“And you tracked me down with that?” Tom sounded incredulous.
“That’s all I had to go on.”
Tom Agate stared at the two young people in front of him and slowly shook his head. “Well, you certainly have gone to a lot of trouble,” he said at last. “I hope it’s been worth it to you, but I can’t imagine what you want.”
“We want to talk to you, Mr. Agate,” Peter said.
Tom Agate crossed his legs and leaned back. “All right,” he said amiably. “Go right ahead.”
Peggy reached forward and touched Peter on the arm. “Let me say it,” she said. When Peter nodded briefly, Peggy stood up and shifted over to a chair beside Tom. “Mr. Agate,” she said in a low, earnest voice, “we want you back.”
Tom Agate looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Back where?” he asked sharply.
“In the theater.”
For a long moment Tom Agate sat perfectly still, his face expressionless. Then he slowly got up and moved away. When he turned to face them, Peggy saw he was smiling. “Thank you, Miss Lane,” he said gently. “Thanks for the compliment. But I’ve learned that in this life you can’t go back.”
“That’s not so,” Peggy declared hotly. “You can if you want to.”