Free Lovers' Vows by Joan Smith Page B

must not take the notion I have forgotten my orphans, Miss McCormack.”
    “The children won’t be amused by Shakespeare! They are too young for a love story.”
    “They will adore the duel scenes. And the costumes and sets—very elaborate plans he has for them—will be a novelty. Just getting to the Abbey for a day will be a great treat, you know. I trust you good ladies will find a moment to help stitch up the costumes.”
    “These elaborate outfits you speak of will take more than a moment, Mr. Johnson! I thought you felt as I do about the play,” she charged angrily. She saw all his former chagrin had to do with his own exclusion, not with wasted or misspent time.
    “I did think it a bit of a waste of time at first but, as I reconsider the matter, I come to think it is just what has been lacking in Harknell. We want shaking up, and Dewar is the very one to do it. As he pointed out, it will really waste very little time. Stitching can be done as well at rehearsals as at home, and listening to the immortal words of Shakespeare instead of gossiping will be good for you. Always with the exception of the Good Book, you will not find more good sense more eloquently spoken than in Shakespeare. Indeed, I often find it difficult to know for sure whether certain quotations come from the one source or the other. Shakespeare has quite a Biblical style. I daresay he was a regular reader of the book.”
    This fabrication seemed to set the seal of approval on the scheme. No words she could speak moved him an inch from his position. Before he left, the play had become not only a pleasure, but a positive duty.
    Over the next day and a half, Holly came to realize that if she was not to spend the next two months in utter isolation she would involve herself in the dramatic presentation. It was the only item discussed in the village. Ladies who should have been tending to charity work were holding reading parties to familiarize themselves with the play.
    Dewar did not come to Stonecroft in person, but he sent his eager ambassador, Mr. Homberly, to inform Miss McCormack she was to play Lady Capulet, and to enquire whether Lady Proctor would have any objection to holding the first few rehearsals in her saloon, as his own hall was in the carpenter’s hands, with a stage and proscenium arch under erection. Lady Proctor gave her much-gratified consent. Miss McCormack did not
    “I am much too busy,” she told Rex.
    “Not that many lines,” he pointed out.
    “I am not interested,” she insisted mulishly.
    Lady Proctor, thumbing through Jane’s copy, began to wonder whether it would not be interesting for her as well as Johnson to play a role within a role, and be Juliet’s mama, as she was Jane’s. It could not be a contemptible thing to do, for certainly Mr. Johnson had mentioned a dozen titled ladies who had appeared in private theatricals. Mr. Johnson seldom spoke of anything but theatricals nowadays. She mentioned this matter to Homberly who said, by Jove, it was just the ticket, and he’d tell Dew it was all set.
    He took his two answers back to the Abbey, where Dewar heard with satisfaction that he was to have carte blanche with the saloon and, with surprise, that Miss McCormack declined the honour. “We’ll see about that,” Dewar stated blandly.
    “Already taken care of it,” Rex assured him, smiling smugly at his coup. “Did a spot of casting myself. Never guess what, Dew. Jane’s mother is going to play Juliet’s mother. Dashed good idea.”
    Dewar turned his head very slowly and levelled a dark eye on his cousin. “I might have known better!” he said in a voice of suppressed anger.
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Chapter 7
     
    The next morning, Lord Dewar called at Stonecroft, his stated purpose being to decide whether Lady Proctor’s saloon would do for a few rehearsals. While there, however, he handed Miss McCormack her copy of the play, with her role ticked off in red.
    Three days is rather a long time to hear all one’s