Show inq 14 ove i 1 argro release RELEA 51 THE STORY THUS fart FARI alagan mactavish and her father with annie the live on a small farm at the fdge edge ot of pleasant plesiant grove their living is 1 made from chickens chicken and IA u few cows tor for Alac Tavish has hai been neler neer dowell lor for years year into pleasant Pea ant grove caroe came i woman who called herself henck alicia stevenson en on and having inherited the old curfs ham am place the she Is now ft a neighbor ol of Meg aai alicki is 1 a woman of 0 about orty forty year old well dressed and some ome thing of 01 a mystery A stranger comet comes to the mactavish place to buy and better tier and eg assi gsand and announces announce himself Is tom falton the new high school prin pran elpa ip 1 now living in the he westbrook brook place 11 nettei th that albis bli wile cheis it an invalid CHAPTER 11 II megan and torn tom sat quietly on the big flat rocks saying little their eyes following the antics of the dogs and cats galloping around in circles on their the lidge she thought sho she had never sew seen tho pines look bobeau so beautiful ile he asked for permission to fill all his pipe and light it ft and tentatively offered her a cigarette thanks no 11 mcgan answered lightly its it a habit ive avoided I 1 dont think id care much for it ind and it Is expensive obviously tom understood tho the logic of that and fora for a moment they wore were both ellent allent until he got his pipe going well megan sald said after 6 a moment when tho the silence threatened to become awkward how Is mrs fallon does tho the climate seem to agree with her as a hoped boms toms brown hand tightened about tho the bowl of his pipe until tho the knuckles knuck lea stood up in little white mounds ile ho tore his eyes from the lands calof and gave her a look that was hard and cold and bitter so much so ac that she was startled by the tho sudden inexplicable hostility mrs fallon misdoing Is doing as well as gould be expected under the tire circum um stances he told her ills his voice was harsh and the very sound ot ai the words ad her that he had re heated ted these words until they had bad teased ceased to have hava any mearil meaning ng yet hi he had never ceased to resent the necessity tor for them rm im sorry it ii I 1 seemed anquist tive or rude mogan mcgan told him frankly her aco horwith hot with color h her er ahead head up 1 thad I had no such intention you have made no secret of the tha fact fac that your wife wan la an invalid naturally in a ambil imbil town like Us this people are interested and anxious to beof be of service if they may tho the only service anyone can do myrile or myself fla is to leave leava my wife alone stated tom and gans eyes blazed at his tone she was on cef he feet now and she said ald I 1 swiftly shaking with anger you may be quite su suro ra that in the future I 1 at atlean least sh choll all bob be happy appy to do sol shi turned blindly to walk back through tho the pines but before sho she had fione haU a dazen steps tom was on his hia feet laying a hand on her arm aim adi in swift abject apology please wilt wait please forgive me vie be he apologized humbly that was unforgivable of me its just th atwell tho the subject Is anex painful one 1 tm rn sinter sincerely ely sorry that I 1 mentioned it the told him stiffly her face still hot hoi ho looked down abher ae her gravely his hand still on her arm restraining tier her as sha would have walked away you see miss mactavish Mac he ha said aid at last his voice raw with pain tal my T cifes illness Is chiefly men ile he sot sat hla his teeth hard when he had spoken the tee last two words and megan looked up it at him puzzled mental menial you Youn mean ienn she merely me rely imagines cheis ehe 1 IV ill that she eho is a hypochondriac she asked in all imo innocence cence toms I 1 face was white and rigid now but his eyes were alive with pain no he ha said huskily 1 I mean th that admy my eife is mentally III Ill that the he has the mind of ii a young child that shells she as not not norma nor mall lils it was obvious that he had tried to say insane and had not been ablo able to get the word past his stift lips mocan was waa conscious of a moment of stunned shocked horror this mari man chained to an insane this man whom everl everybody body liked with his fine mind end nd his keen sense of responsibility and a woman who had the mind of a 8 young childe child ohl was all she could say her tone shocked and rich witti sampa thy and touched with keen embair ras that she must witness his moment of naked burning rovela tion 1011 YM terribly sorry JOM brushed asido aside the choked inadequate words and said with a sort of forced quiet so you see why itkiss it has been necessary bor for us to godeny deny the well intentioned call ere era of bt course meg degn 6 n i told him unsteadily dily sick with pity for him she Is entirely harmless arm lass he told her and big faco was wrenched frenche d with the p pala i agnand and tha ilia shame of 0 having ing koput that thought into words she Is never left for or a moment alone and the 66 never keayes hiibel hec hii bcd bed but if people here knew about hr her l men mental tal condition well undoubtedly they would well feel that she should be ba locked awall put in tin an institution the pain of the thought silenced his words for a inor moment nent and after he had got him self somewhat under control he managed a smile at her that was vas little more than a grimace and said so now you krow know what are you going to do megan mcgan flinched from the tha look and from the words she looked at him with wide distressed eyes it got to do with me I 1 mean why should I 1 do anything she protested swiftly im terribly sorry 1 mean to pry into your affairs 1 I know tom brushed the words away with a gesture of the hand that held his pipe but 1 I 1 think somehow I 1 wanted you to know after all you are ara my nearest neigh bor we see sea each other often ua its inevitable you should wonder I 1 1 I 1 hope you wont feel it necessary to I 1 megans face named flamed with hurt I 1 na ile he looked down athir ather brive gravely Y ills ila hand still on her arm restrain finx her as bho would have walked away you may be ba quite sure that I 1 hall reveal your secret to no one why should I 1 what no ne I 1 have she told him sharply tom smiled nt at her a white faint smile that was waa somehow very tragic 1 I know you forgive me im clumsy and stupid but not intentionally or wilfully so forgive me metor for everything megan melted beneath the look in his eyes and d put her hand band in his hij and lot let him draw her back to the flat stone where she sat gat down once onca more and as though the revelation of 61 his tragic secret had cleared theair