She managed a nod.
‘Rehearsals start at three this afternoon. Please be punctual.’
She stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. ‘I— What— I mean, what am I—’
He cut her stammering short. ‘What are you? A sylph, of course. Just follow the other girls and do what they do, it’s not complicated. The dress rehearsal is today so you’ll get some clothes from Wardrobe. All right?’
He looked down at the papers on his desk again, and when after a moment she was still standing there, raised his eyes to say, ‘Three o’clock, Miss Hutton. All right?’
‘Th-thank you.’ Somehow she found herself in the corridor, although her head was spinning and she was in a daze. Then she nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice at her elbow said, ‘Hello there, and what are you doing outside Jefferson’s office at this time of the morning? Didn’t I see you come in earlier with Gregory?’
Sophy swung round to see a young slim man with one of the most beautiful faces she had seen in her life smiling at her. She would never have thought of calling a man beautiful before, but his features, along with his mop of fair hair and bluey-grey eyes made him so. It added to the unreality of the morning.
‘Well?’ His smile widened, showing a set of perfect white teeth. ‘You can talk, can’t you?’
She tried to gather her wits. ‘Of course.’
‘Glad to hear it. It would be such a waste if a delicious creature like you were dumb. So, are you joining us? Is that it? I’m Toby Shawe, by the way.’ He held out his hand.
Aware that he had said his name as though she should know of him, Sophy placed her fingers in his. ‘How do you do,’ she said weakly, her embarrassment increasing when he held on to her hand.
‘And you are?’
‘Oh, Sophy Hutton.’ Somehow she managed to extricate her fingers and took a step backwards.
‘Hello, Sophy Hutton,’ he said softly. ‘And am I right? Are you joining our merry little band?’
She nodded. His good looks combined with a slightly mocking air which, although not unkind, was making her shyer, rendered her mute.
‘I thought as much when I saw you with Gregory. Taken you under his wing, has he, our noble benefactor?’
She didn’t like the tone of the last words and her voice was stiff when she said, ‘Mr Gregory was kind enough to introduce me to Mr Jefferson this morning because he thought there was a part in the play I might be suitable for. That’s all.’
‘Believe me, sweet lady, if Gregory brought you here himself, there would be a part for you. Our illustrious manager knows on which side his bread is buttered.’
Sophy found that in spite of his overwhelming attractiveness, she wasn’t sure if she liked Toby Shawe or not. But then the next moment his whole persona changed as he took her arm in a friendly fashion, saying, ‘Come on, I’ll take you on a tour of everything while there’s not too many people about. That way, you won’t feel so strange when you come back later. What’s old Jefferson given you – one of the sylphs? That’ll be like eating cake so don’t worry. What other things have you done?’
They were walking back along the corridor but when Sophy said, ‘Nothing, I haven’t done anything else. This – this is my first job,’ Toby stopped, turning her to face him.
‘Is that so?’ he said softly. ‘Then welcome into the big bad world of the theatre, little fledgling.’
He wasn’t laughing now, and as Sophy stared into the angelic face it came to her who he reminded her of. Miss Bainbridge had been insistent her girls had an appreciation of art and culture, and to that end had introduced them to the works of many fine sculptors, painters, architects and poets. Sophy had been particularly taken with the creative genius of the Italian Buonarroti Michelangelo, and had pored for hours over the pictures of the Sistine Chapel and the Medici funeral chapel, but it had been his sculpture of David which had gripped her with its beauty and grace. And the same aesthetic purity of features was mirrored in this man’s face.
And then he smiled again, breaking the spell, pulling her along with him as he said, ‘They’re painting one of the backgrounds in the theatre, come and see – and they’ve got some hot coffee on the go. We’ll have a cup and then I’ll take you on the grand tour. One thing’s for sure, little fledgling. Your life will never be the same again after today.’
PART FOUR
Liberation and Subjugation
1897
Chapter 11