"I'll be John Alden," vowed Tom-Tom with shrill decision. "I'll talk up for this big yokel—I always do, don't I, Shanny? As Gaspipe's personal representative—engaged at enormous expense—I want to put before you a proposition. One in which I'm interested. After all, I should have a say as to who will be my—well, my step-mother—"
"It won't work!" came the sudden, savage voice of Ben Gascon.
Rising, he abruptly tossed Tom-Tom upon a divan. Shannon Cole, too, was upon her feet. "Ben!" she quavered. "Why, Ben!"
"I've done the most foolish thing a ventriloquist could do," he flung out.
"Well—if you were really serious, you didn't need to clown. You think it was fair to me?"
He shook his head. "Tom-Tom's done so much of my saucy talking for me these past years that I thought I'd use him to get out what I was afraid to tell you myself," he confessed wretchedly.
"Then you were afraid of me," Shannon accused. She, too, was finding it hard to talk. Gascon made a helpless gesture.
"Well, it didn't work," he groaned. "I'm sorry. You're right if you think I've been an idiot. Just pretend it never happened."
"Why, Ben—" she began once more, and broke off.
"We've just finished our last program for the year," said Ben Gascon. "Next year I won't be around. I think I'll stop throwing my voice for a while and live like a human being. Once I studied to be a doctor. Perhaps once more I can—"