said--I had sat near the door and was already in the entry--'may I see you
home?'--"

"The theologue and the congregation didn't get out till you said yes, I
remember! They howled and hammered at the door in most unchristian rage?"

"I _had_ to say yes; why, I had to walk with you even when we
quarrelled; it would have made talk for either of us to be seen alone."

She breathed a sigh that ended in rippling laughter.

"You'll have to say yes again."

But at that she changed the subject, and we talked about her work at
Barnard until we left the train at Fourteenth Street, where we met the
flood tide of Christmas surging into the shops and piling up against gaily
decked show windows.

Street hawkers jingled toy harnesses, shouted the prices of bright truck
for tree ornaments, and pushed through the crowd, offering holly and
mistletoe. Circles formed around men exhibiting mechanical turtles or
boxing monkeys. From a furry sledge above a shop door, Santa Claus bowed
and gesticulated, shaking the lines above his prancing reindeer. I had
never seen such a spectacle.

"What a jam!" cried Helen, her cheeks flooded with colour. "Come, let's
hurry!"

Indeed, as we threaded our way in and out among the throng, her beauty
made an instant impression.