Free Bella by Jilly Cooper

Constance, magenta with rage.
    ‘Pissed as a newt,’ said the voice again.
    ‘I want you to drink to Bella and Rupert,’ said Charles. ‘I know she’ll be an asset to us all.’
    Half the marquee had started mumbling, ‘Bella and Rupert,’ when Chrissie suddenly said, very loudly, ‘It’s not true. She’s not an asset. She’s horrible, horrible. She’s the biggest bitch that ever lived.’
    There was a dreadful, embarrassed silence.
    ‘Shut up, Chrissie,’ snarled Rupert.
    ‘What’s that, what’s that?’ everyone was saying.
    Lazlo had crossed the room in a flash.
    ‘Come on, baby, that’s enough. Upstairs with you.’
    ‘You don’t understand. No-one understands anything,’ said Chrissie and, wrenching her arms away from Lazlo, she fled out of the marquee.
    Bella had also had enough. She fought her way out into the street and immediately found a taxi. Just as she had got in and was telling the driver to take her to the theatre, Rupert appeared at the window.
    ‘Bella darling, please wait.’
    ‘No, I will not,’ she hissed. ‘I’ve had enough of you and your bloody family for one afternoon. I’m not going to stand around getting insulted any more. Go on,’ she said to the driver. ‘Get going.’
    ‘Darling,’ pleaded Rupert, ‘for Christ’s sake let me explain.’
    As the taxi moved off he reached in to grab her arm, but caught hold of the fox’s tail instead, which promptly came off in his hand.
    Bella leaned out of the car.
    ‘And I’ll report you to the RSPCA for cruelty to foxes,’ she screamed back at him.

Chapter Eight
    She couldn’t wait to get to the theatre to pour out all her miseries to Rosie Hassell.
    When she arrived, she discovered Rosie was off with ’flu and an understudy was taking her place. The poor girl was absolutely sick with nerves and needed all the boosting Bella could give her.
    Here I am at twenty-four, a real trouper with a Manx Fox, thought Bella, and she started to giggle helplessly. All the same, she gave a terrible performance. She couldn’t concentrate and she kept drying up and fluffing her lines.
    Rupert rang her in the interval. It took all his powers of persuasion to get her to come out that evening.
    ‘Chrissie was tight,’ he said. ‘She’s been on a diet, hasn’t eaten properly for days, and she’s got this sort of crush on me. She passed out when she got upstairs. She’ll be absolutely mortified in the morning.’
    ‘She’s not coming out with us tonight?’
    ‘I don’t think so – just Angora, Steve, Lazlo and one of his birds.’
    ‘The Heavy Brigade,’ said Bella.
    But she couldn’t resist another chance to get at Steve.
    She made a real hash of the last act. Wesley Barrington had to carry her the whole way. There was a great deal of applause at the end, both for him and the understudy.
    ‘Roger’s out front,’ said Wesley, out of the corner of his mouth, as bowing and smiling, they took the last curtain call.
    ‘Oh God,’ said Bella. ‘I’d better make myself scarce.’
    Roger, however, came back-stage immediately.
    ‘Well done,’ he said to the understudy, his square freckled face breaking into a smile of approval. ‘That was a lovely performance. Now clear out and get changed somewhere else.’
    When she had gone, he shut the door and leant against it. ‘That was a cock-up, wasn’t it,’ he said grimly. ‘I suppose you got tight at the wedding.’
    Bella shook her head. ‘Not enough. That was the trouble.’
    ‘Hell – was it?’
    ‘Hell would seem like a day at the seaside compared with that little bunfight. The Henriques really don’t like outsiders, do they? Trespassers are very much persecuted.’
    She lit a cigarette with a trembling hand.
    ‘Putting the heat on, are they? Are you sure you’re doing the right thing, marrying this boy?’
    ‘Oh, not you too,’ groaned Bella. ‘I thought you were my friend.’
    ‘I am, and one of your greatest fans too. I know you can make it really big, but