SWEET NELL OF OLD ISLINGTON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19382, 17 July 1926, Page 5 (Supplement)

SWEET NELL OF OLD ISLINGTON.

BY YELVA BURNETT.

SYNOPSIS. NJII Lisben has been reciting at the Duchess of Yellowciay's " At Home," and is now waited on by her maid, Mirealda, who used to be her dresser in the old days at the " Looking Glass Theatre." Her aunt, Mrs. Markhaiu peare, retires for the night. thus giving Nell's lover, Richard Forrest, an opportunity to say what he has come _to say. It is exactly a year to the day since Nell had asked Dick to wait a year and then she would give him her decision. Soon are definitely engaged. Old Richard Forrest, diamond merchant, is wroth with his son -for becoming engaged to an actress. His daughters, Jessica and Kate, share his disirust. While interviewing his on!..' son in his oiEco his secretary enters v.-ith some papers. He orders her not to in again until she is sent for. He lota Dick know that he would rather have M.iggie Niel for a daughter-in-law. Dick holds his own. He phones her the result of the interview, toning it down for her ears. Sho understands and shortly after beards the elder man in his office. Forrest senior splutters. in_ his rage at her cairn dignified dealing with him. She lets him understand that sho knows how he cheated and ruined her father. Dick terminates the dialogue by his entrance. Dick believes his father and his sweetheart are on a friendly footincr. The young couple depart together while the elder Forrest seeks his secretary. Maggie Niel. ]t, takes some time before she understands that her master is not cruelly jesting, but she finally accepts his dictum that she is to marry his son. and, failing that, the old man will marry her himself. The conversation becomes more concerned with the business of tho Lisbon affair. Miss Niel acknowledges the crooked way in which php gained her insight info that matter. She hands over to her master the receipt which ho had stolen from Nell Lisben's father. He asks for the shorthand notes, written out. which she had made surreptitiouslv, but Miss Niel laughingly replies that she will hand them over on the day she marries either his son or himself. Richard Forrest senior introduces Margaret Niel into his own home arid his two daughters are compelled to be civil to her. while she patronises them. The two sisters discuss the situation, hut decide to be perfectly neutral, as they cannot help themselves. His father informs Dick that he has taken Miss Niel into his home because she is in a poor state of health. He invites his son to come home oftener. Dick promises. Nell Lishen receives an old friend in the person of Lion Lowes, the tragedian. He has just returned from South Africa and is angry that Nell has relinouished her stage career and is on the eve of marriage. CHAPTER Vl.—(Continued.) " You take it too much to heart. Thpre sre other actresses ready to step into my shoes.", He clenched his hands, and with passion <*ried out vehemently: " Nobody like you, nobody. You are unique, and how exquisitely your temperament is tuned to mine! Now yoy are going, I am a violin with torn strings." He rose ancl confronted her, an angry fire in his eyes. "Am I doomed to act with someone less vital ? Whom am I to put in your place'! I have toured with Roselle Pinbury and Prudence Stare and Cecil Oliver. All the time, in the big scenes, I felt as though I had a fishbone in my throat, a thorn in my heart which cried perpetually, ' Give me Nell; give me Nell, and we will show you what acting is.' I crossed the sea to find you, play with you, but you have turned from me, you care for nothing but marriage." " No, no," she said,- more deeply moved than sho cared to show. " You exaggerate my ability. The actresses you mention are first-class unless they were given unsuitable parts. Were you not rather difficult with them ? You always had your black days from which sometimes it required all my skill to raise you." " But you never failed, never once. Oh yes, I'm a crotchetty beggar, I suppose, that's the very reason I can't bear to lose you." " Lion, I fear you have been dreadfully pampered. Why not rout out Laura Lessing ? You used to think rather well of her. I haven't heard anything of her for goodness knows how long. Where is she, do you know ?"

Her question seemed to. annoy and exasperate him. His countenance and body ' losp much of their impassioned mobility. He looked deeply disturbed. Nell observed the change, and was perplexed because she could not account for it.

