ng to see me, Benny; and as he may be
here at any minute, and I don't suppose you want to be caught in your
present costume----"

Miss Bennett lifted her shoulders.

"Oh, at my age!" she said. "After all, what is the use of having lovely
dressing gowns if no one ever sees them?"

"It's Dan O'Bannon that's coming," said Lydia, "and I want to see him
alone."

"O'Bannon coming here! But, Lydia, you can't see him alone--at this
hour. Why, it's midnight!"

Miss Bennett's eyes clung to her.

"Eleven minutes to," said Lydia, with her eyes on the clock. "I wish
you'd go, Benny."

Miss Bennett hesitated.

"I don't think you ought to see him alone. I don't think it's
quite--quite nice."

"Oh, this is going to be very nice!"

"No, I mean I don't think it's safe. Suppose anything should happen."

"Should happen?" said Lydia, and for a moment she looked like the old
haughty Lydia. "What could happen?"

Miss Bennett raised both her arms and let them drop with a gesture quite
French, expressing that they both knew what men were.

"He might try to make love to you," she said.

The minute she had spoken she wished she had not, for Lydia's fine dark
brow contracted.

"What disgusting ideas you do have Benny! That man!" She stopped
herself. "I almost wish he would. If he did I think I should kill him."

To Miss Bennett this seemed just an expression; but to Lydia, with her
eyes fixed on an enormous pair of steel-and-silver scissors that lay on
the writing table, it was something more than a phrase.

Miss Bennett decided to withdraw.

"Stop in my room when you come up," she said. "I shan't close my eyes
till you do." Then gathering her shining draperies about her she left
the room.

Even after Miss Bennett had gone her suggestion remained with Lydia.
Would that man have any such idea? Would he think her sending for him
at such an hour had any flattering significance? Or would he see that
it was proof of her utter contempt for him--of her belief that she was
his superior, the master mind of the two, whatever their situation? As
for love-making--let him try it! Her blow would be all the more
effective if it could be delivered while he was on his knees.

With an absurd, hurried, tingling stroke the little clock struck
midnight. Strange, she thought, that waiting for something certain
stretched the nerves more than uncertainty. She knew O'Bannon would
come--or did she? Would he dare do that? Leave her sitting waiting