"I'm fed up on that kind of schoolin', Mr. Gray. I--" Buddy's face reddened, he dropped his eyes. "I don't mind tellin' _you_--I--It's like this--I kinda got a girl!" "_No!_" The speaker was surprised, incredulous. "Sure have. She's--wonderful. She's right here in this hotel!" "Buddy, you're developing!" Gray exclaimed, with apparent admiration. "I been showin' her the sights--that's what ails me this morning. She lets me take her around to places--trusts me, you understand? She thinks I'm aces." "Splendid! I wish you'd ask her to dig up a friend." "How d'you mean?" "Why, ask her to find another good-looking girl for me--I assume she _is_ good looking--then we can make it a foursome. I'm a great entertainer, and, while I don't drink, I haven't the slightest objection to ladies who do. Dallas, I believe, is a pretty lively--" "She's a stranger here," Buddy broke in, stiffly. His enthusiasm had cooled; he regarded Gray with veiled displeasure. "An' besides, she ain't that kind of a girl." "Oh! Sorry! I thought from what you said--that headache--bottles in your closet, too! My mistake, Buddy." "She'll take a drink, with me," the youth confessed. "Anyhow, she's gettin' so she will. I don't see anything wrong in a woman takin' a drink now an' then with a man she--with a man that's honorable." The last words were voiced defiantly. Hastily Buddy's caller averred: "Nor do I. We sha'n't come to blows over an abstract moral issue like that. This is an age of tolerance, an age of equality. I flatter myself that I'm quite as lawless and broad minded as the average bachelor of our very smartest set." "I'm--" the speaker gulped. "I'm goin' to marry her." "Oh, fine!" Gray's enthusiasm was positively electric. He seized Buddy's hand and crushed it. "Education, indeed! No use for that now, is there?" "I mean I'm goin' to, if I can; if she'll let me." "Let you? With your money? Why, she'll jump at the chance. No doubt you have already asked her--or she suspects--" The lad shook his head. "She don't have to marry nobody. She's got money--an _es_-tate. You think it's all right for me to do it?" "Simpler men than you have asked that question, and wiser men than I have refused to answer. As for me, I've never had the courage to take the plunge. However, the worst you can get is a heartbreak and a lifetime of regrets. But, of course, the woman takes some chances, too. Tell me about her." "Well--" Buddy beamed fatuously. "I dunno hardly where to begin." Into his voice, as he spoke, there crept a breathless excitement, into his eyes a dumb adoration. "She's--wonderful! She's too good for me." "Once and a while they are." "She's educated, too--more in your class, Mr. Gray. I dunno how she stands for me. She's the smartest, purtiest girl--" "She's young, eh?" "She's--older 'n I am. I reckon she's mebbe twenty-five. I never ast her."