"Hm." Fraser rubbed his chin. "Apparently he was measuring the electric rhythms corresponding to pleasure and dislike. I'd no idea anybody'd made an encephalograph that accurate."
"Well," said Judy, "I've told you why we're celebrating. Now come on, the regular orchestra's tuning up. Let's dance."
They had a rather wonderful evening. Afterward Fraser lay awake for a long time, not wanting to lose a state of happiness in sleep. He considered sleep a hideous waste of time: if he lived to be ninety, he'd have spent almost thirty years unconscious.
Judy was engaged for the next couple of evenings, and Fraser himself was invited to dinner at Sworsky's the night after that. So it wasn't till the end of the week that he called her again.
"Hullo, sweetheart," he said exuberantly. "How's things? I refer to Charles Addams Things, of course."
"Oh--Colin." Her voice was very small, and it trembled.
"Look, I've got two tickets to _H. M. S. Pinafore_. So put on your own pinafore and meet me."
"Huh?" He noticed how odd she sounded, and a leadenness grew within him. "You aren't sick, are you?"
"Yes. I'm in love now; really in love. I'll be getting married in a couple of months."
"I didn't want to hurt you." He heard her begin to cry.
"It's Matthew," she gulped. "Matthew Snyder."
He sat quiet for a long while, until she asked if he was still on the line. "Yeah," he said tonelessly. "Yeah, I'm still here, after a fashion." Shaking himself: "Look, I've got to see you. I want to talk to you."
They met at a quiet little bar which had often been their rendezvous. She watched him with frightened eyes while he ordered martinis.
"All right," he said at last. "What's the story?"
"I--" He could barely hear her. "There isn't any story. I suddenly realized I loved Matt. That's all."
"_Snyder!_" He made it a curse. "Remember what you told me about him before?"
"I felt different then," she whispered. "He's a wonderful man when you get to know him."
_And rich._ He suppressed the words and the thought. "What's so wonderful specifically?" he asked.
"He--" Briefly, her face was rapt. Fraser had seen her looking at him that way, now and then.
"Go on," he said grimly. "Enumerate Mr. Snyder's good qualities. Make a list. He's courteous, cultured, intelligent, young, handsome, amusing--To hell! _Why_, Judy?"