rove, and Betty Mercer was on her knees winding up a toy bear that
Max had brought her. What would he think? It was evident that he thought
badly of us already--that he was contemptuously amused, and then to have
to ask him to lend himself to the deception!

With a gasp I hurled myself after Jimmy, only to hear a strange voice in
the hall and to know that I was too late. I was in for it, whatever was
coming. It was Aunt Selina who was coming--along the hall, followed by
Jim, who was mopping his face and trying not to notice the paralyzed
silence in the library.

Aunt Selina met me in the doorway. To my frantic eyes she seemed to
tower above us by at least a foot, and beside her Jimmy was a red,
perspiring cherub.

"Here she is," Jimmy said, from behind a temporary eclipse of black
cloak and traveling bag. He was on top of the situation now, and he was
mendaciously cheerful. He had NOT said, "Here is my wife." That would
have been a lie. No, Jimmy merely said, "Here she is." If Aunt Selina
chose to think me Bella, was it not her responsibility? And if I chose
to accept the situation, was it not mine? Dallas Brown came forward
gravely as Aunt Selina folded over and kissed me, and surreptitiously
patted me with one hand while he held out the other to Miss Caruthers. I
loathed him!

"We always expect something unusual from James, Miss Caruthers," he
said, with his best manner, "but THIS--this is beyond our wildest
dreams."

Well, it's too awful to linger over. Anne took her upstairs and into
Bella's bedroom. It was a fancy of Jim's to leave that room just as
Bella had left it, dusty dance cards and favors hanging around and a
pair of discarded slippers under the bed. I don't think it had been
swept since Bella left it. I believe in sentiment, but I like it brushed
and dusted and the cobwebs off of it, and when Aunt Selina put down her
bonnet, it stirred up a gray-white cloud that made her cough. She did
not say anything, but she looked around the room grimly, and I saw her
run her finger over the back of a chair before she let Hannah, the maid,
put her cloak on it.

Anne looked frightened. She ran into Bella's bath and wet the end of a
towel and when Hannah was changing Aunt Selina's collar--her concession
to evening dress--Anne wiped off the obvious places on the furniture.
She did it stealthily, but Aunt Selina saw her in the glass.

"What's that young woman's name?" she asked me sharply, when Anne had
taken the