IN THE HANDS OF THE GODS
Arthur went to several more rehearsals, but as they progressed, as the
production took shape and final form, they became to his unaccustomed
mind painfully exciting, so full of ups and downs, now ominous of
defeat, now presaging glorious victory. What were to the old hands
ordinary incidents and everyday vicissitudes were to him tragedies or
triumphs. If Mr. Etheringham said "That's better," or "Well, we've got
something like it at last," he swelled with assurance, and his pockets
with imaginary bullion. Whereas if Mr. Etheringham flung his script down
on the table and exclaimed, "Well, it's not _my_ money, thank God!"--or
if it appeared that there was no sort of chance of the scenery being
ready (and there very seldom is)--or if the author looked more
melancholy than usual (and Mr. Beverley had an extraordinary and
apparently inexhaustible gift for crescendos of melancholy)--Arthur
concluded that all was "up," and that the shutters would soon follow the
general example. In view of the vital bearing which success had upon his
financial position, the strain was great, almost too exciting and
thrilling for endurance. More than once he swore that he would not go
near the place again--till "the night." But he could not keep his oath.
The fascination of the venture drew him back. Besides he was attracted
to his co-adventurers--to fiery Mr Etheringham, with his relentless
energy, his passionate pessimism and furious outbursts; to the
melancholy author, surveying as it were a folly of his youth and
reckoning on the stupidity of the public to release him from "the
office" and let him "do" real life; to the leading man, war-worn hero of
a hundred farces, whose grey locks were to turn to raven-black, and
whose girth must suffer hard constriction to dimensions that become a
youthful lover--on the night; to Miss Ayesha Layard with the audacious
sillinesses which her laughter and her impudent pug-nose made so
strangely acceptable. Even though Arthur had really no part in it all,
and nothing to do but sit and watch and smoke, he could not keep
away--and he rejoiced when somebody would come and sit by, and exchange
opinions. It says much for his resolutions of reform that, in spite of
all, he spent several hours every day at chambers, trying to bend his
mind to _Benjamin on Sales_ and, by virtue of the human interest of that
remarkable work, succeeding better than was to be expected.
Amidst these occupations and distractions the great trouble which had
come upon him was no longer the continual matter of his thoughts. The
sense of loss and the conviction of folly--the two were inseparably
united in consciousness--became rather enemies lurking in the recesses
of his mind, ready to spring out at him in hours of idleness or
depression. To prevent or evade their attack was a task to which he set
himself more instinctively than of deliberate purpose; but in fact the
fear of them--the absolute need of keeping them down unless he were to
lose heart--co-operated with the good resolutions he had made and with
the new interests which had come into his life. To seek fresh objects of
effort and to lay himself open to a new set of impressions--here rather
than in brooding, or remorse, or would-be philosophising, lay the path
of salvation for a spirit young, ardent, and elastic, healthily averse
from mental hypochondria, from nursing and cosseting its wounds. He was
in the mood of a football player who, sore from a hack and shaken by a
hard tackle, picks himself up and rushes to take his place in the
scrimmage.
Three days before "the night"--that date now served him for a
calendar--he received a hasty summons from Esther Norton Ward. The lease
of the Lisles' house in Hill Street was to be sold, and Judith Arden had
come up to town, to settle matters relating to the furniture; some was
to be disposed of, some sent to Hilsey. The Norton Wards were at home,
the prospective candidate being engaged in an electoral campaign in his
prospective constituency, which could be "worked" most easily from
London; Judith was to stay a few days with them. Though Norton Ward
himself would be away speech-making, the two ladies begged the pleasure
of Arthur's company that evening.
"Then Judith will be in town on the night," thought Arthur. His eye
gleamed with a brilliant inspiration. On the night he would be the proud
possessor of a box at the Burlington Theatre--that, at least, his
thousand pounds gave him. He instantly determined to invite his friends
to share it with him. He added this invitation of his own when he sent
his note accepting Esther's.
"But how comes he to be having boxes at first nights?" asked Esther.
"Oh, don't you know? He's put up some money for the play. Quite a lot,
in fact," said Judith, with a laugh which sounded apologetic.
Esther raised her brows. That was not the Norton Ward idea of the way to
the Woolsack. "Can he afford to--to do that sort of thing? To take
chances like that?"
