"I want to speak to her a minute first, anyway." And she went away quickly, gaining the top of the stairs in time to see Bibbs enter his room and close the door.

Sibyl knew that Bibbs, in his room, had overheard her quarrel with Edith in the hall outside; for bitter Edith, thinking the more to shame her, had subsequently informed her of the circumstance.

Sibyl had just remembered this, and with the recollection there had flashed the thought--out of her own experience--that people are often much more deeply impressed by words they overhear than by words directly addressed to them.

Sibyl intended to make it impossible for Bibbs not to overhear.

She did not hesitate--her heart was hot with the old sore, and she believed wholly in the justice of her cause and in the truth of what she was going to say.