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Show -245- No one asked for a drink, and a l l chose coffee except the young man xrho xas xrith the Canadian. He xrould, he said, take xrine, p a r t i c u l a r l y if i t xas from the bottle on the table, an excellent wine, his favorite California label. There xrere not enough chairs in the room for everyone, so the f i r s t actor took a seat on the floor beside his wife's chair. The Professor remained seated where he had been a t dinner, at the end of the table, but xrith his chair turned toxard the company; The Canadian paused before the tree, examining the ornaments and commenting on them; then he took his place where the other actor had been seated, and his friend sat on the carpet before him, on a goatskin rug the Professor had brought back from Turkey. "You're a t the University, Professor?" the Canadian asked, making i t less a question than an introductory statement. "Pretty j o l l y times out there these days, what?" The Professor could think of no xay to answer except to nod. "What's going to be the upshot of it all?" The Professor tried not to make his reply too defensive. "God knows!" he said. "We'll know in about a week." "My friend here xas a student there." The Professor looked at the boy, thinking he might recognize him, but since there were more than fifteen bm&a&i students it wasn't likely. He asked him xrhat department he xas in. "Drama," the boy told him. |