"There's plenty of family acts been playing the circuits Gawd knows how long," he pursued, with a vast display of interest in the sunset glow. "Look't the Cohans, before George planted the American flag in Longacre Square and annexed it to the United States. And they ain't the only ones by a long shot. I could name a plenty that'll stick in the big time until their toes curl. It's all right to trot in double-harness so long's you manage your own company."
"Well?" Joan asked with a sober mouth and mischievous eyes.
"Well—what?"
"If you're getting ready to slip me my two-weeks' notice, why not be a man and say so?"
"What would I do that for?" Quard demanded indignantly.
"Because you're thinking about getting married; and there's only room for one leading lady in any company I play in."
"Quit your kidding," the man advised sulkily; "you know I couldn't get along without you."
"Yes," Joan admitted calmly, "I know it, but I didn't know you did."
Quard shot a suspicious glance askance, but her face was immobile in its flawless loveliness.
He started to say something, choked up and reconsidered with a painful frown. A mature man's perfect freedom is not lightly to be thrown away. And yet ... he doubted darkly the perfection of his freedom....