Gloria Hanford smiled at her mother in an elfin, yet superior manner. "I am the affianced bride of Bertram Harrison," she said softly. "Therefore my behavior, whether good, bad, or indifferent, is no longer the problem of my parents." Her father said, "Gloria, I happen to be big enough in both the physical and intellectual departments to overrule both you and your husband-to-be. So you'll answer your mother." "Why," said Gloria quietly, "I've done nothing wrong." Mr. Hanford said to Scholar Ross: "What's your side of this?" Scholar Ross said, "Last week the Westchester Young People's Club gave a costume ball. The young ladies were to attend this affair adorned in the authentic fashion of some period in the past, and a prize was to be awarded to the most novel, yet completely authentic costume." "And," said Gloria with a smile, "I won!" "Your daughter won because she has a talent for performing the most shocking deeds under a cloak of intellectual achievement." "Do go on, Scholar Ross. What did Gloria do?" * * * * * The scholar smiled wryly. "Style and fashion ceased to be logical when clothing was designed for sly provocation rather than as a protection against a harsh environment," he said. "We live in a mixed-up social world. We encourage communal swimming and sun bathing in the nude--and yet after five o'clock it is considered shocking to display more than the bare face and hands. "So in order to combine the maximum shock-effect with the cloak of utter authenticity, Miss Hanford researched the styles and fashions until she located a brief period of a few scant months late in the Twentieth Century. Her costume consisted of a many-fold voluminous skirt of semi-transparent material that draped in graceful folds from waist to mid-calf. She was completely nude above the waist! To prove her point, she offered fashion stereos of the period from style magazines." Gloria chuckled. "I might have researched back to the Old Testament," she said. Scholar Ross shook his head. "As I say, her shocking behavior could not be criticized. She could justify it according to the rules." Mr. Hanford shook his head and asked, "Gloria, what did Bertram think of all this?" "Bertram carried the style stereos," said Gloria. "There wasn't any pocket in my costume." Abruptly, Scholar Ross said, "Miss Hanford, how are you and Bertram getting along?" "As well as could be expected." "Meaning what?" "Meaning that each of us lives our own life. Berty likes his sedentary, torpid existence. In fact, he'd like to be more of a vegetable than he is. It started with his taking my pills and that was all right, I guess. But when he started sleeping in my bedroom so that he could estivate under the tranquilizing music program you prescribed for me, that was too much!" Scholar Ross looked unprecedentedly astonished. "So?" he demanded.