At thirty-three Lily Langtry was breathtaking.
Her little Greek features were so perfectly proportioned as to make one feel that one looked at an exquisite statue.
Her skin was transparent, so white and delicate that one could only stare and believe that every other woman must have a quite different covering to her bones.
As Mrs. Langtry moved towards Cassandra with her hand outstretched she remembered that, when he painted her, Sir John Millais had said,
“To see Lily Langtry walk is as though you saw a beautiful hound set upon its feet.”
“How kind of you to bring me a letter from Sir James Sherburn,” Mrs. Langtry said and her voice was low, soft and musical.
She smiled at Cassandra and, walking to the sofa, settled herself comfortably against the cushions and patted the place beside her.
“Come and sit down, Miss Standish,” she said. “You must tell me about yourself, but first I believe you have something for me.”
Cassandra held out the jewel box, which she had wrapped in tissue paper.
“Sir James said that I was to give this into your hands, Mrs. Langtry and entrust it to no one else.”
It seemed to her as if Mrs. Langtry took the box almost eagerly and, pulling off the tissue paper, opened it.
The large star glittered in the lights from the dressing table.
“It’s charming!” she said and Cassandra felt the words were almost a purr of appreciation.
She took the broach out of the box, examined it and replaced it on its velvet bed.
“And now,” she said with a smile. “I understand you wish me to do something for you. Are you acting in London at the moment?”
“No, I have come South to have singing lessons,” Cassandra answered. “I have been promised a part in a musical play if I can improve my voice and so I intend to spend a month in London just working with a teacher.”
“How very sensible,” Mrs. Langtry approved. “And while you are here you are anxious to meet the young Duke of Alchester?”
“I should be very grateful if you could introduce me to him,” Cassandra said.
Mrs. Langtry raised her eyebrows and Cassandra saw the curiosity in her eyes.
“Varro is a friend of mine,” she said. “Do tell me why you are so anxious to meet him?”
Cassandra dropped her voice.
“I have a message for him from someone who is now – dead.”
“Then your meeting can be quite easily arranged,” Mrs. Langtry assured her. “As a matter of fact I am going to a party this evening where it is almost certain that he will be present. It is being given by Lord Carwen and he will not mind in the least if I take you with me. This is, if you have no other engagement?”
“No, none,” Cassandra replied, “although I was hoping to see you act.”
“Then that, of course, is something you must do. I have a friend who always sits in the stage box. You shall watch the play with him and afterwards we will take you with us to Lord Carwen’s party.”
“How kind – how very kind you are,” Cassandra said in heartfelt tones.
She noticed that, while Mrs. Langtry was speaking, her eyes had flickered over her evening dress and noted that not only was it new and expensive but also the diamond brooch she wore pinned to the bodice was real, as was the bracelet she wore over her kid gloves.
She could not help feeling that Mrs. Langtry might not have been so kind had she in fact been an impoverished, badly dressed young actress.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Langtry gave another glance at the star-brooch, doubtless appreciating the largeness of the diamonds, before she walked across to her dressing table to place it in a drawer.
“Have you not to change?” Cassandra asked. “Would you like me to wait in the theatre?”
“No, you cannot go there alone,” Mrs. Langtry said. “You must wait for Mr. Gebhard to arrive and then he will take you to the box. In the meantime, sit in that chair in the corner and keep very quiet. I have about fifteen minutes to rest before my dresser will begin to get me ready.”
The next three-quarters of an hour was to Cassandra one of the most interesting experiences she had ever had.
When Mrs. Langtry rose from the couch where she had lain with closed eyes, her hairdresser had arrived to arrange her hair and the dresser to put her elaborate gowns ready for the performance.
Cassandra saw that the mirror was electro-lighted to Mrs. Langtry’s own special design and an ingenious arrangement of colours such as blue, red and amber could be obtained at will.
“This makes it easy,” Mrs. Langtry explained, “for me to tell how my gowns will look when I am on the stage.”
It was continually reiterated in the press that Mrs. Langtry wore no make-up, but that, Cassandra saw, was untrue.
She deliberately contrived a very pale appearance by using only the faintest touch of rouge on her cheeks and a powder that was sold in the shops with her name on it.
She outlined her eyes, darkened her eyelashes and eyebrows and finally used a lip-salve sparingly on her mouth.
Cassandra was particularly interested because in the carriage on the way to the theatre, despite Hannah’s horrified protests, she had added a touch of colour to her lips and also used powder on her cheeks.
“Whatever are you doin’, Miss Cassandra?” Hannah had exclaimed in a tone of horror. “What will people be thinkin’ of you if they see you painted up like an actress.”
“I am supposed to be an actress,” Cassandra had answered.
“And that’s nothin’ to boast about!” Hannah snapped.
“I have an uneasy suspicion that your sentiments are echoed by the majority of the public,” Cassandra answered.
Then she closed her ears to the long impassioned recitation of Hannah’s disapproval.
Now she noted how skilfully Mrs. Langtry enhanced her appearance while remaining both ladylike and overwhelmingly beautiful.
