strong impulses, and he detested the idea of
trifling with them. The talk of the disreputable men his father
kept about the place at home, instead of corrupting him, had
given him a sharp disgust for sensuality. He had an almost
Hippolytean pride in candour.

X

The Erlich family loved anniversaries, birthdays, occasions. That
spring Mrs. Erlich's first cousin, Wilhelmina Schroeder-Schatz,
who sang with the Chicago Opera Company, came to Lincoln as
soloist for the May Festival. As the date of her engagement
approached, her relatives began planning to entertain her. The
Matinee Musical was to give a formal reception for the singer, so
the Erlichs decided upon a dinner. Each member of the family
invited one guest, and they had great difficulty in deciding
which of their friends would be most appreciative of the honour.
There were to be more men than women, because Mrs. Erlich
remembered that cousin Wilhelmina had never been partial to the
society of her own sex.

One evening when her sons were revising their list, Mrs. Erlich
reminded them that she had not as yet named her guest. "For me,"
she said with decision, "you may put down Claude Wheeler."

This announcement was met with groans and laughter.

"You don't mean it, Mother," the oldest son protested. "Poor old
Claude wouldn't know what it was all about,--and one stick can
spoil a dinner party."

Mrs. Erlich shook her finger at him with conviction. "You will
see; your cousin Wilhelmina will be more interested in that boy
than in any of the others!"

Julius thought if she were not too strongly opposed she might
still yield her point. "For one thing, Mother, Claude hasn't any
dinner clothes," he murmured. She nodded to him. "That has been
attended to, Herr Julius. He is having some made. When I sounded
him, he told me he could easily afford it."

The boys said if things had gone as far as that, they supposed
they would have to make the best of it, and the eldest wrote down
"Claude Wheeler" with a flourish.

If the Erlich boys were apprehensive, their anxiety was nothing
to Claude's. He was to take Mrs. Erlich to Madame
Schroeder-Schatz's recital, and on the evening of the concert,
when he appeared at the door, the boys dragged him in to look him
over. Otto turned on all the lights, and Mrs. Erlich, in her new
black lace over white satin, fluttered into the parlour to see
what figure her escort cut.

Claude pulled off his overcoat as he was bid, and pr