Show MAIN 16 ya 9 A U 0 1111 4 A 11 D q nn Z rill I 1 C 11 II THE STORY THUS FAR faill home word utter after visiting toddi nephew dyke dyka ble lInnon tt at a sacramento calif briny army tamp todd mckinnon Ge orline wyeth wyeta CHAPTER georgine had the third tiny un defined shock of the last few hours the hall v as furnished with more buttoned plu A chairs and hung with yet more chiomos ch romos coming out of it into this room ras like stepping from one century into another there was a plain broadloom rug there was a good ordinary bedroom suite oi of double bed vanity and chest and chair and bed table certainly bought within the past tew years it was more than an anachronism in some mysterious way it was almost an insult to the eyes mrs airs peabody must have read her thoughts or her expression it was the only one we did over most ot the rest of the house is just dreadful of course and wed meant to get at that too when we could afford it but of course I 1 think of touching it until gilbert comes home there going to be one thing different she said fiercely as it if challenged and gave her dark head a little shake in the next moment she was all business the cot is right here in the sewing room oh no it we must have taken it up attic the last time I 1 made mary diary helen a dress its so seldom I 1 really get around up here ill go up and make sure among the rats georgine inquired with an attempt at laughter my aly dear I 1 keep telling 11 you they never appear the moon a night or two past its full poured light through the angled bay window that must have been what awakened her for the sounds in the garret were barely perceptible pattering scraping now and then a little rattling shower as if bits of plaster had fallen georgine burrowing deeper deaper 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 vas true that the old house creaked and cracked alarmingly alar m angly as its atmosphere grew cooler coole r 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 let herself imagine anything sinister for it was plain that at some time during the night one of the other occupants of the house had arrived georgine saw him to their shared shared surprise in the hall a tall youngish man his blond hair 1 in a mat of dishevelment lightly clad in the lower half of his pajamas and just emerging from the bathroom great god the man exclaimed peering nearsightedly at the open door of her room and then bolted incontinently across the hall to disappear behind one of those other doors georgine had clutched her dark silk ellk robe more tightly around her at this vision but was moved more to laughter than to horror that must be horace whom mrs peabody had mentioned what was he her nephew cousin or what she spoke of him as part of the family well if horace never let his aunt know when he was coming home it served him right to be confronted by strange women when she returned barby was up bristling with energy after a fourteen hour sleep she jigged from one foot to the other as georgine attempted to braid her hair and button her dress mamma this is fun just think night before last we stayed at a hotel and last night we stayed here I 1 wish we ever have to go back home 1 I dont said her mother brushing vigorously well weil I 1 guess id like to be back for betty dillemans Dill mans birthday party but I 1 love it when we go on travels like this mamma toddy sleep can I 1 go and wake him up if hes right down dow n the hall listen mamma when I 1 kiss toddy 1 I pick out that little smooth spot right under his eye if I 1 try anywhere else his whiskers prickle me dont they ever eer prickle you todd coming quietly in and smiling at the three ladles ladies said that he was hungry toddy barby squeaked happily did your brain come back together again that was a figure of speech barby said georgine Georg lne repressively but their hostess looked an astonished question 1 I had the feeling that id been here before I 1 had it last night and barby heard me mention it todd said with an odd gravity nella nelia peabody said how becom ing that orchid cotton print was to barbas fairness had her mother ever thought of a deeper bluer shade almost violet mrs airs peabody had a lovely piece of chalus t jt it bad been meant for a little and h her mall daughter dang liler ba ckirby rd b mad d cr yli cail d clout to valleys eifle to p py a y n brief rief call 1 on tome new ol of dakel it wi was alth some lume alm they found their tal gnal to be a crumbling monstrosity of 0 a girls dress but the parents had changed their minds 1 I just love to sew for little girls she added smiling at her youngest guest barby looked at her mother with a slow dawn of hope theres nothing wed like better than to have you make something for her if we were staying here her mrs peabody she said but you yoli know we ve must be starting home in an hour or so no darling dont even ask to stay we argue youve talked plenty en this morning already 1 I was just to myself then barby said toddy does that he was doing it last night when hen I 1 woke up tip you know what you said toddy you said some pin about had a lie ile W n tells it who had a alev lie at t this h is seeming irrelevance georgine was surprised to see tod ls lips tighten ile he glanced at Ms his hostess she had turned off the spigot of the percolator though his cup underneath it was only y half full and was wa returning his look intently her eyes wide her breast rising and falling failing with uneven breaths Adel adeline lne Tills Till sit lt said mrs peabody softly that was what you said it youve heard her name then it meant something to you 0 G V AA 1 I N the sounds in the garret were barely perceptible it was a n minute before he spoke yes ive heard her name he said in that casual voice that was so restful so unexcited she was very old when she died she and this house was a showplace in its day I 1 remembered why I 1 had thought id been here before one of my newspaper friends had a full set of photographs that were taken while she was still alive planned to run a feature story on it