Bonnie May was alarmed; she quite lost control of herself. “Stop your kiddin’!” she said with a catch in her voice. She tried to say it playfully, but her self-possession was gone. Her remark had sounded simply offensive, indelicate. “And I can’t permit you to use such language, either!” declared Mrs. Baron. The dismayed guest pressed her hands to her eyes as if she were trying to think clearly. Then she made a rush for the stairway! Mrs. Baron put dignity aside long enough to pursue her, to seize her by the arm. She was becoming outraged, greatly indignant. “What do you mean to do?” she demanded, her voice trembling slightly. “I’m quitting.” “You’re----” “I won’t stay here!” The distressed old gentlewoman tried to calm herself. “Where do you think of going?” she asked. “Anywhere--to the theatres. Any company in town will be glad to have me. They will know who I am. They--they are the kind of people who will appreciate me!” The words were spoken in a tone of heart-break, of despair. Mrs. Baron afterward confessed to members of her family that for the first time in her life she felt completely helpless. She was, in truth, a somewhat childish person in many ways, and she was not accustomed to any unpleasantnesses save those which she created for others. At any rate, she swallowed with difficulty--and surrendered. “It’s a very small point, after all,” she said ungraciously. “Go into my room. Flora will look after you.” She spoke coldly, all her interest seemingly withdrawn. And just as the guest disappeared into Mrs. Baron’s sitting-room, Flora came almost stealthily up the stairs. “I wish you’d put that little limb of Satan to bed,” she said. Flora saw that her mother’s hand, on the balustrade, trembled. “Where shall I put her?” she inquired. “Anywhere! just so you get her covered up for the night.” Flora paused, her eyes uneasily seeking her mother’s. “I’m afraid you’re angry with me, mother,” she said humbly. “With you? Certainly not.” Flora was puzzled. Her mother had long ago declared that Mr. Addis must not be accepted as a visitor. Did she know that he had just gone? She was about to enter her mother’s sitting-room when something prompted her to turn. “You knew Mr. Addis called, didn’t you?” she asked. Mrs. Baron’s face flamed again. “Knew it? Certainly, I didn’t know it! I’ve told Mrs. Shepard--I don’t intend that he shall annoy you!” “Oh, mother! He doesn’t! And I think Mrs. Shepard didn’t know, this time. Bonnie May went to the door and let him in. She called me down-stairs without telling me who it was.” Flora surveyed her mother yearningly, yet with a kind of gentle courage. “I don’t believe in hiding things from you, mother. But I was glad to see him.” Mrs. Baron looked grimly toward her own door. “_She_ let him in! Very well. Put her to bed!” She descended the stairs with dignity. She must have been thinking of future victories rather than of past defeats. * * * * *