ss
Morgan talked much more to every one else that evening, than to
each other; and they said nothing at all at this time. Both looked
preoccupied, as they began to dance, and preserved a gravity, of
expression to the end of the number. And when "the third one after that"
came, they did not dance, but went back to the gallery stairway, seeming
to have reached an understanding without any verbal consultation, that
this suburb was again the place for them.

"Well," said George, coolly, when they were seated, "what did you say
your name was?"

"Morgan."

"Funny name!"

"Everybody else's name always is."

"I didn't mean it was really funny," George explained. "That's just one
of my crowd's bits of horsing at college. We always say 'funny name' no
matter what it is. I guess we're pretty fresh sometimes; but I knew your
name was Morgan because my mother said so downstairs. I meant: what's
the rest of it?"

"Lucy."

He was silent.

"Is 'Lucy' a funny name, too?" she inquired.

"No. Lucy's very much all right!" he said, and he went so far as to
smile. Even his Aunt Fanny admitted that when George smiled "in a
certain way" he was charming.

"Thanks about letting my name be Lucy," she said.

"How old are you?" George asked.

"I don't really know, myself."

"What do you mean: you don't really know yourself?"

"I mean I only know what they tell me. I believe them, of course, but
believing isn't really knowing. You believe some certain day is your
birthday--at least, I suppose you do--but you don't really know it is
because you can't remember."

"Look here!" said George. "Do you always talk like this?"

Miss Lucy Morgan laughed forgivingly, put her young head on one side,
like a bird, and responded cheerfully: "I'm willing to learn wisdom.
What are you studying in school?"

"College!"

"At the university! Yes. What are you studying there?"

George laughed. "Lot o' useless guff!"

"Then why don't you study some useful guff?"

"What do you mean: 'useful'?"

"Something you'd use later, in your business or profession?"

George waved his hand impatiently. "I don't expect to go into any
'business or profession."

"No?"

"Certainly not!" George was emphatic, being sincerely annoyed by a
suggestion which showed how utterly she failed to comprehend the kind of
person he was.

"Why not?" she asked mildly.

"Just look at 'em!" he said, almost with bitterness, and he made a
gesture presumably intended to i