â
âYes.â
âWell, Iâm going to tell you about one of the dirtiest pieces of work imaginable. My God! the theatrical crowd. Thereâs a girlâa Yankee girlâa perfect stunnerââ
Bundleâs heart sank. The grievances of Billâs lady friends were always interminableâthey went on and on and there was no stemming them.
âThis girl, Babe St. Maur her name isââ
âI wonder how she got her name?â said Bundle sarcastically.
Bill replied literally.
âShe got it out of Whoâs Who. Opened it and jabbed her finger down on a page without looking. Pretty nifty, eh? Her real nameâs Goldschmidt or Abrameierâsomething quite impossible.â
âOh, quite,â agreed Bundle.
âWell, Babe St. Maur is pretty smart. And sheâs got muscles. She was one of the eight girls who made the living bridgeââ
âBill,â said Bundle desperately. âI went to see Jimmy Thesiger yesterday morning.â
âGood old Jimmy,â said Bill. âWell, as I was telling you, Babeâs pretty smart. Youâve got to be nowadays. She can put it over on most theatrical people. If you want to live, be high-handed, thatâs what Babe says. And mind you, sheâs the goods all right. She can actâitâs marvellous how that girl can act. Sheâd not much chance in âDamn Your Eyesââjust swamped in a pack of good-looking girls. I said why not try the legitimate stageâyou know, Mrs. Tanquerayâthat sort of stuffâbut Babe just laughedââ
âHave you seen Jimmy at all?â
âSaw him this morning. Let me see, where was I? Oh, yes, I hadnât got to the rumpus yet. And mind you it was jealousyâsheer, spiteful jealousy. The other girl wasnât a patch on Babe for looks and she knew it. So she went behind her backââ
Bundle resigned herself to the inevitable and heard the whole story of the unfortunate circumstances which had led up to Babe St. Maurâs summary disappearance from the cast of âDamn Your Eyes.â It took a long time. When Bill finally paused for breath and sympathy, Bundle said:
âYouâre quite right, Bill, itâs a rotten shame. There must be a lot of jealousy aboutââ
âThe whole theatrical worldâs rotten with it.â
âIt must be. Did Jimmy say anything to you about coming down to the Abbey next week?â
For the first time, Bill gave his attention to what Bundle was saying.
âHe was full of a long rigmarole he wanted me to stuff Codders with. About wanting to stand in the Conservative interest. But you know, Bundle, itâs too damned risky.â
âStuff,â said Bundle. âIf George does find him out, he wonât blame you. Youâll just have been taken in, thatâs all.â
âThatâs not it at all,â said Bill. âI mean itâs too damned risky for Jimmy. Before he knows where he is, heâll be parked down somewhere like Tooting East, pledged to kiss babies and make speeches. You donât know how thorough Codders is and how frightfully energetic.â
âWell, weâll have to risk that,â said Bundle. âJimmy can take care of himself all right.â
âYou donât know Codders,â repeated Bill.
âWhoâs coming to this party, Bill? Is it anything very special?â
âOnly the usual sort of muck. Mrs. Macatta for one.â
âThe M.P.?â
âYes, you know, always going off the deep end about Welfare and Pure Milk and Save the Children. Think of poor Jimmy being talked to by her.â
âNever mind Jimmy. Go on telling me.â
âThen thereâs the Hungarian, what they call a Young Hungarian. Countess something unpronounceable. Sheâs all right.â
He swallowed as though embarrassed, and Bundle observed that he was crumbling his bread
Sherwood Smith
Peter Kocan
Alan Cook
Allan Topol
Pamela Samuels Young
Reshonda Tate Billingsley
Isaac Crowe
Cheryl Holt
Unknown Author
Angela Andrew;Swan Sue;Farley Bentley