Beloved Scoundrel (4 page)

“Glad to be helpful,” the tiny actress said with a smile. “The company likes you two.”

“You think so?” Fanny asked.

“They do,” the blonde Nancy said. And turning to David, she continued, “You know how to handle a company and you and your wife are so wonderful in your acting.”

David smiled. “It’s our profession.”

“It’s mine, too,” Nancy said. “But I can’t play a part the way you two do. Everyone was remarking on you. And you needn’t worry about that Peter Cortez. He can’t act anything like as well as you.”

“Thank you,” David said. “I hope he’ll not try to cause more trouble.”

Nancy gave Fanny an amused glance, “You handled Cortez perfectly! And what I said about his being a lady chaser is true! He has a dreadful reputation with women!”

“Ah!” Fanny said. “I must remember that.”

“It would be wise to,” Nancy warned her. “He wasn’t joking when he said he pays most attention to married women.”

“Perhaps he’ll not return,” David suggested.

Nancy’s blue eyes twinkled. “I’d wager you are wrong. I say he’ll be back. I saw the way he was looking at your wife. She’s the bait who will cause his return.”

Fanny wasn’t pleased by the prospect of having to deal with an arrogant, lecherous actor who hated both herself and her husband. And she joined in the hope they wouldn’t see him again. After they had lunched they returned to the rehearsal room.

To their surprise Peter Cortez had already returned.. He had changed to a less flamboyant brown jacket and trousers and he was conversing seriously with the old, character actor, Lester Loft. On seeing them enter he excused himself from the old man and came towards them.

It was evident at once that he had sobered up in the interval and he now spoke clearly as he said, “I talked with Mr. Barnum and he persuaded me to remain with the company.”

“Very good,” David said with a nod.

Cortez smiled sheepishly. “I fear I was still drunk when I came here this morning. I have heard of your ability from the company and I’m willing to take second place to you.”

David said, “I would prefer to think of you as an actor in an ensemble of actors. We function only as a group. I like all the units to be of first calibre.”

The golden-haired man said, “I’ll play whatever parts you may wish to assign to me.”

David said, “There will be no problems.”

Cortez bowed and then turned to her with a smile and said, “If I behaved impudently towards you I ask your pardon.”

“You have no need to apologize,” Fanny told him. “I have heard good things about your ability from Mr. Barnum. I’m glad we shall be working together.”

Cortez bowed again and went back to his conversation with Lester Loft. The attractive Nancy came over to Fanny and in an aside, whispered, “He’s being much too agreeable. Don’t trust him!”

Fanny smiled. “I’ll be careful not to drop my guard.”

But she did before the afternoon was over. Peter Cortez played the role assigned to him and did it very well. At the same time she was conscious that he was carefully studying the work of herself and David. She knew that compared to them, the young actor had little experience. But his potential was great. With more experience he was surely destined to be an important actor.

She was weary at the end of rehearsal and picked up her cloak and waited to join David who was giving some instructions to one of the young women of the company.

“Fanny Cornish!” a voice said at her elbow and she turned to see a smiling Peter Cortez. He went on, “l like the name.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“And I like your acting and your husband’s,” he said. “I can learn from you two.”

“David has star quality.”

“So have you.”

“I’ve always played in support of a star,” she said.

“You’ve learned your trade well,” the golden-haired man said. “I’ve been spoiled. The darling of my own California. I’ve just started to find out that doesn’t count for much. Playing before a lot of drunken sailors and miners or to a few culture-starved ladies groups in that out of the way place! This is where I must shine! Here in New York!”

She smiled. “I think we will all settle for Philadelphia for a start.”

“I get drunk occasionally,” the young man confessed. “Do you think your husband will put up with me?”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” she warned him. “David is strict with his company.”

Cortez shrugged. “Some of our greatest stars are drunkards! Edwin Booth for one!”

“I hear he would be much more successful if it were not for his drinking. Throwing up in the wings and staggering about onstage is not playing fair with an audience.”

His eyebrows raised. “You’ve heard about him?”

“London is not in another world. We hear a good deal about the theatre here.”

“Of course you would,” Cortez said. “I shall have to stay sober since I’m determined to make you like me.”

She was going to tell him that she already liked him but she decided that might not be safe. So she temporized by telling him, “If trying to impress me will help you, I’m happy to be a partner to it.”

The rehearsals went well. P.T. Barnum was pleased and showed them the posters and handbills he was sending on to Philadelphia. The big man puffed on his cigar as he held them up, reading with satisfaction, “Phineas T. Barnum presents London’s Great Starring team, David and Fanny Cornish in a repertory of plays, supported by a company of leading American players and featuring Mr. Peter Cortez.”

David approved of the advertising, saying, “I’m glad you are giving Cortez billing. He is a good actor.”

“Generous of you to say so,” the great Barnum said. “I may say I had trouble at first getting him to stay on. Now he’s one of your staunch boosters!”

Fanny was delighted by the turn of events. She’d lost a good deal of her melancholy, although there were times when for no reason she strangely found herself depressed. She put it down to her temperament. She was friendly with the good-Iooking Peter Cortez but, remembering the warnings about his womanizing, was careful to keep him at a polite distance.

David was very much the actor-manager again, though he was merely heading a company owned by Barnum. He confided to her that it would not take too long before he could branch out on his own. He was learning more about the way things were done in America every day.

Life at Mrs. Larkins’ Family Hotel went on splendidly. Both David and Fanny agreed that they had enjoyed the best of luck in having been taken there by Adam Burns. It was through meeting Ernest Sherman and his wife, Little Emmie, that they had come to know P.T. Barnum.

