Read Online Goddess of the Green Room: (Georgian Series) by Jean Plaidy - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jean Plaidy
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itself was the greatest blessing she could think of. Young Frances was well and Grace enjoyed looking after her. Hester was playing small parts and growing into a tolerably good actress. There was an occasional part for Francis, the eldest of the boys. At last she was no longer worried about money; and she had given the clothes her baby had worn to a hospital for the use of some poor mother. In her desire to show her gratitude for her changed position she added several layettes to the one she had used and gave these too, for she would never forget her fears when she hadbelieved herself to be in debt to Richard Daly. It was a sort of thanks offering for deliverance.
So she was light-hearted and George Inchbald was an attractive young man. They fell in love.
Grace was pleased; there was nothing she wanted so much as to see her daughter settled with a man to look after her and help shoulder responsibilities. She could have hoped that Dorothy might have made a brilliant match but as she said to Hester, it was not marriage rich men were after; and she thought Dorothy ought to be married. Little Frances wanted a father, and George Inchbald would do well enough.
George’s stepmother, Mrs Elizabeth Inchbald, a novelist, playwright and herself an actress, believed that it would be a good match for she had a high opinion of Dorothy and thought her singing and speaking voices charming, though, she had pointed out, she had a faint Irish accent but that would disappear in time. So there would be no difficulty between the families.
Marriage, thought Dorothy. Yes, she did want it. Sometimes she asked herself, Was it George she wanted as much as marriage? She longed for her mother to be satisfied; she wanted no more anxiety, and she was still smarting under the rumours Mrs Smith had spread of the immoral life she led.
Dorothy wanted respectability and she saw it in George Inchbald.
Gentleman Smith came again to the theatre, bringing with him an air of elegance from London. He talked knowledgeably of what was going on there. Names like Sarah Siddons and Richard Sheridan crept into the conversation. He spoke knowingly of the affair between the Prince of Wales and Mrs Robinson which had ended in such a burst of scandal. The whole of the company could not hear enough of gay London society and there was not one member of the company who did not hope that Gentleman Smith would go back to London and report that he – or she – deserved to play in Drury Lane or Covent Garden.
But everyone knew that Gentleman Smith was more interested in Mrs Jordan than in anyone else.
‘She has the quality,’ he had been heard to say. ‘It’s indefinable… but it’s there.’
The envy of the women players was as evident as ever, but asDorothy’s position grew stronger it had less effect on her.
George Inchbald would call at the lodgings and talk for hours to the whole family of what would happen if Dorothy was invited to play in London. It would make all the difference, he said. To continue to play in the provinces was death to an actor or actress. There was no chance really; and they had to be noticed before they were too old.
‘He is on the point of proposing,’ said Grace after he had left. ‘He thinks you’re going to London, Dorothy, and he’s afraid that he’s going to lose you.’
‘And he always speaks as though when you go he’ll be with you,’ pointed out Hester.
‘He’d be a good husband,’ put in Grace almost pleadingly. ‘Quite serious… and reliable.’
Yes, thought Dorothy, serious and reliable; a good husband for her and a father for Frances.
Gentleman Smith went back to London. Almost daily Dorothy waited for a message, but none came.
If I were going to be asked, she thought, I should have been by now.
It was some time before she noticed that George’s visits to the lodgings were less frequent. She saw him often in the theatre as a matter of course, but he did not seem to be waiting for her when she came
So she was light-hearted and George Inchbald was an attractive young man. They fell in love.
Grace was pleased; there was nothing she wanted so much as to see her daughter settled with a man to look after her and help shoulder responsibilities. She could have hoped that Dorothy might have made a brilliant match but as she said to Hester, it was not marriage rich men were after; and she thought Dorothy ought to be married. Little Frances wanted a father, and George Inchbald would do well enough.
George’s stepmother, Mrs Elizabeth Inchbald, a novelist, playwright and herself an actress, believed that it would be a good match for she had a high opinion of Dorothy and thought her singing and speaking voices charming, though, she had pointed out, she had a faint Irish accent but that would disappear in time. So there would be no difficulty between the families.
Marriage, thought Dorothy. Yes, she did want it. Sometimes she asked herself, Was it George she wanted as much as marriage? She longed for her mother to be satisfied; she wanted no more anxiety, and she was still smarting under the rumours Mrs Smith had spread of the immoral life she led.
Dorothy wanted respectability and she saw it in George Inchbald.
Gentleman Smith came again to the theatre, bringing with him an air of elegance from London. He talked knowledgeably of what was going on there. Names like Sarah Siddons and Richard Sheridan crept into the conversation. He spoke knowingly of the affair between the Prince of Wales and Mrs Robinson which had ended in such a burst of scandal. The whole of the company could not hear enough of gay London society and there was not one member of the company who did not hope that Gentleman Smith would go back to London and report that he – or she – deserved to play in Drury Lane or Covent Garden.
But everyone knew that Gentleman Smith was more interested in Mrs Jordan than in anyone else.
‘She has the quality,’ he had been heard to say. ‘It’s indefinable… but it’s there.’
The envy of the women players was as evident as ever, but asDorothy’s position grew stronger it had less effect on her.
George Inchbald would call at the lodgings and talk for hours to the whole family of what would happen if Dorothy was invited to play in London. It would make all the difference, he said. To continue to play in the provinces was death to an actor or actress. There was no chance really; and they had to be noticed before they were too old.
‘He is on the point of proposing,’ said Grace after he had left. ‘He thinks you’re going to London, Dorothy, and he’s afraid that he’s going to lose you.’
‘And he always speaks as though when you go he’ll be with you,’ pointed out Hester.
‘He’d be a good husband,’ put in Grace almost pleadingly. ‘Quite serious… and reliable.’
Yes, thought Dorothy, serious and reliable; a good husband for her and a father for Frances.
Gentleman Smith went back to London. Almost daily Dorothy waited for a message, but none came.
If I were going to be asked, she thought, I should have been by now.
It was some time before she noticed that George’s visits to the lodgings were less frequent. She saw him often in the theatre as a matter of course, but he did not seem to be waiting for her when she came
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