He studied her. “I'm debating with myself whether to tell you about it, Sue. Though it's a wonder you don't know. Haven't you followed the papers?”
Again she shook her head.
“I'm wondering, though,” she observed: “from the way you are talking, and from something Henry Bates said in a letter that came to-day—if it isn't the Nature film.”
“That's it,” said he. “First performance tonight. Really don't you know?”
“Not a thing. Jacob.”
“Why, our old friend Silverstone is in on it. He bought out the Interstellar interest. We're featuring it. At a two-dollar house, Sue—think of that! The Dawn of an Empire is nowhere. Unless it falls flat—which it won't!—there'll be a bit of money in it for all of us. What do you say now, eh!”
“Money?” mused Sue, incredulous.
“Regular money—even for the small interest you and Peter and I hold. But that's only the beginning. Listen here now, Sue! A little time has gone by. You've hidden yourself out here—let your spirit sag—so I suppose you may find some difficulty in grasping this. But the Nature film is you, child. You're half famous already, thanks to the way we're letting loose on publicity. You're going to be a sensation—a knock-out—once the blessed public sees that film. Remember this: just because you decided to be another sort of person you haven't become that other person. Not for a minute! The big world is tearing right along at the old speed and you with it. With it? No—ahead of it! That's what our old Nature, that you worked so hard on, is doing for you right now. Can you grasp that?”
“Oh, yes,” said she listlessly, “I grasp it all right. But you're wrong in saying it is me. I am another person. Jacob—I couldn't go to see that film.”
“Couldn't see it?”