Alice in the box for her to throw that rose to, and invite backstage, and call a mermaid ... ?
Waiting for her that afternoon I was by turns anxious, gay and sullen - now fussing over the setting of the tea-table, now snapping at Davy and grumbling at Rhoda, now earning scolds from everyone for fretting and complaining, and generally turning what should have been a glad day for myself into a gloomy one, for us all. I had washed my hair and it had dried peculiarly; I had added a new frill to my best dress, but had sewn it crooked and it wouldnât lie flat. I stood at the top of the stairs, sweating over the silk with a safety-pin, ready to weep because Kittyâs train was due and I must run to meet her, when Tony emerged from our little kitchen, carrying bottles of Bass for the tea-table. He stood and watched me fumbling. I said, âGo awayâ, but he only looked smug.
âYou wonât want to hear my bit of news, then.â
âWhat news?â The frill was flat at last. I reached for my hat on the peg on the wall. Tony smirked and said nothing. I stamped my foot. âTony, what is it? Iâm late and youâre making me later.â
âWell then, nothing at all, I expect. I dare say Miss Butler will tell you herself ...â
âTell me what?â Now I stood with my hat in one hand, a hat-pin in the other. âTell me what, Tony?â
He glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice. âNow, donât let on about it yet, for it ainât been properly settled. But your pal - Kitty - sheâs due to leave the Palace, ainât she, in a week or so?â I nodded. âWell, she wonât be going - not for a good while, anyway. Uncle has offered her a sparkling new contract, till the New Year - said she was too good to lose to Broadstairs.â
The New Year! That was months away, months and months and weeks and weeks; I saw them all spread out before me, each one full of nights in Kittyâs dressing-room, and good-night kisses, and dreams.
I gave a cry, I think; and Tony took a swig of Bass, complacently. Then Alice appeared, demanding to know what it was that must be talked about in whispers, and shrieked over, on the stairs ... ? I didnât wait for Tonyâs answer, I thundered down to the door and into the street, and ran to the station like a hoyden, with my hat flapping about my ears -because I had forgotten, after all, to pin it properly.
I had hardly expected Kitty to swagger to Whitstable in her suit and her topper and her lavender gloves; but even so, when she stepped from the train and I saw that she was clad as a girl, and walked like a girl, with her plait fastened to the back of her head and a parasol over her arm, I felt a little pang of disappointment. This swiftly turned, however - as always - to desire, and then to pride, for she looked terribly smart and handsome on that dusty Whitstable platform. She kissed my cheek when I went up to her, and took my arm, and let me lead her from the station to our house, across the sea-front. She said, âWell! And this is where you were born, and grew up?â
âOh yes! Look there: that building, beside the church, is our old school. Over there - see that house with the bicycle by the gate? - thatâs where my cousins live. Here, look, on this step, I once fell down and cut my chin, and my sister held her handkerchief to it, the whole way home ...â So I talked and pointed, and Kitty nodded, biting her lip. âHow lucky you are!â she said at last; and as she said it, she seemed to sigh.
I had feared that the afternoon would be dismal and hard; in fact, it was merry. Kitty shook hands with everyone, and had a word for them all, such as, âYou must be Davy, who works in the smackâ, and âYou must be Alice, who Nancy talks about so often, and is so proud of. Now I can see whyâ - which made Alice blush, and look to the floor in confusion.
With my father she was
Waiting for her that afternoon I was by turns anxious, gay and sullen - now fussing over the setting of the tea-table, now snapping at Davy and grumbling at Rhoda, now earning scolds from everyone for fretting and complaining, and generally turning what should have been a glad day for myself into a gloomy one, for us all. I had washed my hair and it had dried peculiarly; I had added a new frill to my best dress, but had sewn it crooked and it wouldnât lie flat. I stood at the top of the stairs, sweating over the silk with a safety-pin, ready to weep because Kittyâs train was due and I must run to meet her, when Tony emerged from our little kitchen, carrying bottles of Bass for the tea-table. He stood and watched me fumbling. I said, âGo awayâ, but he only looked smug.
âYou wonât want to hear my bit of news, then.â
âWhat news?â The frill was flat at last. I reached for my hat on the peg on the wall. Tony smirked and said nothing. I stamped my foot. âTony, what is it? Iâm late and youâre making me later.â
âWell then, nothing at all, I expect. I dare say Miss Butler will tell you herself ...â
âTell me what?â Now I stood with my hat in one hand, a hat-pin in the other. âTell me what, Tony?â
He glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice. âNow, donât let on about it yet, for it ainât been properly settled. But your pal - Kitty - sheâs due to leave the Palace, ainât she, in a week or so?â I nodded. âWell, she wonât be going - not for a good while, anyway. Uncle has offered her a sparkling new contract, till the New Year - said she was too good to lose to Broadstairs.â
The New Year! That was months away, months and months and weeks and weeks; I saw them all spread out before me, each one full of nights in Kittyâs dressing-room, and good-night kisses, and dreams.
I gave a cry, I think; and Tony took a swig of Bass, complacently. Then Alice appeared, demanding to know what it was that must be talked about in whispers, and shrieked over, on the stairs ... ? I didnât wait for Tonyâs answer, I thundered down to the door and into the street, and ran to the station like a hoyden, with my hat flapping about my ears -because I had forgotten, after all, to pin it properly.
I had hardly expected Kitty to swagger to Whitstable in her suit and her topper and her lavender gloves; but even so, when she stepped from the train and I saw that she was clad as a girl, and walked like a girl, with her plait fastened to the back of her head and a parasol over her arm, I felt a little pang of disappointment. This swiftly turned, however - as always - to desire, and then to pride, for she looked terribly smart and handsome on that dusty Whitstable platform. She kissed my cheek when I went up to her, and took my arm, and let me lead her from the station to our house, across the sea-front. She said, âWell! And this is where you were born, and grew up?â
âOh yes! Look there: that building, beside the church, is our old school. Over there - see that house with the bicycle by the gate? - thatâs where my cousins live. Here, look, on this step, I once fell down and cut my chin, and my sister held her handkerchief to it, the whole way home ...â So I talked and pointed, and Kitty nodded, biting her lip. âHow lucky you are!â she said at last; and as she said it, she seemed to sigh.
I had feared that the afternoon would be dismal and hard; in fact, it was merry. Kitty shook hands with everyone, and had a word for them all, such as, âYou must be Davy, who works in the smackâ, and âYou must be Alice, who Nancy talks about so often, and is so proud of. Now I can see whyâ - which made Alice blush, and look to the floor in confusion.
With my father she was
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