A Dream of her Own (50 page)
Matthew saw the satisfaction it gave John to be able to tell him that so he did not press the point. ‘Very well, if that’s what you want.’
He picked up the hamper and moved uncertainly towards the door. ‘I suppose I’d better take my leave before your household awakes.’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, would you be a good chap and run along and get me a cab?’
‘Get your own cab.’
Matthew glimpsed a viciousness in John’s expression that he had never seen before but then his friend turned away from him to stare out of the window at the sky above the houses at the other side of the terrace. It was streaked with red.
Matthew looked around the room in the tower for the last time and then left it to move as quietly as he could down the stairs to the front door. On the ground floor he noticed a little maid entering one of the rooms carrying a bucket of coal, but he wasn’t sure if she saw him.
Chapter Twenty-five
March
Nella pulled her cloak around her for warmth and sat down on a mossy rock in the forest glade near the stream. But there were no sounds of rushing water; neither did the branches of the trees move in any passing breeze. That was because both the trees and the stream were painted on a backdrop, and the rock was merely a stage prop made of canvas stretched over a wooden frame and painted brown and green. And the paint was old, and it didn’t smell too good.
Only the working lights were on above the stage and the auditorium was dim. Nella stared out into the red and gold cavern, at the rows of empty seats, remembering and savouring the thrill of pleasing the audience and the cries of ‘Encore! Encore!’
She had told Valentino that she wanted to be alone on the stage for a moment, that she needed to think about her songs and he understood that. Nevertheless, he had not gone far away. He was in the royal box, where he had sat with his mother the very first time he had seen her. He watched her patiently.
She couldn’t see him but Nella knew that Jimmy Nelson would be sitting at the back of the box, keeping an eye on her husband, as usual. The only time the lad wasn’t there to help her was at night when she and Valentino were in their room above Alvini’s. And that would change the minute she found a house of their own. It would be easier for her if she knew that Jimmy was near by even though she wouldn’t bother him unless she had to.
‘This is a funny place to sit, Nella.’ Harry strolled on from the wings. He looked pleased with himself but tired, as they all were at the end of the pantomime season.
‘I like it here. This is where I can live that other life - do you know what I mean, Harry?’
‘We all need that other life, not just you, Nella, otherwise we wouldn’t be in this crazy business.’
‘It’s not crazy. It’s magic.’
‘Go on feeling that way.’ Harry bent down to close the lid of a trunk that was full of props - stage goblets, swords and a couple of fairy wands - and then sat on it.
Nella had edged round so that she was facing the backdrop. ‘I mean, even from here it looks as though that path is winding through the woods towards that castle on the hill, doesn’t it?’
Harry smiled. ‘And that hint of blue under the trees ... it could be bluebells ... an enchanted forest.’
‘And look at the clouds,’ Nella said, ‘look at that wonderful sky! It’s like some faraway country that just might exist somewhere.’
‘But that’s the whole point of it all,’ Harry said. ‘When you look at it from out there,’ he gestured towards the auditorium, ‘when you’re sitting in the dark in a warm theatre, and trying to escape from your mundane and sometimes difficult life, and you’re willing yourself to believe that everything that happens up here in front of your eyes is real ...’
‘Or at least possible ...’ Nella grinned.
‘That’s right, Nella. If we can just persuade the poor souls, for a little while, that anything’s possible, and send them away happy, then we’ve done our job.’ They were silent for a moment and then Harry said, ‘But back to business. Thank you for coming in this morning. I wanted to talk to you when the others had gone.’
‘What about? Hev you found a new star? Do you want to get rid of me?’
‘That’ll be the day! Nella, I wish you’d take up my offer for you and Valentino to come to my house in Kent for a month. There’d be room for Jimmy. You need a break and the sea air would do you good. You could even pop over to France if you wanted to - and Mrs Bodie would love the company.’
‘There is a Mrs Bodie, then?’ Nella glanced at him slyly and Harry laughed.
‘You’ve been listening to Lucy.’ Harry smiled at her. ‘As a matter of fact there is a Mrs Bodie and she holds a diploma in elocution. She could teach you to talk like the rich lady you have become.’
‘Give over, Harry. I know that you want me to talk proper now that I’m a star, but it wouldn’t be me. I’d frighten meself silly every time I opened me mouth.’
Harry sighed. Ah, well, I suppose it’s all part of your persona.’
‘Me
what?’
what?’
‘You know ... your magnetism ... your allure ... your fascination ...’
Nella grinned. ‘Oh, haddaway with you! I’m sorry, Harry. Mrs Bodie isn’t going to make a lady out of me!’
It suddenly occurred to Nella that the Mrs Bodie to whom he was referring could be his mother, but she didn’t intend to go all the way to St Margaret’s Bay to find out. ‘I’m going to use the time to look for a house of my own,’ she said.
‘You may be travelling further afield in future; you’ll soon be outgrowing the Northern Circuit.’
‘I know. But it will be somewhere to keep my nice things and somewhere to come back to - just like you hev yer house in Kent.’
He nodded. ‘And I’ll be using up the time thinking of a new routine for you, Nella. Some kind of act where you don’t have to stand all the time. I know how hard it’s been for you and I’m going to try and make it easier. Will you trust me to come up with something?’
