and be s
muJ^ovQ
» Peggy Perm * W.N.U. RELEASE
THE STORY THUS FAR: Martha con
tinned the story ot how she had awak
ened to find Letty standing over her bed
with the knife in band. She and Tom had
taken the knife away from Letty, and
Martha had gone to the graveyard to
bnry It while Tom watched over his sick
wife. '*1 hid It—where you found It.” A
little later Letty suffered a hemorrhage.
"She died early this morning.” Bob
Reynolds pressed her further. “I did It!”
Martha screamed. "I killed her. 1 hated
her. She spread stories about Tom and
Miss MacTavish." Martha then went
Into detail of how she went to Alicia’s
house and watted for her chance, waited
until Jim MacTavish left Alicia and then
committed the murder.
CHAPTER XVI
“There’s a short cut through the
woods, and it isn’t far. I got my
aister to bed and to sleep. As I’ve
already told you, Tom was out of
the house. I found Mrs. Stevenson
was not alone. I waited—”
“She wasn’t alone?” Bob jerked
her up sharply.
Miss Martha shook her head.
“Mr. MacTavish was with her,”
she said, and now Megan held her
breath and her teeth were clenched.
“He left a few minutes after I got
there. They had been quarreling.
I could only hear a word or two, but
I could tell, just looking in at the
window, that Mr. MacTavish was
very angry and that Mrs. Stevenson
was laughing at him.”
Megan could see the picture as
though she herself had stood outside
that window, and it made her shud
der. Yet here was the thing that
had worried her father—an alibi.
She drew a breath of sharp relief.
“I waited until he had gone,” Miss
Martha went on wearily. “Then I
knocked and she opened the door.
She was surprised to see me, and
not very—pleasant. I tried to tell
her why I had come, but she only
laughed. She said that there must
be a lot of truth in the stories about
Tom and Miss MacTavish or he and
I would not have been so alarmed—
and she added that she knew that
Letty was—out of her mind—and
that she was a menace to the neigh
borhood. She said she intended to
start a movement to have her—com
mitted—” Her voice broke, and aft
er a superhuman effort at control,
she said thinly, “And so—I killed
her.”
It was once more Bob who broke
the tense, breathless pause. He still
sat on the corner of the desk, and
he scrubbed out the glowing tip of
his cigarette as he spoke, his eyes
on the crushed cigarette in the old
glass ashtray, his voice very quiet
and gentle, “The truth is. Miss
Evans, that you spoke to Mrs. Ste
venson, and she answered you about
as you have said. You did not kill
her—but when you turned to leave
the house, you were astounded to see
your sister in the doorway behind
you, and realized that she had fol
lowed you. And it was, in reality,
your sister, not you, who killed Mrs.
Stevenson.”
Bob sighed. He ran his hands
through his hair and stood up, white
and tired, haggard almost, as though
the long scene had been almost as
much of an ordeal for him as for
the broken, suddenly old woman be
fore them.
“But how could you possibly
know—” Megan demanded of Bob.
It was late in the afternoon of an
extremely hectic day after all the
loose ends and the final details of
the tragic story had been cleared
up. Miss Martha and Tom had de
parted on their sad errand of “tak
ing Letty home” to lay beside the
little son who had never lived.
Megan had asked Bob and Lau
rence to stay for supper and they
had accepted gratefully. And now
they were in the living room, with
Jim listening and looking on, with
drawn and pale, but genial and
pleasant when spoken to.
"I didn’t know, of course,” Bob
answered frankly. “It was just that
—well, call it a hunch, what you
will. Only I kept hearing something
in Miss Martha's words that didn’t
quite ring true. What she was say
ing would be completely sincere and
convincing. Then something would
creep into the story, nothing 1 could
set my finger on, but it was there
and I could sense it. Especially that
very elaborate ruse of hiding the
knife. If it had really been a knife
out of the kitchen of her own home,
she might have hidden it very care
fully about the house. But to get
herself up like a particularly terri
fying ghost and go sneaking out into
the night to hide it in the one place
she felt sure would never be found—
well, that had me puzzled.”
"I thought of that, too, of course, ’
Laurence contributed.
“Then when she began to talk
about going to Mrs. Stevenson’s—
remember she mentioned the short
cut through the woods? Yet she had
been at some pains to assure us
that her sister’s strength was not
sufficient for her to walk to the Ste
venson place. But if there was a
short cut through the woods, and if
her sister, in one of her periods of
lucidity, had followed her and over
heard her quarrel with the Steven
son woman, and the sister had been
frightened, excited, as she most cer
tainly would have been—do you see?
The pattern is the sister doing the
deed—not Miss Martha. I saw it
suddenly, and—well, you know what
happened.”
