had my good time. I don't want the earth.
I'm no she-hog--a sow. I know what's ahead, and I take off my hat to it,
that's all!"

"Sit down," Lizzie said, in the deepest dread of something, she knew not
what, and she drew Jane down to the edge of the bed. Unable to formulate
any further questions, she stood staring at her companion till presently
she saw Jane's body drowsily inclining to one side.

"That's right, lie down," Lizzie said, and she lifted Jane's feet to the
bed and put a pillow under her head. Then, unmolested, she lit the lamp
on the bureau. A strange sight met her eyes and chilled her blood. In
her best pink-silk gown, beaded satin slippers, and embroidered silken
hose, her hair crimped and fluffy, her cheeks deeply roughed, her
eyebrows blackened as for a ball, Jane lay as if asleep.

"What am I to do?" Lizzie asked herself. "She is sick and must be
undressed. She is delirious. She must have fever. She ought to have a
doctor, but who could I send at this time of night?"

She took Jane's wrist to test the pulse, but Jane snatched it away.

"Oh, it's you, Liz!" she said, opening her eyes in a sort of inane,
widening stare. "You caught me, didn't you? Well, I want it this way.
When they look at me, if any of them comes, I want them to say old Jane
was a sport from start to finish. The last dance is on. Mix the drinks,
boys. Eat, drink, and shake the dice, for to-morrow you may not know
where you are at, and nobody to pay the bill. But keep the other thing
to yourselves. I don't want to hear about it. You say it was in the
papers. I didn't see it. Liz didn't see it, either, and you say she and
I are in the same box. Murder? Who says it was the same as murder? I
didn't intend it. I'd never have let it happen if I could have prevented
it. Yes, the baby was left with me, and--and I might have raised her
different, but I was a sport, full of hell and out for a good time! But,
O God! I wonder what the little thing thought when the crash came. Gosh!
She must have screamed! She must have choked in that awful fire! Burned
to a cinder! No flowers, no sod, no nothing! Well, what's the odds? Yes,
I'll let Liz find out for herself. Somebody will tell her soon enough.
Lord! how a thing like that flies and spins through the air! It is
everybody's business."

"I want to undress you, Jane," Lizzie said, bewildered by the ambiguous
torrent of words. "Let me unhook your frock."

"No, fool, idiot, spitfire, cat!" Jane cr