"I hope it isn't money," thought I, "for I was beginning to have some anxiety about my steadily dwindling bank account."
"Name it, Mrs. Wyman," I said, somewhat nervously.
"I am almost ashamed to say it, but I don't like to go to the lecture alone. Would you mind giving me your escort?"
"With pleasure," I answered.
My answer was not quite truthful, for I had intended to ask the young woman from Macy's to accompany me. She was not intellectual, but she had a fresh, country face and complexion; she came from Pomfret, Connecticut, and was at least ten years younger than Mrs. Wyman. But what could I say? I had not the moral courage to refuse a lady.
"Thank you very much. Now I shall look forward to the evening with pleasure."
"You are complimentary. Do you expect to understand the lecture?"
"I don't know. I never gave much thought to the 'Material and Immaterial.'"
"Possibly we may understand as much about the subject as the Professor himself."