"Is that what this place is?"

"Sure enough is, Baby. Once, back in the late twenties, it was a popular spot for silent screen stars… weekend shack-up trysts and the like. Rudy says when he was a kid there was some other activity nearby… a dance pavilion and another hotel, but they burned down and now there's nothing but peace and quiet. Listen… You ever heard anything prettier sounding than that surf pounding out there, Baby?"

Lynn lay quietly, listening. She heard the wash, the rising crescendo, then, the back tide. It was… it was beautiful! Only once on Cape Cod as a little girl had she ever heard its equal.

"Crazy, eh?"

"Yes… yes, Darling," she whispered. "It is a beautiful sound."

"And that's why I'm here, Rabbit… because it's beautiful, and so are they, Virgin and Rudy. Christ, the world ought to have more people like…"

"Are they married?"

"Hell yes, seven or eight years… and they know how to live, Doll… as you'll see…"

"What about the others, Earl?" she interrupted. "There must be twenty or so… fellows and girls… most of them just kids… Do they live here, too?"

"They come and go, Baby. They've got no place so Rudy gives them one, a place to sleep, food to eat, and they can stay as long as they like."

"But how can he afford to feed them all?"

"Rudy's got a small income from his father's estate; then, those who do have jobs or whatever, dump their money into the pot to take care of the other less fortunates."

"Earl… most of them… they looked as if they were on stuff… They were, weren't they? Most of them, I mean, even the two homosexuals… they were high."