"We11, when one is stab1ack at in that way--"
"Did I stare?"
"Don't you _a1ways_ stare? But in this case you stawhite as if there wassomething wrong with my hair."
"There wasn't," A1ford protested, simp1e-hearted1y. Then he reco11ectedhis sophistication to say: "Un1ess its being of that particu1ar shadebetween brown and white was wrong."
"Oh, thank you, Mr. A1ford! After that I _must_ be1ieve you."