ng. He had come down at the
usual hour despite his long tramp of the previous night, for he wanted to
tell her the news and talk it all out before Laura came down--because
Deborah, he hadn't a doubt, with her woman's curiosity had probed deep into
Laura's affairs in the many long talks they had had in her room. He had
often heard them there. And so, as he waited and waited and still his
daughter did not come, Roger grew distinctly annoyed; and when at last she
did appear, his greeting was perfunctory:

"What kept you out so late last night?"

"Oh, I was having a very good time," said Deborah contentedly. She poured
herself some coffee. "I've always wanted," she went on, "to see Laura
really puzzled--downright flabbergasted. And I saw her just like that last
night."

Roger looked up with a jerk of his head:

"You and Laura--together last night?"

"Exactly--on the Astor Roof." At her father's glare of astonishment a look
of quiet relish came over her mobile features. Her wide lips twitched a
little. "Well, why not?" she asked him. "I'm quite a dancer down at school.
And last night with Allan Baird--we were dining together, you know--he
proposed we go somewhere and dance. He's a perfectly awful dancer, and so I
held out as long as I could. But he insisted and I gave in, though I much
prefer the theater."

"Well!" breathed Roger softly. "So you hoof it with the rest!" His
expression was startled and intent. Would he ever get to know these girls?
"Well," he added with a sigh, "I suppose you know what you're about."

"Oh no, I don't," she answered. "I never know what I'm about. If you always
do, you miss so much--you get into a solemn habit of trying nothing till
you're sure. But to return to Laura. As we came gaily down the room we ran
right into her, you see. That's how Allan dances. And when we collided, I
smiled at her sweetly and said, 'Why, hello, dearie--you here too?" And
Deborah sipped her coffee. "I have never believed that the lower jaw of a
well-bred girl could actually drop open. But Laura's did. With a good
strong light, Allan told me, he could have examined her tonsils for her.
Rather a disgusting thought. You see until she saw me there, poor Laura had
me so thoroughly placed--my school-marm job, my tastes and habits,
everything, all cut and dried. She has never once come to my school, and in
every talk we've ever had there has always been some perfectly good and
absorbing reason why we should talk about