Part 35 (1/2)
”Marvelous plot,” commented Pennington Wise. ”All your own, Mr. Shelby?”
”Yes,” Kit replied, with frank pride; ”it did turn out well, didn't it?”
”And you're going to make a book of it, too, aren't you?” asked Julie.
”Yes, a book, and a serial story and, oh, I'm going to do lots of things with it!”
”Grand opera, maybe!” chaffed Julie.
”Why not?” said Shelby, seriously. ”Slighter plots than that have been put into grand opera. It may yet come about.”
Without undue conceit Shelby was quite conscious of his great success, and as he walked home with Carlotta from the Crane house, he begged her to consent to his repeated proposals of marriage.
”This thing will make me rich, dear,” he said, ”and while that sounds mercenary, it does make me glad to have a fortune to offer you.”
”But I don't love you, Kit,” and Carlotta smiled carelessly at him.
”You will, Carly. You'll have to, 'cause I love you so. Oh, sweetheart, I love you just desperately-- I must have you, my little girl, I must!”
”Now, Kit, you wouldn't want a wife who didn't care for you as a woman ought to care for the man she marries. Truly, my heart is still Peter's.
I sometimes think I'll never marry, his memory is so vivid and so dear to me.”
”Weren't you beginning to care for Blair?”
”N-no; not that way. Of course I was fond of Gilbert, and I'm fond of you, but there's always the thought of Peter between us.”
”But, Carly, there's no one you care more for than for me, is there?”
”No, I'm sure of that.”
”Then say yes, darling. Even though you won't marry me quite yet, let's be engaged, and truly you'll soon learn to love me. I'll make you!”
But Carlotta wouldn't consent, and Shelby had to be content with her promise to think about it.
”Kit,” she said, suddenly, ”are those queer detectives going to find out who killed Gilbert?”
”Oh, I suppose they'll fasten it on Mac. Poor chap, to think of his being in jail while we're having all this excitement over my play. But I don't see any other direction for Wise to look. What a funny little thing that Zizi is.”
”Yes, but I like her a lot. And she's n.o.body's fool! Her black eyes take in everything, whether she remarks on it or not. You should have seen her watch you to-night.”
”When?”
”At the Cranes', when you were talking about the play.”
”She's dramatic herself. She ought to be in the Moving Pictures!”
”Yes, she'd be a film queen at once.”
Zizi must have had something of the same idea in her own mind, for the next day she went to see Shelby at his office and asked him if he could give her a chance at film work.