Applause (The Dudley Sisters Saga Book 2) by Madalyn Morgan (best authors to read txt) 📕

‘Are you sure you don’t want us to tell your husband, Margot?’ Pamela Lesley asked.

‘No!’ Margot shot the front of house manager a frightened look. ‘No. Please don’t tell him. He’s visiting his parents in Coventry. He’ll come back, and it’s not fair. Besides, there’s no point. I told you. I won’t drink again, I promise. I just need a good night’s sleep.’

‘Which you won’t get on the floor of your dressing room. Come on, let’s get you out of here before someone comes in. Pamela, would you mind having a look round?’

‘Leave it to me,’ Pamela said. ‘I’ll make sure nothing’s been left behind.’

‘Margot, how long will Bill be away? When will he be back?’

‘I can’t remember… I think another week.’

‘Right! You’re not going home to an empty apartment. You can stay with Anton and me.’

‘But I don’t have any clean clothes.’

‘That’s the least of your worries, dear,’ Pamela said, helping Margot on with her coat.

‘We’ll call at the apartment on the way and pack a bag.’

Margot nodded and let Natalie and Miss Lesley take her by the arms. ‘What about the show?’

‘You’ve got an understudy. She’ll be only too happy to go on for you.’

‘But--’

‘No buts, Margot. You know you can’t work in this state.’

Margot took a shuddering breath as great almond-shaped tears spilled onto her cheeks.

‘Come on now, you’ll soon feel better,’ Natalie said, putting her arms around Margot and walking her to the dressing room door. ‘The Prince Albert Theatre can’t do without you, you know that.’

Margot smiled through her tears, but she said nothing.

The week Margot spent with Natalie and Anton passed quickly. She went to bed at a reasonable time and slept until she woke up naturally, getting up when she felt like it – sometimes it was mid-morning before she bathed and dressed. Natalie took the week off and together the two friends went for long walks over Hampstead Heath. Most days they called at a small coffee shop on their way home, drank Camp coffee by the fire to warm up, or went shopping for food – such as it was.

On Saturday morning Margot was mixing powdered egg when Natalie arrived downstairs.

‘Mm, can I smell coffee?’

‘Yes. Just made it,’ Margot said. ‘I hope it’s all right. It’s been a while since I made real coffee. Where did you get it from?’

‘Germany. The last time I visited my parents I persuaded a local shopkeeper to sell me a couple of packets. He had cupboards full of the best coffee beans, packaged and priced, but the SS had been to his shop and ordered him not to sell it to anyone, except them. Not that they would pay him for it. The SS take what they want. If they had even suspected the shopkeeper had sold me some, a Jew, he would have been--’ Natalie shuddered. ‘It doesn’t bear thinking about.’

‘When was the last time you saw your mother and father?’ Margot asked, placing a plate of scrambled egg on toast in front of Natalie, before sitting down with her own.

‘Eighteen months ago – longer. After the Luftwaffe intensified the bombardment of vessels sailing across the Channel it became impossible to travel to Germany. I don’t know where my parents are now. They were planning to go to Switzerland, to stay with relatives of George--’

‘Our George?’ Margot said. ‘George Derby-Bloom?’

‘Yes.’ For some minutes they ate in silence. ‘George and I have been helping Jewish students to escape the Nazis,’ Natalie said, when they had finished eating.

‘How did George get involved?’

‘When she was at finishing school in Switzerland she got to know people in a Jewish organisation that helped students cross the German border. To cut a long story short, George persuaded her father to finance getting the students out of Germany, and asked Anton if he would hide them when they got to England.’

‘Is that what dressing rooms eight and nine are for? To hide Jewish students?’

‘Yes, but after the children and their nanny and nurse had been evacuated to Foxden with your sister Bess, the students were able to stay here. There were only two or three at a time. A couple of house guests every now and then went unnoticed. It was the same at the theatre. With young women being called up on a regular basis no one noticed that there were more walk-ons one week and fewer the next.’

‘What happens to the students? Where do they go?’

‘First to Ireland and from there to America. There is a wonderful network of people in New York who find homes for them.’

‘Is that what happened to Goldie?’

‘No. Goldie is living with her aunt in Ireland.’

Margot smiled at the thought of her friend being safe, and began clearing the table.

‘It goes without saying that this conversation stays between us, Margot. We must never speak of it outside this house. Walls really do have ears,’ Natalie said. ‘The network of people, and the escape route out of Germany across the Swiss border, was the reason Goldie’s fascist boyfriend befriended her. He might have killed her if you hadn’t stepped in. That’s why, when he realised it was you who had taken her place on stage, he followed you.’

‘Good God. I’m glad I didn’t know I was in that sort of danger.’

‘You weren’t really. While Goldie’s boyfriend was following you, we had people following him. You were never in mortal danger. Anton made sure of that.’

Margot laughed. ‘A couple of things make sense now. Once when I was lost in the blackout I was followed. And in Oxford Circus underground I bumped into David Sutherland, or rather he bumped into me. I followed him, but lost him on Regent Street. When