“Cruelly unjust, but I’ll pass it by. Say, there aren’t so many peaches here but that you can do me a favor.”
“Say on.”
Robert made a grimace of rueful self-disgust.
“Of course I ought to have taken the first dance with Helen Maynard.”
“You couldn’t do anything else.”
“Yes, I could. I can always do things that to others would seem impossible. To me they’re mere bagatelles. I’m about to be snubbed evermore by the heiress, and disinherited by mother.”
“Speak out.”
“It was an attack of emotional insanity. They always come out of a clear sky, and she was so enchanting—”
“Who?”
“Hebe. I asked her for the first dance, in Helen’s presence.”