CHAPTER VIII
Amateur Theatricals
The half-term had seen Aldred at the head of her form, and by dint ofhard application she managed to keep her position there fairly steadily;with such a clever rival as Ursula to contend against, it was impossibleto win the coveted prize every week, but she scored a success so oftenthat her average record was higher than that of anyone else. MissDrummond was manifestly pleased with her progress; it was not often thata new girl came so quickly to the fore. Aldred had been sent to her witha reputation for both shirking lessons and defying authority, so sheflattered herself that the atmosphere of Birkwood had worked a change,and remedied both these defects.
Aunt Bertha, who was kept well informed of her niece's progress, wroteto express satisfaction.
"I am glad to hear you are settling down and becoming more reasonable,"ran her letter to Aldred. "It is high time you learnt sense, and if youcan turn into an ordinary, rational being at the Grange, it will be wellworth having sent you there. I hope the improvement will show itselfduring the holidays."
"How hateful she is!" thought Aldred, tearing the letter angrily intolittle bits. "She always rubs me the wrong way, and makes me feel I'dlike to do the exact opposite to what she wants. I don't get top toplease her, at any rate! If she would improve during the holidays,perhaps I might too! I don't care what she thinks of me!"
Keith's approval was a different matter, and it was a keen pleasure toAldred to be able to tell him of her triumph, and to receive his heartycongratulations.
"I know what it is to swat hard," wrote Keith, "so I think you've turnedup trumps, and I'm proud of you. I'll take you into town as often as youlike this Christmas, even to the National Gallery, though I detest theOld Masters."
With so much to fill up the time, the autumn term seemed to pass veryquickly away. The weeks flew by, and dull November fogs were succeededby early December frosts. It was no longer possible to go into thegarden after tea; the days had closed in rapidly, and the lamps werelighted now by five o'clock. Every afternoon, when the weather allowed,the girls played hockey to keep themselves warm, and Aldred began togrow interested in the game, though she had not yet secured theproficiency that her ambition would have wished.
The situation of Birkwood, between the downs and the sea, sodelightfully breezy and fresh in spring and summer, was decidedly coldin winter; Aldred was amazed at the number of blankets she required onher bed, and fully appreciated the hot brick that was allowed. MissDrummond was indulgent in that respect. The bricks were placed everyevening on a special stone intended for the purpose connected with theheating apparatus; by nine o'clock they were delightfully warm, andeach girl carried her own upstairs, returning it next morning to itsplace.
"They're the greatest comfort; I should shiver all night without mine!"said Mabel. "I'm glad Miss Drummond lets us have them. One of my cousinsgoes to an absolutely Spartan school; they're obliged to wash in coldwater always, and to take ice-cold baths, even in the depth of winter.Lilian put an india-rubber hot-water bag in her box, but she was notallowed to use it; the head mistress says she likes girls to be hardy. Ithink it must be wretched; we are better treated at the Grange."
Miss Drummond's arrangements were certainly calculated to make everyoneat Birkwood as cosy as possible when the winds blew chill outside. Therewas always a cheerful blaze in the recreation room, and the girls werealso permitted to keep up the fires in the classrooms, if they wished todo anything special there during the evening--a privilege of which theywere glad to avail themselves towards the end of the term.
They were all very fond of acting, and each form intended to prepare aplay for the last week. The strictest secrecy was observed aboutrehearsals.
"We don't want the others to have a hint of what we mean to do," saidPhoebe Stanhope; "they mustn't even know the name of our act."
"And we must make all our dresses here too," said Myfanwy, "and anywigs, or moustaches, or anything we need."
"Shall we have time?" enquired Aldred.
"Yes; Miss Drummond excuses sewing when we're getting up theatricals. Wemay have the room to ourselves the minute we've finished prep. It givesus a good hour every night, and that ought to be enough, if we workhard."
"What are we going to act?"
"That's just the question."
"It's so difficult to decide!" said Mabel.
"I have a kind of notion that both the Sixth and the Fifth have chosenscenes from Shakespeare," observed Agnes Maxwell. "They keep talking insuch grand language, and making quotations that aren't particularlyappropriate! When Lilian Marshall wanted to call me back for somethingyesterday, she said: 'Tarry, Jew: the law hath yet another hold on you!'and the others sniggered."
"Then they'll be taking the Trial Scene from the _Merchant of Venice_.Yes, I'm certain they must be, because Eleanor Avery has a lovely reddressing-gown that they'll use for Portia's robe."
"And what about the Fifth?"
"Something from _As You Like It_, I fancy. Their classroom door was openas I passed last night, and I caught a glimpse of them painting sceneryon great pieces of brown paper. It was evidently for a wood."
"It might be for _A Midsummer-Night's Dream_."
"Well, yes, of course it might."
"One thing is certain," said Lorna Hallam; "we mustn't decide uponShakespeare."
