done to-night.... Louis,
dear, you simply _must_ take me home this very minute!" She came up to
him, placed both hands on his shoulders, kissed him lightly, looked at
him for a moment, humorously grave:

"Some day," she said, "a big comet will hit this law-ridden,
man-regulated earth--or the earth will slip a cog and go wabbling out of
its orbit into interstellar space and side-wipe another planet--or it
will ultimately freeze up like the moon. And who will care then _how_
Valerie West loved Louis Neville?--or what letters in a forgotten
language spelled 'wife' and what letters spelled 'mistress'? After all,
I am not afraid of words. Nor do I fear what is in my heart. God reads
it as I stand here; and he can see no selfishness in it. So if merely
loving you all my life--and proving it--is an evil thing to do, I shall
be punished; but I'm going to do it and find out what celestial justice
really thinks about it."

CHAPTER VIII

Valerie was busy--exceedingly busy arranging matters, in view of the
great change impending.

She began by balancing her check book, comparing stubs with cancelled
checks, adding and verifying sums total, filing away paid bills and
paying the remainder--a financial operation which did not require much
time, but to which she applied herself with all the seriousness of a
wealthy man hunting through a check book which will not balance, for a
few pennies that ought to be his.

For since she had any accounts at all to keep, she had kept them with
method and determination. Her genius for order was inherent: even when
she possessed nothing except the clothes she wore, she had always kept
them in perfect condition. And now that her popularity in business gave
her a bank balance and permitted some of the intimate little luxuries
that make for a woman's self-respect, a perfect passion for order and
method possessed her.

The tiny bedroom which she inhabited, and the adjoining bathroom, were
always immaculate. Every week she made an inventory of her few but
pretty garments, added or subtracted from her memorandum, went over her
laundry list, noted and laid aside whatever clothing needed repairs.

Once a week, too, she inspected her hats, foot-wear, furs; dusted the
three rows of books, emptied and cleaned the globe in which a solitary
goldfish swam, goggling his eyes in the sunshine, and scrubbed the
porcelain perching pole on which her parrot sat all day in the bathroom
window making limite