der why he dragged from the depths of untidy cupboards so much
rubbish that only owed its preservation to the general carelessness of
the household. Lily cared very little either for the past or the future,
and though she was inclined to envy Doris her dancing-lessons and
likelihood of appearing some time next year on the stage, she did not
seem really to desire any activity of career for herself. This was a
relief to Michael, who frankly feared what the stage might wreak upon
their love.

"But I wish you'd read a little more," he protested. "You like such
rotten books."

"I feel lazy when I'm not with you," she explained. "And, anyway, I hate
reading."

"Do you think of me all the time I'm away from you?" Michael asked.

Lily told him she thought of nothing else, and his pride in her
admission led him to excuse her laziness, and even made him encourage
it. There was, however, about the atmosphere of Lily's home a laxity
which would have overcome more forcible exhortations than Michael's. He
was too much in love with Lily's kisses to do more than vaguely
criticize her surroundings. He did not like Mrs. Haden's pink powder,
but nevertheless the pink powder made him less sensitive than he might
have been to Mrs. Haden's opinion of his daily visits and his long
unchaperoned expeditions with Lily. The general laxity tended to obscure
his own outlook, and he had no desire to state even to himself his
intentions. He felt himself tremendously old when he thought of kisses,
but when he tried to visualize Lily and himself even four years hence,
he felt hopelessly young. Mrs. Haden evidently regarded him as a boy,
and since that fact seemed to relieve her of the slightest anxiety,
Michael had no desire to impress upon her his precocity. The only bann
that Mrs. Haden laid on his intercourse with Lily was her refusal to
allow him to take her out alone at night, but she had no objection to
him escorting Doris and Lily together to the theatre; nor did she oppose
Michael's plan to celebrate the last night of the holidays by inviting
Alan to make a quartette for the Drury Lane pantomime. Alan had only
just come back from skating in Switzerland with his father, and he could
not refuse to join Michael's party, although he said he was "off girls"
at the moment.

"You always are," Michael protested.

"And I'm not going to fall in love, even to please you," Alan added.

"All right," Michael protested. "Just because you've been freez