A Christmas Homecoming - Anne Perry [27]
Caroline thought that the cook would have noticed for herself that the snow was impassable, but she only nodded agreement.
On the stage they were proceeding with some of the later scenes; Vincent Singer was elaborating on Van Helsing’s intellectual brilliance.
Caroline watched Joshua, and knew he did not like it. She agreed with him. Glancing at the faces of those who were watching, she could see that they were bored as well.
Mr. Ballin came in silently, bowing briefly to Caroline, and to Alice and Lydia, who were both sitting in the audience. Douglas ignored him, but Ballin did not seem to see anything untoward about Douglas’s manner.
Caroline watched Joshua standing on the stage holding the script in his hand. He had asked Vincent to make more of Van Helsing’s character, his humanity. But now that Vincent was trying to add depth, the character was not coming alive. But Joshua needed a solution before he risked interrupting Vincent’s monologue. They could not afford the time or the emotional energy for tantrums, and Singer was crucial to the drama.
Vincent continued on, making Van Helsing seem a smug genius, and Alice sat wincing, looking more and more perplexed.
Finally Joshua interrupted. “Vincent, this doesn’t work. It’s taking up too much time, and half of it is irrelevant.”
Vincent stared at him. “I thought you wanted Van Helsing to be more of a character? As Miss Netheridge has written him, he’s flat, and even tedious. And more important, he’s no match for Dracula. How many times have you told us that a hero has no validity if the villain has no menace and no power? Surely the reverse must also be true?”
“Yes, it is,” Joshua conceded. “But telling us he is clever doesn’t convince—”
“What do you want?” Vincent demanded. “I’m an actor, not a conjurer or a contortionist. You want the music halls for tricksters!”
“It’s too many words,” Joshua said flatly. “We stop listening.”
Ballin walked over toward the stage. “No one cares for a man who boasts of his achievements,” he said quietly but very clearly. “And we have to like Van Helsing, even if we do not always understand or approve of what he does until after he has done it. Then we see the necessity.”
Vincent started to speak, and Joshua held up a hand to silence him.
“What do you suggest?” he asked Ballin.
“Let him solve a problem, a difficulty of some sort,” Ballin replied. “Then his quick thinking, his knowledge and improvisation will be evident, and useful. He will not need to boast; in fact, he will not need to speak at all.”
“Oh, bravo!” Vincent applauded. “Such as what? I’m sure you must be overburdened with examples.”
Ballin thought for a moment. “Well, the use of light and mirrors is always interesting,” he replied. “Especially with vampires, who traditionally have no reflection.”
“We already know who the vampire is.” Vincent dismissed the suggestion with a degree of contempt.
Ballin ignored him. “Van Helsing could arrange mirrors that reflect from each other, magnifying light and sending it around corners. Vampires are creatures of the shadows. At least to begin with, Dracula does not wish to be exposed.”
“Brilliant,” Vincent said sarcastically. “Then we lose all the tension because we defeat the poor devil right at the beginning. So how is it then that we let anyone fall victim to him? Are we all just blazingly incompetent?”
Ballin was unperturbed. “We do not succeed because Lucy is bitten outside, in the night, before Dracula ever enters the house. Van Helsing doesn’t know that. Nor, at the beginning, does he know the depth of the vampire’s seduction. Lucy moves the mirrors, just as later Mina will lie, and even become violent, when Dracula calls her.”
Joshua was smiling slowly.
Ballin continued. “Later Van Helsing could suggest an alarm to warn them all if anyone enters Mina’s room through the window. A chemical device, of magnesium dislodged by the