WORLD'S END

So Lanny had to go off and consider in his mind: was he the least bit in love with Gracyn Phillipson, or she with him? He was sure that if he had been thinking of falling in love, he'd have chosen some girl like Adelaide, who was soft and warm, and obviously made to melt in your arms. It would have been a wiser choice, because his parents would have been pleased, and her parents, and they would have a lovely church wedding with bridesmaids and orange blossoms and yards and yards of white veils spread all around her like a pedestal. But he hadn't been thinking about love, he had been interested in acting, and in music and dancing and poetry and the other arts that Shakespeare had woven into an immortal fairy tale. Gracyn was boylike and frank and interested in the same things, and they had made a pleasant friendship on that basis.

If she'd been thinking about anything else, she'd have let him know it. Or would she? She was an actress; and might it be that she was acting the part of boylike frankness? Acting is a tricky business, and a woman might fool herself as well as others. Gracyn wanted a start in life, and could surely not be unaware of the fact that Lanny might give it to her. His father could get her a start if he chose to take the trouble. Gracyn must have thought of this; and would she think that Lanny was careless and indifferent to her needs? Would she be too proud to hint at it, or take advantage of their friendship? If so, she must be a fine person, and Lanny was putting her to a severe test.

VIII

He took her driving the next evening, that being the only way she could ever see the country. They followed the river drive, and a full moon was strewing its showers of light over the water; fireflies were flickering, and the world was lovely, as well as mysterious. Over in France the doughboys had begun their long-expected drive, and the newspapers were full of their exploits; which lent a strange quality to any happiness you felt - as if it were something you had no right to, and that might disappear while you held it in your hands.

"Gracyn," said Lanny, "I've been thinking that if you're going to get a job this season, you ought to be in New York now, while the managers are getting their fall productions ready."

"I know, Lanny; but I can't!"

"What I thought was, I'd ask my father to back you to the extent of a trip there. He saw your performance and liked it a lot."

"Oh, Lanny!" The girl caught her breath. "Oh, I couldn't let you do that!"

"It wouldn't break him."

"I know - but I haven't the right - "

"You can call it a loan. Anybody starting in business borrows money and pays it back out of his earnings. You surely won't fail to earn something; and it would make me happy if I could help you."

"Oh, Lanny, what a darling you are!"

"You'll do it, then?"

"How could I say no?"

"I haven't asked him, you understand; but he's never refused to do anything within reason."

"Lanny, I'll work so hard - I'll have one reason more for making good!"

"I know you'll work; the chances are you'll work too hard and do yourself up."

The road passed a wooded point, and came to an open spot with a tiny bay. "Oh, Lanny, how lovely!" whispered the girl. "Stop for a bit."

They drew up by the roadside, as young couples were doing along ten thousand rivers and streams of America. They sat looking over the water, strewn with shimmering bright jewels; and Gracyn put her hand on Lanny's and murmured: "Lanny, you are the kindest, sweetest man I've ever known."

"It's easy for me to be generous with money I don't have to earn," said he.

She answered: "I don't mean only that. I mean a lot, lot more than that."

He felt her hand trembling, and a strange feeling which he had learned to know began to steal over him. When she leaned toward him he put his arm about her. They sat so for quite a while; until at last the girl whispered: "Lanny, let me tell you how I feel."

She waited, as if it were a question; he answered: "Yes, dear, of course."

"I think you are the best person I've ever known, and I'll do anything I can to make you happy - anything in this world. You have my promise that I'll never ask anything of you, never make any claim upon you - never, never!"

So there was Lanny mixed up with the sex problem again. His father had said: "It's hard to say no." Lanny found that it was impossible.

24

The World Well Lost

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