n he asked her, but he made no attempt to kiss
her. They went right on dancing and while he waited for her answer he
talked about the moon ...

"When the lights go out and the music stops the moon will remain," he
said. "It raises tides on the Earth, it inflames the minds and hearts of
men. There are cyclic rhythms which would set a stone to dreaming and
desiring on such a night as this."

He stopped dancing abruptly and looked at her with calm assurance.

"You _will_ marry me, won't you?" he asked. "Allowing for a reasonable
margin of error I seriously doubt if I could be happy with any of these
other women. I was attracted to you the instant I saw you."

A girl who has never been asked before, who has drawn only one lone wolf
cry from a newsboy could hardly be expected to resist such an offer.

_Don't resist, Sally. He's strong and tall and extremely good-looking.
He knows what he wants and makes up his mind quickly. Surely a man so
resolute must make enough money to support a wife._

"Yes," Sally breathed, snuggling close to him. "Oh, yes!"

She paused a moment, then said, "You may kiss me now if you wish, my
darling."

He straightened and frowned a little, and looked away quickly. "That can
wait," he said.

* * * * *

They were married a week later and went to live on an elm-shaded street
just five blocks from where Sally was born. The cottage was small, white
and attractively decorated inside and out. But Sally changed the
curtains, as all women must, and bought some new furniture on the
installment plan.

The neighbors were friendly folk who knew her husband as Mr. James Rand,
an energetic young insurance broker who would certainly carve a wider
swath for himself in his chosen profession now that he had so charming a
wife.

Ten months later the first baby came.

Lying beneath cool white sheets in the hospital Sally looked at the
other women and felt so deliriously happy she wanted to cry. It was a
beautiful baby and it cuddled close to her heart, its smallness a
miracle in itself.

The other husbands came in and sat beside their wives, holding on tight
to their happiness. There were flowers and smiles, whispers that
explored bright new worlds of tenderness and rejoicing.

Out in the corridor the husbands congratulated one another and came in
smelling of cigar smoke.

"Have a cigar! That's right. Eight pounds at birth. That's unusual,
isn't it? Brightest kid you e