THE FIRST SEVEN YEARS
667
He was silent. She must have sensed his disappointment for she
added, "You can't really tell much after the first time."
"You will see him again?"
Turning a page, she said that Max had asked for another date.
"For when?"
"Saturday."
"So what did you say?"
"What did I say?" she asked, delaying for a moment- "I said
yes."
Mterwards she inquired about Sobel, and Feld, without exactly
knowing why, said the assistant had got another job. Miriam said
nothing more and began to read. The shoemaker's conscience did not
trouble him; he was content with the Saturday date.
During the week, by placing here and there a deft question, he
managed to get from Miriam some information about Max. It sur–
prised
him
to learn that the boy was not studying to be either a doctor
or lawyer but was taking a business course leading to a degree in ac–
countancy. Feld was a little disappointed because he thought of ac–
countants as bookkeepers and would have preferred "a higher pro–
fession." However, it was not long before he had investigated the
subject and discovered that Certified Public Accountants were highly
respected people, so he was thoroughly content as Saturday ap–
proached. But because Saturday was a busy day, he was much in
the store and therefore did not see Max when he came to call for
Miriam. From
his
wife he learned there had been nothing especially
revealing about their meeting. Max had rung the bell and Miriam
got her coat and left with him-nothing more. Feld did not probe,
for his wife was not particularly observant. Instead, he waited up for
Miriam with a newspaper on his lap, which he scarcely looked at
so lost was he in thinking of the future. He awoke to find her in the
room with him, tiredly removing her hat. Greeting her, he was sud–
denly inexplicably afraid to ask her anything about .the evening. But
since she volunteered nothing he was at last forced to inquire how
she had enjoyed herself. Miriam begun something non-committal but
apparently changed her mind, for she said after a moment, "I was
bored."
When Feld had sufficiently recovered from his anguished disap-
