The rest of this week, after tomorrow night, you are
going to have to spend exclusively in spoiling me. I'm twice as
deserving as a high-school girl, and three times as deserving as
Clarence and Tiddy. And I've more right to you, besides."
"If you want rights, sometimes you have to take them," said Joy
demurely.
He laughed.
"Is that a suggestion? If so, it's an excellent one. Consider
yourself thoroughly taken. You are not to be discovered in corners
with Clarence, nor showing Tiddy how his steps should go."
But Joy only laughed.
There was little time for discussion after that. They rehearsed
steadily, with the frenzied feeling of unpreparedness that only
amateurs can fully know, till it was more than time for the "brief
bite" of Clarence's description. Then the choruses were shepherded
over to the Hewitt house and the Maddox house respectively, and fed,
Clarence and Tiddy standing over them to see that no time was wasted.
Then they went back, and went through the whole opera. The audience
consisted of a few carefully chosen relatives who had insisted on
being there, including the Harrington children. Phyllis was letting
them see the dress rehearsal instead of the real performance,
because the latter was to end with a dance, and there would have
been some difficulty in tearing Philip away while things were still
going on. The dress rehearsal promised to be over by nine-thirty,
for they had started at six, and were sweeping through without a
break, happily unconscious that Clarence intended them to do it all
over again with all the mistakes severely corrected, as soon as they
had ended the final chorus.
Pages:
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239