Free Miss Dimple and the Slightly Bewildered Angel by Mignon F. Ballard Page A

authorities have learned any more details.” Lou dropped a handful of silverware on the table and Jo took the hint and set two places for her sister and her husband.
    â€œCharlie told me Miss Dimple and Virginia Balliew were going to try to speak to the woman’s husband while he’s here to make arrangements with Harvey,” Jo said. “Wonder what they’ll find out.”
    â€œWhatever it is, they won’t tell us.”
    â€œMaybe they will, and maybe they won’t.” Jo smiled. “What’s the name of that town where this woman lived? Somewhere in south Georgia, I think.”
    Lou nodded. “Fieldcroft,” she said. Now, what did her sister have up her sleeve?
    *   *   *
    â€œIf anyone has mending or something that needs hemming, pass it along to me,” Augusta announced that evening. It was Friday, the school week over, and everyone relaxed in the parlor after enjoying a savory vegetable omelette with homemade bread and a piquant salad of apples, nuts, and bananas. And after halfhearted protests, Phoebe Chadwick and her boarders filled Augusta’s mending basket to overflowing.
    â€œAre you sure you don’t mind?” Lily asked, tossing in a blouse with a torn buttonhole; others soon added a skirt with a jagged tear, another that needed hemming, and an assortment of holey socks. Phoebe was reluctant to contribute her old tweed jacket with a rip in the sleeve. “I don’t even know if this can be fixed, Augusta, and I hesitate to ask you to take the time,” she said.
    Augusta shook her head and smiled. “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop, they say, and I surely don’t want any dealings with that fellow, so let’s at least give it a try.”
    The house was quiet the next morning, with Augusta tucked away in her room with her sewing basket, and others busy with various tasks. Dimple, with a stack of workbooks to grade, took advantage of the spacious dining room table and had settled down to work, when someone knocked at the front door. Being the closest to answer, she was surprised to find Jo Carr and her sister on the porch, and of course she invited them in, as it was a chilly October morning.
    Jo came directly to the point. “You’re just the person we wanted to see,” she began. “Miss Dimple, I have an offer for you—”
    At that point, her sister gave her a jab with her elbow and Jo stopped abruptly and then continued. “Excuse me … we have an offer for you.”
    What in the world are these two up to? Dimple wondered. They were too old to be selling Girl Scout cookies, and the Scouts had even discontinued that and switched to calendars because of war shortages.
    The two women hesitated in the entranceway and looked about. “We were hoping to meet your new guest,” Jo said. “We’ve heard such lovely things about her.”
    Miss Dimple nodded, smiling. “And I’m sure there’ll be other opportunities, but Augusta has retired to her room to catch up on some mending. It’s been a rather hectic week, and I imagine she needs the rest.” Augusta hadn’t asked not to be disturbed, but Dimple had a feeling she needed this time alone.
    Shoving the workbooks aside, she cleared a space on the table and pulled out a couple of chairs. “I hope you’ll allow me to offer you a cup of ginger mint tea and some of my Victory Muffins,” she said.
    â€œMuffins?” Lou looked hopeful, but her sister knew better. “Oh, no thank you, Miss Dimple. We both had a late breakfast, and I honestly don’t believe I could hold another crumb.”
    Lou frowned at her sister. “But, I—”
    â€œAnd we really have to rush if we’re going to get to the telegraph office before it closes,” Jo hastened to say.
    â€œTelegraph office? Oh dear!” Dimple clasped her hands under the table. “Not bad news, I