Megan slipped away to offer her
services to Annie in finishing up sup
per, but Annie said, "No’m, honey,
I’s got eve’ything undeh control—
y’all go out and git yo’se’f a li’l
bits o’ fresh air, ’fo’ suppeh.”
And gratefully. Megan obeyed her.
It was already dusk, though not
yet dark enough to obscure the
vision. She crossed the backyard to
a big old rough bench beneath a live
oak tree and sat down, her head
back, breathing deep of the crisp
night air.
The night was very still, save for
the faint shouts of children playing
somewhere along the highway; be
hind her in the barn she heard the
rustling of the cows as they settled
themselves down for the night. The
whole scene was quiet and calm and
peaceful. So peaceful that it was
hard to believe the horror and trag
edy and terror that had gripped the
place so short a time before.
She couldn’t bear to think of Tom
any more. She wouldn’t let herself.
The glimmer of her light-colored
frock through the dusk led him to
her.
and she was glad when she saw
Laurence coming towards her
across the dusky dooryard.
The glimmer of her light-colored
frock through the dusk led him to
her. He called her name uncertain
ly, and when she answered him he
came on to her, something dark in
his hands.
"Your scarf," he said. "Annie
felt you might catch cold out here—
she said supper would be ready in
ten or fifteen minutes."
Megan started to rise, but he put
his hand on her shoulder and
pressed her back on the bench.
Megan relaxed a little. He lit a
cigarette and they sat for a little
companionably in silence.
"It’s all like a terrible dream,"
she said huskily, and Laurence nod
ded.
"But you’ve waked up now, Me
gan, and sensible people don’t brood
over bad dreams or let them affect
their future lives,!" he reminded
her almost sternly. “There is one
thing out of the bad dream that you
can remember, though—Fallon is
free. After a decent interval of
time—”
She shivered and said impulsive
ly, ‘‘I don’t feel I could ever bear
to—see him again."
Laurence turned on her sharply,
angrily.
"Now you’re talking like a fool!”
he told her violently. “Just because
a man has gone through hell—and
a hell that was no fault of his own—
no woman with a decent instinct to
her name can throw him aside!"
Megan caught her breath and
looked at him in surprise.
"I didn’t mean that—after ail,
aren’t you taking rather a lot for
granted?" she protested heatedly.
"Tom Fallon and I were—friends—”
"Tom Fallon was—and is—in love
with you, and you know it," Lau
rence told her bluntly. "Even if I
hadn’t known it, the way he looked
at you when he said good-by—and
besides, have you forgotten that you
told me yourself you were in love
with him?”
"I—I guess I am,” she admitted
humbly.
"You guess you are!” Laurence
was caustic.
"Well, what 1 meant was—I’m all
mixed up and confused—it’s been so
horrible—” she stammered faintly.
“That’s understandable—” Lau
rence conceded grudgingly. "But
after a while, you’ll pull yourself to
gether and be able to see clearly—
and in a year or so—”
Annie's voice from the kitchen
door, that spilled an oblong of gold
en-amber light into the backyard,
was the most welcome sound Megan
had ever heard in all her life, and
she rose so swiftly that Laurence’s
mouth tightened a little and hia eyes
were cold and hard as he followed
her across the yard to the kitchen
and into the dining room.
Healthily tired at the end of the
day, sleeping soundly at night, Me
gan discovered, as week followed
week, that the memory of those
dark, evil days when Alicia Steven
son’s malicious tongue had wagged
so freely, was growing fainter.
And she realized that Pleasant
Grove, as a community, was also
recovering from the darkness when
Alicia’s tongue had set old friends
to eyeing each other with more or
less veiled suspicion. Other farm
families were finding release from
dark memories in the ever new, yet
age-old miracle of the dark earth,
the tiny seeds, the new, tender green
sprouts that meant life and hope and
the future.
She was touched and grateful to
Jim for his honest, if bungling, at
tempts to help her. She tried not
to let him know that his hands were
clumsy with the delicate, fragile
plants that he tried to pack. She
knew he was bored, and that he
resented the hard, back-breaking la
bor that it takes to run a farm ef
fectively.
He came back from Meadersville
late one afternoon, his eyes shining
with excitement, obviously with
news that he considered of great
Importance.
It was already dusk, and the dark
ness had driven Megan in from the
fields. She had shed her earth
stained dungarees, had a shower and
was dressed for supper, busy in the
kitchen helping Annie with the last
duties of getting the meal on the
table, when Jim came hurrying in.
“The most marvelous thing has
happened, Meggie—I’ve been offered
a splendid opportunity!”
“Tell me,” said Megan, eager and
Interested, loving him for the under
standing she had acquired of him
since his moment of self-revelation
after Alicia’s death.
"Well, you know the county news
paper in Meadersville? The Senti
nel?” demanded Jim, as eager and
excited as a boy. “Dick Morgan pub
lishes it. Well, Dick’s been drafted
and he wants me to take over until
he comes back!”
