After his initial shock at Faith's words, he had tried to analyze the situation. He had been very uncertain as to how he did feel about her. Certainly he liked her, but could it ever be anything more than that? At first he hadn't really thought so, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he had actually had a chance to find out how much he could like her. And with that in mind, he had tried to see her again.

He had called her, but while friendly enough, she had kept putting him off. Her voice over the phone had been cool, soft, and he knew that once more she had gone behind her mask, perhaps to stay, as far as he was concerned.

But he had been persistent. He had called her once a day, asking her to meet him for coffee, to go for a ride with him, and even to go out and drink with him again. She refused. Once he went over to her dorm on an impulse, but she was not in.

He had let the matter rest for awhile, then had called her again. He tried to show her, through their very casual conversations over the phone that he didn't respect her any the less for what had happened, and that while he had certainly been surprised at the time, he had forgotten all about it, really, and only wanted to continue their friendship as it had been.

He had talked to her roommate, Sue, and was surprised to learn that Faith had moved into a single room. She couldn't tell him why exactly, only that there had been a single vacant room; and Faith had decided to move into it.

And then when he had called her this afternoon, and asked her to go for a ride with him this evening, she had accepted. He hadn't expected her to; she had started out by saying that she couldn't, that she had to study. Then she had stopped, and there was a long minute of silence, after which she had said that she would.

He brought himself out of his thoughts, and reached forward to put out his cigarette. He saw Faith come out of the dorm and down the steps. He waved at her, and she saw him and came toward the car.

He watched her, with interest. Her body moved with a controlled gracefullness that was only Faith's; and he saw that it was a nice body-much nicer than Sue's if only she were a little more relaxed, a little more natural.

He got out of the car.

"Hi, Faith," he said.

"Hello, Don," she said softly. They stood looking at each other for a minute, then walked around to her side of the car. He opened the door and she got in. "You could have waited inside," she said, as he started the engine and pulled away from the curb.

"Could I?" he asked, smiling at her. "With that housemother of yours staring me down?" They both laughed.

"Maybe you're right. You couldn't.”

As Don headed away from the campus. Faith asked. "Where are we going?" "I thought maybe we'd go up to the Park, and sit in the car and just talk." he replied.

"Oh," she said, and her voice sounded far away.

He guided the car skillfully around the last curve, and at the top of the hill, pulled off into a cleared spot. They sat silently for a minute, both enjoying the calmness of the night.

"Well," Don said at last, "Guess what I've got?" He reached over the seat

one

16