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engineering. And it’s not just a loyal wife talking either.” She was so earnest, with that little righteous frown of hers! “Wives tell tales, you know, and I’ve heard some of them talking about how people who work with him respect his knowledge. They know what he’s worth. I just hope the big bosses know it too.”
    “When you get rich,” Nina said, “you’ll let me do your house for you. Wait till you see the things Louise and Gil have ordered. They really gave me a free hand. It was great fun.”
    “I shall never be that rich,” Adam said. “People who actually make things, or invent things, rarely make as much money as people do who merely
sell
things.”
    The words were bitter. He knew it, and was at once displeased with himself because he did not want to sound like an envious or bitter man. And he said quickly, “It’s remarkable what you’ve accomplished here with just one room.”
    “Do you really like it? Willie and Ernie let me have the furniture at cost. They’re the sweetest guys. And they gave me a bonus for Gil’s big order too. I was going to buy some handsome cabinets to fit that wall, but then I thought that I surely am not going to live in a studio apartment forever, so I bought this ring instead.”
    Nina held up her hand, flashing a pretty round stone of a shade between green and blue.
    “Nice,” Adam said. “An aquamarine, isn’t it?”
    “Cool, like the sea,” Margaret said. “I can see how itmight make you feel good to look at something like that every day.”
    The remark was slightly surprising to Adam, since she had never asked for jewelry, and he had never given her any. All she owned was a pearl necklace and a narrow bracelet, perhaps not even real gold, that her mother had left her. In any case, they had too many expenses to think of jewelry. Pity the man who gets Nina, he thought; they are undoubtedly flocking around her already, but the one who gets her had better think twice unless he is rich enough to provide rings and antique tables.
    “I’ve been working on the most wonderful library,” Nina said, “paneled from floor to ceiling in dark blond wood, honey colored. And moss-green silk curtains on the windows, very tall windows with a view of Central Park. Can you imagine? But the funny thing is the books! They’re all matched sets, Dickens, Balzac, and whatnot, bound in leather to match the curtains. You could die laughing.”
    “Books that have never been read and will never be,” said Adam.
    “True, yet they’re not stupid people by any means. You’d be surprised. He’s somebody on Wall Street, and she’s very interesting, very quick witted.”
    “It’s the fast lane,” said Adam.
    Nina shrugged. It must be a new habit, he thought, not having seen it before.
    “I’m meeting people I never knew existed. I hear them talk about restaurants and theater and resorts and business deals. So very amusing.” She laughed. “Educational.”
    “Oh, I miss you,” Margaret said. “We all do, especiallyMegan. She’s getting so grown-up for a twelve-year-old.”
    “Don’t you think I miss all of you? Here you are, going away again, and I haven’t said half the things I want to say.”
    “There’s always the telephone,” Margaret reminded her as they stood up to leave. “Sundays and after eight. Remember us, Adam, when I was in college and you at engineering school? What phone bills we had!”
    “Yes,” Adam said when they were out on the street, “she’s in the fast lane, all right.”
    “Fast? You have to be more precise than that.”
    “I can’t be precise when I’m feeling vague about it myself. It’s just something—the kind of people, the grabbing for goodies and sensations, cravings for every kind of sex, always something new—oh, you know the weaknesses I’m trying to describe. You heard her. You know the type.”
    Margaret laughed. “And you think Nina’s about to drown in a sea of wickedness?”
    “Not on purpose. But look at