be nice to him even then. But, my gracious, that was years ago. However, in the end, they accepted Felix. He was an extra man, and helped augment the group of stags at a subscription dance. He became a familiar object in that group as time went on, and like all familiar objects soon was merged in the general composition of the picture, and was unnoticed and unremarked upon.
Sheilah felt a great comforting sense of satisfaction. Not only was she letting Felix out of the dark, but also she was discharging a debt she felt she owed him. He had been alone and neglected at college. He had failed at college. If she saw to it that he was not alone and neglected in Wallbridge, if she helped him to succeed in Wallbridge, then that strange hungry sense of obligation to him, always fumbling for food just over her heart, would be satisfied, perhaps; would become weaned in time, and she would be free again, and happy, seeing him prosper on the milk of others' kindness.
But to Felix the recognition meant only one thing—chances to see Sheilah. Social functions were torture to Felix, to be endured for the sake of a possible glimpse of Sheilah. Nor did he care for success, only inasmuch as success led to Sheilah. At the dances he attended he seldom took any part, though occasionally he did 'sit out' with a left-over girl, persuaded by an usher. He usually spent his time
