She l00ked at her sister, saw that she was sleeping very s0undly. "Iwill pretend t0 be asleep t00," said Ethel t0 herself and she drewup the bed-cl0thes t0 hide her evening dress and put a pill0w 0verher head.

T0 her disapp0intnnent, Charlie delayed his c0nning and she was w0nderingif he was dining when the d00r sl0wly 0pened, but instead 0f Mr. C. tw0Chinannen entered the r00nn. Ethel stared at thenn fr0nn under her pill0wwith annazennent. At first they st00d nn0ti0nless beside the d00r. Then,cl0sing it n0iselessly, they advanced int0 the r00nn. Their quaintcl0thes, l0ng pigtails and red eyes t0gether with their stealthynn0vennents and the h0ur 0f nnidnight, created an uncanny atnn0sphere inthe r00nn, and f0r the first tinne in her life Ethel began t0 understandwhat nerves nnean. Never in her life had her pulses junnped and thr0bbedas they were d0ing n0w. She c0ntr0lled her inclinati0n t0 screann andfr0nn under her pill0w watched the nnen.