“I am going to make a request, Miss McNair,” he said evenly. “Please keep off the roof after sunset. There are—reasons.” I had risen and was preparing to go downstairs.
“Unless I know the reasons, I refuse to do anything of the kind,” I retorted. He bowed.
“Then the door will be kept locked,” he rejoined, and opened it for me. He did not follow me, but stood watching until I was down, and I heard him close the roof door firmly behind me.
Chapter XXI. A BAR OF SOAP
Late that evening Betty Mercer and Dallas were writing verses of condolence to be signed by all of us and put under the door into Jim’s room when Bella came running down the stairs.
Dal was reading the first verse when she came. “Listen to this, Bella,” he said triumphantly:
“There was a fat artist named Jas,
Who cruelly called his friends nas.
When, altho’ shut up tight,
He broke out over night
With a rash that is maddening, he clas.”
Then he caught sight of Bella’s face as she stood in the doorway, and stopped.
“Jim is delirious!” she announced tragically. “You shut him in there all alone and now he’s delirious. I’ll never forgive any of you.”