158 SCIENTIST 



the French play next week? I'm playing the ingenue part 

 and it's quite cute." 



"You mean the part's cute or you're cute?" Bill was never 

 quite sure about the force of this particular adjective as 

 used by his children and their friends. 



"Well, both I guess," replied Carol, and grinned instead 

 of blushing as Bill's sister Madeline would have done. 



"It sounds good," said Bill and slipped out of his pocket 

 the httle black date book which had become almost a part 

 of his anatomy. "Can't do it Tuesday; I'm in Washington. 

 Wednesday there's the supper club at which I have to intro- 

 duce Professor Cinque from Paris with the latest word on 

 Messenger RNA, and Thursday I have to speak to a group 

 of businessmen on how a college chemistry department can 

 help build local industry. This is part of the Dean's cam- 

 paign to get more local support for the University. I hope 

 your show is on Friday night which so far looks clear." 



Carol, who had been looking more frustrated as this re- 

 cital went on, brightened noticeably and said, "Oh good, 

 we're giving it both Thursday and Friday, and the parents 

 are supposed to come Friday because Thursday is kind of 

 a dress rehearsal." 



"It's a deal then," said Bill, and his parental duties over 

 for the moment, he slipped off to the cubbyhole he had 

 built himself in the attic as a sort of study. There he worked 

 for an hour on the short paper he planned to give at the 

 April biochemical meetings. He used to do such work in 

 his office at the lab or in the hbrary, but he now found it 

 best to write at home where he could be relatively free from 

 interruptions and in the early hours of the morning before 

 his mind became distracted with other things. 



About eight-ten he stepped into his Volkswagen and set 

 out for the lab. By the time he arrived, his secretary, Mrs. 

 MacAvoy, had already gotten the mail sorted and was ready 



