Free It Ends with Revelations by Dodie Smith Page A

the telescope now,’ said Robin. ‘It’s a wonderfully clear day.’
    Jill, who had never before looked through a telescope, was startled by the way Spa Street seemed to leap towards her. She could see each shaving-brush chestnut, distinguish individual shops. She spotted the café where she had met Thornton; then, swinging the telescope slightly, found herself looking at the golden lion outside the hotel. Just beyond it was her bedroom window and there was someone standing there. Miles? He had not expected to come back for lunch. The figure moved – and before she had even made out for certain if it was a man or a woman; but it had seemed too tall for a maid. She handed the telescope over to Robin and looked at her watch.
    Thornton said, ‘Are you anxious to get back? We were hoping we might take you out to lunch. There’s a good country hotel, just a few miles further on.’
    Why not? If Miles was back he wouldn’t in the least mind her staying out to lunch; he had known she was spending the morning with the Thorntons. All the same, she said, ‘I think, perhaps … you see, they’ve been making cuts and that can be tricky. Miles may want me to run through them with him.’
    ‘We could get you back by, say, three o’clock,’ said Thornton. ‘Still, if you’d rather not …’
    ‘It’s just that I suddenly felt guilty, out here enjoying myself when they’re all working so hard at the theatre.By the way, would any of you like to come with me tonight? I’ve got tired of standing so they’re keeping me a box.’
    ‘Alas, we’re all going out to dinner,’ said Thornton. ‘But we were wondering if we could buy seats for the first night in London – or is it too late?’
    She said she could arrange it – ‘And now, if we’re to get back in time for lunch … Oh, I have enjoyed myself.’
    The Thorntons, too, expressed their pleasure in the morning. Jill, taking a last look round at the rolling hills and the town below, found that going back when she didn’t really want to took the edge off her guilt. But some not quite identifiable sense of guilt remained.

5
Shocking Disclosure in a Cosy-Corner
    It had been Miles at the window and he had been on the look-out for her. The rehearsal had been trying and he wanted to talk about it. Peter’s cuts had irritated the whole company – ‘I don’t mind clean cuts but small, niggling cuts are so difficult to learn.’ He described them fully, and niggling they certainly were, but they would shorten the play by some minutes without taking anything of value out of it. In Jill’s opinion, that was the right way to cut; but she did not say so, nor did she remind Miles that ‘clean’ cuts usually removed whole speeches which actors did not care to lose.
    She worked with him after lunch, got him to eat an early tea, and then went to the theatre with him for a last-minute run-through with the company – which gave the impression that the evening performance would be disastrous. But it wasn’t; the cuts went in smoothly except for Cyril’s; andMiles was able to cover up for him. The play went well. Jill, after arranging with Frank Ashton about the Thorntons’ first-night seats, asked how he felt about London and found he was wildly optimistic – ‘We just can’t fail, judging by the reactions here.’
    ‘Yes, they’ve been splendid,’ she said heartily.
    ‘Our young author’s walking round in a daze of bliss. Such luck to get your husband in his first play.’
    ‘And to get such a kind management.’ She did not think Frank Ashton knew anything about the theatre but he had been unfailingly pleasant, also generous.
    At supper Miles was his usual cheerful self and freely admitted he had been wrong about the cuts. ‘They’re really very skilful. Naturally they upset the boy, but I can do a little private rehearsing with him during the photo-call tomorrow. He’ll be steady as a rock by the evening.’
    The photo-call meant that Miles would be in the