ed his own room and was tying his necktie that he became aware
of a sound that lingered unpleasantly in his ears. On investigating this
sound he identified it as the final snort of Bernard Higginbotham, which
somehow had not penetrated to his brain before.

As Ruth's front door closed behind them and he came down the steps with
her, he found himself greatly perturbed. It was not unalloyed bliss,
taking her to the lecture. He did not know what he ought to do. He had
seen, on the streets, with persons of her class, that the women took the
men's arms. But then, again, he had seen them when they didn't; and he
wondered if it was only in the evening that arms were taken, or only
between husbands and wives and relatives.

Just before he reached the sidewalk, he remembered Minnie. Minnie had
always been a stickler. She had called him down the second time she
walked out with him, because he had gone along on the inside, and she had
laid the law down to him that a gentleman always walked on the
outside--when he was with a lady. And Minnie had made a practice of
kicking his heels, whenever they crossed from one side of the street to
the other, to remind him to get over on the outside. He wondered where
she had got that item of etiquette, and whether it had filtered down from
above and was all right.

It wouldn't do any harm to try it, he decided, by the time they had
reached the sidewalk; and he swung behind Ruth and took up his station on
the outside. Then the other problem presented itself. Should he offer
her his arm? He had never offered anybody his arm in his life. The
girls he had known never took the fellows' arms. For the first several
times they walked freely, side by side, and after that it was arms around
the waists, and heads against the fellows' shoulders where the streets
were unlighted. But this was different. She wasn't that kind of a girl.
He must do something.

He crooked the arm next to her--crooked it very slightly and with secret
tentativeness, not invitingly, but just casually, as though he was
accustomed to walk that way. And then the wonderful thing happened. He
felt her hand upon his arm. Delicious thrills ran through him at the
contact, and for a few sweet moments it seemed that he had left the solid
earth and was flying with her through the air. But he was soon back
again, perturbed by a new complication. They were crossing the street.
This would put him on the inside. He should