actress, ain’t she? At the Gaiety at one time, I believe?’ He spoke very quietly. Though his son did not know it, Charles enjoyed the Gaiety burlesques, and had even met the theatre’s manager, John Hollingshead, and liked him.
Edward jumped. ‘She did start off at the Gaiety, perfectly correct, Pater, but latterly, don’t you know, she’s been with D’Oyly Carte, at the Savoy – sang in nearly every one of theirs since Iolanthe. And she was dashed good as one of the three little maids in The Mikado. You took Maud to see that, I think, Mater,’ he finished with perfect blandness.
Lady Blentham was sitting absolutely still.
‘She’s been on the stage since she was quite a child, of course.’ Edward paused. ‘She’s only been retired a matter of a few months, in fact. Always supported herself jolly well!’
‘And since her retirement?’ said his father. ‘How old is Miss Dupree, by the by?’
‘Mrs Edward, don’t you know. We’ve been married since then. Awful long time, I know.’ Edward lit a cigarette with a slightly awkward hand. Kitty Blentham was four years older than himself. ‘But as she says, we can’t keep the thing a secret forever, and this seemed as good a time as any to break the news, what? She’s a charmin’ girl, absolutely sound – full of old-fashioned ideas, Mater, simply refused to come here without your invitation –’
‘Edward,’ said Angelina, ‘put out that cigarette! How dare you try to smoke in here? How often have I said that in my house men will use the dining-room – after dinner?’ Everyone stared at her and murmured.
‘I say, Mater!’ said Edward.
Lady Blentham rose from her chair and said something: then suddenly and peacefully fainted, as she had not done since she was a girl at boarding-school with her waist laced down day and night to eighteen inches. Lord Blentham grabbed her, Violet cried: ‘Mam ma !’, and both she and Maud slapped her wrists and unbuttoned her collar. Maud’s face ran with slow, unstoppable tears.
Edward turned his face from the scene and, with his eyes closed, murmured to himself one of Kitty’s favourite songs from Princess Ida:
Politics we bar
They are not our bent
On the whole we are
Not intelligent.
He beat time and bit his lip, longing for his mother to come to her senses, and wondering whether her swoon was put on.
Diana, who had run out to call for Lady Blentham’s maid and smelling salts, came back into the morning-room. ‘I suppose you think you’re very brave, Teddy,’ she said quietly to her brother. She looked a little over-excited, and ashamed.
‘Actually, I s’pose I do.’ They looked at each other with dislike; then Diana smiled.
‘I don’t think it’s awfully brave to tell Mamma in front of us. I expect Papa will want to see you alone?’
‘Didie, you’re a very impertinent, tiresome little girl,’ said Edward, removing his monocle and replacing it.
‘Well,’ she whispered in a hurry, seeing that her mother was coming round, ‘no doubt it’s very – very romantic to marry an actress!’
Maud, still crying silently, left the room unnoticed.
*
Kitty Dupree, the Hon. Mrs Edward Blentham, was wide-hipped and full-bosomed, but so short and small-boned and dark that it had been easy to mistake her for a real Japanese when she was playing Pitti-Sing in The Mikado. Her real name was Ellen Rosenthal; but she was only one quarter Jewish, for her paternal grandfather had married a Gentile, and his son’s wife, Kitty’s mother, had been of French descent. Edward Blentham had never believed that his wife’s stage name was her true one, though at first she had told him it was. He had not minded her lying to him when he first knew her, for the truth about her origin did not really interest him. He was only concerned with the fact that she was a very pretty, clever little woman who loved him.
When she told him some of the truth about her background, saying that her mother was a Huguenot,
Edward jumped. ‘She did start off at the Gaiety, perfectly correct, Pater, but latterly, don’t you know, she’s been with D’Oyly Carte, at the Savoy – sang in nearly every one of theirs since Iolanthe. And she was dashed good as one of the three little maids in The Mikado. You took Maud to see that, I think, Mater,’ he finished with perfect blandness.
Lady Blentham was sitting absolutely still.
‘She’s been on the stage since she was quite a child, of course.’ Edward paused. ‘She’s only been retired a matter of a few months, in fact. Always supported herself jolly well!’
‘And since her retirement?’ said his father. ‘How old is Miss Dupree, by the by?’
‘Mrs Edward, don’t you know. We’ve been married since then. Awful long time, I know.’ Edward lit a cigarette with a slightly awkward hand. Kitty Blentham was four years older than himself. ‘But as she says, we can’t keep the thing a secret forever, and this seemed as good a time as any to break the news, what? She’s a charmin’ girl, absolutely sound – full of old-fashioned ideas, Mater, simply refused to come here without your invitation –’
‘Edward,’ said Angelina, ‘put out that cigarette! How dare you try to smoke in here? How often have I said that in my house men will use the dining-room – after dinner?’ Everyone stared at her and murmured.
‘I say, Mater!’ said Edward.
Lady Blentham rose from her chair and said something: then suddenly and peacefully fainted, as she had not done since she was a girl at boarding-school with her waist laced down day and night to eighteen inches. Lord Blentham grabbed her, Violet cried: ‘Mam ma !’, and both she and Maud slapped her wrists and unbuttoned her collar. Maud’s face ran with slow, unstoppable tears.
Edward turned his face from the scene and, with his eyes closed, murmured to himself one of Kitty’s favourite songs from Princess Ida:
Politics we bar
They are not our bent
On the whole we are
Not intelligent.
He beat time and bit his lip, longing for his mother to come to her senses, and wondering whether her swoon was put on.
Diana, who had run out to call for Lady Blentham’s maid and smelling salts, came back into the morning-room. ‘I suppose you think you’re very brave, Teddy,’ she said quietly to her brother. She looked a little over-excited, and ashamed.
‘Actually, I s’pose I do.’ They looked at each other with dislike; then Diana smiled.
‘I don’t think it’s awfully brave to tell Mamma in front of us. I expect Papa will want to see you alone?’
‘Didie, you’re a very impertinent, tiresome little girl,’ said Edward, removing his monocle and replacing it.
‘Well,’ she whispered in a hurry, seeing that her mother was coming round, ‘no doubt it’s very – very romantic to marry an actress!’
Maud, still crying silently, left the room unnoticed.
*
Kitty Dupree, the Hon. Mrs Edward Blentham, was wide-hipped and full-bosomed, but so short and small-boned and dark that it had been easy to mistake her for a real Japanese when she was playing Pitti-Sing in The Mikado. Her real name was Ellen Rosenthal; but she was only one quarter Jewish, for her paternal grandfather had married a Gentile, and his son’s wife, Kitty’s mother, had been of French descent. Edward Blentham had never believed that his wife’s stage name was her true one, though at first she had told him it was. He had not minded her lying to him when he first knew her, for the truth about her origin did not really interest him. He was only concerned with the fact that she was a very pretty, clever little woman who loved him.
When she told him some of the truth about her background, saying that her mother was a Huguenot,
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