, "Maybe "May-be I ought to be grateful to the Itevenson wench it she hadn't raised such a row about my having a soda with him, and behaving as though she'd seen me coming out of some foul dive with him I'd never nev-er have noticed what a grand guy he Is! Oh, well-" They walked on In silence and at the gate to the MacTavlsh place, they stopped and Susie said suddenly, sud-denly, "Meggle, is there any truth in what Stevenson says about Mary Rogers?" "Mary Rogers?" Megan repeated repeat-ed puzzled. "You know she got expelled la it month and she's gone to stay with her sister and learn to be a war worker a riveter or something" Susie explained, and after a moment mo-ment blurted out, "The Stevenson er witch says Mary is going to have a baby, and has dropped a hint that Bill may have some part In the matter" Megan said explosively, disgust In her voice, "Goodness, Susie what a foul story I" Susie nodded wretchedly. mm Megan asked curiously, "la that aU there Is to that atory, Susie?" "I know-the dickens of It Is that most folks agree that the Steven son's not a liar but that she just has an unholy capacity for scattering scatter-ing damaging truth about where it can do the most harm!" she admitted. admit-ted. "It's Just that-well. I'd hate to think he'd be mixed up In anything any-thing like that-" Megan said forcefully. "Well, from my own personal experience, I'd say Alicia Stevenson has a fatal ability to pick one tiny shred oft and embroider It to an Incredible degree! de-gree! I went for a walk on the Ridge, with my usual three-ring circus, and quite by accident Mr. Fallon was also there and we exchanged ex-changed a few words. But this afternoon, Alicia let drop the Information Infor-mation that since he and I'd spent hours together on the Ridge I must know him pretty well!" Susie nodded meaningfully. "Sure that's why I said you were now a member In good standing of my club!" she answered. Megan laughed a little. "What club Is that?" she wanted to know. "The Club of hy the devil doesn't somebody do something to shut Alicia Stevenson up?'" answered an-swered Susie. "It's composed of practically every man, woman and child within a radius of ten miles of Pleasant Grove. Personally, I'd like to see her with her throat cut from ear to earl" , "Susie!" gasped Megan, between shock and pity for the gtrl whoaa bloodthirsty words were at such comical variance with her Dresden china prettlness, her young, smooth flesh and shining blue eyes and golden hair. "Oh. It won't happen, of course, said Susie ruefully. "People like that live to a ripe old age and then turn Into hen's teeth! They never die or have accidents!" Megan put an arm about the slim shoulders and gave Susie a little hug. "Well, don't let her get you down, Susie. After all, everybody knows what she's like." "Sure and when she sticks that barbed tongue of hers Into their own affairs, they ssy. 'But of course, that's not true. But when she's stabbing somebody else they say, "Now, I wonder" Susie pointed out with such truth that Megan could only agree with her soberly. For a little while they stood In alienee, both of them looking uneasily uneas-ily across the road and to the shabby shab-by little old cottage where lighted windows proved that Alicia was at home. The cottage set well back from the road and there were few trees surrounding It It was square, boxlike house, never painted, paint-ed, so that Its walls were a rough. dark gray of weathered drabness. But since Alicia had come, she had painted the window trim and the corners of the house a rich deep green; there were green window boxes at the windows, and the place had taken on a rather surprised perklness. "Oh, well-" aaid Susie at last and heaving a sigh. "If I don't get on home, mother will have conniption connip-tion fits and upset dad so that his dyspepsia will be worse than ever and I would like to go to the school dance the Saturday after Thanksgiving." She said good night and ent on along the road. A quarter of a farther on, she would come to the substantial, old-fashioned red brick house that was Pleasant Grove's finest home. Susie was the only child of Lawyer Bartlett and his wife, Maysle. The Bartletts were, next to the Burns, Pleasant Grove's most substantial citizens, and Mrs. Bartlett was not one to let the town forget that for a moment There were times when Megan felt extremely sorry for Susie and tonight to-night was one of those times. She sighed a little and went Into the house, where Annie had supper almost al-most ready to serve. Her father was waiting for her, very comfortable in his smoking Jacket and slippers, provided with a new book (which had cost three dollars and a half, and which Megan Me-gan could have borrowed for him from the small, but good local library) li-brary) so he was Inclined to oe genial. For which small favor, Megan told herself wearily, she was glad! For the next two or three days, although she told herself aha was being a fool, Megan deliberately avoided seeing Tom Fallon at all. He had been In the habit of stopping on his way home from school late In the afternoon to get milk, butter, and eggs which he bought from her. She had always been the one to give them to him, but for the next two or three days, she saw to It that she was somewhere else when he stopped by, and Annie, puzzled and watchful, waited on him. But on Saturday, she was In the chicken yard checking up on a setting set-ting hen who was due to hatch her brood In a few days, when Tom came to the back fence and spoke to her. "Good morning," he said, almost warily. Megan turned, startled, and felt her face grow hot, even as she greeted him casually and matter-of-factly. He waited for her to come to the fence before he said anxiously, "I've been little worried and deeply puzzled. I've tried my darnedest to think what I could have done to upset you" Megan laughed and hated herself because the laugh sounded artificial. "What nonsense, Professorl" "But you have avoided me, and I thought possibly something I said or did" he began anxiously. Megan looked up at him and said quietly and frankly, "I see you haven't heard the news, Mr. Fallon!" Fal-lon!" Puzzled, noting her use of the formal for-mal prefix rather than the careless friendly "Professor" that was almost al-most a nickname, he said quickly, "News? No. I am afraid I haven't-" "I feel very allly to be relaying It to you but I know Pleasant Grove so well the attitude toward teachers, teach-ers, especially towards the principal of the school" She floundered miserably and was silent Tom said quietly, "I think you had better tell me straight. Miss MacTavlsh-" "There seems to be rumor about that you and I have bean meeting secretly on the Ridge" She let him buve It almost fa single breath. Tom stared at her aa though he thought she had lost her mind. And then his face hardened and his eyes blazed end he said through his teeth, "Where In blazes who'd try to start 11 like that?" Megan made a weary little gesture. ges-ture. "It's too silly-end too-cheap to notice," she pointed out to him. "Except that since you art new hero and this Is your first year oh, I feel an utter fool about the whole thing. But I thought It would be better If we well, we've done nothing noth-ing to start gossip, so It seems little difficult to know how to stop It-" Tom ssld sternly. "Who started this tatk?" "Mrs. Stevenson," answered Me gen frankly. "She happened to be on the Rldgt the afternoon we met by accident, end chose to believe) that we were) meeting there regularlyand regu-larlyand as secretly ss possible M "But that's nonsense she could not possibly believe anything so-so so-so darned stllyl" Tom exploded. "I don't think she really believes It but she seems to get quite Tot of rlessurt out of dropping little significant remarks. Puzzled, Tom said, "Who Is this Mrs. Stevenson? I suppose she ksi a child In school but I don't seem to recall the name, though It's not unusual, of course." (TO BE CONTWUKOI |