e?" he echoed. "She didn't even give me the satisfaction of
recognizing that I had the slightest intention to propose."

"Then what did happen?" Huntington demanded. "You seemed to be on the
best of terms when you came up here, and Merry complimented you on being
good company."

"She was rubbing it in, that's all. We didn't have any trouble; that
isn't the point. I planned this out, as you both know, with the definite
idea of asking her to marry me, and before I knew what had happened she
had twisted the situation around where I was on the defensive and had
made myself look so ridiculous that I wouldn't have had the nerve to
propose to a colored cook. There is something in all this which I don't
understand, and I must understand it. I'm average intelligent, I've had
some experience in life, and if a slip of a girl like that can make me
lose my confidence then there's something radically wrong. You struck it
right this morning, Monty, and I tell you it hurts!"

The man's humiliation was so complete that both his companions were
eager to relieve him. Huntington's loyalty to his friend caused instant
forgetfulness of his recent resentment.

"Don't mind what I said, Connie," he urged contritely. "I had no right
to speak as I did."

"You had every right," Cosden insisted. "All these years you have seen
the lack of this something in me, and you've overlooked it because you
were my friend. This morning you had sand enough to tell me the
unpleasant truth when you knew I ought to hear it. What I want to find
out now is what these 'finer instincts' are, and how I am to get them."

The momentary silence which followed was evidence of the difficulty his
auditors found in answering his appeal. He was in such deadly earnest
that it was impossible to avoid direct reply. When this mood was on him,
Huntington knew that he would deal with nothing but facts.

"Let me leave you and Mr. Huntington to discuss this," Edith said,
rising.

"Please," Cosden detained her. "We are past the point of sensitiveness.
I want your advice as well as Monty's. I'm up against something I don't
understand," he repeated, "and I'm looking to you two to show me up to
myself."

"What is the use, Connie?" Huntington expostulated. "You have gone alone
all these years living your own life; why disturb yourself now over
something to which you have always been blissfully indifferent?"

"Can't you see that the situation has changed, Monty? It was all right