"No; it would be too stale if we happened to choose the very samescene."
"Can't we have something comic?" suggested Myfanwy James.
"Yes, a short farce," agreed Ursula Bramley. "There are several veryjolly ones in the book Miss Bardsley lent me. It would be quite achange."
"Where's the book? Let us look at it."
The little plays were mostly old friends with new faces. Well-knowntales had been dramatized, and given a humorous element that made themvery suitable for Christmas performances.
"They're screamingly funny!" said Phoebe. "I expect we shall die oflaughing when we're acting. Shall we have 'Beauty and the Beast', or'Bluebeard'?"
"Which has the easier dresses?" asked Mabel.
"They're pretty much the same, and there are the same number ofcharacters, eight in each. We can't take 'Cinderella', because there aretoo many parts; and 'Goody Two Shoes' has too few."
"'Bluebeard' seems the more dramatic," said Aldred, hastily dipping intothe book.
"Who votes for 'Bluebeard'?" queried Mabel.
Six hands went up immediately; so the matter was considered settled,Myfanwy and Agnes, who preferred 'Beauty and the Beast', being in theminority.
"And now we shall have to decide the caste," said Ursula. "I think thetallest ought to be Bluebeard."
"Oh, I dare say, when you're an inch above everyone else in the Form!"Agnes sounded indignant.
"No, we must draw lots for the parts, as we always have done," saidMabel. "It's the fairest way, because then nobody can complain. We'reall pretty equal at acting, so it doesn't much matter who gets Bluebeardor Fatima. There are eight characters, so get eight slips of paper,Dora, and we'll write one on each."
"We must fold them exactly evenly," said Dora, "so that they all feelthe same. What shall we shuffle them in? Can you make a place on yourlap? Now, each girl must draw one in turn."
"Who's to begin?" said Aldred.
"The eldest. We always take it in order of birthdays. Nobody must unfoldher slip until everyone else has drawn. Agnes, it's your turn first."
Aldred opened her paper with much anxiety, and read its contents with afrown. "An Attendant"--that was all! She was very disgusted to beobliged to take such a humble part, having hoped to get either Bluebeardor Fatima, or, at least, Sister Anne. She knew she could act well, andthought she certainly ought to be one of the more important charactersin the play. It was particularly aggravating, because Fatima had beendrawn by Lorna Hallam, the girl with the worst memory and the leastdramatic talent in the class; and Bluebeard had fallen to the lot oflittle Dora Maxwell, whose chirpy voice would not be nearly soappropriate to the occasion as the d
eeper tones of Ursula Bramley. Ifanybody except Mabel had suggested the plan of deciding the casteby lot, Aldred would have disputed the matter hotly; but she did notlike to argue with her chum, so she was obliged to suppress her feelingsand agree with the best grace she could. Mabel herself was to be SisterAnne, Phoebe Stanhope and Myfanwy James were the two brothers, UrsulaBramley was the Beneficent Fairy, and Agnes Maxwell another attendant.
"We ought to alter some of the parts," Aldred could not help suggesting."It's ridiculous for Ursula to be a fairy! She's too tall, and her hairis brown. Why can't she change with Dora?"
"No, thank you!" protested Dora. "I'm sick of being a fairy; becauseI'm small, and my hair is light, I'm always given a gauze dress and awand. I'm tired of coming in disguised as a beggar woman, and thenflinging off my cloak--it always catches on my wreath and pulls itcrooked; and I've said I don't know how many ending-up speeches. I'vedrawn Bluebeard this time, and I mean to stick to him, whatever sort ofa fairy Ursula makes."
"I shan't be such a bad one, I'm sure!" declared Ursula, ratheroffended. "You wouldn't make a better, Aldred; your hair's darker thanmine."
"Well, I don't know how Lorna is going to learn all Fatima's long part,"Aldred ventured to object; "she never gets through her recitations inclass without a mistake."
"I'll manage, thank you!" retorted Lorna. "Besides, there's always theprompter behind the piano."
"The prompter! You ought never to rely on that!"
"I didn't say I was going to."
"Yes, you did! If people undertake a part, they ought at least to knowthe words, or let somebody else have it."
"I shan't give up my part at your bidding!"
"You're misunderstanding each other," interposed Mabel. "Aldred nevermeant she wanted you to give up your part, Lorna; I'm sure she was onlysympathizing because she knows you find it hard to learn things."
"It's a queer form of sympathy, then!" grumbled Lorna. "I thought shewanted to be Fatima herself."
"Oh, no! That's most unlike Aldred. I wonder you could imagine for aninstant that she would have such a motive! I think, when we decided toabide by the lot, it would be a mistake to have any changing; and we'dbetter set to work and learn some of our speeches, so that we canrehearse the first scene, at any rate, to-morrow. We must each borrowthe book in turn, and keep looking at it in any odd moments we canspare."
