gripped
me by the arm, and I could hear her breathing hard beside me.

"It's only Jim," I whispered. "I--I don't want to hear any more."

But she clutched me firmly, and the next thing we heard was another
creak, louder and--

"Get up! Get up off your knees this instant!" Bella was saying
frantically. "Some one might come in."

"Don't send me away," Jim said in a smothered voice. "Every one in the
house is asleep, and I love you, dear."

Aunt Selina swallowed hard in the darkness.

"You have no right to make love to me," Bella. "It's--it's highly
improper, under the circumstances."

And then Jim: "You swallow a camel and stick at a gnat. Why did you meet
me here, if you didn't expect me to make love to you? I've stood for
a lot, Bella, but this foolishness will have to end. Either you love
me--or you don't. I'm desperate." He drew a long, forlorn breath.

"Poor old Jim!" This was Bella. A pause. Then--"Let my hand alone!" Also
Bella.

"It is MY hand!"--Jim;'s most fatuous tone. "THERE is where you wore
my ring. There's the mark still." Sounds of Jim kissing Bella's ring
finger. "What did you do with it? Throw it away?" More sounds.

Aunt Selina crossed the library swiftly, and again I followed. Bella
was sitting in a low chair by the fire, looking at the logs, in the most
exquisite negligee of pink chiffon and ribbon. Jim was on his knees,
staring at her adoringly, and holding both her hands.

"I'll tell you a secret," Bella was saying, looking as coy as she knew
how--which was considerable. "I--I still wear it, on a chain around my
neck."

On a chain around her neck! Bella, who is decollete whenever it is
allowable, and more than is proper!

That was the limit of Aunt Selina's endurance. Still holding me, she
stepped through the doorway and into the firelight, a fearful figure.

Jim saw her first. He went quite white and struggled to get up,
smiling a sickly smile. Bella, after her first surprise, was superbly
indifferent. She glanced at us, raised her eyebrows, and then looked at
the clock.

"More victims of insomnia!" she said. "Won't you come in? Jim, pull up a
chair by the fire for your aunt."

Aunt Selina opened her mouth twice, like a fish, before she could speak.
Then--

"James, I demand that that woman leave the house!" she said hoarsely.

Bella leaned back and yawned.

"James, shall I go?" she asked amiably.

"Nonsense," Jim said, pulling himself together as best he could. "Look
here