as it climbed the hill was the most welcome
sound I had heard for a long time, and with Gertrude and Halsey
actually before me, my troubles seemed over for good. Gertrude stood
smiling in the hall, with her hat quite over one ear, and her hair in
every direction under her pink veil. Gertrude is a very pretty girl, no
matter how her hat is, and I was not surprised when Halsey presented a
good-looking young man, who bowed at me and looked at Trude--that is
the ridiculous nickname Gertrude brought from school.

"I have brought a guest, Aunt Ray," Halsey said. "I want you to adopt
him into your affections and your Saturday-to-Monday list. Let me
present John Bailey, only you must call him Jack. In twelve hours
he'll be calling you 'Aunt': I know him."

We shook hands, and I got a chance to look at Mr. Bailey; he was a tall
fellow, perhaps thirty, and he wore a small mustache. I remember
wondering why: he seemed to have a good mouth and when he smiled his
teeth were above the average. One never knows why certain men cling to
a messy upper lip that must get into things, any more than one
understands some women building up their hair on wire atrocities.
Otherwise, he was very good to look at, stalwart and tanned, with the
direct gaze that I like. I am particular about Mr. Bailey, because he
was a prominent figure in what happened later.

Gertrude was tired with the trip and went up to bed very soon. I made
up my mind to tell them nothing; until the next day, and then to make
as light of our excitement as possible. After all, what had I to tell?
An inquisitive face peering in at a window; a crash in the night; a
scratch or two on the stairs, and half a cuff-button! As for Thomas
and his forebodings, it was always my belief that a negro is one part
thief, one part pigment, and the rest superstition.

It was Saturday night. The two men went to the billiard-room, and I
could hear them talking as I went up-stairs. It seemed that Halsey had
stopped at the Greenwood Club for gasolene and found Jack Bailey there,
with the Sunday golf crowd. Mr. Bailey had not been hard to
persuade--probably Gertrude knew why--and they had carried him off
triumphantly. I roused Liddy to get them something to eat--Thomas was
beyond reach in the lodge--and paid no attention to her evident terror
of the kitchen regions. Then I went to bed. The men were still in the
billiard-room when I finally dozed off, and the last thing I remember
was