d nearly died."

"Make-believe," he repeated. "My friend Brennan--whom Gibson spoke to
you of--says that life is all make-believe; that we all play at
make-believe--some of us rightfully, but most of us wrongfully."

Subconsciously he thought of Brennan's indictment of Gibson as a fraud
and a dishonest "make-believe," a consummate actor in the role of a
villain in real life.

"I'm often inclined to believe it," she said slowly. "Perhaps that's why
life is sometimes a huge joke and sometimes nothing but sadness and
disillusionment. We play our little game of make-believe and strut
around proudly, making ourselves, as well as others, think that we
amount to something and then comes death, like a curtain; the footlights
go out and where are we? Who thinks of us then?"

"Only the few who have loved us with all our faults and vain deceit and
make-believe," he replied.

A series of "close-ups," were photographed after lunch. Consuello went
into the actor's embrace again to permit a "close-up" of his fervent
expression of love and thankfulness as he looked upward to the sky. John
didn't mind the repetition of this scene. He thought of the actor's wife
and two babies, especially the one who was his father's "tear provoker."
There was another in which Consuello, her head inclined, admired the
fresh crisp beauty of a bouquet of daisies. She lifted her face to gaze
with a faraway look past the cameras, apparently registering longing for
her absent sweetheart. John followed her gaze and discovered it was
fixed on the woebegone countenance of the bass viol player, whose
melancholy seemed to be increased by his dim realization that he was the
object on which she concentrated in her abstract mood.

In a third "close-up" the actor registered the deepness of his love by
thrusting his chin forward and staring unblinkingly over John's head. It
was an effective piece of facial expression, John thought, as the
actor's eyes were as soft as a fawn's. Photographs of Richard
Barthelmess and John Barrymore in similar poses came back into John's
mind.

John and Consuello were beside each other again on the return trip to
the studio.

"I expect Reggie will be there waiting for us," she said. "We have a
dinner engagement and I will have to dress at the studio. I'm sorry that
he and you and I cannot have dinner together, we have so much to talk
about."

"You have been kind enough," he said. "I have enjoyed myself thoroughly
and I would b