"Then what do you want? You know you can do whatever you want."

Lee fell silent then and they went to bed with unspoken things between them.

In the morning, the anger gone, they talked it over quietly. They agreed that Lee must have one evening a wook of her own, to do as she pleased, go where she pleased and with whom, unquestioned.

"I'm not going out looking for...you know what," Lee said. "Just fun, you know. A little, how do the kids say it these days, jumping?"

Myra understood. Years ago they used to dance a bit, at private parties. But when liquor started to make havoc with her innards they stopped going to parties. For a long time now, the extent of their outside recreation had been concerts, the opera, and an occasional play.

So, Lee took her one night a week and it went well. Perhaps it was because it went so well, because Lee was so serenley content with the new arrangement, that Myra was able to know exactly when Alice Norman appeared on the scene.

There was nothing obvious in Lee's demeanor when she came in that night. It was only in retro spe ct that Myra deciphered the meaning in the aura of excitement that encircled Lee. Some thing new was in her eyes and scarcely concealed in her voice.

The certainty was given Myra a few days later in the form of a letter that Lee took upstairs to read, and then a telephone call which Myra answered. The voice was sweet and a little tremulous. Myra beckoned to Lee and handed the receiver to her, silently.

"Who was that?" she asked, casually as possible, when Lee came back into the kitchen.

"Oh, a girl I met recently. Alice Norman. Very nice kid." Leo helped herself from the casserole. "This looks delicious."

10