"I told him that I was not going to shed any tears over Springer; that if he had given an accurate account of the incident without prejudice he would not have been caused any embarrassment by my affidavit.'" "Good for you! I hope he tells Springer what you said." "Mr. Stover told me not to do it again and I promised that I wouldn't--but, say, it was lots of fun." "Tell me about it." She gave him a full account of the escapade and of the negro's declaration that he was feigning fright to please her. They both enjoyed a good laugh. After a walk of half an hour or more they returned to the house and he requested her to play and sing. She went to the piano and ran her fingers lightly over the keys and then, turning to him, asked, "What do you prefer?" "Oh, you know that I like the old Southern melodies. These present-day songs have so little to them." She had a good soprano voice, and as she sang the songs of the Southland for him, he drifted out on the beautiful sea of finer sentiments. When she had finished singing he walked over to her and took one of her hands in his. "Ruth," he said, his voice vibrant with emotion, "I love you and if you can give me your love I will be the happiest man in the world." "Harold," she replied, "we have been such good friends that I am afraid that we may destroy that relation in a desire to establish a more satisfactory one. I have heard that friendship is above love. Our friendship has been such a beautiful thing that I would not want to mar it by----" "You don't believe that stuff even if such a noted philosopher as Plato did say it, do you Ruth? I know that it isn't true. My heart tells me it isn't true. You don't believe it, do you?" "Plato was a very wise man," she said, and then dropped her eyes. With the disengaged hand she began to toy with the lace on her dress. "Ruth, if you would only tell me that you love me I would be thoroughly happy." He spoke with great earnestness. "You should be very happy anyway. A young architect who has just landed a twelve thousand dollar job certainly should be happy." "I am delighted to have the job, but my heart craves a greater happiness. If you will only----" The door between the dining room and living room was thrown open and Aunt Clara entered. Harold dropped Ruth's hand and blushed profusely. "Good-evening. I hope you will pardon the intrusion. I have just been reading an article, and I wanted to ask Mr. King what he thought about it. It was on 'Intolerance in the United States.' The writer went on to say that the Ku Klux Klan is fighting religion. Don't you think it is terrible, Mr. King, that we have an organization in the United States that fights religion?" "That would be unfortunate if it were true. Did he state what religions the Klan is fighting?" "Yes, the Jewish religion and the Catholic."