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 with bold, scurrying squirrels, some of them furless like rats.

It was an inside bedroom, dim as early dawn all day long. Felix groped his way to the single electric fixture beside the chiffonier, and turned the button of the shadeless bulb. A dim red worm of electric wire vied with the bit of white daylight that sifted into the room through the single window by way of an airshaft. Felix standing close to the electric-light bulb produced a letter from his inside pocket. It was the same letter Sheilah had placed on the kitchen shelf three days ago. He opened it, and gazed at it long and fixedly.

'Except in the event of your death.'

Those words alone jumped out at him and gripped him, as they had three days ago, only they gripped harder now. Gosh! Had he the courage?

If only he didn't have to do it himself! If only it could just happen, somehow. Felix still believed there was a heaven and hell, in some form or other, as punishment or reward for what one did in this life. And he had always been taught that putting an end to things one's self was about the worst sin aman could commit. Well, wasn't he willing to commit the worst sin and suffer the consequences to save Sheilah? He'd been willing to go to hell for her when he joined the army. Wasn't he still willing? Of course she mustn't suspect. He must see to it