anc/be s ^ mi/Sore k Peggy Pern ^ w.mu. release THE STORY THUS FAR. “Alicia Stevenson has been murdered!" The ■tory was all over Pleasant Grove In minutes. Late In the afternoon Tom ■topped by to get milk, and they talked •bout Alicia’s death. Meg was upset, •nd Involuntarily Tom put his arms around her and called her "darling." That evening Meg and her father sat looking at each other, each remember ing that the other was out late the night before. “Did you do It?" she finally asked. "No—did you?" She was stunned. Jim MacTavish suggested they make a bargain: “You forget that I was out of the house—I’ll forget you were trysting with Tom Fallon." A hot tide of crim son covered Meg. CHAPTER XI She caught her breath and could not believe she had spoken, though the words seemed to quiver in let ters of fire between them. Her fa ther stiffened with a little Jerk. His face was white and hard and his eyes were veiled, so that she could not guess his thoughts. For a moment that seemed a cen tury long his eyes met hers, and then he said very softly, "No, my dear—did you?” "Father! ” It was a shocked, in credulous gasp that came scarcely above her breath. "How—how can you even—think—" Her father lifted his shoulders in a gesture that was not quite a shrug and drawled coolly, "Why not? You seemed perfectly willing to believe I had!” "Oh, no. Dad." In that breathless moment the endearing diminutive came easily from her tongue. "I didn’t think you had—I couldn’t ever believe you had—” “Yet you put the question very easily,” he reminded her dryly. "It—it was only that I heard you come in last night—a little after one—” • "A few minutes after you came in, if I remember,” said her father calmly, his eyes never leaving her white, ravaged face, r “Suppose we make a bargain, my dear Megan.” Her father’s voice came softly, low-pitched, scarcely above a whisper, in the tone of one conspirator to another. "A — a bargain. Father?” she managed faintly. He nodded. "You forget that I was out of the house—I’ll forget that you were—er—trysting with Tom Fallon on the Ridge,” he said in that gen tle, yet somehow terrifying drawl. A hot tide of crimson poured over her face and reached from the collar of her neat cotton print frock to the very roots of her hair. "I wasn't—trysting with Tom Fal lon!” Her mouth twisted with dis taste at the thought, and the impli cation. "But you did meet him there—” "Purely by accident!” she flashed. Her father smiled thinly. "I be lieve you, my dear—though I am a little doubtful as to whether other people would, if it ever became nec ’’ essary for other people to know of that—er—accidental meeting.” She put her face in her hands for a moment and her father watched her with a curious tensity. "But, oi course, I can see no rea son why anyone save the two of us should know anything about it,” he went on smoothly. “Surely if my daughter and I wish to go for a walk in the fresh night air, it is no body’s business but our own. Un fortunately, in a murder investiga tion a great many seemingly unre lated facts come out. Of course, there’s no likelihood that we should be in any way connected with this terrible affair. Neither of us had any motive to want Alicia out of the way—that is, I had none. I hoped to marry her!” She stared at him, caught by some odd note in his voice. And after a moment he answered the look in her eyes, "Of course if it should become known that you were violently op posed to me marrying her, that you resented the thought of having her here in the house, and had been un able to persuade me to give up my plans to marry her—well—” Once again he lifted his shoulders in that gesture that was not quite a shrug, but that was an effective dismissal. Megan drew a long, hard breath. “You know I couldn’t possibly have—” She set her breath against the sob that clutched at her throat. "Of course, my dear—I know that you are completely incapable of any such deed of violence!” her father assured her, and there was a warmth that was very close to ten derness in his voice. “But it won’t be what I know that will count, Me gan—it will be what we can prove —or disprove!” He let her sit huddled in a heap for a moment as though to think that over. And then he said quiet ly, “That’s why I say there is no reason why anyone should be told that you and I were out of the house —though, unfortunately, not togeth er—for several hours last night!” "Whom did you think I’d be likely to tell?” she asked him huskily, after a moment in which she fought to pull herself together so that speech was at all possible. “There will be an inquest, of course.’’ he reminded her. “Un doubtedly we, as her closest neigh bors—and I suppose her closest ac quaintances—will be called to testi fy. And if we simply say that we went to bed a little after ten—” "But that’s perjury," she whis pered faintly. Her father’s face darkened an grily. "Don’t be an idiot! You did not kill her. Neither did I. So what possible difference can it make—if nobody knows that we went for a walk? I’m absolutely positive that I wasn’t seen; I feel equally sure you were not. So where’s the harm if we protect ourselves in a situa tion that could easily become very unpleasant?" She hesitated and he said quietly, "Because, Megan, if it becomes known that you and I were not in bed and asleep—that you were out on the Ridge with Fallon—it’s not only going to be extremely unpleas ant for you, but it’s going to finish him, once and for all. He’ll never be able to get another Job as a teacher no matter how innocent and accidental your meeting was. Peo ple will remember Alicia’s little thrust about your spending 'hours together on the Ridge,’ and people are good at adding two and two and getting six or seven." Megan said quietly, "Where were you. Father?” " ’Scuse me, suh—but could I talk to yo’—fo’ a few minutes?” He sat very still for a moment, his eyes clinging to hers, and she thought he scarcely seemed to breathe. And then he said casually, ‘‘I went for a walk.” And as proof that he had had his say on the subject and no intention of speaking again, he got up and left the room. She couldn’t oelieve that her fa ther had killed Alicia Stevenson. It was an incredible thought; but he had been out of the house, and he was very anxious that no one should know about that. And she thought of herself and Tom Fallon, on the Ridge. And then she remembered his face tonight and the tone of his voice when that little word ‘‘darling” had slipped out — the look in his eyes, naked and poignant and un ashamed, the warmth and tender ness in his shaken voice that had been like a shining garment wrapped about her chilled body. “Oh, no—no—I won’t hav< it like that! I won’t be in love with him—I won’t!” she wailed, deep in her frightened, stricken mind. But her heart went relentlessly on, "You can’t help it! You can’t stop it. You didn’t ask for it—but you can never deny it! He knows it, too— he feels as you do—you saw it in his eyes, heard it in his voice tonight. You love him and he loves you—and he has a wife who has a greater claim on him than if there were children. Your love can never, nev er mean anything except heartbreak and self-denial! You know that— but you can’t stop loving him! Any more than you can stop breathing!” The Inquest was held the following afternoon in the rickety, nondescript little frame building where the Draft Board met, and it seemed that, ex cept for the few bedridden in the town, everybody was there. Everybody, that is, except Megan and her father. For contrary to Jim’s uneasy fear, neither he nor Megan had been called to appear. Little Betty Hendrix, Bill Logan, Mrs. Stuart, and a few of the others who had been first on the scene had been called. Megan did not quite know whether to be more relieved, or more frightened that neither she nor her father had received orders to appear. But she had firmly declined Mrs. Stuart's hearty invi tation that she go, anyway, Megan made herself keep busy throughout a day that seemed age long. When Annie put midday din ner beside Megan and asked, a faint uneasiness in her voice, “Miss Meg gie, is Mist’ Larry cornin’ tomorrow night?” "I suppose so, Annie," Megan an swered, and quivered a little inside at the thought of facing Laurence with the thing that was in her heart; the thing that had been there—who could say how long?