"I've heard a saying," she remarked--"'Be good and you'll be
happy, but you'll miss a lot of fun.'"
Samuel pondered. "I think that is a very terrible saying," he declared
earnestly.
Miss Gladys laughed. And she went on to cross-question him as to the
suicide--satisfying her curiosity as to the last hideous detail.
Then she looked at Samuel and asked suddenly, "Why do you wear that
hideous thing?"
Samuel started. "What thing?" he asked.
"That tie!"
"Why!" he said--"I got that specially--"
He stopped, embarrassed; and the other's peal of laughter rang through
the room. "Take it off!" she said.
She got up and came to him, saying, "I couldn't stand it."
With trembling fingers he removed the tie. And she took off the
beautiful red ribbon that was tied about her waist, and cut it to the
right length. "Put that on," she said, "and I'll show you how to tie
it."
And Samuel stood there, rapt in a sudden nightmare ecstasy. She was
close to him, her quick fingers were playing about his throat. Her
breath was upon his face, and the intoxicating perfume of her filled
his nostrils. The blood mounted into his face, and the veins stood out
upon his forehead, and strange and monstrous things stirred in the
depths of him.
"There," she said, "that's better"--and stepped back to admire the
result. She smiled upon him radiantly. "You have no taste, Samuel,"
she said.
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