"Oh, of course not! He's quite poor. But, Esther, I do pray it'll be a
success! He does deserve a turn of good luck. He's been splendid to us
all at Hilsey."
"He was making a great goose of himself, when I was at Hilsey."
"That was before. I meant he was splendid afterwards. Fancy seeing the
play after all! He's often talked to me about it."
"You're very good friends with him now?"
"Well, look what we've been through together! If the piece doesn't
succeed, I'm afraid it'll be a serious business for him. He'll be very
hard up."
Esther shook her head over Arthur when he came to dinner. "I knew you
were a man of fashion! Now you're blossoming out as a theatrical
speculator! Where does the law come in?"
"Next Wednesday morning at the very latest--and whatever has happened to
_Did You Say Mrs.?_ Only, if it's a tumble, I shan't have the money to
go circuit, and--well, I hope your husband will get his rent, but I
expect he'd be wiser to kick me out of his chambers."
"As bad as that? Then we really must pray, Judith, for Frank's sake as
well as Arthur's!"
"Do tell us about the play! Give us an idea of it."
"Oh, well, the plot's not the great thing, you know. It's the way it's
written. And Ayesha Layard and Willie Spring are so good. Well, there's
a dancing club--a respectable one. A man may take a man, but he may only
take a woman if she's his wife or sister. The man Spring plays is
persuaded to take a friend and his best girl in, and to let the girl
call herself Mrs. Skewes--Skewes is Spring's name in the piece. Well, of
course, as soon as he's done that, simply everybody Skewes knows begins
to turn up--his rich uncle, the rich girl he wants to marry, his village
parson--all the lot. And then the other man's people weigh in, and
everybody gets mixed--and so on. And there's a comic waiter who used to
know Flo (Ayesha Layard plays Flo, of course) and insists on writing to
her mother to say she's married. Oh, it's all awfully well worked out!"
"I'm sure it'll be very amusing," said Esther Norton Ward politely. "But
isn't it rather like that farce they had at the--the Piccadilly, wasn't
it?--a year or two ago?"
"Oh no! I remember the piece you mean; but that wasn't a dancing
club--that was an hotel."
"So it was. I forgot," said Esther, smiling.
Arthur burst into a laugh. "I'm a fool! Of course it's been done a
hundred times. But Beverley's got in a lot of good stuff. In the second
act Flo has hidden in Skewes' bedroom, and of course everybody turns up
there, and he has to get rid of them by pretending he's going to have a
bath--keeps taking his coat off, to make 'em clear out." Arthur chuckled
at the remembrance. "But of course Ayesha's the finest thing. Her
innocent cheek is ripping!"
"Why does she want to hide in his room?"
"She took another woman's bag from the club by accident, and the manager
has his suspicions about her and consults the police. But I won't tell
you any more, or it'll spoil the evening."
"I think we know quite enough to go on with," laughed Esther. "I wish
Frank could come with us, but he's got a meeting every night next week.
Why don't you go down with him one night? I think it would amuse you."
"I will, like a shot, if he'll take me. I'm not sure, though, that I'm a
Conservative."
"That doesn't matter. Besides Frank will make you one. He's very
persuasive."
After Arthur had said good-night and gone, the two women sat in silence
for a few minutes.
"It sounds awful stuff, Judith," said Esther at last, in a tone of
candid regret.
"Yes, it does. But still those things do succeed often."
"Oh yes, and we'll hope!" She glanced at Judith. "He doesn't seem
very--lovelorn!"
"He was pretty bad at first." She smiled faintly. "I had to be awfully
disagreeable. Well, I'm quite good at it. Ever since then he's behaved
wonderfully. But I don't know what he feels."
"Well, I hope he'll settle down to work, after all this nonsense."
"He hasn't got any work to settle to, poor boy!"
"Frank says it always comes if you watch and wait."
"I expect it's the successful men who say that." They had all been gay
at dinner, but now Judith's voice sounded depressed and weary. Esther
moved nearer to her side on the sofa.
"You've had a pretty hard time of it too, haven't you?" she asked
sympathetically.
"It may be a funny thing, but I miss Bernadette dreadfully. She was
always an interest anyhow, wasn't she? And without her--with just
Godfrey and Margaret--Hilsey's awfully flat. You see, we're none of us
people with naturally high spirits. Arthur is, and they used to crop out
in spite of everything; so it wasn't so bad while he was there. Godfrey
and Margaret are always wanting to press him to come back, but he must
stay and work, mustn't he?"
