It was a risky invitation, for I'd have to borrow money for such a date, and prospective creditors were wary of me by now. Her face lit up a little at the words—I'm sure she had received such a compliment rarely, if ever. But she said:

"My father doesn't allow me to go out with men."

I thought a minute.

"Surely, he couldn't have any objection to my visiting him tonight, could he? And if you're there, well...."

"We're staying at the Ringo Hotel," she said after a moment's hesitation, and favored me with a shy smile.

Well, I was able to borrow some money, and with it I bought a few flowers for Dori and a quantity of the rawest, cheapest whiskey I could find. I had recognized the symptoms of the sot in the old man's pouchy face and shaking hands.

The Ringo Hotel was a run-down place in the eastern sector of town. The old man was not especially glad to see me when I appeared early that evening, but his attitude changed quickly when I unwrapped the liquor. Within an hour he was dead drunk and snoring on the bed.

Dori drank nothing, and I drank just enough to loosen my tongue and my inhibitions. It was not the sort of romantic atmosphere I would have preferred, with the two of us facing each other in hard, straight-backed chairs, the bare light bulb glaring down on us and the old souse snorting away in his drunken dreams; but I was determined not to let this opportunity escape me.

I talked my way carefully, without making any precipitous advances or suggestions, and I soon learned one inescapable fact. Dori had no love left for her father and would leave him in a moment; but her long-dead mother had instilled in her a rigid morality that left no door open for an informal association, no matter how attractive I made it. There was one course open to me.

"Dori," I said, "I have never married because all my life I have been waiting for the woman to appear whom I knew would be right for me. When I saw you, I thought you were that woman and now I know. Will you marry me?"

Now, would you think any woman would consider such a proposal seriously from a man she had met eight hours before, especially a sedate, conventional woman like Dori? It was an indication of her hatred of the life she led that she did not even glance at the old man on the bed.

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