“I might have got a man, but I didn’t want a man, because if he were clever enough to be any good he’d be out after my job from the very first day.  It would suit Abe Shuman down to the ground to have me teach a man all I know in two years and then put him in my place at half my pay.  As for women, well, I’ve never seen a woman yet with just your combination of qualities, your drive and your knack.  So I persuaded myself that it would be all right.  That I could get along without thinking about you the other way.  And I sent for you.

“But the minute I saw you I knew I’d have to look out.  I’ve tried to; you know that.  I’ve been treating you like a sweep since you’ve been down here.  I didn’t mean to but I couldn’t help it.  I was in such a rage with myself for going on like a sentimental fool about you.  And the way you took it, always good-humored and never afraid, made me all the more ashamed of myself and all the more in love with you.  And so last night I burst.  In a way I’m glad I did.  I think perhaps it will clear the air.  But I’ll come to that later.  I want to know now whether you’re convinced that what I said is true.  That the fact that I fell in love with you has been against you and not in your favor.”

“Yes,” Rose said, “I’m convinced of that and I want to thank you for telling me.  Because the other feeling was pretty—­discouraging.”

“All right,” he said with a nod, “that’s understood.  Now, here’s my proposition.  That you go on working for me exactly as if nothing had happened.”

“Oh, but that’s impossible!” she said, and when he put in “Why is it?” she told him he had just said so himself.  That it was impossible for a man to do decent work with a woman he was in love with.

“That’s what I thought last night when I blew up,” he admitted, “but I’ve got things a bit straighter since.  In the first place, we have been doing decent work all this last month.  We’ve been doing, between us, the work of two high-priced directors.”

She said, “Yes, but I didn’t know ...”

“Understanding’s better than ignorance,” he interrupted, “any time.  Between people of sense, that is.  We’d get on better together, not worse.  Look at us now.  We’re talking together sensibly enough, aren’t we?  And we’re here in your sitting-room, talking about the fact that I fell in love with you.  Couldn’t we talk just as sensibly in the theater, about whether a song or number was in the right place or not?  Of course we could.”

The truth of this argument rather stumped Rose.  It didn’t seem reasonable, but it was true.  Instead of embarrassing and distressing her, this talk with Galbraith was doing her good, restoring her confidence.  The air between them was easier to breathe than it had been for weeks.

“You seem different this morning, somehow,” she said.