worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean,
and the woman behind it is as plain as can be.
I didn t realize for a long time what the thing was that showed
behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman.
By daylight she is subdued, quiet. I fancy it is the pattern that keeps
her so still. It is so puzzling. It keeps me quiet by the hour.
I lie down ever so much now. John says it is good for me, and to sleep
all I can.
Indeed, he started the habit by making me lie down for an hour after
each meal.
It is a very bad habit, I am convinced, for, you see, I don t sleep.
And that cultivates deceit, for I don t tell them I m awake, oh, no!
The fact is, I am getting a little afraid of John.
He seems very queer sometimes, and even Jennie has an inexplicable
look.
It strikes me occasionally, just as a scientific hypothesis, that
perhaps it is the paper!
I have watched John when he did not know I was looking, and come into
the room suddenly on the most innocent excuses, and I ve caught him
several times looking at the paper! And Jennie too. I caught Jennie
with her hand on it once.
She didn t know I was in the room, and when I asked her in a quiet, a
very quiet voice, with the most restrained manner possible, what she
was doing with the paper she turned around as if she had been caught
stealing, and looked quite angry asked me why I should frighten her so!
Then she said that the paper stained everything it touched, that she
had found yellow smooches on all my clothes and John s, and she wished
we would be more careful!
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