Esther took a sidelong glance at her--rather an inquisitive glance--but
she said no more than, "Of course he must. He can come to you at
Christmas--unless he's got another farce or some other nonsense in his
head."
Esther had taken Bernadette's flight with just a shrug of her shoulders;
that had seemed to her really the only way to take it. She had not been
surprised--looking back on her Sunday at Hilsey and remembering
Bernadette's manner, she now declared that she had expected the
event--and it was no use pretending to be much shocked. To her steady
and calm temperament, very strong in affection but a stranger to
passion, a creature of Bernadette's waywardness could assert no real
claim to sympathy, however much her charm might be acknowledged. She was
surprised that Judith should miss her so much, and with so much regret.
For Arthur's infatuation she still could have only scorn, however kindly
the scorn might be. In her eyes Bernadette had never been really a wife,
and hardly in any true sense a mother; by her flight she merely
abdicated positions which she had never effectively filled. She would
not even give her credit for courage in going away, in facing the
scandal; there she preferred to see only Oliver Wyse's strong hand and
imperious will.
On the other hand, there was a true sympathy of mind between her and
Judith, and she was grieved, and rather indignant, at the heavy burden
which the train of events had laid on Judith's shoulders. She asked
something better for her than to be merely the crutch of the crippled
household at Hilsey--for which again her self-reliant nature and
courageous temper had more pity than esteem. It would be a shame if
Judith sank into a household hack, bearing the burden which properly
belonged to Bernadette's pretty shoulders. But Judith herself betrayed
no sense of hardship; she took what she was doing as a matter of course,
though she did regret Bernadette's loss and Arthur's absence. She pined
for the vanished elements of excitement and gaiety in the household; but
none the less she meant to stick to it. So Esther read her mind. But
there was another question--one of proportion. How much of the pining
was for Bernadette and how much for Arthur?
It was dress rehearsal. Mr. Etheringham was a martinet about admitting
people to this function; there were only half-a-dozen or so scattered
about the stalls--and the author prowling restlessly up and down the
pit. Mr. Etheringham sat by Arthur, his hat over his fiery eyes,
regarding the performance with a sort of gloomy resentment. He
interfered only once or twice--his work was done--but Arthur heard him
murmur, more than once or twice, "Damned bad--too late to change!"--and
therewith he sank a little lower down in his seat. Arthur did not laugh
much now, though he expected to to-morrow; he was too busy thinking
whether other people would be amused to be amused himself. All he really
knew was that Willie Spring was acting his very heart out, trying to get
every ounce out of the part; and so was Ayesha, for all her air of utter
unconcern. He ventured on an observation to this effect to Mr.
Etheringham when the curtain fell on the first act.
"They're all right. If it fails, it's my fault--and Beverley's." He
rushed off "behind," and his voice was heard through the curtain in
exhortation and correction.
Joe Halliday came across from the other side of the house and sat down
in the vacant seat. "Right as rain!" he said emphatically. "You may
order your motor car, Arthur."
"I think I won't actually give the order till Wednesday morning, old
fellow."
"May as well. It's a cert. Big money! Wish I had your share in it."
"I sometimes wish I had mine out," Arthur confessed.
"Oh, rot, man! It's the stroke of your life, this is."
Mr. Etheringham returned, glared at the imperturbable Joe, and selected
another stall. Second Act.
The Second Act went well, but when they came to set the Third, there was
a bad breakdown in the scenery. A long long wait--and Mr. Etheringham
audible from behind the curtain, raging furiously. Mr. Beverley emerged
from the pit and came up behind Joe Halliday and Arthur.
"Just my luck!" he observed, in the apathetic calm of utter despair.
"Jolly good thing it happened to-night, and not to-morrow!" exclaimed
Joe.
"But it probably will happen to-morrow too," the author insisted.
Arthur was laughing at the two when Miss Ayesha Layard, in the third of
her wonderful frocks, came in front and tripped up to them.
"If anybody's cold, they'd better go behind and listen to old Langley,"
she remarked, as she sank into the stall by Arthur's side. She had a
large towel tied round her waist, and adjusted it carefully beneath and
round her before she trusted her frock to the mercies of the seat. "I
once spoilt a frock in my early days, and old Bramston boxed my ears for
it," she explained to Arthur. Then she turned round and regarded Mr.
