Free The Blythes Are Quoted by L. M. Montgomery Page B

away?”
    “By the nine gods I’d forgotten all about that!”
    “I hid it behind the closet boards. When people began to suspect Lucia ... or rather hint things ... I raved so vehemently that they thought I protested too much. And yet every word I said was true.”
    Alice laughed again.
    “What about those bloody footprints and the curses?” demanded Henry. Curtis wished he would stop asking questions and go away.
    “Oh, the Fields kept so many hens they never counted them. The curses cost me some pains of composition. But I found some very effective ones in the Bible. ‘There shall not be an old man in thine house.’ Can you tell me where that is found, Mr. Burns? I believe I really know my Bible better than you do. That especial curse made Alec think he was going to die young. Some of the Fields have always been a little superstitious.”
    “Was it you cut Maggie Eldon’s hair?”
    “Of course. For once she forgot to lock her door. So excited over George MacPherson driving her home from class meeting, I suppose. I wanted Julia back. She did not keep the late hours Maggie did.”
    “And to think you were never caught!” marvelled Henry ... still admiringly.
    “One night I thought I was caught at last,” said Alice, with another malicious glance at the stunned Curtis. “Ithought you saw the reflection of my face in the guest room window.”
    Curtis made no reply.
    “Of course my greatest amusement was to torment Lucia,” said Alice. “When I cut down the birch tree she loved every blow was a delight to me.”
    Still Curtis made no sign. Alice continued to address him, however.
    “I was really glad when you came here to board. I liked a young minister. Old Mr. Sheldon bored me to tears. It seemed as if the Conference always sent us old ministers. As long as his wife lived there was some amusement in making him worship at my shrine, for old as they were she was jealous of his devotion to me.”
    “Is a woman ever too old to be jealous?” murmured Henry reflectively.
    “Never,” said Alice decisively. “Nor a man either. But when she died and nobody cared how much he reverenced my saintliness I didn’t want his reverence. And I was not afraid of you. I knew you would be just as easily fooled as the rest.”
    Curtis did flinch at this. It was so disgustingly true.
    “I decided that I would keep quiet for a while so that you would not become disgusted and leave us. I never supposed you would fall in love with Lucia. Men, as a rule, never cared for her. And gossip engaged you to somebody else. It was very amusing to talk seriously to you about our ghosts.”
    Her laughter made Curtis flinch again. The power of feeling was returning to him.
    “And then you went and spoiled everything by going and falling in love with my lady cousin ... who had set her cap for you ever since you came here. Oh, yes, she did ...” as an impatient sound came from Henry. “So I decided you mustgo. I knew Lucia was secretly crazy about you ... though, like all the Fields, she can hide her feelings very successfully when she wants to.”
    “Miss Field cares nothing for me,” cried Curtis, stung into speech.
    “Oh, yes, she does. And I was afraid her feelings would win out at last. And yet, do you know, when you told me you were going, my tears of regret were very real ones. You have no idea how much I really liked you.”
    Alice laughed again. Her eyes were sparkling in the moonlight.
    “How did you manage the telephone business?” asked the persistent Henry.
    “Oh, that! I had nothing to do with that. Some boys along the line must have been playing a trick for the fun of it. They often do ... but nobody takes any account of it in a house that isn’t supposed to be haunted. But it helped matters on nicely.”
    “And ... and ... the money ...” hesitated Henry.
    “I didn’t take it either. What good would it have been to me? ... and the Fields are not thieves. Without a doubt some of the Marsh gang did it ... not