FLORA.”

In the absurd and pitiful folly of youth I lifted the letter to my lips and kissed it.  I trembled with eagerness till the paper rattled as I read it again and again.  It seemed like some precious holy script.

I bolted my lunch nervously and it stuck half way down in a hard lump.  I would go to her that very afternoon.

* * * * *

The car on which I rode was subject to too frequent stoppage for me.  I leaped out and walked along with brisk strides.  But the car sailed forth ahead of me now on a long stretch of roadway and I ran after it to catch it again.  The conductor looked back at me in derisive scorn and made a significant whirling motion near his temple with his index finger, indicating that I had wheels there....

At last I found the street where Flora lived.  I trailed from door to door till the number she had given me met my eye.  It made my heart jump and my knees give in, to be so near the quarry.  For the first time I was to be alone with a woman I desired.

At the bell, it took me a long time to gain courage to pull.  But at last I reached out my hand.  I had to stand my ground.  I couldn’t run away now.  The bell made a tinkling sound far within.

* * * * *

The door opened cautiously.  A head of touseled black hair crept out.

“Johnnie, dear! You!... you are a surprise!”

Did I really detect an echo of disappointment in her deep, contralto voice?

Frightened in my heart like a trapped animal, I went in.  Down a long, dusk, musty-smelling corridor and into a back-apartment on the first floor; she led me into a room which was bed-and-sitting room combined.  In one part of it stood several upholstered chairs with covers on, cluttered about a plain table.  In the other part stood a bureau heaped with promiscuous toilette articles, and a huge, brass-knobbed bed with a spread of lace over its great, semi-upright pillows.

“Shall I let in a little more light, dear?”

“Do.”

For the blinds were two-thirds down.

“I like to sit and think in the dark,” she explained, and her one dimple broke in a rich, brown-faced animal smile.

“Yes, but I—­I want to see your lovely face,” I stuttered, with much effort at gallantry....

* * * * *

“He’s not at home ... he’s off at Wilmington, on a job” (meaning her husband, though I had not asked about him).  “But what made you come so soon?  You must of just got my letter!”

“I—­I wanted you,” I blurted ... in the next moment I was at her feet in approved romantic fashion, following up my declaration of desire.  Calmly she let me kneel there ...  I put my arms about her plump legs ...  I was almost fainting....

After a while she took me by the hair with both hands.  She slowly bent my head back as I knelt.  Leaning over, she kissed deliberately, deeply into my mouth ... then, gazing into my eyes with a puzzled expression, as I relaxed to her—­almost like something inanimate....