CHAPTER 3THE THING
BERTINE, DEAR:
Thanks for your letter. I’m glad that you’ve decided to spend another week in S. F.; after several years of Freshman English, faculty meetings and the Victorian Period, you deserve a whirl. Before I left that flat I put the things I would not be needing in the hall closet along with yours, so the suggestion in your letter was acted upon before I received it. I’m sure also that Professor Smollett and his wife won’t need that closet.
I am living in Hollywood at the home of a man named Falkoner. It’s not as wicked as it sounds—I’m working on a play for him. Jeff is here too, and an explorer named Woody Cornell whom I already adore. He’s the only son of one of these wealthy and conservative old California families—the homestead is near San Francisco. His gr