Finally, a quarter of an hour before the curtain was due to rise, Mr. Frederick Gebhard arrived.
Cassandra remembered reading that this young American had returned with Mrs. Langtry from New York.
Some of her father’s more disreputable papers, which she was not supposed to read, such as The Sporting Times known as ‘the Pink Un’, had made some pointed remarks concerning the amount of money the man they called a ‘Boudoir-Carriage Romeo’ had spent on Mrs. Langtry.
Freddy Gebhard, who had been bowled over by Lily Langtry’s beauty the first night they met, was four years younger than she was.
He was the son of a dry goods businessman, who had left him a yearly income of between eighty and ninety thousand dollars.
Tall, clean shaven and elegant, his Fifth Avenue tailors rated him as New York’s ‘Best Dressed Man’, but he bought most of his clothes, which were always dark in colour, in London.
Freddy Gebhard had made the headlines by not only giving Lily Langtry his cheque book, but also defending her physically against any admirer who tried to force his acquaintance upon her.
He had knocked out a man who had tried to introduce himself to Lily in St. Louis and he was lionised by the local bloods during the rest of the week.
He had almost as much press coverage in the American papers as Lily herself and, by the time Gebhard had gone with her on tour in a private rail car he had built to her design, he was determined to marry her.
The rail car advertised his infatuation. It was seventy feet long, painted blue, emblazoned with wreathes of golden lilies, encircling the name ‘Lalee’ and brass lilies decorated the roof.
The bath and bathroom fittings were in solid silver.
Lily had returned to England three years earlier in 1883 to try to persuade Mr. Langtry into giving her a divorce, but her husband had categorically refused.
She had re-crossed the Atlantic to discover Freddy Gebhard still adored her. He installed her in a luxurious house in West 23rd Street, where they threw riotous parties that were headlined in all the newspapers
.
Cassandra thought Freddy Gebhard had a rather weak face, but he was undoubtedly good-looking.
He shook her hand politely when they were introduced, but it was obvious that he had eyes only for Mrs. Langtry and was in fact wildly and overwhelmingly in love.
“Lily, my darling, you look more wonderful than I can tell you,” he said softly and bent his head to kiss her hand.
‘How sad they cannot be married,’ was Cassandra’s first thought.
Then she thought it strange that a married woman, even if she was an actress, could be on such intimate terms with another man.
Mrs. Langtry appeared, however, to be concerned only with her own appearance and her audience, which awaited her in the theatre.
“Every seat is sold out!” Freddy announced.
“But of course!” Lily replied. “They told me when I arrived that people have been queuing since twelve o’clock this morning.”
She was already wearing the dress she was to appear in in the first act.
Cassandra noticed how tightly it was moulded over her bosom and how the bustle at the back accentuated her tiny waist.
“You are so lovely,” she said impulsively. “It is not surprising everyone wants to see you.”
Mrs. Langtry smiled.
“Thank you,” she smiled with the ease of a woman who takes her compliments for granted.
Then turning to Freddy she said,
“Take Miss Standish to the box, Freddy. She will sit with you during the performance and then I have promised her we will take her with us to Lord Carwen’s party.”
“Yes, of course – delighted!” he agreed.
Cassandra felt that he was disappointed that he would not be alone with his adored Lily and resented the fact that she would accompany them even the short distance from the theatre to where the party was to take place.
“I hope I am not being a nuisance,” she said humbly.
She knew even as she spoke that she did not care if she was for she had every intention of going to the party where there was a chance that she would be introduced to the Duke.
“No, of course not,” Freddy said politely but with an obvious insincerity.
He kissed both Lily’s hands and whispered something in her ear, before he escorted Cassandra down the long draughty passages and through the pass door, which lay behind the stage at the side of the auditorium.
An attendant ushered them into the stage box.
For the first time Cassandra wondered apprehensively if there was anyone in the audience who might recognise her.
It was unlikely. Nevertheless, if any of her friends had come to London from Yorkshire, they would undoubtedly wish to see Mrs. Langtry’s play.
Cassandra was well aware of the scandal it would arouse if she was seen alone with a man in the stage box of a theatre – most of all if she was accompanied by someone as notorious as Freddy Gebhard.
She solved the problem by moving to a seat against the partition so that, while she had the best view of the stage, she was almost invisible to the audience.
If Freddy Gebhard thought it strange that she did not wish to make herself conspicuous, he did not say so.
He was only too pleased to take the centre of the box.
He stood in the front of it looking at the audience, waving to a friend or two in the stalls, looking up at the gallery, until finally the people in the cheap seats realised who he was and started to clap.
This was obviously what he was waiting for, for he bowed, waved his hand and was almost childishly elated with his reception.
He sat down and said to Cassandra,
“They are beginning to know me as well over here as they do in New York. I have often said to Lily that we make a splendid pair.
There was no need for her to say much. He was clearly content with his own appreciation of himself and once again he bent forward so that the audience could have a good look at him.
Cassandra was glad when the curtain rose.
