Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey Read Free Book Online Page A

ruin it for you. As limber as you are, you
     should have no trouble with this. Ready?”
    She wasn’t, but she nodded. He popped the top of the basket on. In the next moment,
     she heard him utter the fearful roar that the “Turk” had given as he ran a great sword
     through the basket.
    But true to his promise, the sword was inserted slowly, and she had no trouble avoiding
     it. She realized in the next moment
why
he uttered that roar each time he drove in a blade—it told her
where
the sword was coming from. And he was right—it would certainly take a
very
limber girl to fit in the spaces among the blades, but it wasn’t that difficult for
     her.
    “I say, Lionel, I rather like you doing it slowly like that,” said the pianist from
     the pit, as he played. “It looks ever so much more menacing.”
    The swords were withdrawn, the top of the basket taken off, and she popped up, breathless
     and flushing. Without warning her, Lionel’s hands encircled her waist and he lifted
     her out and put her on the floor. “And light as a feather,” the magician said, approvingly.
     “Tell your lad you’re posting the banns, Suzie.” He grinned at Katie. “You may consider
     yourself hired, my dear—ah—what
is
your name?”

3

    “K -KATIE,” she stammered. “Katie Langford. I—”
    But he had plunged his hand into that sash and come out with a pocketbook, from which
     he was extracting some pound notes. “You’ll be needing lodgings of course, so we’ll
     just advance you your first week’s pay.” He shoved them into her hands before she
     could blink. “There you go! Now, Suzie—”
    Suzie rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, all right, I’ll see she’s put up. And fed,
I’m
starving and she must be too.” The girl took possession of Katie’s elbow. “Come on,
     ducks, let’s get you respectable again, and it’s off to the boarding house.”
    “But—” Katie said feebly. Suzie ignored her, and towed her back off to the little
     dressing room. It was like being in the circus again, back when her parents were still
     alive and Katie had been allowed to change with the rest of the circus dancers and
     acrobats. Suzie had the bodice undone in a trice, was pulling off her gauze skirt
     while she was doing up her corset, and between them they had her tidy in half the
     time it usually took her to dress. “You’re the size my sister used to be,” Suzie said,
     as she gently shoved Katie ahead of her, down the now-mostly-deserted hall to the
     stage door. “I have an entire trunk of her things in my room I’ve been dying to be
     rid of.”
    “But—won’t she want them back?” Katie asked, now completely bedazzled by the swift
     turn of events.
    “She got pregnant and too plump to wear them, and besides, she’s a farm wife now and
     she’s got no use for ’em. Coo! That gives me a capital idea!” Suzie went on. “You
     can share my room till I move out of it! That will give me plenty of time to coach
     you!” She waved at the doorman. “Jack! This is Katie Langford, and she’s hired. As
     soon as she has the routine I’ll be off with my boy, so don’t let anyone take advantage
     of her!”
    The doorman pulled the brim of his hat. “Wouldn’t think of it, Suzie. Welcome, Katie.
     Rehearsal is at ten.”
    Suzie gave Katie no chance whatsoever to reply. Down the street they went, but not
     very far, not nearly as far as Katie would have thought. They cut down an alley to
     a quiet cul-de-sac, and it was obvious what their goal was: the only building in the
     circle that was still brightly lit up. There was a sign above the front door:
Mrs. Baird’s Theatrical Lodgings For Ladies.
    “Boarding house,” Suzie explained, tugging on Katie’s arm when she hesitated, pulling
     her up the stairs to the door. “It’s cramped-small, but lovely. Four shillings six
     a week, breakfast and supper included. Come on, I have a lovely room.”
    There was a heavenly smell wafting down the passage, but