And after Max had told the most improbable tale, which Leila advised him

to sprinkle salt on, and Dallas had done a clog dance, Bella said it

was time for her complexion sleep and went downstairs, and broke up the

party.

"If she only give half as an much care to her immortal soul," Anne said

when she had gone, "as she does to her skin, she would let that nice

Harbison boy alone. She must have been brutal to him tonight, for he

went to bed at nine o'clock. At least, I suppose he went to bed, for he

shut himself in the studio, and when I knocked he advised me not to come

in."

I had pleaded my headache as an excuse for avoiding Aunt Selina all day,

and she had not sent for me. Bella was really quite extraordinary.

She was never in the habit of putting herself out for any one, and she

always declared that the very odor of a sick room drove her to Scotch

and soda. But here she was, rubbing Aunt Selina's back with chloroform

liniment--and you know how that smells--getting her up in a chair,

dressed in one of Bella's wadded silk robes, with pillows under her

feet, and then doing her hair in elaborate puffs--braiding her gray

switch and bringing it, coronet-fashion, around the top of her head.

She even put rice powder on Aunt Selina's nose, and dabbed violet water

behind her ears, and said she couldn't understand why she (Aunt Selina)

had never married, but, of course, she probably would some day!

The result was, naturally, that the old lady wouldn't let Bella out of

her sight, except to go to the kitchen for something to eat for her.

That very day Bella got the doctor to order ale for Aunt Selina (oh,

yes; the doctor could come in; Dal said "it was all a-coming in, and

nothing going out") and she had three pints of Bass, and learned to eat

anchovies and caviare--all in one day.

Bella's conduct to Jim was disgraceful. She snubbed him, ignored him,

tramped on him, and Jim was growing positively flabby. He spent most of

his time writing letters to the board of health and playing solitaire.

He was a pathetic figure.

Well, we went to bed fairly early. Bella had massaged Aunt Selina's

face and rubbed in cold cream, Anne and Dallas had compromised on which

window should be open in their bedroom, and the men had matched to see

who should look at the furnace. I did not expect to sleep, but the cold

night air had done its work, and I was asleep almost immediately.

Some time during the early part of the night I wakened, and, after

turning and twisting uneasily, I realized that I was cold. The couch

in Bella's dressing room was comfortable enough, but narrow and low. I

remember distinctly (that was what was so maddening; everybody thought I

dreamed it)--I remember getting an eiderdown comfort that was folded

at my feet, and pulling it up around me. In the luxury of its warmth I

snuggled down and went to sleep almost instantly. It seemed to me I had

slept for hours, but it was probably an hour or less, when something

roused me. The room was perfectly dark, and there was not a sound save

the faint ticking of the clock, but I was wide awake.




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