The Glittering Lights (Bantam Series No. 12) by Barbara Cartland Page A

he answered ‘Connie Gilchrist’.”
    Cassandra laughed.
    “Are there many noblemen among the Stage-door Johnnies?”
    “Too many of them for me to tell you about them all,” her Aunt replied.
    Cassandra took a deep breath. She realised she would have to risk being more direct to elicit the information she really wanted.
    “What about the son of Papa’s great racing friend, the Duke of Alchester?” She tried to make her voice sound casual. “Is the young Duke’s name connected with anyone in particular?”
    “During the Winter he was always with an actress,” her Aunt replied. “I cannot remember her name. Betty somebody. But I do not think it was serious. Nevertheless there is no doubt he has a passion for Gaiety Girls. Lady Lowry was saying only last week that he refuses all invitations to any of the respectable parties.”
    “Do you think he will marry someone on the stage?” Cassandra asked.
    “I should not be surprised,” her Aunt answered. “Lady Lowry tells us that the men who are infatuated with these painted creatures are too stage-struck to be quite sane!”
    “Perhaps that is the ... explanation,” Cassandra murmured despondently.

CHAPTER THREE
    Cassandra woke early the following morning and, realising she had an hour before Hannah would come and call her, she rose to draw back the curtains in her bed-room.
    She then took from the drawer in which she had placed it the night before the letter her father had given her addressed to Mrs. Langtry.
    She looked at the envelope, then deliberately opened it.
    Sir James had written in his strong, upright, hand-writing:
    “Most Exquisite Lily,
    I am so thrilled, as are all those who love you, by the huge success you have achieved on both sides of the Atlantic. I saw you in ‘Peril’ and thought you were not only brilliant but looking, if possible, more beautiful than ever.
    This is to introduce my daughter, of whom I am very proud. Like so many other people she is longing to meet the most lovely woman in the world. I know you will be sweet to her, Lily, and I am grateful, as I have always been grateful to you for your kindness.
    At your feet—as ever,
    My Love,
    James.”
    Cassandra read it through carefully. She thought it was very gushing, but she supposed that someone like Mrs. Langtry would expect a man to be effusive.
    Taking a sheet of engraved paper which she had brought with her from The Towers, she started to copy her father’s hand-writing. She had done it before to amuse herself.
    “You write so much better than anyone I have ever known, Papa,” she had said. “At the same time your writing is so clear and distinctive it would be easy for a forger to defraud you.”
    “Perhaps he would not be as skilful as you,” Sir James had laughed, “but anyway I will be careful that you do not bankrupt me!”
    Now Cassandra found that after a few efforts it would have been impossible for anyone who was not an expert to detect that the letter she had written had not been inscribed by Sir James himself.
    She copied exactly the first part of his letter and then, where he had started: “This is to introduce ...” she wrote instead:
    “This is to introduce Miss Sandra Standish, a young actress who is the daughter of an old friend, and to ask you if, with your usual generosity, you would grant her a quite simple request. You are someone whom she worships from afar, but apart from the great honour of meeting you she is very anxious for an introduction to the young Duke of Alchester.
    It is something as you know, I could easily do myself but unfortunately I cannot for the moment find time to visit London. So please, dearest Lily, help Miss Standish and when we next meet I shall once again be in your debt.”
    Cassandra finished the letter as her father had done and re-wrote the envelope. She tore into small pieces her father’s letter and several mistakes she had made in her first efforts at copying it.
    Rising to her feet she put the letter away.