"Epstein thought it was a corking idea," he went on, "especially as we expected to try out some of the scenes I have in mind for the new play.
But the only one you let us really get over was the suicide scene in the first act. You balled up everything else we attempted," he ended with a sigh.
Laurie smiled happily.
"Were your elevator boys in on the secret?" he asked Doris.
"No, of course not."
"Now, what I meant to do was this--" Rodney spoke briskly. He was recovering poise with extraordinary rapidity. His color was returning, his brown eyes were again full of life. And, as always when his thoughts were on his work, he was utterly oblivious to any other interest. "The second act was to be--"
He stopped and stared. Epstein had risen, had ponderously approached him, and had resolutely grasped him by one ear.
"Rodney," said the manager, with ostentatious subtlety, "you don"t know it, but you got a date up-town in five minutes."
His voice and manner enlightened the obtuse Mr. Bangs.
"Oh, er--yes," stammered that youth, confusedly, and reluctantly got to his feet.
"Wait a minute," said Laurie. "Before you fellows go, there"s one more little matter we"ve got to straighten out." They turned to him, and at the expression of utter devotion on the two faces the sternness left young Devon"s eyes. "I was pretty mad about this business for a few minutes after Shaw explained it," he went on. "You folks didn"t have much mercy, you know. You fooled me to the top of my bent. But now I feel that we"ve at least broken even."
"Even! Mein Gott!" repeated Epstein with a groan. "You"ve taken ten years--"
"You"ve got back ten already," the young man blithely reminded him.
"That"s fine! As I say, we"re even. But from this time on, one thing must be definitely understood: Henceforth I"m not in leading-strings of any kind, however kindly they are put on me. If this a.s.sociation is to continue, there must be no more practical jokes, no more supervision, no more interference with me or my affairs. Is that agreed?"
"You bet it is!" corroborated Epstein. Again he wiped his brow. "I can"t stand the pace you fellas set," he admitted.
Bangs nodded. "That"s agreed. You"re too good a boomerang for little Rodney."
"For my part," continued Laurie, "I promise to get to work on the new play, beginning next Monday."
"You will!" the two men almost shouted.
"I will. I"ve got to stand by Louise for the next two or three months, and we"ll write the play while I"m doing it. Then, whether America enters the war this spring or not, I"m going to France. But we"ll talk over all that later. Are you off?"
He ushered them to the door.
"And it"s all right, boy?" Epstein asked wistfully. "You know how vell ve meant. You ain"t got no hard feelings about this?"
"Not one." Laurie wrung his hand. Then, with an arm across Rodney"s shoulders, he gave him a bearish hug. "I"ll see you a little later," he promised.
Rodney suddenly looked self-conscious.
"Perhaps then you"ll give me a chance to tell you some news," he suggested, with a mixture of triumph and embarra.s.sment. Epstein"s knowing grin enlightened Laurie.
"Sonya?" he asked eagerly.
"Yep. Great, isn"t it?"
Laurie stared at him.
"By Jove, you _have_ been busy!" he conceded. "Between manufacturing a frame-up for me, and winning a wife, you must have put in a fairly full week even for you." His arm tightened round his chum"s shoulders. "I"m delighted, old man," he ended, seriously. "Sonya is the salt of the earth. Tell her she has my blessing."
When he reentered the room he found Doris standing in its center, waiting for him. Something in her pose reminded him of their first moments together in that familiar setting. She had carried off the original scene very well. Indeed, she had carried off very well most of the scenes she had been given.
"You"ll be a big hit in the new play," he cheerfully remarked, as he came toward her.
"Laurie--" Her voice trembled. "You have forgiven the others. Can"t you forgive me?"
"There"s nothing to forgive," he quietly told her. "You saw a chance and you took it. In the same conditions, I suppose any other girl would have done the same thing. It"s quite all right, and I wish you the best luck in the world. We"ll try to make the new play worthy of you."
He held out his hand, but she shrank away from it.
"You"re _not_ going to forgive me!" she cried. "And--I don"t blame you!"
She walked away from him, and, sinking into the chair Epstein had so recently vacated, sat bending forward, her elbow resting on its broad arm, her chin in her hand. It was the pose he knew so well and had loved so much.
"I don"t blame you," she repeated. "What I was doing was--horrible. I knew it all the time, and I tried to get out of it the second day. But they wouldn"t let me."
She waited, but he did not speak.
"Can"t you understand?" she went on. "I"ve hated it from the start. I"ve hated deceiving you. You see--I--I didn"t know you when I began. I thought it was just a good joke and awfully interesting. Then, when I met you, and you were so stunning, always, I felt like a beast. I told them I simply couldn"t go on, but they coaxed and begged, and told me what it would mean to you as well as to me-- They made a big point of that."
He took his favorite position by the mantel and watched her as she talked.
"Don"t feel that way," he said at last. "You were playing for big stakes. You were justified in everything you said and did."
"I hated it," she repeated, ignoring the interruption. "And to-day, this afternoon, I tried to tell you everything. Don"t you remember?"
"Yes, I remember." He spoke as he would to a child, kindly and soothingly. "Don"t worry about it any more," he said. "You"ll forget all this when we begin rehearsing."
She sprang to her feet.
"I don"t want the play!" she cried pa.s.sionately. "I wouldn"t appear in it now under any conditions. I don"t want to go on the stage. It was just a notion, an impulse. I"ve lost it, all of it, forever. I"m going back home, to my own people and my--own Virginia, to--to try to forget all this. I"m going to-morrow."
"You"re excited," said Laurie, soothingly. He took her hands and held them. "I"ve put you through a bad half-hour. You understand, of course, that I wouldn"t have done it if I hadn"t been made to realize that your whole thought, throughout this experiment, has been of the play, and only of the play."
She drew back and looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Why--" It was hard to explain, but he blundered on. "I mean that, for a little time, I was fool enough to hope that--that--some day you might care for me. For of course you know, you"ve known all along--that I--love you. But when I got the truth--"
"You haven"t got the truth." She was interrupting him, but her face had flashed into flame. "You haven"t had it for one second; but you"re going to get it now. I"m not going to let our lives be wrecked by any silly misunderstanding."
She stopped, then rushed on.
"Oh, Laurie, can"t you see? The only truth that counts between us is that I--I--adore you! I have from the very first--almost from the day you came here--Oh, it"s dreadful of you to make me say all this!"