And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobodycould climb through that pattern—it strangles so； I think that iswhy it has so many heads.
They get through， and then the pattern strangles them off andturns them upside down， and makes their eyes white！
If those heads were covered or taken off it would not be halfso bad.
I think that woman gets out in the daytime！
And I’ll tell you why—privately—I’ve seen her！
I can see her out of every one of my windows！
It is the same woman， I know， for she is always creeping，and most women do not creep by daylight.
I see her on that long road under the trees， creeping along， andwhen a carriage comes she hides under the blackberry vines.
I don’t blame her a bit. It must be very humiliating to becaught creeping by daylight！
I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can’t do itat night， for I know John would suspect something at once.
And John is so queer now， that I don’t want to irritate him.
I wish he would take another room！ Besides， I don’t wantanybody to get that woman out at night but myself.
I often wonder if I could see her out of all the windows atonce.
But， turn as fast as I can， I can only see out of one at onetime.
And though I always see her， she MAY be able to creepfaster than I can turn！
I have watched her sometimes away off in the open country，creeping as fast as a cloud shadow in a high wind.
If only that top pattern could be gotten off from the underone！ I mean to try it， little by little.
I have found out another funny thing， but I shan’t tell it thistime！ It does not do to trust people too much.
There are only two more days to get this paper off， and Ibelieve John is beginning to notice. I don’t like the look in hiseyes.
And I heard him ask Jennie a lot of professional questionsabout me. She had a very good report to give.
She said I slept a good deal in the daytime.
John knows I don’t sleep very well at night， for all I’m soquiet！
He asked me all sorts of questions， too， and pretended to bevery loving and kind.
As if I couldn’t see through him！
Still， I don’t wonder he acts so， sleeping under this paper forthree months.
It only interests me， but I feel sure John and Jennie aresecretly affected by it.
Hurrah！ This is the last day， but it is enough. John is to stayin town over night， and won’t be out until this evening.
Jennie wanted to sleep with me—the sly thing！ but I told herI should undoubtedly rest better for a night all alone.
That was clever， for really I wasn’t alone a bit！ As soon as itwas moonlight and that poor thing began to crawl and shakethe pattern， I got up and ran to help her.
I pulled and she shook， I shook and she pulled， and beforemorning we had peeled off yards of that paper.
A strip about as high as my head and half around the room.
And then when the sun came and that awful pattern began tolaugh at me， I declared I would finish it today！
We go away tomorrow， and they are moving all my furnituredown again to leave things as they were before.
Jennie looked at the wall in amazement， but I told hermerrily that I did it out of pure spite at the vicious thing.
She laughed and said she wouldn’t mind doing it herself， butI must not get tired.
How she betrayed herself that time！
But I am here， and no person touches this paper but me—notALIVE！