He beamed at her happily and
Megan said quickly, "It is wonder
ful, Dad—but—well, you’ve never
had any newspaper experience—do
you think—”
Jim looked a little sulky.
“Oh, I know that, but after all,
Dick feels that I have other qualifi
cations,” he pointed out. “And Mrs.
Morgan will stay on as business
manager and write the woman’s
page and all that. What I’ll have
to do is write the editorials, and
what news I can pick up. Mostly,
right now, it comes from a wire
service, because about the only two
things people are interested in are
the war and politics. And there’s a
fellow in Washington who acts as
correspondent for a lot of county
newspapers, Dick’s paper among
them. And Dick’s got three weeks
before he reports for induction and
he feels that in that length of time he
can get me settled In, help me to
learn the ropes and all that. Of
course, the salary is really laugh
able—but I get a share of the prof
its nnd all that.”
“It Is wonderful, Dad, and of
course you can do it!” Megan as
sured him, sincerely. "I’m terribly
proud of you.”
Jim looked at her oddly and then
he asked, almost curiously:
“Are you, Megan? Funny—I can’t
remember when anybody ever said
they were proud of me.”
Megan felt a little quick mist of
tears in her eyes, but she knew this
was no time for the display of pity
that she felt for his humility—his
tacit admission that he had always
hungered for appreciation, even
while he had admitted to himself
that he deserved no such apprecia
tion.
“But of course I’m proud of you.
Dad—now you’ll get to make use of
all that study and research you have
done these last few years!” she told
him happily. “I’ll bet there isn’t an
other man in the whole county who
has read as much, or studied as
much, of current events as you
have.”
Then he said hesitantly, "Of
course, Meggie, I know I promised
to help you with the farm this year
—but I hate to turn down a chance
like this. A chance to—well, to be
somebody important, and to have
people listen to my views.”
“Now don’t you worry about the
farm, or me.” Megan assured him
firmly.
Jim beamed at her happily, ob
viously relieved. He would ride to
and from Meadersville each day
with three men from Pleasant Grove
who “commuted” to Meadersville
offices. The paper came off the
press every Friday. It might be
necessary for him to stay over in
town Thursday night, but the hotel
wasn't bad and he could stay there
He had his plans made.
Megan, listening to him while she
did the mending that always occu
pied her sizable work basket, thought
that he seemed younger and more
vividly alive than he had been in a
long time, and was deeply and self
ishly glad that he had found a job
that he felt was worthy of his ability.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
HOUSEHOLD
M fSM OS*0$ lyjtynn M
Eggs Add a Thrifty Note to Menus
(See Recipes Below)
Economy Pointers
When you feel that you want to
be economical in the midst of ris
ing living costs, I
I a good idea to
follow is to serve
. an inexpensive
^ main dish every
i other day. In
l this way, you
| won’t feel that
I you are working
any hardship on
the family, and at the same time,
there will be plenty of good eating
in the economy dishes.
Eggs are plentiful and economi
cal, so are fresh fruits and vegeta
bles. Fish is also a mighty good
food that lends nice variety to the
menu.
Vegetables can be combined with
other vegetables or with fish and
eggs to add color as well as flavor
to the food. Consider for ex
ample, these egg cutlets that are
served with peas:
Egg Cutlets with Creamed Peas.
(Serves 6)
2 tablespoons fat
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
% teaspoon salt
% teaspoon pepper
6 diced, hard-cooked eggs
1 egg, beaten
14 cup dry bread crumbs
2 cups cooked green peas
2 cups well-seasoned white sauce
Melt fat, add flour, then milk
and seasonings. Cook, stirring con
stantly until thick and smooth.
Add hard-cooked eggs and chill
thoroughly. Shape into cutlets or
patties, dip in egg, then bread
crumbs. Brown on both sides in
shallow fat. Heat and top each cut
let with green pea sauce.
Stuffed Baked Potatoes.
6 baked potatoes
% cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
V* cup deviled ham
% teaspoon salt
Cut a slice from top of each
potato, and scoop out the potato
carefully. Mash
potatoes free
from lumps, then
heat milk and
salt and add to
potatoes. Beat ^
until light and *
fluffy. Add butter
and deviled ham.
Beat well. Pile ~
lightly in potato
shells, place on a "
shallow pan and bake in a very
hot oven (450 degrees) for 10 min
utes or until lightly browned.
Here’s an easy dish that can be
made with an inexpensive meat and
a favorite vegetable:
Meat 'n Corn Cakes.
(Serves 6)
1 pound ground beef
% cup dry bread crumbs
% cup milk
% teaspoon salt
% teaspoon pepper
1 egg, slightly beaten
LYNN SAYS:
Garnish Your Salads: Add to
their appeal by making them
pretty enough to eat. but always
use an edible garnish.
