the tip of her shoe. "Is not one
ever a part of a whole?"

"Socially, yes. Spiritually--I doubt it. It is some-thing which you
will have to decide for yourself."

"I don't want to be alone," said Desire rebelliously. "It frightens me.
I want to have a place. I want to fit in. But here, it seems as if I
had come too late. Every-one is fitted in already. There isn't a tiny
corner left."

Spence's grey eyes looked at her with a curious light in their depths.

"Wait," he said. "You haven't found your corner yet. When you do, the
rest won't matter."

"But people do not want me. I had a horrid dream last night. I was
wandering all through Bainbridge and all the doors were open so that I
might go in anywhere. I was glad--at first. But I soon saw that my
freedom did not mean anything. No one saw me when I entered or cared
when I went away. I spoke to them and they did not answer. Then I knew
that I was just a ghost."

"I'm another," said a cheerful voice behind them. "All my 'too, too
solid flesh' is melting rapidly. Only ice-cream can save me now!" Using
his straw hat vigorously as a fan Dr. Rogers dropped limply into an
empty chair. "Tell you a secret," he went on confidentially. "I had two
invitations to Sunday supper but neither included ice-cream. So I came
on here."

"Very kind, I'm sure," murmured Benis.

"How did you guess?" began Desire, and then she dimpled. "Oh, of
course,--Benis wasn't in church."

"How did he know that?" asked Benis sharply. "He wasn't there, was he?"

The doctor looked conscious. Desire laughed. "His presence did seem to
create a mild sensation," she admitted.

"Well, you see," he explained, "in the summer I am often very busy--"

"In the cellar," murmured Benis.

"But no one happened to need me today and, besides, my freezer is
broken. This, combined with--"

"An added attraction," sotto voce from the professor.

"Oh, well--I went, anyway."

"I saw you there," said Desire, ignoring their banter. "I thought you
might have gone for the sermon. The subject was one of your
specialties, wasn't it?"

The doctor twirled his hat.

"Better tell him what the subject was," suggested Benis unkindly.

"Didn't you listen?" Desire's inquiring eyebrows lifted. "That's one of
the things I don't understand about people here. Church and church
affairs seem to play such an important part in Bainbridge. Nearly
everyone goes to some church. But no one seems at all disturbed about
what they h