Remember Me by Margaret Thornton Page B

a…very nice sort of girl,’ replied Dan. In point of fact he felt quite overwhelmed by his immediate attraction to her. He did not know her, of course. She was a stranger to him, an unknown girl who sang on the stage. But the moment he saw her, and especially when she started to sing, Daniel knew that he wanted to meet her and talk with her. Some quality in her had reached out to him in a way no young woman had ever done before. Indeed, he had never before allowed himself to be affected in this way.
    ‘Fancy me knowing a girl like that,’ Joe was saying. ‘A real proper singer on t’stage. And them two funny fellers that were on before – you know, them that did “There’s an ’ole in my bucket” – well, they were the ones that asked me to move their props.’
    ‘Well, fancy that,’ said Dan. ‘Hush now; the next act’s starting.’
    It was a dancing duo, billed as Barney and Benjy; two men dressed in tight black trousers and red andwhite striped shirts, with flashing feet and wide grins revealing pearly-white teeth. He did not know which was which, Barney or Benjy, but one of them, the blonde one, he termed to himself as a ‘pretty boy’, whilst the other one was dark and more suave in appearance. Dan could not help but admire their expertise as their shiny patent-leather shoes darted in and out like lightning to the music of a fast staccato tune. Then came a slower dance to the strains of ‘Lily of Laguna’, which the men sang along to, inviting the audience to join in.
    There was a lot of audience participation in the show, and Dan found he was joining in and enjoying himself as much as anyone. He and Joe agreed at the short interval that it was a first-class show, much better than he had expected as far as Daniel was concerned. Dan enjoyed all kinds of music and was saving up to buy a gramophone.
    There had been some good singing: a baritone – ‘That’s the boss man, Percy Morgan,’ Joe had whispered to him – singing ‘Silver Threads among the Gold’; and Carlo and Queenie, the duettists singing ‘The Old Rustic Bridge by the Mill’, followed by ‘None Shall Part Us From Each Other’, a song from Gilbert and Sullivan’s
Iolanthe
; quite expertly sung, although it was difficult to imagine them as a shepherd and shepherdess.
    Susannah – now, there was a coquette if ever there was one – and her partner, Frank, sang a song about the honeysuckle and the bee, with flirtatiousovertones; and Frank proved to be a good turn on the banjo and the concertina. Dan was surprised at how versatile they all seemed to be.
    In the second half a woman called Nancy did an act with performing dogs. It was not entirely to Dan’s taste as he did not like to see animals being exploited. On the other hand, the little dogs seemed contented enough, wagging their tails and appearing to grin, and he could not imagine anyone in this happy little troupe being anything other than kind and considerate; that was certainly the impression they gave.
    When Madeleine Moon sang again, this time ‘The Lark in the Clear Air’, another Irish song, he was just as captivated as before. He could feel his brother’s eyes upon him, and when he glanced at him there was a knowing grin on Joe’s face. When she appeared at the finale with the rest of the troupe, Dan scarcely noticed anyone but Madeleine.
    He was quiet at first as they walked home, along the promenade and then through the streets of the town, just saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in answer to his brother’s chatter.
    Joe gave a chuckle. ‘You were quite smitten, weren’t you, with that girl?’
    ‘Which girl?’ said Dan, putting on a show of innocence.
    ‘You know very well which girl. Maddy – Madeleine Moon. She’s what our daddy would call a bobby-dazzler, isn’t she?’
    ‘Yes, Joe, so she is. Although I don’t think that is how I would describe her. She’s…she’s lovely,’ Dan said simply, no longer able to feign indifference. ‘Lovely to look