good place for it."

"Aren't you afraid it would sound a little--smug?" Canby asked
timidly. "The way we've got him now, Roderick seems to me to be
always seeing himself as a splendid man and sort of pointing it
out to the--"

"Good gracious!" cried Potter, astounded. "Hasn't it got to be
pointed out? The audience hasn't got a whole lifetime to study
him in; it's only got about two hours. Besides, I don't see what
you say; I don't see it at all! It seems to me I've worked him
around into being a perfectly natural character."

"I suppose you're right," said Canby, meekly scribbling.

"Biblical quotations never do any harm to the box-office,"
Potter added. "You may not get a hand on 'em, but you'll never
get a cough, either." He looked dreamily at the ceiling. "I've
often thought of doing a Biblical play. I'd have it built around
the character of St. Paul. That's one they haven't touched yet,
and it's new. I wouldn't do it with a beard and long hair. I
wouldn't use much makeup. No. Just the face as it is."

"You can do practically anything with a religious show," said
Tinker. "That's been proved. You can run in gambling and horse-
racing and ballys, and you'll get people into the house, night
after night, that think the theatre's wicked and wouldn't go to
see 'Rip Van Winkle.' They do a lot of good, too--religious
shows--just that way."