A Night of Gaiety by Barbara Cartland Read Free Book Online Page A

herself go.”
    “How ... how can she do that ... every night?” Davita enquired.
    Lord Mundesley gave a laugh.
    “That is what acting is all about. Come, let us go and see Violet. We are allowed to go behind during the interval.”
    He led the way and they had to push through crowds of people moving from their seats and also a number of men who were walking in the same direction as themselves through the small door which led behind the scenes.
    It took them some time to climb the staircase, and now in the dressing-room the eight girls who shared it were already holding Court.
    Davita noticed there were dozens more bouquets than there had been before the performance began, and each beautiful Gaiety Girl, looking more attractive than the last, was receiving her admirers.
    Violet was already talking to two gentlemen when Lord Mundesley and Davita joined her.
    “What did you think of the Show?” Violet asked Davita.
    Because she did not reply, Lord Mundesley answered for her.
    “She was stunned and a little shocked!”
    “Shocked?” Violet questioned. “Well, I suppose Lottie would seem a bit of a firebrand to anyone who’d just come off the moors!”
    “Of course! Your friend is Scottish!” one of the gentlemen ejaculated. “I should have known it, with that colour hair.”
    “It’s not out of a dye-bottle, if that’s what you’re insinuating!” Violet said sharply.
    “I would never be so ungallant as to suggest anything of the sort!” the gentleman replied.
    “I want to talk to Miss Violet alone,” Lord Mundesley said in a proprietary manner which made the two gentlemen who were there before him move off to speak to the other girls.
    “Bertie, you’re being bossy, and I don’t like it,” Violet complained.
    “I only want to ask you if Miss Kilcraig is coming to supper with us,” Lord Mundesley said. “In which case, I will have to find somebody to partner her.”
    “No ... no, please,” Davita said quickly in an embarrassed tone. “You have already been kind enough to let me share your Box, but as soon as the Show is over I will go back to my lodgings.”
    “There is no reason for you to do that,” Lord Mundesley replied. “In fact, I think as this is your first night in London it would be a great mistake. Do you not agree, Violet?”
    Davita thought uncomfortably that Violet hesitated a moment before she said:
    “Of course! I want Davita to come with us. She’s staying with me, isn’t she?”
    “Very well,” Lord Mundesley said. “Shall I ask Tony or Willie?”
    Violet glanced at him provocatively, Davita thought, from under her dark, mascaraed eye-lashes before she said:
    “ How about the Marquis?”
    T he expression on Lord Mundesley’s face changed. “Do not mention that man to me!”
    “ I heard his horse had beaten yours today.”
    “Damn him! That is the third time, and it has made me hate him even more than I did before!”
    There was something ferocious in the way Lord Mundesley spoke, and it seemed to Davita to be almost as violent, though in a different way, as the dance she had just witnessed.
    Violet laughed.
    “Why waste time hating him? He always seems to get the better of you!”
    “You are deliberately trying to make me lose my temper!” Lord Mundesley said aggressively. “You know what I feel about Vange.”
    “Well, for Heaven’s sake, don’t tell me,” Violet said. “I’ve listened to Rosie crying her eyes out all the afternoon.”
    “Are you telling me he has broken off with her?” Lord Mundesley enquired.
    “Chucked her out, bag and baggage, from his house in Chelsea, and told her she was lucky to be able to keep the jewellery.”
    “He is intolerable!” Lord Mundesley ejaculated. “I loathe him, and a great many other people feel the same.”
    “Rosie for one!” Violet said. “But it’s her own fault for losing her heart. I told her what he was like when they first started.”
    “You were not the only one,” Lord Mundesley said. “Rosie