Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor.

“He wants to know — ” continued Jordan “ — if you'll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over.”

The modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths so that he could “come over” some afternoon to a stranger's garden.

“Did I have to know all this before he could ask such a little thing?”

“He's afraid. He's waited so long. He thought you might be offended. You see he's a regular tough underneath it all.”