ed. "It's poetry. 'I don't give a damn
or a wild pig's snort, but you cut just one strand and the fashions be
damned, I swear that I'll boil three in lime!'"

"Lime?" Victor asked rather weakly.

"I think so, dear," Mimi said. "Would you care for a martini?"

"How about the toilet!" Donald suddenly thundered. "How about _that_,
hey?"

"I beg your pardon," Mimi replied.

"The toilets, the toilets," he repeated impatiently. "Do you want to
spend the rest of your short life with this old-fashioned plumbing?" He
waved wildly toward the tile bathroom. "It's all right roughing it for a
few months like we did, but can you honestly imagine spending the rest
of your _life_ under such vile conditions? Ha, you didn't think of that,
did you?" he continued when he saw the sudden stricken expression on her
face. "You don't like the idea, do you?"

Mimi clenched her fists at her side and stamped her little foot. "I
don't _care_," she spit out, "I absolutely do not care! I will stay with
him, I will, I will, I _will_." She turned and looked at the bathroom
that opened off the bedroom, and blanched for one moment, then she shut
her eyes, gave another kick, and insisted. "I will, I will, I will!"

* * * * *

Donald sighed and slapped his hands at his side. He turned around,
hesitated for a few seconds, then said to the wall, "I've tried. I've
tried everything I could think of." He turned again and faced them, and
he raised his gun. "You're coming, Mimi. One way or another, you're
coming."

So quietly he hardly realized what he was doing, but thankful that the
gas pain had vanished, Victor stepped between the gun and the girl.
"You'll have to kill me, Donald," he said. "You won't take her out of
here without killing me, I promise you that, and what will that do to
your future? A man from the future killing somebody here? Oh, no,
that'll upset everything. And before I've become famous? Your whole
history will be changed. You'd better think twice, Donald."

The gun wavered, and lowered.

"Would you care for a martini, Donald, dear?" Mimi asked.

Donald turned and ran from the room. They heard his feet slipping down
the stairs, they heard the front door slam behind him.

Victor started after him, but Mimi held him back. "What are you going to
do," she cried, "chase after him? What will you do when you catch him?
You're needed more here. After all," she continued, "think what I just
went through?