Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [104]
‘Theo said I would be making my debut tonight. Is it to be in your place?’
‘I guess so, because as soon as we got here Frank wanted to know when you’d be coming. It seems Theo told him about you some time ago. You’ll go down well, sis, it’s a good place, not a rough house like Heaney’s.’
‘How do you get on with the girls upstairs?’ Beth raised her eyebrows enquiringly.
Sam grinned mischievously. ‘Pearl doesn’t let them give free ones, she made that quite clear on our first night here. And anyway, we’ve hardly seen them. Only time we go up there is when Pearl calls us for our dinner.’
They talked for a little while, Beth telling him about how it was over Christmas.
‘I hope Theo behaved himself.’ Sam sniffed. ‘I like him, but I don’t trust him.’
‘Pearl seems to think highly of him.’
‘She just likes men,’ Sam said wisely. ‘And I guess at her age she doesn’t need to worry about whether they can be trusted. But now you’re here, Jack and I will look out for you.’
‘I can look out for myself, thank you,’ Beth said, but she softened the remark with a smile. ‘I’ll leave you now to get up and dressed, and perhaps you and Jack will take me out and show me around while it’s still daylight. I don’t want to get a pasty face like the girls upstairs.’
The hair ornament Pearl gave Beth was a pearl-studded comb with a spray of red feathers. ‘Frank gave that to me when we first met back in ’Frisco,’ she said as she fixed it into Beth’s hair, up in the kitchen. ‘It was my lucky charm, and I wore it every time I sang. You look even prettier with it than I did, and I think Frank will be pleased to see it again. He’ll know I like you.’
Beth went into the hallway to look at herself in the big mirror. The brisk walk around the town with Sam and Jack had put colour back into her cheeks, and the way Pearl had caught up some of her curls at the side of her head with the comb made her look more sophisticated. She had always been a little nervous about the red dress because the neckline was low, but the feathers in her hair seemed to balance it better.
Pearl was watching Beth from the kitchen and she smiled to herself. The girl looked a picture with her black curls tumbling around her creamy shoulders. Such a pretty, expressive face, wide eyes, plump lips, the kind of girl any man would want.
She wished she could go to the Bear tonight to hear her play, but her place was here. Frank would tell her about it anyway.
As Sam and Jack had left for work some time earlier, Theo escorted Beth to the Bear. He was wearing his usual evening attire of a snowy-white shirt, bow tie, impeccably cut tail coat and top hat, with his heavy satin-lined cloak flung loosely over his shoulder.
‘The Bear got its name because in an old ale house somewhere nearby, the owner kept a bear out the back,’ Theo said as they walked down the street. ‘If anyone made any trouble he would threaten to throw them out with the bear.’
Beth knew he was nervous because he often told her old stories when he wanted to conceal his feelings. She didn’t know if he was worried that she might not live up to his expectations tonight or might be about to complain again about staying in a brothel. Or perhaps he was just a bit apprehensive because he would be playing cards later.
She didn’t ask, for she was so scared herself that she thought she might be sick. Sweet reason told her that if she could play in Heaney’s, she could play anywhere. But back there she’d never had anyone championing her; if she failed, it would only be she who lost face. She knew Theo, Sam and Jack must all have sung her praises, so if she was a disaster, they’d look foolish.
Her stomach churned alarmingly as they walked into the Bear. It was much bigger than Heaney’s, and the high ceiling and narrow windows set in eight feet up above the ground indicated it had been built as a warehouse, but a new wood floor had been added. A long bar ran right down one side; on the