Paradoxically, with the obtuseness characteristic of a certain type of imaginative man, Matthias appreciated and was grateful for the improvement in his fiancée without realizing it objectively; what pleased his sensitive tastes, he accepted as normal expressions of innate good-breeding; what jarred, he glossed with charity. It was inconceivable that he should love any woman but one instinctively fine: he endowed Joan with many a grace and many a virtue that she did not possess; and this implicit assertion of his, that she was all that the mistress of his heart ought to be, incited her to more determined efforts to resemble all that by birth and training she was not. It was some time before the novelty palled and she grew restive under the strain of it all.... "I had a talk with Rideout today," he observed during dinner, on an evening about a fortnight subsequent to the disbanding of "The Jade God" company. "He's dickering with Algerson--thinks the thing may possibly come to a deal before long." "How do you mean?" Joan enquired with quick interest. "Algerson wants to buy Rideout's interest in the play--at a bargain to himself, of course. Rideout is holding out for a better offer, but he's hard pressed, and I rather think he'll close with Algerson within a few days." "Who's Algerson?" Joan asked, after an interval devoted to ransacking her memory for some echo of that name; resulting in the conviction that she had never heard it before. "He runs a chain of stock companies out on the Pacific Coast, and now he's anxious to branch out into the producing business." "And if he gets 'The Jade God'--when will he put it on?" "Can't say--haven't seen him. I'm not supposed to know he's interested as yet; though of course they'll have to come to me before the deal can be ratified." "But you'll consent?" "Rather! Especially if Algerson will take over Rideout's contract as it stands. It provides for pretty good royalties, and as a prospective bridegroom I'm very much interested in such sordid matters." Joan traced a meaningless pattern on the cloth with a tine of her fork; glanced surreptitiously at Matthias; remembered that toying with the tableware wasn't good form, and quietly abandoned the occupation. "I wonder ..." she murmured abstractedly. "You wonder what--?" Matthias prompted when she failed to round out her thought. She laughed uneasily. "I was just wondering if--if he gets the piece--Algerson would give me a chance at my old part?" "Not with my consent," said Matthias promptly. "You know I don't want you to stick at that game." "But I'm tired doing nothing," she pouted prettily.