involved in anything he would regret later.
'I guess not,' he said awkwardly. 'The fact is - I really only want - I thought we could do a show or something like that.'
The girl looked quickly at him, then smiled.
'Of course, if that's what you really want. But look, Buster, it's going to cost you the same one way or the other. So you can please yourself.'
'Let's go out,' Ken said, feeling himself grow hot. He took out his billfold. 'Shall we settle the financial arrangements now?'
'Twenty bucks: does that sound like hell?' she said, smiling at him.
'That's all right,' Ken said, and gave her two tens.
'It's okay with me if you want to change your mind,' she said, getting up. 'Let's see how we go, shall we?'
She crossed the room went into another room and returned immediately.
'Well, now,' she said, sitting on the arm of his chair. 'What shall we do?'
He found her presence disturbing. Already his determination to behave was wilting.
'I thought we might go to a nightclub,' he said. 'I'll have to be careful not to be seen.'
'Don't worry about that. We'll go to the Blue Rose. I bet none of your pals ever go to a joint like that. You'll have fun, and the drinks aren't too poisonous. I must change. Do you want to come in?'
Ken looked blank.
'That's all right. I'll sit here.'
'You're a funny guy. I have to keep most of them out with a shot-gun. Don't be too shy, will you?'
'That's okay,' Ken muttered, not looking at her.
She gave him a puzzled stare, shook her head, and went into the bedroom, leaving the door wide open.
Ken sat still while he wrestled with his conscience. It would have been easier and so much less complicated if she had run true to type. If she had been a hard little floosie, his coming here wouldn't have taken on this disconcerting personal atmosphere.
'For goodness' sake, Buster,' the girl said, coming to the bedroom door, 'stop looking like the wrath of God. What's the matter?'
She came over to where he was sitting took the highball out of his hand and put it on the table. She dropped on her knees in front of him.
'We have plenty of time,' she said. 'We can go out later.' She slid her arms around his neck. 'Kiss me, Buster.'
Throwing caution to the winds, he caught her to him, his mouth coming down on hers.
III
It was ten-thirty when they left the apartment. They met no one on the stairs, and they picked up a passing taxi outside the house.
'The Blue Rose,' the girl said to the driver. '122nd Street.'
In the dark seclusion of the taxi she sat close to Ken, holding his hand.
'I like you, Buster,' she said, 'You don't know what a change you are to the usual guys I get snarled up with.'
Ken smiled at her, not saying anything. He felt relaxed and happy. This night was off the record: hours that didn't count in his routine of life. In this way, he had got the better of his conscience. He knew he had been extraordinarily lucky to find a girl like Fay to share this stolen night out. By tomorrow the whole episode would be behind him: a memory he would have for the rest of his days. It would never happen again, he assured himself. He wouldn't want it to happen again. But now it was happening, he would be a fool not to enjoy every second of it.
He looked at Fay as they passed a battery of neon lights advertising a cereal food. The blue, green and red lights lit up the interior of the cab.
She looked extraordinarily attractive, he thought, in the electric blue, full-skirted frock, cut low to show to advantage her creamy white shoulders. Around her throat she wore a necklace of dark blue beads that emphasized the blueness of her eyes.
He had forgotten he had paid her twenty dollars for this night out. It was odd, but he felt as if he had gone back five years and was spending the kind of night he had so often spent before he met Ann.
'Do you like dancing, Buster?' she asked suddenly.
'Sure; do you?'
'I love it. I used to earn a living as a dancer, then things went wrong. I lost my partner, and I couldn't find another, so I gave it up. We used to give exhibitions at the Blue Rose. It's not a bad little club. I think you'll like it.'
'What happened to your partner?' Ken asked, merely to carry on the conversation.
He saw her face tighten.
'Oh, he went away. He wasn't the type to stick at anything for long.'
