Lesson 3
Who Took
Money?
Text A
Mr Smith gave
wife ten pounds
her birthday-ten pretty pound notes. Soday after her birthday, Mrs Smith went shopping. She queued for
bus, got
and sat down next
an old lady. Afterwhile, she noticed thatold lady's handbag was open. Inside it, she sawwad
pound notes exactly likeone her husband had given her. So she quickly looked into her own bag-notes had gone!
Mrs Smith was sure thatold lady who was sitting nexther had stolen them. She thought she would havecallpolice; but, as she disliked makingfuss
getting people into trouble, she decidedtake backmoney fromold lady's handbagsay nothing more about it. She looked roundbusmake sure nobody was watching, then she carefully put her hand intoold lady's bag , tooknotesput them
her own bag.
When she got home that evening, she showed her husbandbeautiful hat she had bought.
´How did you payit?' he asked.
´Withmoney you gave memy birthday,course,' she replied.
´Oh? What's that, then?' he asked, as he pointeda wadten pound notesthe table.
Text B
'Goodbye, darling,' said Mr Mackin. 'I'll be late tonight.' Poor George, she thought. He was alwaysa hurrythe morning, and
wasn't unusualhimcome home late at night. He worked forshoe companyLceds.therc was suchlotwork that he normally staycdthe office till seven or cight.
When George had lefthouse Mrs Mackin sat down.an armchairturnedthe radio. It wasfew minutes past eight ,she heardlast wordsthe news :'...wman who escaped from I.ceds prison yesterday
still free. The police warn you notopen your doorstrangers. '
She turned offradio. The housework was waitingher. Shc madebedswasheddishes. There wasn't auy shoppingdo.so she thought formomentallWorkthe garden.
The Mackins liveda house withlarge gardena suburbLeeds. Behindgarden there were some trees.thencpen fields.
Suddenly Mrs Mackin rememberednews. She laughed uneasily. That prisononly 
5 miles away, she thought. She didn't workthe garden, she mended her husband 's shirts instead And she care.fully lockcdfront doorclosed allwindows.
It was getting dark. She turnedthe lightsthe livingroom.Thcn she noticed that she had turnedthe lightsmostthe roonssthe house.
'How silly
am!' she said nervouslywent intoother roomsturnedleghts on.
The person atdoor said something loudly. but she was so frightened that she dien't understandword.
Additional Information
Do you believeghosts?don't, eitlter-or at leastdidn't untilheardstrange storyother day from Mr Mike Paton,9 Marlborough llill.
It all beganNovember 28, whcn Mr Paton's eight-ycar-old son, Bob , was playingthe big back gardenhis parents' house. He met an old man withlong white beard. The old man told Bob he was builclingunderground railway there, but Bob didn't believe him. Bob told me afterwards that he knewunderground ran under Marlborough Hill itself. The old man said there had been an accidentday before. Then he went away.
At firstPatons didn't believe Bob's story. Mrs Paton told me that Bob often made up stories about ghostsmonsters, like other childrenhis age. But Mr Paton was curiousdecided that he would gothe librarycheck upthe facts.
He found thatrailway compapy had startedbuildlinethe westMarlborough Hill88. but they had run into an underground river. Ten workmen had diedan accidentthe Company had changeddirectionthe linebuiltpresent tunnel under Marlborough Hill. At firstdidn't believe Mr Paton's storv either, sodid some research myself.
Inspector Brightthe Metropolitan Police saidwas naturalfind trampsthe districtwinter, but no one had reported one answeringdescriptionhad given him since last August.
Mr Joseph GriffithsLondon Transport checkedfilesthe accidentme. He told me thataccident had apparently taken placeor very nearjunctionMarlborough HillWoodstock Avenue27 November 88. Mr Paton's house standsthe corner!
The sourcethis extraordinary story was not affected bynews. 'I told Mummywas true,' young Bob Paton told me yesterday. Whenlefthouse he was playing happily withtoy cars-ingarden!
