his restraint and began to enjoy himself. He was talking Meredith to a
tall girl in soft-blue China silk, when suddenly he became aware that
they had been left entirely to themselves. Every one else seemed to have
drifted into an adjoining room. Through the doorway he could see them
about Mrs. Upton, who was evidently holding their attention.

"Why, what's up, I wonder? Why do they leave us out, I'd like to know?"
and he glanced inquiringly at the girl in soft blue. She flushed
consciously and dropped her lashes. When she looked at him again, and
rather appealingly, he saw that she had gray eyes.

It was Decatur's turn to flush. Could Mrs. Upton have done this
deliberately? He was loath to think so. The situation was awkward, and
awkwardly he got himself out of it.

"I say, let's see what they're up to in there," he suggested, and
marched her into the other room, wondering if he showed his
embarrassment as much as she did. As he sidled away from her he
determined to pick out a girl whose eyes were not gray, and to stick to
her for the remainder of the evening. Accordingly he began his
inspection. A moment later and the whole truth blazed enlighteningly
upon him. They were all gray-eyed girls, every last one of them.

If he had been waiting for a climax, he was entirely satisfied. Of
course it was rather silly of him to take it all so seriously, but,
sitting safely in his rooms long after his panicky retreat from Mrs.
Upton's collection, he could not make light of the situation. It _was_
serious. He was losing sleep, appetite, and self-respect over it.

Not that he was vain enough to imagine that every gray-eyed girl in the