Other Worlds by KATHY Read Free Book Online Page B

was a friend of Betsy's brother John and a constant visitor. Betsy said he thought of her as his little sister, but we may wonder whether this modest giant did not cherish warmer feelings for the golden-haired charmer. At any rate, he proclaimed himself her champion and did his best to overcome the slippery Spirit.
    His first match with his elusive opponent was not a success. Frank was spending the night at the Bells, as he often did. The weather was freezing, so he was particularly annoyed when the covers started slipping off the bed. He grabbed one end of the quilt, and a regular tug-of-war ensued, which ended with the quilt being torn to pieces. When Frank lay down, the bed tick— a thin mattress—was pulled out from under him, and then the Spirit began striking him. No doubt its sneers and mocking laughter hurt Frank even more than the blows. "You're sure a strong man, Frank; you can knock the wind out of the air, but you're not dangerous in a tussle with a Spirit."
    This was the first time Frank had been defeated in a trial of strength, and he resented it as much as he deplored the Spirit's treatment of Betsy. Once when Frank was visiting he told Betsy to come and sit by him.
    "Nothing will bother you while I am present," he promised.
    "You go home," the Spirit shrieked. "You can do no good here."
    It proceeded to pull Betsy's hair so hard her combs fell to the floor, and it pinched her cheeks till they flamed.
    Betsy’s cavalier sprang to his feet, clenching his fists. "You are the biggest coward on earth to torture a child who is little more than a baby! Why not work on me, you fiend of hell?"
    As he exchanged threats and insults with the Spirit, Frank forgot his manners and used a few words gentlemen are supposed to suppress in the presence of a lady. The threats were useless; Frank learned that any attempt to defend the girl only made matters worse. He could only look at her sympathetically, and tell her she was bearing her trouble with the greatest courage in the world. Yes, I suspect Frank was another of Betsy's secret admirers, nor was she unmoved by his valor.
    "I know he meant what he said," she remarked, in recounting the story, "when he offered to fight a fiend of Hell for the Bell family, even though he died on the spot."
    Betsy has been regarded as one of the Spirit's chief victims; but I wonder. It certainly showed her kindness at times. To be sure, the slaps and tugging of hair can't have been comfortable, but they produced no serious injury, and the strange fainting spells may have been a side effect not directly caused by the Spirit. As for the broken romance—"the surrender of that most cherished hope that animates every young heart"—perhaps the Spirit was speaking the simple truth when it claimed Joshua would never make Betsy happy. We don't know what sort of man he was; in later life he may have been a drunkard or a wife beater—or just unsuited to Betsy.

NINE
    I have spoken at length about slaves and children, about friends and visitors; but I have neglected one of the most important actors in this drama—Mrs. Lucy Bell.
    I confess to a great deal of curiosity about this lady, but my curiosity must remain unsatisfied. No portraits of her have survived. Was she stout and gray-haired, like many a middle-aged mother of a large family, or was she slim and fair like her daughter? Did she have a weakness for fine clothes and lace trim on her aprons, or did she dress in sober brown? All we know about her is what her children and neighbors reported—she was the best of women. There could hardly be a more boring description! So let us turn to the sole unbiased witness—the voice that cursed Old Jack Bell and jeered at the children—the sardonic Spirit that invented mocking epithets even for persons it claimed to respect. Its comment on Mrs. Bell was short and succinct: "Old Luce is a good woman."
    A cynic might say that she had to be good. She had no opportunity to be anything else. In those sober,