and caressed it tenderly.

"This, I believe in! I'll believe in anything I darn please proof or no proof!"

-

"Even me?" ventured Joy.

"I would, if you'd let me. Oh, hon--"

"Brother!

You're too sentimental.

"Yes, I know.

Very precise,

Now take Myrt, you know

She reminds me

Very precise, analytical.

of a chemist who'd dissolve masterworks in vitriol to see what they're composed of. I don't know that she's even

capable of loving herself."

"Yes, but she's fascinating

Joy floated out of the room, and came back with more coffee.

"Jane, you've got to see things her way. If you don't, you'll sure get hurt in this life."

"But why should I? Must I probe with a cynic's scalpel to find if a picture's pretty? All I know is that I love, and hope to be loved, and find it very beautiful. And that's all I want to know."

"Jane, honey, you're such a child. I feel sorry."

III

Home, and an empty home at that. Jane walked in, swinging the bat listlessly. Even practice was poor surcease for a deserted household. She remembered the last discussion at Myrt's, the night she returned alone to the house.

"Life is a dome of many colored glass a quest for the exotic, the strange, and variety! Must we thrive on rhinestones when there are emeralds, rubies, and diamonds? The home grows dull when there are so many other ports of call. Ah, you must seek life and embrace it, for its many-faceted views'. If you have faith, then be faithful to love, not the lover --"

"Oh rot!" mumbled Jane, "what book's she been reading now?"