—but whose presence she had not discovered un til under the shock of Alicia’s death. "I like to talk to him, Miss Meggle —ef yo’ think he aln’ cornin’ any how, how 'bout yo’ calling him up and askin’ him to? So I could talk to him?" Annie was grave-eyed and portentous. Megan, Jerked out of her unhappy abstraction by Annie’s tone, looked up at her curiously. "Why, Annie, what’s wrong? Why do you want to talk to Mr. Larry?" she asked, puzzled. Annie drew herself up a little and there was a gentle, yet implacable dignity about her as she said firmly, "It’s a private matteh. Miss Meggie —but it’s powahful important. Yo’ call him to’ me?" “Yes, of course, Annie," Megan answered and Annie thanked her and went out of the room, padding softly in the heelless felt slippers that she wore to "ease" her feet. But Megan did not have to call Laurence, for at about four o’clock he came down the road and turned in at the gate grinning at her warmly and happily. “I came over with the coroner and some of the county officers," he told her cheerfully, dropping down on the steps at her feet and baring his head to the soft wind. "Pleasant Grove’s certainly getting her name in the papers. There was a newspaper correspondent for one of the Atlanta papers at the Inquest.” Megan asked, after a moment, “What—what did the inquest find—’’ “Death by means of a sharp in strument at the hands of a party or parties unknown,” answered Lau rence, looking up at her white, drawn face with surprise. "Oh look here, darling, I had no idea you were such a close friend of hers.” "I—wasn’t, really," admitted Me gan. “But—I knew her and—it’s been a shock—’’ "Of course," said Larry gently. He took her hand in his and held it closely. "We won’t talk about it—’’ "Yes!" said Megan so sharply that Laurence turned surprised eyes upon her. Megan managed a faint smile and said, "I—I really want to know—whatever they could learn—” "Well, it wasn’t much," said Lau rence. "No trace of the weapon, a knife or a dagger of some sort. No trace of robbery or anything of that kind. The girl at the bank said she had cashed her usual monthly in come check for fifty dollars, a few days ago, and her purse was found with more than thirty dollars in it. They feel sure that if she had sur prised a burglar at work, he would not have left the purse. They be lieve that she was killed by someone she knew—or at least, someone she was not afraid of. There were no signs of a struggle in the place." Megan sat very still, her hands locked tightly in her lap. Killed by someone she knew! Someone she was not afraid of! “There was one sensation,” said Laurence after a moment, not look ing at Megan. His eyes were on the garden, where, despite the fact that it was almost Christmas, a few late zinnias and marigolds were still in bloom and the chrysanthemums were great shaggy things of glowing beauty. “That was when the tele gram from her husband arrived—’’ “Her—husband?" she repeated in credulously. Laurence nodded. “That seemed as much of a shock to everybody there as it is to you,” he told her. “But it seems that when the detec tives were going through her papers yesterday they found that she had a husband and that he was the one who was sending her fifty dollars a month. They wired him and the answer was brought to the inquest this afternoon. The husband is somewhere in the west, but he’s fly ning east to claim the body. Should be here tomorrow or next day, they thought.” “But she was a widow!” Megan protested, dazedly. “Apparently not,” said Laurence, looking up as Annie appeared be hind the screen door that led into the hall. “Hello, Annie—how about putting another plate on the table and letting me stay for supper?” “Yessuh, Mist’ Larry—us sho’ be glad to,” she assured him, beaming, and then asked uneasily, “ 'Scuse me, suh—but could I talk to yo’—to' a few minutes?” Laurence looked surprised, but got to his feet. “Of course, Annie—don’t tell me you want to divorce Amos, after all these years!” he laughed, excusing himself to Megan as he moved to wards the screen door which Annie held open for him. "I ain't suah, Mist’ Larr.,. dat I ain’t gwine git rid o’ dat shif’less, no’-count nigger, sho’ nuff!” she as sured him darkly as she led the way to the kitchen. Megan got up from the chair where she had been sitting for more than an hour. In the late after noon, the sunlight had been warm and pleasant here, but with the com ing of dusk, a chill little wind got up and tiptoed through the trees, and she went into the living room, where she built up the fire, making it brisk and cheerful. (TO BE CONTINUED) Potatoes are plentiful In supply and will spoil If you don’t use them. Use them In place of scarce wheat products as the starchy food for dinner, as stuffing or even in bak ing. Wheatless Meals If you want to have fun, and at the same time, test your ingenuity, ao wnat some oi the public eating places are doing during the wheat ) shortage: On one day ot the week, serve completely wheat-free meals. You may even learn to like it so well, that you can stretch