Slice carrots paper thin, roll
around your finger and chill in
ice water.
Shape cream or cottage cheese
in balls, dust lightly with pap
rika or roll in finely chopped nuts
or olives.
Pare a cucumber as you would
an apple, in a continuous strip.
Chill in ice water.
Slice crisp green peppers and
bermuda onions very thin, sep
arate rings and chill in ice wa
ter. Toss over vegetable or meat
salad.
Cut sweet pickles almost to the
stem. Spread apart to look like
a fan.
LYNN CHAMBER’S MENUS
•Stuffed Squash Bacon
Cottage Cheese and Fruit Salad
Carrot and Celery Strip
Muffins and Butter
Chocolate Cake Beverage
•Recipe given.
% cup diced onion
1 cup canned whole kernel corn
1% cup tomato soup or tomato
sauce
Mix ingredients in order given.
Form into patties and fry in two
tablespoons of fat until golden
brown. Place in a greased casserole
and top with tomato soup or sauce.
Bake in a moderate oven (350
degrees) for 45 minutes.
Sausage and Oyster Loaf.
(Serves 6)
1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 pint oysters ground while raw
2 cups soft bread crumbs
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Mix all ingredients together and
place in an ungreased loaf pan.
Bake in a slow (325 degree) oven
until loaf leaves edges of the pan.
Dsain excess fat off occasionally.
Serve with hot hollandaise sauce
and green vegetables.
Before you start using your newly
canned vegeta
f bles, make sure
all the old ones
are gone from
the shelf. Here is
fine supper dish
that will use
many h o m e -
canned vegeta
' bles easily:
Country btyle Vegetables.
(Serves 6)
14 pound bacon or salt pork
114 cups onions, sliced
114 cups canned carrots
114 cups canned string beans
114 cups canned kernel corn
114 cups potatoes, sliced
1 cup medium white sauce
14 cup buttered crumbs
Cook bacon or salt pork slightly,
then add onion and cook until crisp
and brown. Arrange vegetables in
layers in a buttered casserole and
sprinkle each layer with bacon or
salt pork. Pour white sauce over
all. Top with buttered crumbs and
add a dash of paprika. Bake in a
moderate oven 20 to 25 minutes until
casserole is browned.
Cream vegetables — any vegeta
ble that will hold its shape, and
serve with bits of diced leftover
chicken or ham. This makes a nour
ishing, week-night supper.
The long yellow squash are deli
cious when properly prepared.
You’ll not need any meat with this
one:
•Stuffed Cymling Squash.
(Serves 6)
3 medium sized cymling squash
% cup thick white sauce
1 tablespoon grated onion
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
3 chopped hard-cooked eggs
I cup grated cheese
% cup buttered crumbs
Boil squash 10 minutes. Drain
and scoop out center. Mash pulp,
add white sauce, onion, green pep
per, cheese and eggs. Fill shells
with mixture, sprinkle with crumbs
and paprika. Place in a shallow pan
containing a little water. Bake in a
moderate oven 20 to 25 minutes.
Veal Rice Loaf
(Serves ')
2 pounds ground veal shoulder
1 pound ground pork
1 cup cooked rice
4 eggs, well beaten
% cup milk
Y* cup chopped pimiento
Yt teaspoon paprika
Salt and pepper
Have meats ground together. Com
bine with rice. Season with salt and
pepper, paprika and pimiento. Mois
ten with eggs and milk. Pack into a
greased loaf pan or ring mold and
bake in 350 degree oven for 1%
hours. Serve with mushroom sauce.
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
cjCooL Jredli,pretty 2^ay rjCony
juniors tjCihe ^Jivo-piece Jrochd
8046
34 50
Flatters Mature Figure
pOMFORTABLE, practical and
neat-as-a-pin home frock for
day-long charm. Note the unusual
yoke treatment, the smooth lines
60 flattering to the more mature
figure. Try it in a brightly hued
stripe with novelty buttons in a
contrasting shade.
• • •
Pattern No. 8046 Is designed for sizes
34, 36 . 38. 40, 42, 44 , 46, 48 and 50. Size
36 requires 3 yards of 35 or 39-inch fabric.
11-18
Teen Age Two-Piecer
fOOD season after season is tha
becoming two-piece dress.
Right for every occasion, and not
difficult for the teen-age sewer to
whip up. This attractive version
has a button-front blouse with
youthful neckline and peplum.
• « •
Pattern No. 1531 comes In sizes 11. 12,
13. 14, 18 and 18. Size 12. blouse, l‘,i yards
of 35 or 39-Inch: skirt. IT* yards.
Send your order to:
SEWINC. CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT.
330 South Wells St. Chicago 7, 111.
Enclose 25 cents In coins for each
pattern desired.
Pattern No_Size
Name_——
Address--— — (
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