Her amusement stung me, but I had just identified a landmark, and knew
the clubhouse to be less than a mile away. So I made another brilliant
sally. "I am coming to that dance!" I announced.

She regarded me with an amazement which was obvious, though I could
not see her face. And then, "Will you please to tell me," she
inquired, "just when you made up your mind to that heroic act?"

After-reflection convinced me that nothing less than a criminal
mistake in the mixing of my Rhine wine and seltzer was responsible for
my reply. "Since I saw you," I answered, solemnly.

"Since you saw me?" Then something in the statement, of which I was
not immediately aware, appeared to impress her with its humor. She
laughed.

I gave the steering wheel a vicious jerk. We sheered dangerously. She
uttered a little, frightened cry, and her gloved fingers closed upon
my wrist. I was absolutely certain I had short-circuited a battery
wire when, her hand still resting on my arm, she pleaded: "Forgive me
for laughing. I remember now that Edith said you did not dance. You
are coming this evening just for me, aren't you?"

What reply was there but the one I made?

"You poor fellow," she went on, and it seemed as if there were a soft
pressure from her fingers. "You poor fellow. But--I tell you what we
will do. We will watch the dancing together--as often as I can steal
away. And we will have a long talk by ourselves, if-if----"

"If what?" I asked.

"If Edith doesn't mind!"

"Damn Edith!" was on my tongue, but politeness, rather than common
sense, transmuted the sentence. "Oh, Edith won't mind," I declared,
with conviction. And thereat we both laughed--though why, I am not
sure. But all at once we seemed to know each other much better. And
then the lights of the clubhouse came into view across the lawn, and
we turned into the big gates.

During the passage of the driveway I devised an explanation. It was
intended to salve my conscience for not plumping out the truth. The
Lord alone knows what I intended should ensue. One thing only was
clear to me---we would have that "long talk to ourselves," if it could
be contrived. So it was agreed between us that I was to come up to the
dancing floor as soon as I had stabled the automobile and put on
evening clothes. Our exact meeting place was a vague locality
described by her as "wherever Edith is."

With that understanding we parted at the door of the clubhouse. I
heard an attendant direct