said and she did not yet feel able to make him say it.
In his photograph, newly posted in the lobby—top hat and cane and white kid gloves—he was not unhandsome. She tried to see past the stiff rustiness of his hair, the wrinkles around his mouth, age everywhere. His air of fashion could only survive at a distance. Close up, nothing about him wakened her or made her warm, nothing caused the delicious snake to curl over in her belly. But she would go through with it, she told herself. She would get pleasure out of making him cry out, out of her own supremacy. And the whole idea of crossing into the real world of marital love was exciting to her.
One morning, walking alone down State Street looking in shop windows, Aurora heard her name called. Behind her ran Mercy of the Simple Soubrettes, from their first gig at the Empress: bright face and black-jet eyes. A wholly unexpected pleasure—off guard, Aurora reached out in happy welcome, and they embraced and laughed in the empty street. Mercy pulled her into a nearby café, and had them at a table with tea in front of them in a twinkling of her clever eye. The Soubrettes (now the Good-time Girls, not wanting to soil the name Simple Soubrettes) were booked for a two-week gig, to start next day—at the nearby Variety theatre.
The Variety was a burlesque house. Aurora had to school her face, not to let shocked pity show.
‘We only had the two weeks booked with Cleveland, and he let us go after that, the stinker! Then our Calgary jump fell through, and altogether we had a hole in the schedule—next Patty turned her ankle and we could not coach her to work round it, so we had to send her home to Spokane, which she does not like. And neither does my brother, of course. But it’s only for a little while, and there’s no denying that we get along faster without Patty. My brother says we’ll be on Pan-time soon with this new look, since we’ve given the act a greater wow.’ Mercy bent to drink her tea, but could not repress a doubtful shrug. ‘Hope he’s right! But tell me, what’s this gossip about Fitzjohn Mayhew being at the Parthenon. I was never so surprised!’
Aurora was surprised herself, to hear Mayhew’s name said with such relish. ‘Why, what do you know of him? He’s come from Ziegfeld’s company, to take the reins after Drawbank was pushed out.’
‘Fancy!’
Something hidden there. ‘You know him?’
‘Oh, no, not to say know. One hears things, that’s all.’
Aurora waited.
‘I used to know a girl who knew him, as you might say. He left Boston in a hurry. And he came back PDQ from San Francisco, too. Not that that means anything—I think it was around the time of the ’quake. I don’t know—’ Mercy pressed her lips together into a pink pucker. ‘Have you gotten yourself mixed up with him?’
Aurora puckered in turn, twisting the little sapphire ring that Mayhew had given her. ‘I suppose it is mixed up. I am to marry him in May,’ she said.
‘No!’ Mercy laughed, loud enough to make heads turn among the café patrons. ‘You are quick off the mark! You one-up my friend—he never thought of marrying her. I’ll bet your mama had a hand in deciding it! Hearty best wishes for a prosperous union, et cetera—send me a card for the wedding.’
She and Aurora regarded each other across the table. ‘Where are your sisters?’ Aurora asked.
‘Dozing! Where are yours? Nice to have a jaunt without them, ain’t it?’
Aurora nodded, but was surprised to find it so. She had not been conscious of feeling crowded.
There was a silence.
‘All prepared for it?’ Mercy asked.
‘What is a French job?’ Aurora asked, at nearly the same time.
Mercy did not laugh, but took up the salt shaker. ‘Good thing to have up your sleeve, they like it very much. Hold firm, but not too tight. I always think of a fry-pan handle, that’s about the right grip.’ After a quick look around, she bent over the table behind the menu and demonstrated the action. It was only as she proceeded that Aurora made sense of what she was doing.
‘Into your—mouth?’
‘It’s what they like,’ Mercy said.
‘Where did you learn it?’
‘Ship’s steward on our way over from Bristol, when I was twelve. Taught me all I know.’
Aurora had been half laughing, but she stopped then, truly shocked.
‘Don’t fret! It’s been a boon to