The play was well-written, thoroughly dramatic and depicted a feud between two older members of a respected aristocratic family and a reconciliation brought about by the love of two younger ones.
In the fourth act Mrs. Langtry had to go on her knees and plead with her father to abandon his foolish schemes and save the old house.
Here, almost to Cassandra’s surprise, Lily Langtry proved herself a quite moving actress and she certainly carried the sympathy of the audience with her.
She was very touching when she cried,
“Help us! Help us! You are our last and only hope. We give up everything, but save, oh, save my brother Percy!”
The applause rang out, the women in the audience wiped their eyes and there was curtain call after curtain call.
A great number of bouquets were carried onto the stage. Lily held in her arms one of the yellow roses that Cassandra guessed had been given her by Freddy.
After God Save the Queen Freddy hurried Cassandra back through the stage door and they waited in the dressing room, while Mrs. Langtry changed.
She came from behind the curtains wearing a grey satin evening gown.
There was a necklace of enormous diamonds around her neck and diamonds glittered in her ears and around her wrists.
“Do I look all right?” she asked Freddy.
Cassandra saw him draw in his breath before he answered,
“You are more beautiful every time I look at you!”
“Then let’s go to the party,” Mrs. Langtry exclaimed, gaily. “Everyone who matters in the theatre world will be there and I have no wish for any of them to eclipse me!”
“No one could do that!” Freddy said heroically.
He kissed her shoulder passionately as if they were alone and Cassandra was not watching and feeling somewhat embarrassed.
She had sent her own carriage with Hannah to the flat she had rented in Bury Street.
“I’m not goin’ to that place,” Hannah had cried angrily.
“Yes, you are!” Cassandra replied, “unless you wish me to come home alone in a hired cab and goodness knows then what might happen to me!”
There was nothing Hannah could do after that but agree.
“Send the carriage away,” Cassandra told her. “We shall have to find a cab, but doubtless there is a night porter who will get one for us.”
She had also told Hannah to wait for half an hour after she had gone into the theatre before driving away.
There had always been the chance that Mrs. Langtry would accept the present and make arrangements for her to meet the Duke some other night.
Cassandra could only hope the meeting would not be too long delayed, but it seemed, she thought excitedly, as if everything was falling into place.
It was just luck that there was a theatrical party that evening and that Mrs. Langtry had been pleased with the present that she thought had been sent to her by Sir James.
In Freddy Gebhard’s comfortable carriage, as they moved down the Strand, Cassandra said to herself,
‘This is where my play begins! The curtain is rising and I can only pray that I shall give a convincing performance!’
Chapter Four
Lord Carwen’s house was in Arlington Street and overlooked Green Park.
It was extremely impressive with a porticoed front door and iron railings dividing the short drive-in from the pavement.
Cassandra entered behind Mrs. Langtry and, as she saw the brilliantly-lit chandeliers and the luxurious furniture that decorated the hall, she wondered a little apprehensively if there would be anyone at the party who would recognise her.
As she followed in the wake of Lily Langtry, she could see them both reflected in huge gilt-framed mirrors and she thought it would be difficult for them to remain unnoticed however large or fashionable the party might be.
Mrs. Langtry’s grey gown from the front made her look like a Greek goddess and at the back she had a huge bustle supported by a satin bow, which formed the small train.
Despite the wealth of diamonds around her neck and glittering in her hair and on her bodice, she looked both dignified and a lady.
Cassandra could not think the same about herself.
Her dress from Chasemore was lovely in its own way, but she knew that she would never have dared to wear it as Cassandra Sherburn.
Of vivid green, almost as deep as an emerald, it was fashioned of tulle, ruched round the extremely low neck and over her shoulders.
The colour made her skin look strikingly white, whilst the very tight bodice revealed the curves of her young figure and her very small waist.
Tulle fashioned the enormous bustle even bigger than Mrs. Langtry’s, which billowed out behind her, cascading down in frill upon frill to the floor.
But what made the dress different from the type of gown Cassandra would have worn as herself was the fact that the tulle was strewn with tiny silver and green sequins which sparkled and shimmered with every move she made.
It was also caught up at one side with an enormous bunch of artificial water lilies and these too were speckled with sequins, which looked at a distance as if they were dewdrops glistening in the light.
It was a gown that a leading lady could have worn for her entrance in the first act and would undoubtedly have stimulated a round of applause.
Cassandra had with some difficulty persuaded Hannah to arrange her hair in innumerable curls on top of her head and amongst them she wore three diamond combs.
She also wore diamond earrings that she had been left by her grandmother, but which on a young girl Sir James had thought too sophisticated.
There was the sound of music and then, just before they reached the reception room, Cassandra had a last glimpse of herself in the mirror and smiled.
Her red lips certainly contributed to the flamboyance of her appearance. She had applied a little more salve to them in the dressing room while she was waiting for Mrs. Langtry to change after the performance.
Her eyes did not need any additional artifice since her lashes were naturally so long and dark and, because she was excited at what was happening, her eyes shone even more brightly than the sequins on her dress or the diamonds in her hair.
104. the Glittering Lights Page 7
