Read Online The Opening Night Murder by Anne Rutherford - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Anne Rutherford
Ads: Link
my life, I vow.”
That made him smile, a wide, crooked-lipped grin, showing a row of very small teeth. “Very well, then.” He stood and straightened his clothes, checking to be sure his breeches were securely tied. “Come to the Goat and Boar. I’ll wait for you there.”
“I’m coming now.” She drew a valise from under the bed and began throwing clothing into it. Everything belonging to herself and Piers that would fit went in, and anything that didn’t she left where it was. When the valise was full, she found a duffel bag in the armoire and filled it as well. She pulled closed the tie, then shut the lid of the valise and tied it with a scarf. As she did so, she called out to her son. “Piers!” She put her head out and called down the stairs. “Piers! Come here!”
The boy popped from the kitchen and ran up the stairs. “What’s going on, Mother?”
“Come. We’re leaving.”
“Leaving? You mean forever?”
“Yes. I’ve got your clothes in this duffel. We’re never coming back.”
“All right, Mother.”
Horatio took in the tableau of mother and son ready to travel. He leaned down and said to Piers, “You don’t seem very upset to be leaving your home.”
Piers gave him a slightly puzzled look. “I’m leaving the house, not my mother.” He said it as a matter of fact that shouldhave been obvious to Horatio, who must be terribly dense or just not paying attention to not know it.
Horatio thought about that a moment, then said, “Good boy. You understand what is important; someone has taught you well.” He glanced at Suzanne, who replied with a bland, knowing smile. He again addressed Piers. “You’ll do well when you’re a man.”
Suzanne said to Horatio, “Lead the way. Where you go, we follow.”
Luckily, Maddie wasn’t in at the moment, or there might have been violence. As it was, two girls currently unoccupied and sitting in the downstairs parlor raised a fuss in her stead.
“You’ll be sorry if you leave. Maddie will raise hell when she finds out!”
“She’ll come after you!”
Suzanne had never much liked her fellow tarts. She ignored them, handed the duffel off to Horatio when they reached the bottom of the stairs, and drew Piers away from the area before either of them could think twice about what was happening. She knew they had to get out of that brothel, Piers was nine and there was no time to lose, and this was an opportunity that wouldn’t present itself again. As she, Horatio, and Piers emerged onto Bank Side, the river air smelled like freedom.
Over the next two years she and Piers made Horatio’s troupe their new family. Suzanne thought it a monumental improvement over the brothel. Playing on the stage was ever so much more interesting than banging one man after another all night long. And from Horatio she learned a great deal about William Shakespeare, who became nearly the idol to her as he was to Horatio.
“Shakespeare was the greatest storyteller who ever lived,”he declared to anyone who would listen, and then he would enumerate the reasons he thought it, no matter who his audience or how many times it had been said. He knew every word of Shakespeare’s plays by heart, even the roles he could never have possibly played, and quoted them so often that some days it seemed he never spoke any sentence that was his own.
Before meeting Horatio, Suzanne had barely known who Shakespeare was, but Horatio taught her more about The Bard than was known by most Londoners. As the troupe’s first female performer, she memorized the roles of Juliet and Viola readily enough. Horatio declared he’d always thought it odd and confusing to have a young man playing a woman pretending to be a young man, and so welcomed the new thinking toward women onstage. Shakespeare himself would have been appalled, but on this one point Horatio disagreed with the world’s greatest storyteller.
The troupe made a tidy living by setting up a portable stage in alleyways to stop
That made him smile, a wide, crooked-lipped grin, showing a row of very small teeth. “Very well, then.” He stood and straightened his clothes, checking to be sure his breeches were securely tied. “Come to the Goat and Boar. I’ll wait for you there.”
“I’m coming now.” She drew a valise from under the bed and began throwing clothing into it. Everything belonging to herself and Piers that would fit went in, and anything that didn’t she left where it was. When the valise was full, she found a duffel bag in the armoire and filled it as well. She pulled closed the tie, then shut the lid of the valise and tied it with a scarf. As she did so, she called out to her son. “Piers!” She put her head out and called down the stairs. “Piers! Come here!”
The boy popped from the kitchen and ran up the stairs. “What’s going on, Mother?”
“Come. We’re leaving.”
“Leaving? You mean forever?”
“Yes. I’ve got your clothes in this duffel. We’re never coming back.”
“All right, Mother.”
Horatio took in the tableau of mother and son ready to travel. He leaned down and said to Piers, “You don’t seem very upset to be leaving your home.”
Piers gave him a slightly puzzled look. “I’m leaving the house, not my mother.” He said it as a matter of fact that shouldhave been obvious to Horatio, who must be terribly dense or just not paying attention to not know it.
Horatio thought about that a moment, then said, “Good boy. You understand what is important; someone has taught you well.” He glanced at Suzanne, who replied with a bland, knowing smile. He again addressed Piers. “You’ll do well when you’re a man.”
Suzanne said to Horatio, “Lead the way. Where you go, we follow.”
Luckily, Maddie wasn’t in at the moment, or there might have been violence. As it was, two girls currently unoccupied and sitting in the downstairs parlor raised a fuss in her stead.
“You’ll be sorry if you leave. Maddie will raise hell when she finds out!”
“She’ll come after you!”
Suzanne had never much liked her fellow tarts. She ignored them, handed the duffel off to Horatio when they reached the bottom of the stairs, and drew Piers away from the area before either of them could think twice about what was happening. She knew they had to get out of that brothel, Piers was nine and there was no time to lose, and this was an opportunity that wouldn’t present itself again. As she, Horatio, and Piers emerged onto Bank Side, the river air smelled like freedom.
Over the next two years she and Piers made Horatio’s troupe their new family. Suzanne thought it a monumental improvement over the brothel. Playing on the stage was ever so much more interesting than banging one man after another all night long. And from Horatio she learned a great deal about William Shakespeare, who became nearly the idol to her as he was to Horatio.
“Shakespeare was the greatest storyteller who ever lived,”he declared to anyone who would listen, and then he would enumerate the reasons he thought it, no matter who his audience or how many times it had been said. He knew every word of Shakespeare’s plays by heart, even the roles he could never have possibly played, and quoted them so often that some days it seemed he never spoke any sentence that was his own.
Before meeting Horatio, Suzanne had barely known who Shakespeare was, but Horatio taught her more about The Bard than was known by most Londoners. As the troupe’s first female performer, she memorized the roles of Juliet and Viola readily enough. Horatio declared he’d always thought it odd and confusing to have a young man playing a woman pretending to be a young man, and so welcomed the new thinking toward women onstage. Shakespeare himself would have been appalled, but on this one point Horatio disagreed with the world’s greatest storyteller.
The troupe made a tidy living by setting up a portable stage in alleyways to stop
Similar Books
