Goddess of the Green Room: (Georgian Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

it was the sort of situation which she had always feared, and what advice could she give? It was either leave and start again in the hope of getting employment – and where? – or remain and fight Daly.
    There was no point in discussing it. It was a clear-cut case.
    The brightest aspect of the affair was the presence of Mrs Daly. Dorothy staked her chances of victory on that lady.
    In the office at the Smock Alley Theatre Mr and Mrs Daly were quarrelling.
    ‘I’ll not have you seducing every female member of the company,’ she declared.
    ‘Now, my dear, that is an exaggeration.’
    ‘All right. I’ll not have you seducing one member of the company.’
    ‘It is nothing. I must keep on friendly terms with the actresses. You know how temperamental they are. One has to flatter them all the time.’
    ‘You leave the flattering to me.’
    ‘My dearest, you are the cleverest woman in the world, but you are wrong in this case. I never give a thought to any woman but you.’
    ‘You’d do well to keep like that.’
    He sighed. Without Mrs Daly he could really enjoy life. Business was tolerably good; Kemble was bringing them in and so wasDorothy. He had some good female parts to dispose of and, good business woman that Mrs Daly was, she had not always objected to their going to Dorothy, providing she herself had a better one – or at least as good. She had not put money into this venture to remain out of sight. The Smock Alley Theatre was to make money for them both and fame for herself. It was not asking too much, for even her greatest enemy would agree that she was a good actress.
    She had continually to watch Richard; he simply could not leave women alone. Only the other day she had heard the mother of a young Italian Jewess demanding that he stop pressing his attentions on her daughter. ‘What do you want with my daughter?’ she had asked. ‘You have a fine wife of your own.’
    It was humiliating and embarrassing; but in her opinion Richard was so attractive that most of the actresses must find him irresistible.
    His power to dismiss them was certainly proving effective and it was whispered in the Green Room that there was scarcely a woman in the company who had not yielded to him. There was one, however, who constantly evaded his advances and this exasperated him beyond endurance. Did she think she was such a draw that she could afford to flout him? He was determined to show her that he would not be flouted; and as the days passed he could think of little but Dorothy and was determined to make her his mistress sooner or later.
    He pretended to change his tactics, laughingly accepting her refusal to become his secret mistress. The relationship between them was to be manager and actress; and he hoped, he implied, one of friendship. He appreciated her talents, and whenever he could without alienating Mrs Daly he would give her the best parts.
    Kemble was one of the greatest actors she had known and it was an education to play with him; it was not that she wanted spectacular parts as much as a chance to learn; Kemble was a good teacher. Delightedly she played Anne to his Richard Ill; she was given Maria in The School for Scandal – not as important a part as Lady Teazle but a good one nevertheless; she was Katharine in The Taming of the Shrew with Kemble a stimulating Petruchio. And she was happier than she had been for some timebecause she believed that Daly had at last accepted her persistent refusal to accept his advances. She was constantly hearing of the seduction of this and that small player and Mrs Daly’s jealousy. Let them, she thought. It has nothing to do with me. I’m becoming a great actress and one day I shall play comedy all the time and shall succeed in convincing managers that what the public like from me is a song and a dance.
    She was certain now that she had done the right thing in coming over to Smock Alley.
    One day life changed dramatically. It was after the performance and she was about to