pe
clips. "I've got a little reading to do."

As he sat down, he saw, from the corner of his eye, a flash of slim
brown legs moving toward the bathroom. Just inside the door, Nora
turned. "Are Jim Wilson and Minna up yet?"

"I don't think so."

Nora's eyes remained on him. "I think you were very brave to go
downstairs alone. But it was a foolish thing to do. You should have
waited for Jim Wilson."

"You're right about it being foolish. But I had to go."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not brave at all. Maybe that was the reason."

Nora left the bathroom door open about six inches and Frank heard the
sound of the shower. He sat with the papers in his hand wondering about
the water. When he had gone to the bathroom the thought had never
occurred to him. It was natural that it should. Now he wondered about
it. Why was it still running? After a while he considered the
possibility of the supply tank on the roof.

Then he wondered about Nora. It was strange how he could think about her
personally and impersonally at the same time. He remembered her words of
the previous night. They made her--he shied from the term. What was the
old cliche? A woman of easy virtue.

What made a woman of that type, he wondered. Was it something inherent
in their makeup? That partially opened door was symbolic somehow. He was
sure that many wives closed the bathroom door upon their husbands; did
it without thinking, instinctively. He was sure Nora had left it
partially open without thinking. Could a behavior pattern be traced from
such an insignificant thing?

He wondered about his own attitude toward Nora. He had drawn away from
what she'd offered him during the night. And yet from no sense of
disgust. There was certainly far more about Nora to attract than to
repel.

Morals, he realized dimly, were imposed--or at least functioned--for the
protection of society. With society gone--vanished overnight--did the
moral code still hold?

If and when they got back among masses of people, would his feelings
toward Nora change? He thought not. He would marry her, he told himself
firmly, as quick as he'd marry any other girl. He would not hold what
she was against her. I guess I'm just fundamentally unmoral myself, he
thought, and began reading the news clips.

* * * * *

There was a knock on the door accompanied by the booming voice of Jim
Wilson. "You in there! Ready for breakfast?"

Frank got up and walked towa