ties. But he was a kindly man and doing well. He was
the sort you could depend on. Business was cruel. You had to overlook
certain things, for instance--Maida. But Joe! Well, it was too bad. He
just didn't have the knack.

She crossed the street. The glare was terrific. Hugging the wall, to
keep as far in the shelter of its shade as possible, she proceeded
north. In spite of the heat the streets were crowded. She looked at
her watch. It was eleven-thirty. She would have to be hurrying to get
her menus back on time. She came to an alley and paused on the curb to
look in either direction for traffic. By the curb at the corner of the
alley stood a bright, shiny, new car. Something about it attracted her
attention. She looked more closely and was conscious of a peculiar
little catch or start somewhere deep down inside her. In the front
seat, behind the steering wheel, sat Joe Hooper, with his arm flung
negligently along the polished patent leather of the top brace. And
such a Joe Hooper! He had on a new straw hat, and while Mary Louise
could not trust herself to a very long inspection, she noticed the
fresh creases in his coat sleeve. He was wearing a "shepherd plaid"
suit that looked "bran spanking" new, and in his collar was knotted a
pale lavender-hued tie. More than that, he seemed positively well
groomed. Beside him sat a woman, back turned toward the curb. It was a
most alluring back, in a soft, shimmering dark-blue dress with a lace
collar and above it a gentle curve of neck with little provoking wisps
of hair curling softly about it. That was all she took in in that
flash of vision, except--as she looked, the creature raised a dainty,
tapering hand and filliped a tiny feather under Joe's nose. He drew
back slightly and smiled--she saw the whole thing--a quite restrained
and, if anything, a condescending kind of smile.

Mary Louise passed on inconspicuously across the alley, into the
sheltering shade, of the shop awnings again. She wondered if he had
seen her. And then she was tempted to turn around and reassure herself
with another look. But she did not.

A singular mixture of emotions surged through her. She felt as if
someone were secretly laughing at her. Joe Hooper, she had decided,
had been one of those people who could never learn how to do things.
And yet, unless her eyes had deceived her, here he had burst
gorgeously from his chrysalis. She was not sure she was glad of it,
either. Charity, especially of t