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156 “I understand you write plays, Mr. Jocelyn?”

“I do.”

“You will have to endure New York, now and again, I suppose, when you begin to produce.”

“We have formed a partnership,” Bambi interpolated. “He writes and I sell.”

“You are a lucky man,” Strong complimented him.

Jarvis ignored the remark. Strong wondered why on earth Bambi had married him. He was wonderful to look at, but his manners were impossible. If he was in love with her, he disguised it successfully. The entrance of the Professor saved the situation.

“This is Mr. Strong, Professor. My father, Professor Parkhurst.”

The Professor’s hand-clasp and absent-minded smile seemed like a perfect character make-up. It was the kind of thing David Warfield would have played excellently. Strong had to shake himself to realize that these were real people, they were so individualized, so emphasized, like characters in a play.

“I am always glad to welcome my daughter’s old friends,” he said. “I forget when it was you knew each other, my dear.”

“At college.”