He gave vent to a long whistle, drumming on the desk. "Well, kid," he said at last, with an effort, "that's a pretty big proposition!" He shook his head solemnly. "I don't see how you can turn it down!" "Well, Blainey, that's just what I've done!" she said evenly. "Think it over! Better think it over carefully!" he advised anxiously. "Ten years from now you may get a different squint at life, and regret it!" She laughed. She had an idea that what they were discussing was curiously immoral; but, strange as it was, she had a feeling that he was quite unselfish, and was grateful to him for it. In fact she felt nearer to him than ever before. "No, no, Blainey," she said quickly. "Not for me! I'm not thirty-two--I'm twenty-two; and, thank heaven, I can be a little fool!" He resumed his seat, unconvinced, half inclined to argue. All at once he looked up, with a snap in his gray eyes, at the girl who was watching him, amused. "Speaking of marriage, why don't you marry me?" She rose to her feet in amazement. "Surprised?" he asked, grinning. "Bowled over!" "Rather expected another proposition?" he said bluntly. "Yes, I did! Good heavens! Blainey, why do you want to marry me?" "For about six hundred and fifty-two reasons!" he said solemnly. "First, because I'm fond of you. Second, because I'm lonely, kid! Third, because I'd like to work for you, make something big out of you, give you a career that would be a career. The rest don't count! You see, kid, I believe in you, and the contract I'm offering you," he added, with a sudden chuckling return to playfulness, "is the only contract I know that's worth a damn between manager and star. Of course, you've got to work!" "Blainey, how much talent have I?" she asked passionately. "No compliments! Give me the truth! It may mean a lot!" "I don't know!" "And yet--" "Talent be damned!" he said royally, as he said a dozen times a day. "Art be damned! It ain't talent, it's personality that counts--personality and advertising. Personality, kid, is the reason we build the stage three feet above the orchestra, to keep the bald heads from coming over. Do you think I'm in this God-forsaken business thirty-four years, and don't know the tricks? You'll be talking art to me next!" "And I have personality?" she said doubtfully. He smiled hugely. "Would you be sitting here if you hadn't?" "And you want to marry me, after all you know about me?" she asked solemnly. It was the one thing she did not like. Why was it impossible for her to go her way, free and irresponsible, as men went? Why was it that all sought this absolute control over her liberty? And yet, she was genuinely touched that Blainey, believing what he must, should have made the offer. He shrugged his shoulders.