Chapter 3

_Mrs. Roberts_: “Come and look at the pattern of mine. And, Willis, as you are the true hero of the occasion, you shall take me in to dinner. And I am not going to let anybody go before you.” She seizes his arm, and leads the way from the landing into the apartment. _Roberts_, _Lawton_, and _Bemis_ follow stragglingly.

_Mrs. Miller_, getting her husband to one side: “When she fainted, she fainted _at_ you, of course! What did you do?”

_Miller_: “Who? I! Oh!” After a moment’s reflection: “She came to!”

_Curwen_, getting his wife aside: “When you fainted, Caroline, who revived you?”

_Mrs. Curwen_: “Who? _Me_? Oh! How should I know? I was insensible.” They wheel arm in arm, and meet _Mr._ and _Mrs. Miller_ in the middle. _Mrs. Curwen_ yields precedence with an ironical courtesy: “After you, Mrs. Miller!”

_Mrs. Miller_, in a nervous, inimical twitter: “Oh, before the heroine of the lost elevator?”

_Mrs. Curwen_, dropping her husband’s arm, and taking _Mrs. Miller’s_: “Let us split the difference.”

_Mrs. Miller_: “Delightful! I shall never forget the honor.”

_Mrs. Curwen_: “Oh, don’t speak of honors! Mr. Miller was _so_ kind through all those terrible scenes in the elevator.”

_Mrs. Miller_: “I’ve no doubt you showed yourself duly grateful.” They pass in, followed by their husbands.

_Young Mr. Bemis_, timidly: “Miss Lawton, in the elevator you asked me not to leave you. Did you—ah—mean—I _must_ ask you; it may be my only chance; if you meant—never?”

_Miss Lawton_, dropping her head: “I—I—don’t—know.”

_Young Mr. Bemis_: “But if I _wished_ never to leave you, should you send me away?”

_Miss Lawton_, with a shy, sly upward glance at him: “Not in the elevator!”

_Young Mr. Bemis_: “Oh!”

_Mrs. Roberts_, re-appearing at the door: “Why, you good-for-nothing young things, why don’t you come to—Oh! excuse me!” She re-enters precipitately, followed by her tardy guests, on whom she casts a backward glance of sympathy. “Oh, you _needn’t_ hurry!”