June 21st, 1910- Little Windenburg Village HallThe boys playing the Mechanicals had claimed the side

June 21st, 1910- Little Windenburg Village Hall

The boys playing the Mechanicals had claimed the side room as the boys’ dressing-room, so the girls and Clem were packed into the little space behind the makeshift barrier they had made out of bedsheets. The crush of hairbrushes, costumes, and bodies was made more crowded still by Honour’s costume, which involved an antique and cumbersome crinoline several feet in diameter which had belonged to Lady Elaine’s grandmother.

‘Clem, can you help me with my crin? I’m all thumbs.’

Clem’s stomach lurched as her fingers brushed the small of Honour’s back in a way she couldn’t quite brush aside as pre-performance jitters. She could smell the Pears soap Honour used, could almost feel the warmth of the nape of her neck. Honour was muttering under her breath, ‘What, jealous Oberon? Fairies, skip hence, I have forsworn his bed and company.’

Honour drew in a breath as Clem murmured back ‘Tarry, rash wanton, am I not thy lord?’

‘She’shere!’ hissed Mattie, peering through the crack in the bedsheets. ‘And there’s someone with her.’

‘Who’s here?’ Clem asked, distracted, at the same time as Daisy asked ‘Who’s with her?’

‘Lady Elaine, and I don’t know. She looks awfully bohemian, whoever she is. She looks as though she’s made up.’

‘You’re made up too, Mattie.’

Mattie blushed and touched her fingers to her cheek, on which a smattering of rouge had been inexpertly applied. ‘It’s different if it’s for the stage!’

Myrtle elbowed Mattie out of the way, peered around the edge of the sheet, and reeled back white in the face.

‘It’sLydia Langley!’

‘Who’s that?’ asked Mattie. Myrtle dealt her a withering look.

‘Lydia Langley, Mattie. She was a showgirl, but then she married the Earl of Brindleton. It was a terrific scandal. Then he died and she went back to the stage even though she’s ever so rich and she didn’t have to. Now she owns a theatre in Greater Windenburg, I think. I can’t believe she’s here. The Church Ladies will be in fits.’