There was a frozen silence.
"En-gaged?" said Grandfather faintly.
Grandfather had a code all to himself. He didn't know it, being a
man, but he had. It forbade ever being taken by surprise, ever being
at a loss, ever being in the wrong, or ever contradicting himself.
This made for great respect, given to him by the world at large, his
family, and himself; but it put him at a terrible disadvantage in
things like this. He couldn't go back on what the great Alton
Havenith had said for many years. Joy, shivering but desperate, knew
this perfectly well, though she didn't formulate it.
"You always hoped for it," she told him firmly.
"I--I did," said Grandfather with an obvious discomfort, but with
unabated loyalty to himself. Then he snatched at a pretext. Poor
little Grandmother's, hands were opening and shutting, but she was
well trained, and she didn't speak till he was through dealing with
the situation.
"Can your friends vouch for him socially?" Grandfather demanded.
Joy's alert, frightened mind scurried about for a moment, then she
plunged into further fabrications.
"He's--why, Grandfather, he's their closest friend, the one they
call Johnny. He--he lives near them."
Grandfather was entirely what the profane would call up a tree. He
had been giving his consent for some seventeen years. And Joy had
swept the ground from under his feet. He did not in the least
remember meeting this amazing lover at any of his receptions, but
there had been a tradition for many years that he never forgot a
name or a face.
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