"
"You're a novelty to him, Anita. He's tired of those _blasees_
creatures."
"They didn't look very blah-zay to me. They seemed to be up and doing
every minute. But supposing he was crazy about me, if I said to him,
'You can have two kisses for a million dollars apiece?' can you see
him begin to holler: 'Where am I? Please take me home!'"
Ferriday sighed: "Perhaps you're right. It wouldn't do to give
a mercenary look to your interest in him too soon. Let me talk
to him."
"What's your peculiar charm?"
"I'd put it up to him as a business proposition. I'd say, 'The
moving-picture field is the greatest gold-field in the world.' I'd
tell him how many hundred thousand theaters there are in the world,
all of them eager for your pictures and only needing to be told about
them. I'd tell him that for every dollar he put in he'd take out ten,
in addition to furthering the artistic glory of the most beautiful
genius on the dramatic horizon. I'd show him how he couldn't lose."
"But you just said--"
"Oh, I know, but we can't put on the screen everything we say in
the projection-room. And it is a fact that there is big money in
the movies."
"There must be," said Kedzie, "if as much has been sunk in 'em
as you say."
"Yes, and it's all there for the right man to dig up if he only
goes about it intelligently. Let me talk to him."
Kedzie thought hard. Then she said: "No! Not yet! You'd only scare
him away. I'll do my best to get him interested in me, and you do
your best to get him interested in the business; and then when the
time is just right we can talk turkey.
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