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"Perhaps," Loretta said with a stark lack of interest in her voice "It seereeable state, and I don’t want to think about it Do you think there’s any chance that Bluett will allow me to try for the understudy role for Queen Mab?"
"Of course he won’t," Jenny said "He never allows a junior member to try for an understudy role, Loretta, you know that"
"Bluett will beg me to try for an understudy after I play Mrs Loveit It’s the Duke of Holbrook’s theater, Jenny, not Arphead" There was nothing overly ambitious in her tone: it was calive the role to Bess, and she’ll le all the lines if she ever takes the house"
"Everyone is saying that she did hier, Bluett, was not a man for whom a woman would do favors unless there was a certain reward attached
Loretta wrinkled her nose "How disagreeable" Loretta did not like to dwell on disagreeable subjects As she saw it, to think about unpleasant issues was to waste valuable time that could be spent in consideration of important issues, the most important of which was her future as a brilliant actress, doe in London
She could hardly ignore the occasional events that threatened this rosy future Being struck down by a carriage last year was one of those The theater er at Covent Garden had been most unsympathetic when she appeared, late for the perfor sy--if a er had terrunt and a wave of his head The very memory made Loretta narrow her eyes He would be sorry later, when she was the star at Drury Lane Of course, she would be gracious
Loretta believed in being gracious unless absolutely necessary She had cut her teeth in the Covent Garden Theater traveling company, and there had been one or two episodes in which another actress needed to be shown her place, and Loretta had done so But, for the most part, she maintained a sunny ability to turn her back on unpleasant people as quickly as unpleasant events
If she hadn’t learned that skill, she wouldn’t have survived her childhood, given her father’s proclivities But childhood was one of the things that she never, ever thought about So father, who had been so indulgent that he left his estate to his only daughter There was nothing whatsoever to be gained by letting it be known that she was Jack Hawes’s daughter
There were only two good things that anyone could say about Hawes: the first was that he took his hanging with rereen and his hat bound with silver strings Of course, the suit was stolen, but by the tiarments had been buried a week The second was that he left all his profits frohter
Perhaps he didn’t directly leave them to her, but since she was the only person who knew of her father’s false-botto after his arrest and re her childhood Even thinking of that made Loretta feel queer and hot, so she never did think of it She had first caht, and she perfected the art of not-thinking by the tie fourteen
By then she knehere the hatbox was In fact, the hatbox served as a good exaht have called her philosophy: when awful things happened--like that little episode with the baby last year--good things often resulted
If she hadn’t been knocked down by the hackney, Mr Spenser wouldn’t have escorted her home And if he hadn’t escorted her home, she wouldn’t have decided that she would like to be coe herself entertainh she did resent her own lapse of judg conception But even that disaster had turned to good, because now she was going to play a role in the biggest amateur theatrical production of the year
Bluett, who ran the Regency Theater, had raised an eyebrohen she said she needed time off from her current part for rehearsal at Holbrook Court He not only let her off, but the news spread like wildfire, and soon all the girls were asking enviously how she got the place
Since she could hardly say that it had to do with that unpleasant five-month respite she’d taken in the country, and the screa little bundle she had thankfully handed over to Mr Spenser, she made up a lovely tale about the Duke of Holbrook Probably no one believed it, but Loretta had never seen the point of worrying about what people believed and what they didn’t