She was not surprised to find Archibald at Emily's dinner. It was the first time she had seen him under quite such a strong social light, however, and she was a little nervous as to what the evening might bring forth. "The Sign of the Dirty Spoon," did not sound like the most reliable school of table manners. He sat opposite her, between Emily and a débutante of the type that makes conversation an act of supererogation, and she was able without seeming to do so to keep her protégé under a watchful eye. But to her relief he neither swallowed his spoon nor grasped his fork with undue firmness, and seemed not at all perturbed by the variety of the silver implements beside his plate. Joan was quite mystified by his prowess; until she happened to notice that Emily also had him under a watchful eye. With each course Emily promptly and ostentatiously selected the proper implement, and Archie, after one glance out of the corner of an eye, followed suit. It was perhaps fortunate that Emily was his leader instead of the more impish Joan, who would have been impelled by sheer force of circumstance to attempt her fish with her coffee spoon. What surprised her even more than Archibald's table manners was his conversation; a flow, a positive torrent, which poured on in a constant stream, pausing only for the extreme exigencies of mastication, and not always then. In the intervals of her own talk, Joan caught occasional bits of this monologue. During the soup course it apparently concerned itself with the South American armadillo, habits and habitat. During the dessert it still appeared to linger about the armadillo. Now and then Emily cast a puzzled glance across at Joan, and the débutante on his other side had long since been reduced to "Oh, really?" and "I can hardly believe that!" But the armadillo went on and on. Joan had not suspected him of a concealed passion for natural history. She could hardly wait for dinner to be over to investigate this new development. But she had to call him to her side in so many words before he ventured to join her. His eyes had been upon her most of the evening, removing themselves hastily whenever they caught hers; but he did not wish to intrude. It was quite sufficient for him to be in the same room with her. She began at once, "Why and whence the armadillo, Archie? You sounded like a University Extension lecture!" "Did I?" he grinned. "Was it all right? There were some things I forgot to tell 'em. About the--" "Never mind!" said Joan hastily. "What I want to know is how you came by the armadillo, anyway?" "I'm taking a correspondence course," he confessed. "In--in armadillos?"