"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