Lizzie of Langley Street Read Online Free PDF

me?’
    Danny laughed. ‘Blimey, gel, I ain’t speaking French, am I?’ He looked at her with amusement, then, leaning towards her, raised one eyebrow. ‘Saturday is Amateur Night.
We’d have a bit of fun sitting up there in the gods.’
    The gods! Had she heard him right? She couldn’t believe it.
    Suddenly Danny was staring at her, and his eyes were telling her that he didn’t think of her as a kid any longer. Oh no, she’d been wrong there.
    ‘Course if you didn’t fancy the Queens, we could go to the Lyric,’ he shrugged. ‘It’s over Hammersmith, but Dad would let us borrow the ’orse and
cart.’
    ‘The Lyric,’ Lizzie breathed in wonder. ‘At Hammersmith.’
    ‘Beggar’s Opera, it’s called. The most popular show in town.’
    Lizzie knew exactly what the Beggar’s Opera was. Dickie had read aloud all about it from an article in the newspaper; the show was packed with popular music, songs, dancing and puns.
Lizzie swallowed. Not only had Danny Flowers actually asked her to go out with him, but he’d asked her to go to the theatre.
    She’d never even been in one. The nearest she’d ever got was looking at the posters outside the Queens. Life-sized colour posters of actors and actresses, singers and dancers,
comedians and acrobats.
    This was a dream come true. Her and Danny at the Beggar’s Opera.
    Then reality came back with a crash. Besides not having any clothes – or money – her father would refuse to let her go. She couldn’t tell Danny that Tom didn’t approve of
him. Danny would be angry then, and he might never talk to her again, let alone ask her out.
    Thinking quickly, she made a joke of it. ‘I’ll think about it,’ she told him. ‘If I’ve got time, I might. I’ve got a schedule to keep you know.’
    She held her breath. Maybe she had got away with it.
    ‘Don’t keep me waiting too long,’ he warned her. ‘I’ve got a schedule to keep an’ all.’ His blue eyes were twinkling.
    Lizzie stood up, intending to leave whilst the going was good.
    ‘Yer not off already?’
    ‘I’d better. Pa said not to be away too long.’
    Danny came to stand beside her. He was so tall and handsome. She felt weak at the knees. ‘Incidentally,’ he said as he looked down at her, ‘how’s that brother of yours
– Vinnie?’
    Her heart banged against her ribs. ‘Why?’ she blurted, immediately on the defensive.
    Danny shrugged. ‘Nothin’ really. It’s just that I was down the Quarry the other night. Someone said he was in a spot of bother.’
    ‘Not that I know of Lizzie turned and walked away, her heart still pounding.
    But Danny caught up with her and took her arm. His eyes were kind as he said gently, ‘You can trust me, Lizzie, you know that. A trouble shared is a trouble halved.’
    She really wanted to tell him, but she couldn’t. She still had her pride and didn’t want Danny to think less of her for something Vinnie had done. ‘Vinnie is old enough to look
after himself,’ she said, tossing back her thick black curls. ‘He don’t tell me his business and I don’t ask.’
    Danny raised his eyebrows and let her go. ‘Pardon me for breathing.’
    Lizzie felt a moment’s regret as she looked into his eyes.
    ‘When am I gonna see you again?’
    She smiled a halting little smile. ‘Next Saturday. I’ll be here with Pa as usual.’
    He grinned. ‘Looks like I’m gonna have to wait another week for me answer, then.’
    She knew what the answer was already, but she wasn’t going to tell him. She’d have to think up a good excuse over the next seven days. She had as much chance of seeing the inside of
the Lyric as going to Buckingham Palace for tea.
    When she got back, her father and Dickie were still engrossed in the newspaper. ‘Me old mate’s right,’ Tom hailed her as if she’d been sitting there listening for the
last half-hour. ‘Our strife will all be forgot. In time to come no one will remember we fought a war.’
    ‘The kids these days