alk to old man Tree about it this afternoon. Whatever happened, HE
insisted upon morality.

"And my dinner!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I've got to wait and go
hungry--and maybe get sick again--while they carry on their disgusting
love-making."

He turned about on the instant, and striding over to the electric bell,
rang it again with all his might.

"When that feemale gets up here," he declared, "I'll just find out why
I've got to wait like this. I'll take her down, to the Queen's taste.
I'm lenient enough, Lord knows, but I don't propose to be imposed upon
ALL the time."

A few moments later, while Annixter was pretending to read the county
newspaper by the window in the dining-room, Hilma came in to set the
table. At the time Annixter had his feet cocked on the window ledge and
was smoking a cigar, but as soon as she entered the room he--without
premeditation--brought his feet down to the floor and crushed out the
lighted tip of his cigar under the window ledge. Over the top of the
paper he glanced at her covertly from time to time.

Though Hilma was only nineteen years old, she was a large girl with
all the development of a much older woman. There was a certain generous
amplitude to the full, round curves of her hips and shoulders that
suggested the precocious maturity of a healthy, vigorous animal life
passed under the hot southern sun of a half-tropical country. She
was, one knew at a glance, warm-blooded, full-blooded, with an even,
comfortable balance of temperament. Her neck was thick, and sloped to
her shoulders, with full, beautiful curves, and under her chin and
under her ears the flesh was as white and smooth as floss satin, shading
exquisitely to a faint delicate brown on her nape at the roots of her
hair. Her throat rounded to meet her chin and cheek, with a soft swell
of the skin, tinted pale amber in the shadows, but blending by barely
perceptible gradations to the sweet, warm flush of her cheek. This
colour on her temples was just touched with a certain blueness where
the flesh was thin over the fine veining underneath. Her eyes were light
brown, and so wide open that on the slightest provocation the full disc
of the pupil was disclosed; the lids--just a fraction of a shade darker
than the hue of her face--were edged with lashes that were almost black.
While these lashes were not long, they were thick and rimmed her eyes
with a fine, thin line. Her mouth was rather large, the lips shut
tight, and no