behind her back, and I gave him one to match it. Just practice,
you know, Tom. A girl can never know when she'll want to be
expert in these things.

She made me lie down on a couch while she turned the lamp low,
and then left me alone in a big palace of a bedroom filled with
things. And I wanted everything I saw. If I could, I'd have
lifted everything in sight.

But every minute brought that doctor nearer. Soon as I could be
really sure she was gone, I got up, and, hurrying to the long
French windows that opened on the great stone piazza, I
unfastened them quietly, and inch by inch I pushed them open.

There within ten feet of me stood Edward. No escape that way. He
saw me, and was tiptoeing heavily toward me, when I heard the
door click behind me, and in walked the Dowager back again.

I flew to her.

"I thought I heard some one out there," I said.

"It frightened me so that I got up to look. Nobody could be out
there, could they?"

She walked to the window and put her head out. Her lips
tightened grimly.

"No, nobody could be out there," she said, breathing hard,
"but you might get nervous just thinking there might be. We'll