m mad
about it, and you know it. And don't pose with that bath robe. If you
think you're a character out of Roman history, look at your legs."

"I didn't mean to offend you," he said sulkily. "Only I'm tired of
having you choked down my throat every time I open my mouth, Kit. And
don't go just yet. Flannigan is going for my clothes as soon as he
lights the--the lamp, and--somebody ought to watch the stairs."

That was all there was to it. I said I would guard the steps, and
Flannigan, having ignited the combination, whatever it was, went
downstairs. How was I to know that Bella would come up when she did? Was
it my fault that the lamp got too high, and that Flannigan couldn't
hear Jim calling? Or that just as Bella reached the top of the steps
Jim should come to the door of the tent, wearing the barrel part of his
hot-air cabinet, and yelling for a doctor?

Bella came to a dead stop on the upper step, with her mouth open. She
looked at Jim, at the inadequate barrel, and from them she looked at me.
Then she began to laugh, one of her hysterical giggles, and she turned
and went down again. As Jim and I stared at each other we could hear her
gurgling down the hall below.

She had violent hysterics for an hour, with Anne rubbing her forehead
and Aunt Selina burning a feather out of the feather duster under her
nose. Only Jim and I understood, and we did not tell. Luckily, the next
thing that occurred drove Bella and her nerves from everybody's mind.

At seven o'clock, when Bella had dropped asleep and everybody else was
dressed for dinner, Aunt Selina discovered that the house was cold, and
ordered Dal to the furnace.

It was Dal's day at the furnace; Flannigan had been relieved of that
part of the work after twice setting fire to a chimney.

In five minutes Dal came back and spoke a few words to Max, who followed
him to the basement, and in ten minutes more Flannigan puffed up the
steps and called Mr. Harbison.

I am not curious, but I knew that something had happened. While Aunt
Selina was talking suffrage to Anne--who said she had always been
tremendously interested in the subject, and if women got the suffrage
would they be allowed to vote?--I slipped back to the dining room.

The table was laid for dinner, but Flannigan was not in sight. I could
hear voices from somewhere, faint voices that talked rapidly, and after
a while I located the sounds under my feet. The men were all in the
basement, and something mu