between them as though they were friends now they spoke ot of other things ills mind was keen and alert megan read a great deal and used fermind her mind to think with and it was for both of thema pleasant expert ence to be ba able abla to to calfi ot of things that had nothing to do with pleasant grove megan liked her ber friends and her neighbors but there were many times when she hungered for impersonal talk ol of matters far afield from pleasant grove and she en joyed this contact with a oti mulat ing mind ho he walked with her to the barbed wiro fence when she saw aw that sho she must so go because the evening was ending he laughed a little and obligingly held up the ho lower strand of barbed wire so she eho could crawl under it without snagging her skirt there really should be a gato gate here she told him getting to her feet on the other side of the fence laughing across the four our strands of barbed wire at him but I 1 im m like the man who was going to ax the lea leak in his roof only ho he work while it was raining v and and when it raining 9 tho the roof need mending I 1 never get around to itt she whistled the two dogs came bounding to her and the four cats stepped daan daintily tily out of a great thicket i of honeysuckle lo vines that sprawled at the corner of and as she walked back down the meadow path to the brook she looked over her shoulder and lifted her hand to him in a gay little gesture as she sha saw him standing there ilia ho lifted his hat to her and bowed in a gay burl burlesque a 04 ot a sweeping old world gesture and she sha went on her heart a little lighter for him she w was a s terribly sorry sorry t for W him m but she sha admired the gallantry with which he carried hla his burdens and looking across chioe the fields ids toward the drab little five dooin room frame house that was the westbrook place and that now held this pathetic woman hla his wife she teu felt the wait tears la in her eyes poor mant man I 1 and poor woman ani I 1 she shivered a little and hurried as she went as an though to run rua away from thoughts that bit too deeply ono one of pleasant groves grovels favorite autumn diversions when the liar har vest was in and the winter greens had been planted and it was still too warm for dawg killin 11 was aull quilting parties through the scant leisure time of 0 winter most ot of Plea pleasant sarit grovels women pieced quilts quilt sout out of 0 scrap bags and carefully material and then when the quilt quill top had been pieced and finished the owner notified her friends that thai she was putting up a quilt and they w were ere invited to como come and help her quilt it A few days after her talk with tom on the ridge megan went over to mrs stuarts where there was a quilting there were greetings a breezy exchange of pleasantries pleasant ries while megan settled herself brought her thimble out of her pocket threaded her needle arid and set to work there were perhaps a dozen women about the big frame which was opened to its fullest width the width and length of a double bed megan talked lightly and carelessly to her neighbor the pretty little whitaker girl whose sweetheart had just been reported injured in action in italy and who wis was grateful giac ful for or the chance totals to talk about him suddenly megan heard the name lessor fessor fallon and looked up alicia Stevenson Sto venson was watching her shrewdly a little knowing look in her small dark eyes that made megan oddly and absurdly uneasy mrs burns who was president of the Parent Teachers association of the local school was saying it t think were lucky to got get a man like professor fallon here the school board says his qualifications are excellent and his references are extremely goodill mrs stuart bit oil oft a thread and patted her lost last stitches into place before threading the needle afresh sort of makes me wonder how come we could get a man like tes lessor tom in a little bitty place like this she said as she moistened the up tip of the tee abre thread ad and squinted at tho eye of the needle trying to insert inert I 1 one through the other 1 I dont beckin its anything agn the man though if he wants to live in a little country town l maybe megan could tell us more about that 01 said bald alcicla silkily about what asked megan cravenly pretending not to understand why a man like tom fallon would be satisfied in a little hick town like pleasant grove said alicia smiling after all you know him so much better than any of the rest of us 1 I sell him ha milk and butter and eggs yes megan told her curtly id hardly say bay that made us ua old friends though but I 1 thought during some corn of those long hours youve spent together toge ge ther on the ridge he might have told you com something ething of himself suggested alicia limpid eyed her voice soh soft as satin there thera was a startled gasp about the quilting frame perhaps not so 10 much a gasp as aa a sense of movement that ma mado doMegan megan know they we were re all staring at i startled wondering waiting megan drewa long breath just what do you mean by that the asked alicia sharply alician All Ali claa cias eyes were wide with sur eur prise but there was a trace of malice in thel their depths also but darling she protested heri her voice artificially gay and sweet iw win N I 1 I 1 possibly mean except that ive seen you arid the gallant gallan t professor on the aldge J once quite by accident when I 1 was out for a walk P megan began an but all da interrupted her hor with pretty concern andian apology that way was worse than the most open accusation of course courso irk im terribly sorry alicia interrupted please dont say ay any more I 1 never nev er dreamed 1 I 1 mean I have menti mentioned oneO it for the world she was prettily confused cont used and megan could feel eel th the a hint bint of ten tension slon of curiosity that crept about the roomi room the women who had been her friends and neighbors all her we life looked at her and then quickly away very carefully not meeting her eyes trying not to meet each others eyes elaborately pretending to be very casual tills Is ridiculous I 1 said megan hotly youre trying to make people believe that ive been sneak ing on oft to meet mr fallon fallen why dar darlinge lingl protested alicia wide though secretly enjoying as she always did tills this by no means unusual result ot of her malicious dropping of bits of information here and there 1 I say anything of the kind all I 1 said was that it was obvious that you knew tho the man better than any of the rest of us and thet you should therefore know better belter than we why he was willing to hide I 1 mean to b bury ahlm self in a little hick town ilk allis ale pleasant grove mrs stuart shuart eyed alicia belligerently TO BIB BE |