"Remember!" he repeated, menacingly. "All but the room with the green door!" With that, he left her.
She went at once to the room with the green door, and, with the aid of a hairpin, instantly opened it. Breathlessly, she tiptoed in... The door gave onto a plainly furnished sitting-room; its only occupants an old mother cat and a lively litter of kittens.
After a moment of surprised silence: "Are they not cute!" she softly cried; and for the rest of the afternoon she played with them, like a child.
Thus occupied, her husband came upon her. His brow clouded.
"I have found you out!" she laughed into his frowning face. "Under that gruff exterior, under that curious mask, under those long blue whiskers, you conceal a kind heart... I have found you out!"
"So!" he cried, fiercely. "You are like the rest. Their fate shall be yours... Now that you know, these shall be given the run of the house. You have brought it upon yourself!"
He left her swooning.
After stepping on kittens unto the third and fourth generation, she took her life, terribly, behind the green door.
STEPHEN HUGUENOT.