But
at this Royal request her temper waked, and with it many other children
of her temperament. It was as if she had driven them into a dark cave and
had rolled a great stone to the cave's mouth. Now the stone was pushed
back, and in the darkness she heard them stirring, whispering, preparing
to come forth.
The Royal lady looked slightly surprised. She coughed and glanced at a
watch she wore at her side.
"I shall be delighted to do anything, ma'am," Lady Holme said quickly.
When she received the programme she found that her two songs came
immediately after "Some Imitations" by Miss Pimpernel Schley.
She stood for a moment with the programme in her hand.
"Some Imitations"; there was a certain crudeness about the statement, a
crudeness and an indefiniteness combined. Who were to be the victims? At
this moment, perhaps, they were being studied. Was she to be pilloried
again as she had been pilloried that night at the British Theatre? The
calm malice of the American was capable of any impudent act. It seemed to
Lady Holme that she had perhaps been very foolish in promising to appear
in the same programme with Miss Schley. Was it by accident that their
names were put together? Lady Holme did not know who had arranged the
order of the performances, but it occurred to her that there was
attraction to the public in the contiguity, and that probably it was a
matter of design. No other two women had been discussed and compared,
smiled over and whispered about that season by Society as she and Miss
Schley had been.
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