"He offered to release me," said Isabel, in a small, cold voice, "and I accepted. I did not know until just now that Cousin Rose had taken my leavings." The older woman's mysterious departure presented itself to her now in a new light.
"Suffering Cyrus," said Doctor Jack, aloud, "but I have put my foot into it. Look here, kind friends, I never was meant for a parlour, and I always make mistakes when I stray into one. My place is in a hospital ward or at the bedside of those who have been given up to die. The complex social arena is not where I shine to my best advantage. There are too many rings to keep track of at once, and my mind gets cross- eyed."
"Come on up to the attic," suggested Juliet, with a swift change of subject, "and we'll do stunts on the trapeze."
Isabel and Doctor Jack sat side by side on a battered old trunk in stony silence while the twins were donning their gymnasium costumes. Fortunately, it did not take long and the sight of Juliet hanging by her feet furnished the needed topic of conversation. The lithe little body seemed to be made of steel fibres. She swayed back and forth, catching Romeo as he made a flying leap from the other trapeze, as easily as another girl would have wielded a tennis racquet.
At length Doctor Jack interposed a friendly word of warning. "Look here, kid," he said, "you're made of flesh and blood, you know, just like the rest of us. Better cut out that trapeze business."
"I don't know why," returned Juliet, resentfully, as she slipped gracefully to the floor, right side up. "I'm as strong as Romie is, or almost as strong."
"Girls do it in the circus," Romeo observed, wiping his flushed face.
"Ever heard of any of 'em living to celebrate their hundredth birthday?" queried Doctor Jack, significantly.
The twins admitted that they had not. "I don't care," cried Juliet, "I'd rather live ten years and keep going, than live to be a hundred and have to sit still all the time."
"No danger of your sitting still too long," returned Doctor Jack, good- humouredly. "It's hot up here, isn't it?"