For one time, anyway, I figured I had to accept. I gritted my teeth and went. I never had a sweeter, more enjoyable evening in all my life. * * * * * I got there about seven in the evening and walked up the steps to the big old porch on the dean's house feeling a bit nervous and upset. I'd walked up those same steps often enough before, feeling nervous and upset, but this was different. I lifted the oversized brass knocker and rapped. Vera's voice, coming from the back of the house someplace, cut through the evening air. "Thurlow! Answer the door!" "Yes, sweets. I'm on my way, Vera hun bun." That was Benji. Hun bun, yet! And his voice was misery. It cringed and whined. I grinned to myself and began to feel more cheerful. Benji let me in. His glasses were thicker and his hair thinner and he looked a lot older. But it was Benji, the same old lanky, gangling redhead; yet not the same, too. He had a hang-dog look that was new and suddenly I felt so good, I punched him playfully in the ribs. He winced--and didn't even counter. If the fight hadn't gone out of him, it had sure been watered down. We went on in to the parlor across the hall from the dean's old study. Vera joined us. She didn't look bad--at a glance. But if you checked right close, and I did, there was something in her look--a sharpness I hadn't noticed before; her nose seemed bigger, beak-like; the broad, solid shoulders; deep-down grooves at the corners of her mouth. She threw her arms around me and kissed me. My temperature stayed steady and cool. "Boulard! Boulard, darling! You look marvelous!" I felt great, too. "Vera, girl. You're as gorgeous as ever, radiant, blooming, still the campus goddess. And Mrs. Thurlow Benjamin now, hm-m? Old Benji is sure a lucky dog." Benji forced a hollow laugh. Vera smiled a positive agreement. Then Benji sort of coughed out a faint note of hope and pleaded, "Vera, sweet, this is a--uh--an occasion, don't you agree, dear? Don't you--ah--do you think maybe I ought to--fix us all a drink?" "Thurlow! You drink far too much! You had a highball before dinner at Professor Dorman's only night before last." Almost--but not quite--I felt sorry for him. "Ah, well, Vera doll," I said, "this _is_ an occasion, after all. And I _do_ want to drink a toast to you and Benji." "Hmph." "Especially you, the love of my life, lost now, but lovelier than ever." "Boulard!... Well, Thurlow, don't stand there like an idiot. Go mix us some drinks. And mind the line on the bottle." And then she turned back with some more gush for me. I enjoyed it, knowing now what I had been saved from. In fact, as I said, I enjoyed the whole evening; my playing up to Vera made her just that much rougher on Benji. Revenge on Benji plus relief at what I had escaped made life seem pleasant, and right there and then I changed my mind about leaving town. I decided to stay and settled down. * * * * *