him?"

"No one would think that, Bella," I soothed her. "Everybody knows
you loathe him--Jim, too." She looked at me over the edge of her
cup.

"I'll run along now," she said, "since Takahiro isn't here. And
if Jim has any sense at all, he will clear out every maid in the
house. I never saw such a kitchen in all my life. Well, lead the
way, Kit. I suppose they are deep in bridge, or roulette, or
something."

She was fixing her veil, and I saw I would have to tell her.
Personally, I would much rather have told her the house was on
fire.

"Wait a minute, Bella," I said. "You see, something queer has
happened. You know this is the anniversary--well, you know what
it is--and Jim was awfully glum. So we thought we would come--"

"What are you driving at?" she demanded. "You are sea-green, Kit.
What's the matter? You needn't think I mind because Jim has a
jollification to celebrate his divorce."

"It--it was Takahiro--in the ambulance," I blurted. "Smallpox.
We--Bella, we are shut in, quarantined."

She didn't faint. She just sat down and stared at me, and I
stared back at her. Then a miserable alarm clock on the table
suddenly went off like an explosion, and Bella began to laugh. I