Little Emmie was breathless with excitement about their prospects. “I should like to be able to go to Philadelphia and see you,” the fat woman sighed.

Her tall, thin husband placed his arm around his wife’s waist as far as it would go and told her, “Can’t neglect the museum, my dear. We daren’t desert our platforms.”

“I’m sure we’ll get to New York one day,” Fanny said. “Then David and I will supply you both with all the tickets you can use.”

“Jolly good!” Little Emmie said, her chins quivering with pleasure.

Rehearsals continued and Peter Cortez gave no trouble. He was a model member of the company and the only thing he did which worried her was to pay her entirely too much attention. She was embarrassed by this, and she hoped that David wouldn’t notice. Happily, her husband was so engrossed with directing the various plays that he missed the golden-haired actor’s wooing of her.

She made every attempt to discourage him and she noted that the pert Nancy Ray had observed the goings-on and was amused. Several times she found the ingenue watching them with a knowing look. And once she mentioned it.

“Peter is trying hard to win you over,” she told Fanny. “I’ve never seen him so obsessed before!”

Fanny blushed. “Surely you’re joking!”

“I’m not,” Nancy told her. “I’m afraid this time it’s not a matter of mere infatuation. I think he is in love with you.”

“l hope not,” Fanny said worriedly. “David is the only man in my life.”

The girl’s eyes held a mocking gleam in them. As she said, “I have heard that once you gave your heart to a titled gentleman in London.”

Fanny stared at the girl. “Who told you that?”

“It’s been whispered about.”

“That was long ago,” Fanny assured the girl. “A part of my life that is ended.”

Nancy said, “Perhaps Peter thinks you may feel the same way about David Cornish one day.” And with a provoking smile she went off to wait for her cue to rehearse.

Fanny was shocked to know there was gossip about her circulating in the company. And when she and Peter had to play some love scenes together in one of the plays she deliberately tried to behave coldly.

It was her husband, David, who as the director halted the rehearsal to complain, “Really, Fanny, you must put more emotion in it! You do not make me believe you care for the fellow at all!”

Peter Cortez smiled at her and waited as she began the scene again, playing it with more sincerity. And when the handsome actor was called on to kiss her, the pressure on her lips was real and sent a shiver through her. It terrified her to think that her emotions might betray her once again.

But David was in no way upset. He told them, “That was much better. You conveyed something that last time!”

In the midst of this problem there came a welcome break. Their old friend Adam Burns looked them up at Mrs. Larkins’ place and was pleased to hear of their good fortune. He came armed with an invitation for an evening out.

“There is to be a special one night gala to raise a fund to place a statue of Shakespeare in Central Park,” the old hardware merchant told them. “I am one of the committee. And the stars are to be the three Booth brothers in a rare appearance together in Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar.’ The play is to be put on at the Winter Garden and there will be a reception and supper afterwards at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. I’d like you two to be my honored guests.”

David Cornish gave Fanny a glance and said, “I should like to see the Booths. Wouldn’t you, my dear?”

“Yes. I have heard so much about Edwin Booth and his great talents,” she said eagerly. “Surely we are far enough ahead in our rehearsals to take the night off.”

“I’m sure Mr. Barnum will not object,” David told the jolly Adam Burns.

“Capital!” the big man with the gray side-whiskers said. “You need not worry about transportation. I shall call for you in my carriage and take you to the theatre and to the gala supper following the performance.”

Fanny was excited at the prospect of seeing the great Booth and attending a party as well. She at once went about repairing and freshening up one of her best stage gowns for the affair. She also carefully cleaned and pressed David’s evening clothes.

David announced they would not be working the night of the gala. And the elegantly dressed Peter Cortez reacted as she might have expected. He sought her out as soon as he heard she and her husband were attending the play.

With one of his cynical smiles, he told her, “You will not find Booth the handsome hero you expect. He is a smallish, quite ordinary fellow with a thirst for drink.”

“He has a genius on the stage,” she defended the actor. “That is all that concerns me.”

Cortez shrugged, “He is not the only one with talent. He lives on his father’s reputation. While actors like myself have to make their own name.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “You surely are not jealous of Edwin Booth?”

“I’m jealous of any other male on the stage,” he admitted. “If I had no conceit I would be a poor actor.”

Fanny laughed. “In that case you must surely be a genius for you are nothing but conceit!”

The good-looking Cortez warned her, “Do not expect too much! You will wind up disappointed.”

She thought it mean of him to try and spoil her enjoyment through his jealousy. And she considered it childish of him to always be thinking of himself in comparison with other actors. David, who was far more talented than Cortez, was actually anticipating seeing the famed Edwin Booth and his brothers. He had no envy of any sort in him.

The evening came and she donned the gold brocade gown which showed off her beauty well. David in his black jacket, white tie, and gray-striped trousers was elegant enough for any occasion.

Adam Burns in evening dress came with his carriage to pick them up and take them to the great Winter Garden theatre. David and Fanny enjoyed the experience of arriving as patrons of the event. They were usually busy in their dressing rooms backstage at this time of the evening and so missed all the excitement of carriages drawing up before the theatre and well-dressed ladies and gentlemen getting out and moving to the theatre entrance. The street and lobby were filled with excited people, all talking at once, all anticipating the play.

Adam Burns bent low to whisper to Fanny whenever he saw someone of note. He indicated across the lobby a big man with an enormous stomach who had a gorgeous young woman on his arm. He told her, “That’s Boss Tweed! Pride of Tammany! A politician with a great deal of power!”