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"Mabel, could I sleep here tonight?"

Mabel’s eyes widened "You want to sleep through that?"

Evie nodded She needed the noise It hted "Suit yourself Here, have a nightgown"

Evie held up the chaste, high-necked gown, exaht, please remove this"

"Could you please remind me e’re friends?"

"Because you need me"

"I think you have that reversed, Evie O’Neill"

"Probably" Evie kissed Mabel’s cheek "You are an absolute doll of a pal, Mabesie, et it"

They crawled into Mabel’s bed and watched the lightin the dark They talked of Operation Jericho and poor dead Rudolph Valentino, and they talked, too, of their futures, as if they could shape the glittering course of their destinies with secret confessions offered like prayers to the roorew sparse with their drowsiness

"Have you ever known so that you were afraid to tell?" Evie asked She was

"Whaddaya mean?" Mabel slurred

"I’m not sure," Evie in, and Mabel was already fast asleep

Under a cru eave in the old house, a spider waited and watched as a hapless fly ventured into its web When it became clear that the fly was hopelessly trapped, the spider scuttled forward, ento the creature in a shroud of silk