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."