Victoria dragged off her gloves nervously, felt for the pedals and with a voice that trembled a little sang two ballads which had always pleased Lympton. The piano was frightfully out of tune. Everything conspired to make her nervous. It was only when she struck the last note that she looked at the impresario.
"Very good, very good," cried Carrel. "_Magnifique._ Mademoiselle, you have a beautiful voice. You will be a great success at Vichy."
"Vichy?" echoed Victoria, a little overwhelmed by his approval of a voice which she knew to be quite ordinary.
"Yes, I have a troupe to sing and dance at Vichy and in the towns, Clermont Ferrand, Lyon, everywhere. I will engage you to sing and dance," said Carrel, his dark eyes sparkling.
"Oh, I can"t dance," cried Victoria despairingly.
"But I a.s.sure you, it is not difficult," said Carrel. "We will teach you. There, I will show you the contract. As you have not had much experience my syndicate can only pay you one hundred and fifty francs a month. But we will pay the expenses and the costumes."
Victoria looked doubtful for a moment. To sing, to dance, to go to France where she had never been, all this was sudden and momentous.
"_Voyons_," said Carrel, "it will be quite easy. I am taking four English ladies with you and two do not understand the theatre. You will make more money if the audience like you. Here is the contract." He drew a printed sheet out of the drawer and handed it to her.
It was an impressive doc.u.ment with a heavy headline; _Troupe de Theatre Anglaise_. It bore a French revenue stamp and contained half-a-dozen clauses in French which she struggled through painfully; she could only guess at their meaning. So far as she could see she was bound to sing and dance according to the programme which was to be fixed by the _Directeur_, twice every day including Sundays. The _syndicat_ undertook to pay the railway fares and to provide costumes. She hesitated, then crossed the Rubicon.
"Fill in the blanks, please," she said unsteadily. "I accept."
Carrel took up a pen and wrote in the date and _cent cinquante francs_.
"What name will you adopt?" he asked, "and what is your own name?"
Victoria hesitated. "My name is Victoria Fulton," she said. "You may call me . . . Aminta Ormond."
Carrel smiled once more. "Aminta Ormond? I do not think you will like that. It is not English. It is like Amanda. No! I have it, Gladys Oxford, it is excellent."
Before she could protest he had begun writing. After all, what did it matter? She signed the doc.u.ment without a word.
"_Voila_," said Carrel smoothly, locking the drawer on the contract. "We leave from Charing Cross on Wednesday evening. So you have two days to prepare yourself. _Monsieur le Directeur_ will meet you under the clock at a quarter past eight. The train leaves at nine. We will take your ticket when you arrive. Please come here at four on Wednesday and I will introduce you to the _Directeur_."
Victoria got up and mechanically shook hands. Carrel opened the door for her and ceremoniously bowed her out. She walked into Soho place as in a dream, every pulse in her body thrilling with unwonted adventure. She stared at a dirty window pane and wondered at the brilliance it threw back from her eyes.
CHAPTER XII
VICTORIA had forgotten her latchkey. Miss Briggs opened the door for her. Her sallow face brightened up.
"There"s a gentleman waiting, mum," she said, "and "ere"s a telegram."
Came jest five minutes after you left. I"ve put him in the front room what"s empty, mum. Thought you"d rather see him there. Been "ere "arf an "our, mum."
Victoria did not attempt to disentangle the hours of arrival of the gentleman and the telegram; she tore open the brown envelope excitedly.
It only heralded the coming of Edward who was doubtless the gentleman.
"Thanks, Miss Briggs," she said, "it"s my brother."
"Yes, mum, nice young gentleman. He"s all right; been reading the _New Age_, mum, this "arf hour, what belongs to the lady on the third."
Victoria smiled and went into the dining-room, where none dine in lodging houses save ghosts. Edward was standing near the mantlepiece immersed in the paper.
"Why, Ted, this is nice of you," cried Victoria going up to him and taking his hand.
"I had to come up to town suddenly," said Edward, "to get books for the Head. I"m going back this afternoon but I thought I"d look you up. Did you get the telegram."
"Just got it now," said Victoria, showing it, "so you might have saved the sixpence."
"I"m sorry," said Edward. "I didn"t know until this morning."
"It doesn"t matter. I"m so glad to see you."
There was an awkward pause. Edward brushed away the hair from his forehead. His hands flew back to his watch-chain. Victoria had briefly written to him to tell him why she left the Holts. Fearful of all that touches women, he was acutely conscious that he blamed her and yet knew her to be blameless.
"It"s a beautiful day," he said suddenly.
"Isn"t it?" agreed Victoria, looking at him with surprise. There was another pause.
"What are you doing just now, Vic?" Edward breathed more freely, having taken the plunge.
"I"ve just got some work," said Victoria. "I begin on Wednesday."
"Oh, indeed?" said Edward with increasing interest. "Have you got a post as companion?"
"Well, not exactly," said Victoria. She realised that her story was not very easy to tell a man like Edward. He looked at her sharply. His face flushed. His brow puckered. With both hands he grasped his watch-chain.
"I hope, Victoria," he said severely, "that you are not adopting an occupation unworthy of a lady. I mean I know you couldn"t," he added, his severity melting into nervousness.
"I suppose nothing"s unworthy," said Victoria; "the fact is, Ted, I"m afraid you won"t like it much, but I"m going on the stage."
Edward started and flushed like an angry boy. "On the . . . the stage?"
he gasped.
"Yes," said Victoria quietly. "I"ve got an engagement for six months to play at Vichy and other places in France. I only get six pounds a month but they pay all the expenses. I"ll have quite thirty pounds clear when I come back. What do you think of that?"
"It"s . . . it"s awful," cried Edward, losing all self-consciousness.
"How can you do such a thing, Vic? If it were in London, it would be different. You simply can"t do it."
"Can"t?" asked Victoria, raising her eyebrows. "Why?"
"It"s not done. No really Vic, you can"t do it." Edward was evidently disturbed. Fancy a sister of his . . . It was preposterous.
"I"m sorry, Ted," said Victoria, "but I"m going on Wednesday. I"ve signed the agreement."
Edward looked at her almost horror-struck. His spectacles had slid down to the sharp tip of his nose.
"You are doing very wrong, Victoria," he said, resuming his pedagogic gravity. "You could have done nothing that I should have disapproved of as much. You should have looked out for something else."