Donna.”
Rachel felt as if everything were going around. She in a film! It was too gorgeous to be true. She clasped her hands, her eyes shining.
“Oh, Miss Fossil!”
Posy laughed. “Don’t call me Miss Fossil; nobody does. Now do go and get your tights, and take off the shoes. We haven’t much time.”
Rachel was just going to dash upstairs when she remembered Peaseblossom and lessons. She raced to the porch. She was so excited that she couldn’t speak clearly. It took Peaseblossom a moment or two to grasp what the excitement was about. When she did, she got up.
“A film, dear? No wonder you’re excited. Run up, and pack your tights and shoes. I put the tights on that that shelf. I’ll have a word with Miss Fossil. “
Peaseblossom found Posy by the front door. She was dancing.
“This is very exciting news for Rachel,” Peaseblossom said. “I don’t suppose her parents will object to her being in a film if she gets the opportunity; but her mother’s out, and I can’t speak for her. I could ask her father; but he’s been ill and has only just started working again, and it will be a mistake to interrupt him. I suppose attending the audition doesn’t mean she has to take part in the film if her parents don’t want her to.”
Posy stopped dancing and said, “I wouldn’t blame her mother for not wanting her to take part; I hate dancing in films myself; it hardly ever comes off, and the director usually wants the most ghastly things done which never could happen in a ballet. But I don’t think she need worry about this one. I believe it’s real stuff, barre practice and that sort of thing. I’ve only suggested it as a way around the money difficulty. She’d have enough for taxis and things.”
Peaseblossom saw that Posy was not the sort of person to understand it was necessary to get permission to do things. It would be easier to trust to Rachel’s sense. She took down Posy’s address and telephone number, saying, “We knew we were going to hear from you, of course. Rachel’s talked of little else since Madame Fidolia promised to write to you. But I should like just to know where she is so that her mother could telephone to you if she wanted to.”
Posy was looking at Peaseblossom in a very interested way. Rachel would have guessed her feet were twitching to dance her.
“You’ll have to meet my guardian and Nana,” Posy said. “You three will agree about everything. It’ll be especially lovely for Nana, as she doesn’t often find people in America who think the same way as she does.”
Rachel changed into her blue cotton frock and put on clean socks; she came flying down the stairs with her tights in one hand and her ballet shoes in the other. Peaseblossom felt disgraced.
“Rachel! No paper! No string! You’re letting the side down.”
Posy took the tights. “Nana will pack them properly with a tutu of mine. So don’t worry. Good-bye.”
Jane and Tim were listening to the excitement in the hall. This was a most extraordinary country they were in, a country where anything might happen. At one moment there was Rachel doing housework and lessons, with nothing but a rest and walk to follow, and the next somebody rushed up in a car and took her to an audition for a film. Tim’s annoyance about the piano disappeared. In his mind Rachel was already a film star.
“She’ll be able to rent me a music teacher as well as a piano,” Tim told Jane.
Jane was stabbing angrily with her pencil at the sum she was supposed to be doing. She did not begrudge Rachel her luck, but she wished that just once luck would come to her. If only just once everybody-Mom, Dad, Rachel, Tim, and Peaseblossom- could look at her with proud faces and say, “It’s Jane we have to think of. She’s the one who’s important.” She frowned at Tim severely.
“If you’re going to use American words, you should use them right. You rent pianos but not music teachers.” Then, because she was not at all sure that
Rachel felt as if everything were going around. She in a film! It was too gorgeous to be true. She clasped her hands, her eyes shining.
“Oh, Miss Fossil!”
Posy laughed. “Don’t call me Miss Fossil; nobody does. Now do go and get your tights, and take off the shoes. We haven’t much time.”
Rachel was just going to dash upstairs when she remembered Peaseblossom and lessons. She raced to the porch. She was so excited that she couldn’t speak clearly. It took Peaseblossom a moment or two to grasp what the excitement was about. When she did, she got up.
“A film, dear? No wonder you’re excited. Run up, and pack your tights and shoes. I put the tights on that that shelf. I’ll have a word with Miss Fossil. “
Peaseblossom found Posy by the front door. She was dancing.
“This is very exciting news for Rachel,” Peaseblossom said. “I don’t suppose her parents will object to her being in a film if she gets the opportunity; but her mother’s out, and I can’t speak for her. I could ask her father; but he’s been ill and has only just started working again, and it will be a mistake to interrupt him. I suppose attending the audition doesn’t mean she has to take part in the film if her parents don’t want her to.”
Posy stopped dancing and said, “I wouldn’t blame her mother for not wanting her to take part; I hate dancing in films myself; it hardly ever comes off, and the director usually wants the most ghastly things done which never could happen in a ballet. But I don’t think she need worry about this one. I believe it’s real stuff, barre practice and that sort of thing. I’ve only suggested it as a way around the money difficulty. She’d have enough for taxis and things.”
Peaseblossom saw that Posy was not the sort of person to understand it was necessary to get permission to do things. It would be easier to trust to Rachel’s sense. She took down Posy’s address and telephone number, saying, “We knew we were going to hear from you, of course. Rachel’s talked of little else since Madame Fidolia promised to write to you. But I should like just to know where she is so that her mother could telephone to you if she wanted to.”
Posy was looking at Peaseblossom in a very interested way. Rachel would have guessed her feet were twitching to dance her.
“You’ll have to meet my guardian and Nana,” Posy said. “You three will agree about everything. It’ll be especially lovely for Nana, as she doesn’t often find people in America who think the same way as she does.”
Rachel changed into her blue cotton frock and put on clean socks; she came flying down the stairs with her tights in one hand and her ballet shoes in the other. Peaseblossom felt disgraced.
“Rachel! No paper! No string! You’re letting the side down.”
Posy took the tights. “Nana will pack them properly with a tutu of mine. So don’t worry. Good-bye.”
Jane and Tim were listening to the excitement in the hall. This was a most extraordinary country they were in, a country where anything might happen. At one moment there was Rachel doing housework and lessons, with nothing but a rest and walk to follow, and the next somebody rushed up in a car and took her to an audition for a film. Tim’s annoyance about the piano disappeared. In his mind Rachel was already a film star.
“She’ll be able to rent me a music teacher as well as a piano,” Tim told Jane.
Jane was stabbing angrily with her pencil at the sum she was supposed to be doing. She did not begrudge Rachel her luck, but she wished that just once luck would come to her. If only just once everybody-Mom, Dad, Rachel, Tim, and Peaseblossom- could look at her with proud faces and say, “It’s Jane we have to think of. She’s the one who’s important.” She frowned at Tim severely.
“If you’re going to use American words, you should use them right. You rent pianos but not music teachers.” Then, because she was not at all sure that
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