“And my turn will come next, you mean?” Felix asked. “Not for a while.... I’ve been trying to figure the thing out. Felix came here, you know, scared to death of Chicago; he can’t believe yet in his good luck! He didn’t really believe he was going to get Hawkins’s job. Everybody else knew he was slated for it.... When you go back to the office tomorrow, Felix, the Old Man will give you a cigar and tell you what a fine fellow you are. And it will take him all of a year to discover that you aren’t a fine fellow.... We are a deceptive lot, we young intellectuals; the powers that be think they can use us in their business; and it’s some time before they wake up to discover that we are playing a game of our own.... I give you a year at least to flourish in, Felix! And make the most of it—for about this time next year you will be pulling up stakes and departing elsewhere. What do you think, Rose-Ann?” “I don’t care,” said Rose-Ann. “So long as things keep happening!” 3 They had said good-night to Clive and came back to the studio. Rose-Ann turned to Felix suddenly, just inside the closed door. “You remember what I told you here—a little while ago,” she began. “Yes,” he said, doubtfully. She looked at him earnestly. “I meant it, you know,” she said. “Oh—that!” “Yes.... I’m terribly glad it wasn’t true, what I thought—about you and Dorothy. But if it had been—!” “Don’t let’s talk about it,” he said uncomfortably. “But Felix!” she protested. “Well?” “I know I was crying, and behaving like a silly idiot and everything—but you must believe that I meant what I said. Do you, Felix?” Her face was grave now, her eyes solemn. Something in his heart leaped to rejoice in the courage that lay behind her utterance. He wanted to believe it, and at the same time he feared to believe it. She read the doubt in his eyes. “You don’t believe me?” she said. “If the time ever comes to prove it, Felix—” He smiled. “We’ll cross our bridges when we come to them,” he said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Book Five Garfield Boulevard ------------------------------------------------------------------------ XLI. Changes 1 THE second year of marriage began for Felix with a sense of uneasy anticipation. It was as if things—strange, unknown things—were about to happen. He tried, by taking thought, to discover the reason for his vague anxieties. But, viewed rationally, they seemed absurd. He attempted to dismiss them. He was happy. And Rose-Ann, in her own restless fashion, was happy, too. What could the future bring to disturb their happiness? Nothing!