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.