Beverley with an air of artless and girlish admiration. "To think that
he wrote this masterpiece! He who is known to, and will soon be adored
by, the public as Claud Beverley, but who in private life----"
"Shut up, will you!" commanded Mr. Beverley with sudden and fierce fury.
"If you do happen to--to----" He was in a difficulty for a phrase and
ended without finding it--"Well, you might have the decency to hold your
tongue about it."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry! Didn't know it was such a secret as all that." The
offended man looked implacable. "If you don't forgive me, I shall go and
drown myself in that bath! Oh, well, he won't, so never mind! Here, Joe,
take him out and give him a drink. There's just time before closing."
"First-rate idea!" Joe agreed cordially. "Come along, old chap." Mr.
Beverley allowed himself to be led away, mournfully yet faintly
protesting.
"Funny thing he should mind having his real name known, isn't it? I'm
sure I shouldn't mind mine being known, if I had one, but I don't think
I have. I recollect being called 'Sal' at the theatre. Old Bramston--the
one who boxed my ears, as I said--named me. He'd been out in the East as
a young man and liked reading about it. So, when he named me, he
combined his information, like the man in Dickens, and made up the name
you see on the bills. It'll descend to posterity in old Langley
Etheringham's memoirs. He's writing them, his wife told me so. Well,
what do you think of the theatre--inside view--Mr. Lisle?"
"I think it's extraordinarily interesting."
"I've been in it all my life, and I wouldn't change. It takes your mind
off things so--sort of gives you two lives. You come down here in the
blues over your debts, or your love-affairs, or something--and in five
minutes you're somebody else, or--" She gave a little laugh--"rotting
somebody else, which is nearly as good."
"By Jove, that's exactly what it does do!" cried Arthur. "It's done me
heaps of good."
"You'll have got something for your money, anyhow, won't you?"
"Oh, but I want to get more than that!"
"So do I!" she laughed. "I want the salary. But one never knows. This
time to-morrow we may be waiting for the laughs that don't come. You can
always pretty well hear Willie asking for them in the proper places. And
when they don't come, it's such a sell that it makes me want to giggle
myself. It might work! What the notices call my infectious laughter!"
"Well, that's just what your laughter is."
"They catch a word like that from one another--like mumps or measles.
I'm always 'infectious;' Willie's always 'indefat'--'indefatig'--you
know; I can never get to the end of it! Bramston used to be 'sterling'
always; it made him just mad when he saw the word--used awful language!"
She laughed, "infectiously," at the recollection.
The hammering behind the curtain, which had been incessant during their
talk, stopped. A sharp voice rang out, "Third Act!" There was a scurry
of feet. Mr. Etheringham came in front, very hot and dishevelled; Mr.
Beverley reappeared, only to bolt into his burrow in the pit. Miss
Layard rose to her feet, carefully lifting the precious frock well clear
of her ankles.
"What do you mean by keeping me waiting like this, Mr. Etheringham?" she
asked with elaborate haughtiness.
But poor Mr. Etheringham was at the end of his tether--beyond repartee,
even beyond fury.
"For heaven's sake, Ayesha my dear, take hold of this damned third act,
and pick it _up_!" he implored, with the old Weary-Titan lift of his
hands.
"There is a bit of avoirdupois about it, isn't there?" she remarked
sympathetically. "All the same, it's suffered a sea-change under your
accomplished hands, Langley."
"Oh, get round, there's a good girl, or you'll keep the stage waiting."
"What one weak woman can do!" she said, with a nod and a smile as she
turned away.
Mr. Etheringham sank into a stall and lay back--with his eyes shut. "I
should like to have the blood of those stage-hands," Arthur heard him
mutter.
His eyes remained closed right through the act; he knew it too well to
need to see it--every position, every speech, every inflection, every
gesture. He did not speak either; only his hands now and then rose up
above his head and dropped again gently. When at last the curtain fell,
he opened his eyes, took off his hat, smoothed his hair, replaced the
hat, and turned to Arthur with a sudden expression of peace and relief
on his stormy countenance.
"Now it's in the hands of the gods, Mr. Lisle," he said.
Arthur was lighting a cigarette. In the intervals of the operation he
asked, "Well, what do you think?"
Mr. Etheringham looked at him with a tolerant smile. "Think? My dear
fellow, to-morrow's the night! What on earth's the use of thinking?"