"Yes; there won't be too much time, with all the costumes to think aboutas well," agreed the others.
Aldred mastered the dozen lines that fell to the Attendant in a fewminutes, and handed the book on to Sister Anne. Feeling sure of herportion in the play, she could afford to criticize the others, and setto work to coach them vigorously at the evening rehearsal. Though someof them were not willing to fall in with her suggestions, she managed tomake herself so prominent that, in spite of themselves, the girlsallowed her to assume the leadership, and to constitute herself a kindof stage manager.
"Aldred is quite right," said Mabel, backing her up; "we certainly werenot saying our speeches with half enough dramatic emphasis, and weweren't putting any spirit into them. I feel I was too tame."
"We haven't got as far as 'dramatic emphasis'," said Phoebe. "Thatwould come afterwards."
"It's better to practise it as we go along, and as Aldred has had somuch experience of private theatricals, we had better take her advice,and let her show us how it ought to be done."
Aldred's boasted experience was really confined to a few charades withthe Rectory children at home; but she had considerable natural talentfor acting, and could throw herself heart and soul into a part. It triedher very much to hear Fatima and Bluebeard give a dialogue as if theywere repeating a lesson, to see the Brothers come strolling up to therescue, instead of rushing in with hot haste; and to watch the veryun-sylph-like movements of the Fairy.
"This is the way it should be done!" she would cry, and would go throughthe speeches herself, giving word and action as if she were really thecharacter she was impersonating, her eyes flashing with enthusiasm andher cheeks aglow. Not one of her stage pupils could approach her fire,or the various delicate modulations of her voice; even Mabel, who triedher best, was very far behind.
"I can't put so much expression into what I'm saying!" declared Dora. "Ihave to think all the time whether I'm getting the words right."
"But you ought to know the words so well that you don't need to thinkabout them--only to feel what Bluebeard would be feeling!" returnedAldred, who by this time could remember every separate speech in theplay much better than the actresses themselves. "Can't you imagineyourself haughty and pompous, when you give Fatima the keys?"
"Why, no! I want to laugh!" giggled Dora.
Aldred stamped her foot; it was too irritating to see the part ofBluebeard usurped by one who had so little conception of his character.Dora's undignified rendering of the part was a constant annoyance.Fatima, too, was a great trial; she repeated her sentences in amonotonous, sing-song voice, without a vestige of passion.
"You take the keys from Bluebeard as if Miss Bardsley were handing youan exercise-book!" remonstrated Aldred. "And as for the cupboard scene,you look inside and say, 'Oh!' as casually as if there were nothingthere!"
"Well, there is nothing there!" retorted Lorna, rather resentful of somuch interference.
"Oh, Lorna! There are the horrid, bleeding heads of all the formerwives. Can't you pretend you see them, and give a proper shriek? Do letus have the piece again! You ought to look half-curious half-frightened,as you open the door, and then, when you've taken one peep, you shouldscream, and fall back nearly fainting with horror!"
It seemed no use, however. In spite of all Aldred's coaching andpractical illustrations, Lorna could not rise to the required pitch, andcontinued to give the thrilling scene with the utmost tameness. Aldredwas desperate. She felt that the success of the play depended upon thisparticular situation being adequately depicted, and was determined thatLorna should be forced to give a genuine start; and with that end inview she hatched a little plot. The rehearsals took place in theclassroom, and Fatima was accustomed to use the ordinary door, torepresent that of the fatal cupboard. Aldred persuaded one of theservants to dress up in a sheet and wait about in the passage, so thatwhen Lorna looked out she should see something calculated to surpriseher. Nellie, an under-housemaid, willingly entered into the scheme, andeven improved upon it, according to her own ideas, by whitening her facewith flour, so as to make herself as ghost-like as possible.
Aldred felt quite excited when Scene III was begun. She managed, withoutattracting anybody's attention, to take a stealthy peep through thedoorway. Yes, there was Nellie, standing quite ready, and horribleenough to make even Aldred jump, though she was expecting to see her.All was in good training, and Lorna was rapidly coming to the fatallines. She delivered them with her usual lack of fire:
"The key fits well--now, wherefore should I fear? I will at last discover what's in here! Bluebeard's a hundred miles away in Spain; In ignorance no longer I'll remain. Turn, little key! Ope, door, for good or ill! Reveal your secret--know I must and will!"
She flung open the door, as she had done at every rehearsal, in anabsolutely wooden manner, and with neither interest nor curiosity in hertone; but her expression changed when she saw the vision in the passage,and for once in her life she accomplished a very excellentrepresentation of the part. She shrieked with a horror that was only toonatural, and drew back with a face as white as that of the sham ghostoutside.
The girls applauded furiously.
"Well done!"
"Good!"
"Splendid!"
"Why, what's the matter?"
"Lorna, are you acting?"
"Oh, I say! Catch her, quick; she's really fainting!"