some time famous belle of the eighties that sort of thing but I 1 believe the war pictures rather crowded it out yes urs mrs peabody said with a quiet that matched his she died on the same weekend week end that france fell that was why there was no publicity at all we were spared that because nobody outside of town heard much about it lier her heart shaped face looked set and a patch of color stained he her cheekbones your newspaper friend mr mckinnon must have explained to you that the place w where h e r e those photographs were taken had become the setting of a crime what did he be tell you about it I 1 I 1 very lile that I 1 can remember I 1 did watch the papers for a few beeks weeks afterward but I 1 never saw any other mention of it there was a reason for that I 1 think youre being kind to me not actually telling me his suspicions pic ions the small gentle gantle woman actually grasped the edge of the table and shook it I 1 my husband did not do it gilbert is absolutely innocent it was just those wicked rumors and never anything you could put your finger on nobody saying openly what he thought so you could tell him he lied that sort 0 of f indirectness it its s a stab in th back you dont know youre struck until you find yourself slowly bleeding to death maybe those rumors sent him to his death I 1 had a letter in two weeks he may be dead this very minute and he ever have enlisted he never would have gone away after wed been married less than a year he have left me like this if he been driven give him an honorable discharge it if he applied if hes alive VI victorian c borlan mansion rna nilon once inside and fig ving met anict licar their hostess ilia he charming hirs ee Ica boily georgina had a premonition that there wu was more to the place than tact met her bar eye ile he was forty before pearl H harbor gilbert was he her breath seemed to give ou out t and for a brief minute she put both both hands over her eyes todd T 0 dd and georgine Georg lne gave each other a horrified look 1 I cant tell you how sorry we are mrs airs peabody todd said ge gently 1 I can C an only on ay assure you I 1 haan hadn L heard a word of your husband nor of the family from anyone that Is not in connection with a murder will you forgive us and let us go as gracefully as possible 1 I dont know what youre talking about forgive you said nella peabody fretfully what difference would it make it if you had heard about it the facts there Ce georgene Georg orgine lne got up well never forget how good youve been to us taking in perfect strangers like this if excuse me now ill put things in my suitcase and get hold of barby do you have to go mrs airs peabody looked up startled 1 I if mr mckinnon Is interested in murders at least he might want to hear what happened im sure he would said georgine somewhat dryly hehe ile he might be able to help m me e ive never known the truth sometimes I 1 think I 1 may die if 1 I cant get at the truth she must have shivered for mrs airs peabody said ill make us some fresh coffee georgine did not meet todds dodds look for a moment there was no sound in the kitchen except the homely ones of running water and a spoon alic clicking k against metal mrs peabody ys I 1 s movements were nervously quick presently she sat down again and the percolator began its first pale bubbling now she said turning her gray eyes on todd im going to tell you why you never heard any more about miss Till sits death and dont let me forget and let the coffee stew itself to nothing because im likely she laughed a little to get passionate about this affair her mouth set hard for a moment the the worst of it is that after it began to dawn on me I 1 ask gilbert hed never opened the subject himself and I 1 I 1 probe and nag and have it look as if I 1 she stopped and got up hastily to refill the cream pitcher todd lit his cigarette and georganes Geor gines without expression without a meeting of eyes when the woman had returned to the table and switched off the percolator he said calmly 1 I gather that all you know about the case is completely objective that may be the best way for us to get the outline then he composed himself to listen with his motionless type of attention the Till sits were just about the earliest settlers around here those were the old ones the pioneer couple that came from maine in the sixties youve seen their pictures in the dining room perhaps adeline was the eldest shed be eighty six now if shed lived theron her brother was eight years younger and phoebe came last the first generation is all dead of course and theres only theron we call him the judge left of the second adeline Adel lne never married she bought their shares of this house from her brother and sister and made it hers shed done pretty well with managing her share of the inheritance and though she leave a huge estate she could live comfortably enough for all that long life I 1 think it must have been in 1935 that she had her first stroke she recovered from it partially at least and went on living here only she had susan labare a practical nurse to look after her and run the house she was quite a wonderful old lady s she he give way to her illness any more than she could help susie keep her in bed any where as much as she wanted aunt adeline got so she could move round the second floor with a cane though of course she go up or down stairs one of the clearest associations I 1 have with this house coming in and listening to find out if she was up you could hear her cane tapping from any of these rooms she paused for a moment look ing down at her hands georgine glanced involuntarily at the ceiling tapping tapping yet that sound she had wondered abo about ut that was supposed to be made by the rats had come fro from the attic she would swear to it just the same tapping how much of her family was A ras left todd inquired only the judge in her own generation in the next one nobody but gilbert who was the son of her younger sister phoebe Y you ou see that made him her ber next of kin after the judge TO BE CONTINUED |