_Mrs. Roberts_, welcoming them with kisses and hand-shakes: “I should have thought it would occur to you at once.” _Miller_, goaded to exasperation: “Did it occur to any of _you_?” _Lawton_, with sublime impudence: “It occurred to _all_ of us. But we naturally supposed you had tried it.” _Mrs. Miller_, taking possession of her husband: “Oh, what a fright you have given us!” _Miller_: “_I_ given you! Do you suppose I did it out of a joke, or voluntarily?” _Mrs. Roberts_: “Aunty, I don’t know what to say to you. _You_ ought to have been here long ago, before anything happened.” _Mrs. Crashaw_: “Oh, I can explain everything in due season. What I wish you to do now is to let me get at Willis, and kiss him.” As _Campbell_ submits to her embrace: “You dear, good fellow! If it hadn’t been for your presence of mind, I don’t know how we should ever have got out of that horrid pen.” _Mrs. Curwen_, giving him her hand: “As it isn’t proper for _me_ to kiss you”— _Campbell_: “Well, I don’t know. I don’t wish to be _too_ modest.” _Mrs. Curwen_: “I think I shall have to vote you a service of plate.” _Mrs. Roberts_: “Come and look at the pattern of mine. And, Willis, as you are the true hero of the occasion, you shall take me in to dinner. And I am not going to let anybody go before you.” She seizes his arm, and leads the way from the landing into the apartment. _Roberts_, _Lawton_, and _Bemis_ follow stragglingly. _Mrs. Miller_, getting her husband to one side: “When she fainted, she fainted _at_ you, of course! What did you do?” _Miller_: “Who? I! Oh!” After a moment’s reflection: “She came to!” _Curwen_, getting his wife aside: “When you fainted, Caroline, who revived you?” _Mrs. Curwen_: “Who? _Me_? Oh! How should I know? I was insensible.” They wheel arm in arm, and meet _Mr._ and _Mrs. Miller_ in the middle. _Mrs. Curwen_ yields precedence with an ironical courtesy: “After you, Mrs. Miller!” _Mrs. Miller_, in a nervous, inimical twitter: “Oh, before the heroine of the lost elevator?” _Mrs. Curwen_, dropping her husband’s arm, and taking _Mrs. Miller’s_: “Let us split the difference.” _Mrs. Miller_: “Delightful! I shall never forget the honor.” _Mrs. Curwen_: “Oh, don’t speak of honors! Mr. Miller was _so_ kind through all those terrible scenes in the elevator.” _Mrs. Miller_: “I’ve no doubt you showed yourself duly grateful.” They pass in, followed by their husbands. _Young Mr. Bemis_, timidly: “Miss Lawton, in the elevator you asked me not to leave you. Did you—ah—mean—I _must_ ask you; it may be my only chance; if you meant—never?” _Miss Lawton_, dropping her head: “I—I—don’t—know.” _Young Mr. Bemis_: “But if I _wished_ never to leave you, should you send me away?” _Miss Lawton_, with a shy, sly upward glance at him: “Not in the elevator!” _Young Mr. Bemis_: “Oh!”