You may have imagined that Dare and I were just grabbing
your brother to spite you, and show what we could do with him."
"I did imagine that!"
"Wrong! Guess again. Or no--you needn't. We may be interrupted any
minute. To save time I'll explain my bag of tricks. Dare wasn't in on
that hand of mine."
"Indeed?"
"You don't believe me? That shows you're no judge of character. Dare
adores her Jule, and what he wants her to do she does; but I told you
she was no actress. She can't act much better off the stage than on. I
wouldn't trust her to create the part of the White Cat, let alone that
of Wily Vivien. She gets along all right if she can just keep still and
sulk and act the Stormy Petrel. I should have pulled her through on
those lines if she'd been obliged to play Jim Beckett's broken-hearted
fiancee. But to do the siren with your brother--no, she wouldn't be
equal to that, even to please me: couldn't get it across the footlights.
I had to win her to Brian as well as win Brian to me. I hope you don't
mind my calling him by his Christian name? He says I may."
"Why did you want to win Miss O'Farrell to my brother?"
"You don't know? You'll have to go down a place lower in this class! She
couldn't make Brian really like her, unless she liked him. At
first--though I knew better--she stuck it out that Brian was only a kind
of decoy duck for you with the Becketts----"
"Oh!"
"Please don't look at me as if you were biting a lemon.
Pages:
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224