t to prove herself lovable to me, and so I have never
learned to love her. Which reminds me--how did you happen to come to the
garage?"

"The very beautiful young lady who opened the door mistook me for a
mechanic. She told me I would find you working on your car and for
goodness' sake to see that it was in proper condition before you drove
it."

Linda looked at him with wide, surprised eyes in which a trace of
indignation was plainly discernible.

"Now listen to me," she said deliberately. "Eileen is a most
sophisticated young lady. If she saw you, she never in this world,
thought you were a mechanic sent from a garage presenting yourself at
our front door."

"There might have been a spark of malice in the big blue-gray I eyes
that carefully appraised me," said Donald.

"Your choice of words is good," said Linda, refilling the punch glass.
"'Appraise' fits Eileen like her glove. She appraises every thing on a
monetary basis, and when she can't figure that it's going to be worth an
appreciable number of dollars and cents to her--'to the garage wid it,'
as Katy would say."

When they had finished their lunch Linda began packing the box and
Donald sat watching her.

"At this point," said Linda, "Daddy always smoked. Do you smoke?"

There was a hint of deeper color in the boy's cheeks.

"I did smoke an occasional cigarette," he said lightly, "up to the day,
not a thousand years ago, when a very emphatic young lady who should
have known, insinuated that it was bad for the nerves, and going on the
presumption that she knew, I haven't smoked a cigarette since and I'm
not going to until I find out whether I can do better work without
them."

Linda folded napkins and packed away accessories thoughtfully. Then she
looked into the boy's eyes.

"Now we reach the point of our being here together," she said. "It's
time to fight, and I am sorry we didn't go at it gas and bomb the minute
we met. You're so different from what I thought you were. If anyone had
told me a week ago that you would take off your coat and mess with my
automobile engine, or wear Katy's apron and squeeze lemons in our
kitchen I would have looked him over for Daddy's high sign of hysteria,
at least. It's too bad to I have such a good time as I have had this
afternoon, and then end with a fight."

"That's nothing," said Donald. "You couldn't have had as good a time as
I have had. You're like another boy. A fellow can be just a fellow with
you, a