this to tw'o days of the week and thereby help feed the famine-stricken coun tries. Why not try it? What are some of the foods to use in place of bread and flour? Here is a partial list to help you: pota toes. corn and cornmeal, com cere als, hominy, oatmeal, rice and other wheat-free cereals. You might start off breakfast with cornmeal muffins or potato pan cakes in place of the customary rolls, coffee-cake or toast. Use po tatoes plentifully for both luncheon and dinner, and if you want bread, make some oatmeal gems, 100 per cent rye bread, or corn sticks. The family will appreciate them as a welcome change. Non-wheat cereals like cornmeal and oatmeal can be used for stuff ing and crumbing in place of bread or flour. Only in a very few cases will you be able to tell the differ ence, and even if you can, you won’t find that difference unpleasant. Now that the vegetable and fruit season is here in earnest, fill the family on salads and fruity des serts. Everyone yearns for in-sea son produce and large quanti ties of fruits and vegetables will spell both health and pleasant eat ing to the family. Look over these recipes which I’ve dished up for you today. Per haps they will start you thinking about how you can help in serving some wheat-free meals every week and still give the family complete satisfaction at the dining table. •Potato Cups With Tuna Fish. (Serves 4) 114 pounds potatoes 1 cup water 1 teaspoon salt 14 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons vinegar % teaspoon grated onion 14 cup diced celery 14 cup diced chopped olives 14 cup grated American cheese Lettuce Wash and peel potatoes and cut into pieces. Cook until done in salted water. (Water should be evap orated by the end of the cooking time.) Press through a ricer, add milk. 14 of the mayonnaise. 4 tea spoons of the vinegar and y« tea spoon of the grated onion. Beat un til well blended, then spoon and shape into nests or cups and chill. Add remaining ingredients to one 7-ounce can of flaked tuna fish, chill and then serve into potato cups. Sprinkle top with cheese and garnish with crisp greens. LYNN SAYS: Save flour when you bake: You can stretch your flour supply by adding fruits, meats and vegeta bles to your hot breads and dinner dishes. For example, when you make pancakes or waffles, any of the following may be used to give you more from your recipe, with out additional flour: chopped ap ples. mashed bananas, blueber ries, diced ham and cheese, sau sage meat partially cooked and drained, canned or cooked corn, and nuts. When making home - baked breads, use dried fruits and oat meal whenever possible, in muf fins. bread and biscuits. Prunes, raisins and figs are fine for flavor and texture. In place of bread, occasionally use leftover cereals for the starchy food for breakfast. Add one cup of ground leftover meat to cereal and chill, then slice and fry. Or, add chopped apples to cereal, fry as for french toast and serve with syrup or honey. Sweeten and flavor cereal and bake with eggs and milk and serve as a dessert. LYNN CHAMBERS’ MENUS •Potato Cups with Tuna Fish Tossed Vegetable Salad: Green Beans, Celery, Onions. Radishes, Spinach Leaves Corn Sticks Apple Butter •Peach Melba Beverage •Recipes given. Here is a vegetable dish that is substantial enough to fill in for both bread and meat on some day: Corn Cutlets. (Serves 6) % cup thick white sauce % teaspoon salt % teaspoon pepper V* teaspoon paprika 2 hard-cooked eggs finely diced 1 cup cream-style corn Combine ingredients in order giv en. Divide into six equal parts and shape into cutlets or patties. Roll in crushed cereal crumbs and brown in a small amount of drippings or fat, turning once. Serve with melt ed cheese, if desired. Corn Sticks. (Makes 14 corn sticks) 1 cup corn meal or water ground corn meal H teaspoon salt % teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder % teaspoon soda 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk 2 tablespoons melted fat 1 egg, slightly beaten Sift corn meal, salt, sugar, baking powder and soda together. Add but terrmik and rat to beaten egg. Add to the corn meal mixture all at once, stirring quickly and vig orously until just( mixed. Place in' hot, greased cornstick pans. Bake in a hot (425-degree) oven for 20 minutes or until done. If you're looking for a hearty sup per with a stick-to-the-ribs main dish and a light, summery dessert, you’ll want to clip the following recipes to have on hand. Savory Baked Beans and Hamburger. (Serves 4) 2 tablespoons fat or drippings H cup sliced onions H cup diced celery 54 pound chuck, ground 2% cups baked beans or cooked kidney beans 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 94 teaspoon salt 94 teaspoon powdered sage H cup water or canned tomato juice Heat fat in skillet, then add on ions, celery and ground meat. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Add re maining ingredients and heat thor oughly. You don’t need bread when you make meat loaf. In its place you can substitute oatmeal, chopped nuts, ground leftover vegetables or leftover mashed potatoes. •Peach Melba. (Serves 8) 2 cups fresh raspberries H cup currant jelly % cup granulated sugar 114 tablespoons cornstarch 1 tablespoon cold water 8 canned peach halves 1 quart vanilla ice cream Mash raspberries, add currant jelly and sugar and bring to a boil. Add cornstarch mixed to a smooth paste with cold water and cook, while stirring, until thick and clear. Strain and cool. Place one peach half, cut side up, in each sherbet glass. All with ice cream and serve with sauce poured over the ice cream. This sauce Melba may also be served over orange ice cream or lemon sherbet for delicious effect. Mocha Peach Shake. (Serves 4) 4 canned cling peach halves 2 teaspoons soluble powdered coffee 14 cup hot water 1 cup vanilla ice cream 1 cup light cream Mash peaches and press through sieve. Dissolve coffee with hot wa ter. Combine peaches, dissolved coffee, ice cream and cream, and beat with a rotary beater until smooth. Released by Western Newspaper Union. SEWING CIRCLE PATTERNS Ijouth^uf, ‘Ueriatile Swo-Piecer Wah Dltii Slim Princeii 3)reii » « i m .8056 34-48 8033 10-16 Smart Two-Piecer DOPULAR with every teen-ager * is the attractive two-piece frock that makes up so handsomely in a variety of fabrics. This exciting version has a pretty square neck and yoke edged in ric rac, and two bows perched atop pepl&m pleats. Straight smooth skirt. • • • Pattern No. 8033 comes In sizes 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. Size 11, blouse, 2 yards of 35 or 39-lnch; skirt, l^fc yards; 2>,i yards ric rac. I ASK ME A \ } ANOTHER * 1 ? ■ i 7 A General Quiz 7 1. How many capitals did the United States have since the Dec laration of Independence? 2. Where did Portland cement gets its name? 3. Did spaghetti originate in It aly? 4. The walls of what city came tumbling down because of the shattering effects of sound waves? 5. What former President was chief justice of the United States? 6. Who made the comment by song, “I’ll never, never find a bet ter friend than Old Dog Tray”? 7. Where does ambergris come from? 8. What did the Greeks worship under the name of Boreas? 9. The name given the steers man of a racing shell is what? 10. Submarines spend more time on the surface than submerged, even in wartime. Why is this? The Answers 1. Nine. 2. From “Portland stone” which comes from England. It bears a close resemblance to Portland ce ment. 3. No. Marco Polo introduced spaghetti to Italy from China. 4. Jericho. 5. William Howard Taft. 6. Stephen Foster. 7. It is yielded by sick whales. 8. The north wind. 9. Coxswain. 10. To conserve and recharge their batteries, which must be used when submerged. Hungary’s Inflation The greatest inflation since Ger many’s financial collapse in the early 1920s is now disrupting the economic life of Hungary. Its pen go, whose par value is 17% cents in United States money, has dropped to the point where 3,500, 000 pengo are required to purchase an article that cost one pengo be fore the war. Slimming Princess THIS delightfully slenderizing princess dress is ideal for th* beginner—no belt to bother with, just smooth easy sewing. Narrow lace is used to edge the scalloped neck, front closing and cool wing sleeves. • • • Pattern No. 8056 Is designed for sizes 34 . 36, 38 . 40 . 42. 44 . 46 and 48. Size 36. 4 yards of 36-tnch fabric; 3ti yards of 39-Inch. New—Exciting—Different—the sammei leene of FASHION. Send twenty-live cents for year copy of this 62-page booh of Ideas and patterns for all homo oewers . . . sug gestions by nationally known fashion edi tors . . . special patterns by top-flight Amrrlean designers . . . contest designs by America's talented Juniors . . . free sboolder pad pattern printed In boph. SEWINfl CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT. 530 Sontb Wells St. Chicago 7, HI. 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