Jean shook her head ruefully. "I must admit it sounds tempting," she said, "but I stand on what I told you before about what I want to do. I don't think I'm an actress at all, and if I tried to be one, I'd probably only fail. And that wouldn't make me happy at all. If I do what I plan to, though, I'll probably succeed, and that way I'll have a happy life."
Peggy nodded her agreement. "I guess I was only testing you, in a way," she admitted, "just to see if you really meant it. Now that I know you do, I'm sure that you're absolutely right."
Then she told her friend about the discussion she had had with May Berriman about Mr. Macaulay, and what the older woman had told Peggy about his great ability as a teacher and his lack of ability as an actor.
"She said, too, that the ability to recognize talent and to develop it is a lot rarer than the talent itself. And all the time she was talking, I was thinking about you and our last talk together."
"Well, that makes me feel a lot better," Jean admitted. "It's good to know that there are other people--real professionals--who think about things the same way I do. Thanks for telling me."
Then the talk turned to other things besides the theater: clothes, boys, the coming school year at Rockport Community College, for which Peggy would not be there--all the hundreds of things that girls talk about. Before Peggy realized it, it was ten-thirty, and she was beginning to yawn.
"It's not the company," she said, "it's the hour. Not exactly original, but perfectly true. I'm afraid I'd better be getting home."
The others agreed that it was their bedtime too, and they trooped out to the bicycle rack to say their good nights. Peggy and Jean rode side by side slowly down the leafy street, feeling the first slight chill that announced the end of summer was at hand.
"I guess in about a week," Peggy said. "The term starts in two weeks, and I want to get settled in New York before school begins, so that I can have my mind all clear for work. I think I'll need a week just to get really comfortable in my room, do the shopping I'll have to do, and find my way around the city. I want to know about buses and subways and things like that before I get started."