Bath Belles Read Online Free

place now that the children have left home. This spot is so handy it seemed worth a look, though of course it is much too small and really in very bad repair.”
    “The size, at least, must have been apparent before you entered,”I pointed out. She simpered and looked around the room once more.
    She cleared her throat and said, “Is this the room where—it happened?”
    I knew perfectly well what she meant, but decided to make her confess her morbid and ill-bred curiosity. “Where what happened?”
    “Ah, you do not know the house’s history, Miss Haley. The fact of the matter is a man was murdered here!”She looked triumphant at telling me so. She thought I’d bought the house unawares and she was thrilled to point out my folly. “Yes, in this very room, I fancy. The papers said the saloon, at least. A very grisly business it was, too. There was some theft involved—a huge sum of money the man had embezzled.”
    I gave her an icy stare. “You are mistaken. Mr. Sutton was robbed; he had stolen nothing. I am quite aware of the matter. And as you were only interested in looking, Mrs. Seymour, perhaps you will want to leave now. I expect your husband is waiting for his breakfast. I know I am ready for mine.”
    She looked at the kettle boiling on the hob, the plates on the sofa table, shook her head in weary disdain, and left. She was about as impressed with our housekeeping as we were with her manners.
    “The nerve of that creature!”I exclaimed.
    “I thought her very curious—vulgarly so,”Mama said mildly.
    Esther put a piece of bread on the fork and resumed making our breakfast. When another woman appeared at the door half an hour later, with no evidence of a carriage, I took for granted she was another nosy neighbor. She confessed as much on the doorstep. She lived on our other side.
    “I’m Mrs. George,”she said. “I noticed you have the house up for sale.”
    “Yes, are you in the market for a very small house in some disrepair, ma’am?”I asked coolly before inviting her in.
    “Oh, no, I only came over to get acquainted, to see if I could be of any help. It’s nice to have someone to point out the shops nearby, and so on.”
    My short temper had led me into unintentional rudeness. As I let her in I noticed that she was altogether a better class of person than Mrs. Seymour, which is not to say that she was above a few prying questions as to where “it”happened. Of course, she didn’t know of my relationship with Graham or how painful it was to speak of it. During the course of our conversation Mama mentioned that someone had gotten in and made a mess of the house.
    “Is that what he was up to?”Mrs. George asked. “My daughter had some notion it was ghosts. They will often haunt a place where there has been a violent death,”she informed us with perfect seriousness. “I have seen the lights moving about in here at night. I sent off for a constable the first time, but by the time he came the ghost had left. That was just after poor Mr. Sutton was killed. Then the lights did not appear again till just recently. One night about a week ago I saw the light. I mentioned it to my husband, but he said it was none of my business; it was probably the new owner having a look around. As if the owner would not have entered by the front door! I tell you no one did, for my sewing corner gives a very clear view of your door. And the ghost didn’t leave by the front door, either. I kept a sharp eye, and no one came out, even after the lights vanished.”
    “A week ago, you say—and no lights since?”I asked.
    “Not a one. And I kept an eye peeled.”
    “That is odd,”Mama allowed, with a little frown.
    Mrs. George nodded her head and said, “Perhaps it was someone looking for the money.”
    I assumed she had been gossiping with Mrs. Seymour and prepared to give her a setdown. “Mr. Sutton was not a thief! He was the victim.”
    "But there was talk at the time that he had gotten hold of some huge