‘I’ll hev to - but remember I’m enough of a cripple already; I can’t risk any accidents.’
‘I wish you wouldn’t talk of yourself that way.’
‘Why not? It’s the truth. I’m a cripple.’
‘Not when you sing.’ She could have sworn that his eyes were moist. He stood up.
‘Are you off now, Harry?’
‘Yes. So you won’t be coming down to join me?’
‘No.’
‘Ah well. The cab’s waiting to take me to the station.’
‘Goodbye, then.’
‘Not goodbye - just
au revoir.’
au revoir.’
Nella laughed. ‘Whatever that means.’
Frank was sitting in the restaurant examining the accounts with Patrick McCormack. They didn’t open at lunch time but the head waiter always came in about now to start organizing the evening’s menu. As well as the ledgers there was a plate of cold roast beef sandwiches and a pot of coffee on the table. The cleaners were still at work all round them. The velvet curtains had been drawn back and the long windows opened to help disperse the odours of wine, tobacco and last night’s food.
Frank and Patrick were so engrossed in the facts and figures that they did not see Nella, Valentino and Jimmy Nelson standing in the arched entrance. Or rather Valentino and Jimmy were standing. Nella was held in her husband’s arms, for he had, as usual, carried her up the stairs.
The first indication Frank had that they were there was when he heard Nella say, ‘Put me down, sweetheart.’ He looked up. ‘Go up with Jimmy,’ Nella continued. ‘I want to speak to yer brother.’
Frank saw Valentino’s brow crease. His diminutive wife smiled up at him. ‘It’s to do with the books. Look, they’re adding all the figures up. I want to tell Frank that he must be sure to report to you when he’s finished.’
‘Ah, yes, the books.’ His brother smiled and followed Jimmy Nelson up the stairs obediently.
Nella came over to the table and Patrick stood up and pulled out a chair for her.
‘Thank you.’ She sat down and loosened her cloak. ‘Now how about a cup of hot coffee? It’s perishing cold in that theatre when there’s nobody there.’
‘Do you want a sandwich?’ Patrick asked. ‘I can get some more made up.’
‘No, thanks. I’m not working tonight so I’ll hev no excuse not to eat whatever huge meal Mamma has waiting for me!’
‘Do you really want to see the books?’ Frank watched her curiously. Could it be that his little sister-in-law had some idea of wanting to get involved in the family business? He hoped not ... not after what Patrick and he had just been discussing.
‘God love you, of course I divven’t!’ But she must have caught his look of relief because she added, ‘Is there a problem?’
She was quick, Frank thought, and she might prove a useful ally. ‘Not exactly a problem ...’
‘But?’
‘You have no interest in running Alvini’s?’
‘None whatsoever.’ She frowned. ‘Is this what the meeting is about? Are you worried that because I’m married to yer older brother I might want to take over?’
‘It hadn’t occurred to me until now,’ Frank said.
‘But I’ve told you! I’ve got me career—’
‘I know but, nevertheless, it’s something I should have considered before I had this talk with Patrick.’
‘Ay, now the plot thickens!’ she said.
Frank looked puzzled and Patrick explained, ‘That’s a line from an old play,’
Nella smiled at him. ‘Of course, you used to be an actor, didn’t you? A real one like Harry sometimes pretends he was. He’s fond of quoting that line when he senses a mystery.’
‘No mystery,’ Frank said. ‘I’ll tell you all there is to know. Valentino will never be able to be the master here.’ Nella nodded. ‘My mother is getting old and I—’
‘You want to be a doctor. Else what’s the point of all yer studying?’
‘That’s right.’
‘So why not let Mr McCormack run the place for you? He’s just about doing that already.’
‘You mean as manager?’
‘Yes. He could train up another head waiter to take his place.’
‘That’s one option,’ Frank said. ‘Patrick is willing to try that, but I don’t think it would be fair to him.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I happen to know that, for a long time, Patrick has wanted a restaurant of his own, where he would have a completely free hand to run it the way he pleases. One day I would lose him - no, Patrick, you might swear to stay as long as we need you, but I can’t let you do that.’
‘So let him buy this one. That’s why you’re poring over the books, isn’t it?’
Frank caught Patrick’s eye and saw the agreement there. ‘All right, Nella,’ he said, ‘this is the problem. You and Valentino will be leaving soon and when I’m qualified I want to buy another property somewhere in the suburbs, perhaps at the coast, and start my own practice. Of course my mother will come with me.’
‘So?’
‘Patrick isn’t in a position to buy us out yet. This is a big building on a valuable site in the city centre. We’ve been trying to work out how long it will take ...’
‘And from those glum faces I can see that it’s gannin’ to take too long. So why divven’t you sell him the restaurant, the business only, and hang on to the property - rent it out to him? You can decide later on whether you want to part with the bricks and mortar as well.’
Both men looked at her for a long time and then Frank said, ‘I think we were just about to reach that solution to the problem before you interrupted us.’
‘Like hell you were! Whoops, I forgot I was a lady, didn’t I? Put it down to yer bloomin’ cheek!’
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