When morning whitened the drawn shades, the Bearcat awoke still under the spell of Babe’s amorous body. Intimacy frequently means disillusionment. But he felt closer to her now than ever before. He felt she belonged to him. He belonged to her. His mind went back again to last night—to his dressing room. The words of the newspapermen—their questions—re-echoed in his mind: “Are you single? Do you intend to marry? Is this your wife?” And so on. As he looked at Babe, he thought: “I wonder if she really loves me enough to— Yes, that would be the thing to do. That would stop all Charlie’s insults; that would settle everything.”

He bent over and kissed Babe gently. Her eyes opened. Then she smiled.

“Honey,” he said, “do you care for me now as you did before?”

Babe placed her arms around his neck.

“I’m mad about you.”

“When you say that, you mean you love me?”

She wondered what he was up to.

“I guess I do, honey.”

The Bearcat held her close.

“Well, I want to know for sure, dear. ’Cause I love you so much I never want to be away from you again.”

“That’s a good one for Charlie,” said Babe, with a little laugh.

“When I make up my mind to anythin’, Charlie or nobody else can’t change it.”

He kissed her again, held her tightly for an instant, and then sprang up and started to dress.

Babe lay there, wondering silently: “Why the rush?”

Soon dressed, the Bearcat came over to the bed, bent down and kissed her.

“I’ll be back in a half hour, dear.”

And he was out the door and gone before Babe could say a word or question him about his actions.

Joe Malone sprang out of bed at the sound of the bell. He came out of unpleasant dreams and was relieved that the bell he heard was the telephone ringing, and not one summoning him to another smashing round. He still felt groggy from last night’s bout with the bottle.

It was Bearcat calling him, and there was enthusiasm and a wild happiness in his voice.

“How you feelin’, Joe?”

“Great!” said Joe, forgetting his aching head.

“I want you to do me a favor, Joe.”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to meet me over in Babe’s hotel as quick as you can.”

“Why, what’s happened?” Joe cried, in surprise. “Anythin’ wrong?”

“No,” came back Bearcat’s voice over the wire. “Everything’s great. She loves me—and you know—well, I want you to be the best man.”

Joe was stunned.

“What? You don’t mean to tell me—”

“Yeah—we’re goin’ over to Jersey and do it. Now hurry up. Make it snappy!”