Lowry raised his eyebrows. “Very scientific, Brady. Been reading Krafft-Ebing or something?”

“No, I’ll leave the reading to you. I get to know a lot of the things you guys find in books and a lot more that you don’t.”

“Good for you. I was always strong for that first-hand experience stuff, myself.”

“For cryin’ out loud,” the girl was saying. “I didn’t know you were carrying the torch for her. She’d have laughed herself sick if she’d known it, I’ll bet.”

“Wrong again,” the young man said. “Wrong on both counts. I only carried a torch once. I put it out in a barrel of corn. Since then beauty has been pure aesthetics with me.”

“What’s that mean?” the girl asked suspiciously.

Lowry couldn’t suppress a laugh. The girl knew he was laughing at her. She leaned over to glare at him.

“You went to Harvard, I suppose, Mister,” she snapped, “but I still don’t like the way you’re laughing.”

Lowry’s mirth grew uncontrollable. “As a matter of fact I did,” he said. “And I’ll try to laugh some other way.”

The blond man wavered on his feet as he turned to face Lowry.

“Hello, McKay,” Lowry said. “You’re pure poetry and philosophy tonight. I couldn’t help hearing you.”

McKay grinned sheepishly. “Hiya Ned,” he said. “Nice knowing you’re around someplace. Old Faithful, the poor man’s friend. Gives a fellow a sense of security. You been making fun of this little lady by any chance?”

Lowry laughed again. “Far be it from me,” he said. “I’ve no quarrel with the uneducated. On the contrary, I think it’s a blessing in disguise to be unable even to read. But laughing at her, good heavens, no.”

“Then I’ve no faith in that sense of humor you’re famous for,” McKay said solemnly. “Because I tell you, Ned, this little lady, when you get to know her the way I do, is just about the funniest creature on God’s green earth.”

“Is that so?” the girl snarled belligerently. Her light blue eyes sparkled with anger. “And what do you think you’re pullin’, smart guy? I don’t have to take anything like that from no stew bum like you.”

With the back of her hand, she struck McKay on the cheek. He looked at her in bewilderment and then Carrol was at their side. He ignored Brady.

“Outside, you,” he said to McKay.

A new aspect of the situation seemed to dawn in McKay’s befogged eyes. From bewilderment he passed to a firm determination not to be the victim of an injustice.

“I’ll stay right here,” he said boldly.

“Like hell, you will,” Carrol said. There was a burly man behind him now who seemed to be placidly awaiting developments.