“Yeah?” the Bearcat said, smiling. “What does it say?”

“It says yo’ is one gran’ fighter, sho’ enuff.”

“Well, that’s good, ain’t it?” The Bearcat was at a loss for words.

“Sho’ is. What flo’ yo’ want, suh?”

“Five.”

The colored boy bowed him off.

He knocked cautiously at Babe’s door. It opened at once. Babe was in an underslip and about to put on a negligee. He took her in his arms and commenced kissing her.

“I’m glad you came back, dear,” she said.

“You are? Ain’t it too late to have company in your room?”

“Oh, that’s all right,” Babe said, with a wave of her hand. “They know me in this hotel. I’m not used to havin’ gentlemen come up. Besides the house dick is a good friend of mine. He wouldn’t bother me. He’s a right guy.”

“It’s all right then?”

“Sure, honey. The only time they bother you is when they think you ain’t respectable and throw wild parties.”

Babe threw on a sheer peach-colored chiffon negligee, and lounged on the bed. The Bearcat sat beside her.

She was soft young womanhood just rounded to maturity. Her breasts were well-developed and firm under her brassiere, and a slight waist flowed into sloping hips tapering off into sensuous thighs and shading into even-cushioned calves and delicate ankles.

When the Bearcat looked at her, her perfect symmetry stirred in him strange intoxicating feelings; his heart beats seemed audible.

“Gee, you look pretty that way,” he said, as her negligee slipped open and part of her legs, thighs and shoulders were exposed. “I never seen you that way before.”

Babe smiled.

“You looked good to me that way too,” she said.

The Bearcat knitted his brows.

“Oh, you mean like you saw me up in the ring?”

Babe half-closed her eyes, and watched him through the long lashes.

“Yeah. I wish I could see you that way now.”

The Bearcat seemed startled.

“You mean—with nothin’ on? Oh, that wouldn’t be right, would it?”

Babe’s eyes opened.

“Why not?”

“Well, I don’t know—”

“You ain’t afraid of someone comin’ in, are you?”

The Bearcat looked around.

“Oh, no, I’m not afraid.”

In a few minutes her arms were around his strong, muscular body. He was aware of his bruises as her hands moved gently up his back and clutched at his shoulders. Her body was strained to his, and her lips passed electrically over his raw chest. He felt his power, so unconquerable before, so masterful a few hours ago, melt away in her consuming flame.

After she had whispered some beautiful things and caressed him passionately, the night became one sensual thrill after another. Babe had imagination plus a marvelous schooling in the art of loving. It was a night in which he sampled her loving while she cemented his love.