No Nice Girl Read Online Free PDF

bringing food, and as they settled about the table, she watched them anxiously, as though her very life depended on their liking what she had cooked.
    â€œI do hope it’s—well, eatable,” she said.
    â€œIt’s delicious—food for the gods. Boy, how you can cook!” said Terry simply, but with heartfelt sincerity.
    â€œOh, I’m so glad! I was terrified you wouldn’t like it, and I did so want to have a nice, hot meal waiting for Cousin Phyllis. I know how hard she works, and she looks so tired,” cooed Anice sweetly.
    Phyllis studied her for a moment and then she asked mildly, “When did you say you got in, Anice?”
    â€œThis afternoon a little after three,” said Anice innocently.
    â€œAnd you came straight here and unpacked and made yourself at home?” commented Phyllis, with almost no expression in her voice.
    Terry looked from one to the other, puzzled by a sudden tension that, man-like, he could not quite grasp.
    â€œWhy, yes, of course,” said Anice, puzzled, child-like. “I do hope you don’t mind my unpacking and putting things away, Cousin Phyllis? I tried to make everything neat and tidy.”
    â€œOh, you did—very neat and tidy,” said Phyllis quietly. “The only thing that puzzled me was how you managed to get so much shopping accomplished in just a couple of hours, and to bring the things home and put them away.”
    Anice looked at the table and then at Phyllis and said, “But there’s a nice little grocery shop just around the corner.”
    â€œI don’t mean the food, Anice,” said Phyllis quietly. “I mean all the pretty new clothes you put away in the closet and in the dresser drawers. How in the world did you manage to accomplish so much in such a little while?”
    â€œOh!” For a moment Anice appeared a trifle disconcerted, and then she laughed merrily. “Oh, that . The Personal Shopping Agency did that for me—isn’t it wonderful? I sent them my size in everything and they shopped and sent me the things so all I had to do was pack them and, when I got here, unpack them!”
    Now why, Phyllis asked herself as Terry said something that was supposed to ease the tension, should she lie about a thing like that? She’s been in town a couple of days, at the very least; she’d have to be to get that much shopping done. And it doesn’t matter a darn tome—so why the heck should she lie about it? There’s a purpose back of everything she does—as I should know! But what is behind this lie?
    A little later, they were finishing the apple pie—Anice mourned that it was a bakery pie, because she hadn’t had time to bake one, but she could bake a much better pie than that and some time she would prove it to Terry!—Phyllis asked casually, “Did you rent your house, Anice?”
    â€œNo,” said Anice like a delighted child. “Guess what—I sold it! And I got a thousand dollars for it!”
    â€œA thousand dollars? Why, Anice, that was highway robbery!” protested Phyllis.
    Anice flushed and looked guilty.
    â€œI suppose it was, but they wanted it just terribly. It was a veteran and his wife and they had two sweet children, and nobody wanted to rent them a house—isn’t it terrible the way landlords won’t rent to anybody with children? And they thought it would be a wonderful place for the kiddies.” She broke off and looked at Terry and at Phyllis, and then asked huskily, “Do you think I should give them back some of the money? Gran was asking nine hundred for it the summer before she died.”
    â€œThen it’s certainly worth a hundred dollars more now than it was then, with the housing shortage!” said Terry firmly. “Dry your pretty eyes, honeychile, and forget it. I bet the vet was tickled silly to get it for a thousand bucks.”
    Anice said eagerly, “Oh, he was . It was