nd
of which Selina was stabbed slowly and with unction, and her corpse
borne from the chamber by the ruthless cavalier. The rest of us rushed
after in a clump, with capers and gesticulations of delight; the special
charm of the performance lying in the necessity for its being carried
out with the dumbest of dumb shows.

Once out on the dark landing, the noise of the storm without told us
that we had exaggerated the necessity for silence; so, grasping the
tails of each other's nightgowns, even as Alpine climbers rope
themselves together in perilous places, we fared stoutly down the
staircase-moraine, and across the grim glacier of the hall, to where a
faint glimmer from the half-open door of the drawing-room beckoned to us
like friendly hostel-lights. Entering, we found that our thriftless
seniors had left the sound red heart of a fire, easily coaxed into a
cheerful blaze; and biscuits--a plateful--smiled at us in an encouraging
sort of way, together with the halves of a lemon, already squeezed, but
still suckable. The biscuits were righteously shared, the lemon segments
passed from mouth to mouth; and as we squatted round the fire, its
genial warmth consoling our unclad limbs, we realised that so many
nocturnal perils had not been braved in vain.

'It's a funny thing,' said Edward, as we chatted, 'how I hate this room
in the daytime. It always means having your face washed, and your hair
brushed, and talking silly company talk. But to-night it's really quite
jolly. Looks different, somehow.'

'I never can make out,' I said, 'what people come here to tea for. They
can have their own tea at home if they like--they're not poor
people--with jam and things, and drink out of their saucer, and suck
their fingers and enjoy themselves; but they come here from a long way
off, and sit up straight with their feet off the bars of their chairs,
and have one cup, and talk the same sort of stuff every time.'

Selina sniffed disdainfully. 'You don't know anything about it,' she
said. 'In society you have to call on each other. It's the proper thing
to do.'

'Pooh! _you're_ not in society,' said Edward politely; 'and, what's
more, you never will be.'

'Yes, I shall, some day,' retorted Selina; 'but I shan't ask you to come
and see me, so there!'

'Wouldn't come if you did,' growled Edward.

'Well you won't get the chance,' rejoined our sister, claiming her right
of the last word. There was no heat about these little amenities,