"Laura Lessing ?" he echoed reluctantly, and he looked away from Nell across the room, as though her spiritual presence were visible there. "Ah, Nell," he resumed, striving for an easy and casual tone. "If Laura had ■only stuck to her job and taken pains with it. Yes. she promised well, but was never in the same street with you, of course.' You want to know where she is ? Well, I'm afraid I can't tell exactly. Last I saw of her was in Durban. She wasn't half up to her old mark. Ultimately she had a row with Hillyard, our manager, and went off on her own in a pet." He came nearer to Nell, bending to fix her with unhappy, brooding eyes. He looked at her as men look at their last hope before it fades before their sight. " I came back, expecting to start a Shakespearean season with you, for the autumn, at the dear old Looking Glass. I'm hard up. I didn't really hit it off in S.A. Hadn't the right support. If you'd been there with me—" He broke off, sitting humped upon the sofa while his reluctant sullen thought travelled to that other woman, Laura Lessing, whom he had deserted. CHAPTER VII. Replying to Lion Lawes' last remark, Nell said: "How perverse, how unreasonable you are. I should think Richard arid I have earned some happiness." " I ran into old Adimdre shortly after my arrival and just before he left with a touring company for the provinces. When he spoke of you, the tears ran down his face. He said, and I'm with him : ' Nell's surrender is a dishonour to us and to herself.' " "What? Jimraie Adimore actually said that ?" "Can you blame him? He was yoyr friend from the start. He found your father a place in the orchestra when you were only a mite, taught you pretty well all you know, got you in with the right people, protected you from the wrong ones. Now he, too, has come to rdugh places. The theatre doesn't draw as it did when you were there. He can no longer afford to engage a good cast, consequently he's losing money every day. If he could bill us for ' Romeo and Juliet' for a kick-off, the tide would turn, no doubt about that, Must you betray us, and, what is more horrible, yourself; cast aside your divine gift, which really belongs to "the nation,, for an ordinary marriage. , . . Oh, I beg your pardon, 1" say more than good taste allows; but L am*bitter, Nell, hurt to the core."

She said nothing; she did not move nor glance .at Lion's perturbed . and heated countenance. Always she bad paid him an enthusiastic homage. She knelt to his genius. She was' blind to his faults. They had done wonderful work together, and, at the recollection, her eyes clouded with sympathy and sorrow, while, aware of His* advantage, Lion pursued in soft, ingratiating tones that were full of music: " Were we not one heart, one soul, one mind ? Each an essential part of the other. We flew on the wings of genius above this stale and humdrum world. Can you recall coldly the great scene in Splintered Ice,' when we clung together in the porch of the chapel, and the bouse sat like mice ? There was not a sound anywhere ill my ears but the wild beat of your heart and your sobs on my breast."

He had stirred her effectually at last. She was being swept, swayed by his impassioned appeal. Her face changed, the momentary vexation and fatigue went from it. The clouded eyes widened and began to shine, but anguish dwelt in the curve of her mouth. < She loved Richard. She was his dear betrothed; true to him in every pulse and fibre of her body, but she had been and was a grest actress. Now, as with a. living voice, the call of the theatre thundered to her spirit. She had been born, reared, coached for the stage. For it, she had wept blinding tears of dis-

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couragement and pain. She had sacrificed everything for her art, through long; difficult years, during which Adimore had never once doubted her ultimate success. Sho looked back upon his unswerving patience and loyalty; her heart swelled. She rose and began to pace the room as though completely unconscious that Lion shared it with her, but his words pursued her, drove her hard. She had never tried to steel hersfilf against the charm and power of his eloquence. He, too, in only a slightly less degree than Adimore, had helped her to find herself, lo and fro she went, across the floor, from wall to wall. Her body shook, her hands trembled. Adimore, in trouble, sending her an S.O.S. Could she ignore, turn indifferently from his breaking ship and sail far away in the other- fair ship that awaited her in calm, blue seas ? She heard but little of what Lion actually said, but his troubled accents pierced her tender breast, and when he called out to her:

''Come back, come back to us, dear Nell! she hesitated in her quick, swinging walk, and, turning upon him with an irritation foreign to her sunny temperament, cried, with her hands raised to her ears: " Oh, do be quiet, Lion!" " I only want to convince you. . . " Well, haven't you finished ?" she demanded tartly. I seem to have made no headwav u 11 s so to ask. Forrest should be the first to recognise your obligation to Adimore. You can't let him down, your simply can't, Nell." Well, there s no immediate hurry, Ive time to decide. Leave me now, Lion. 'ease go away. I must think things over. I'll let vou know quite soon." " After you ve consulted Forrest, I suppose."

" Naturally." " Spare yourself the trouble. I know what that means beforehand. He'll talk you over, of course. We'll lose you for good." His voice broke slightly, he seemed to take some pains to make it run smoothly, and all in vain. .He used the actor s craft and used it well. He assumed reluctance and regret to goad her further. She, with her eyes shut to his real selfishness and insincerity, save where his own gain was involved, felt the tears flow from her eyes when his speech became inadequate to state his further need. She silenced him with the harassed words: \ou've no idea how difficult it ia, Lion, for me to go back on my word. Dick will take it very badly, poor boy. He will imagine I have broken faith with rum, for a most frivolous reason." "Would you call Jimmie Adimore a frivolous reason?"

"Tho angel! Of course not! But oh, you arc quite as obtuse as Richard will be!"

"I understand, Nell," he declared sorrowfully. "Don't bother about it any more. I will write Adimore what a thundering mess I've made of it, and that you can't possibly see your way to give him a hand."

"Don't write him anything just yet, give me a few days." "But I can't help seeing how hopeless it is!" "It—it isn't "

He watched her, hating Forrest with all his heart, and then quite suddenly he stooped and took her into his arms, holding her very closely; whispering to her in passionate tones the immortal cry of Romeo to Juliet:

" 'O. wilt thou leave me so nnsatis fied ?' "

Nell gave him a beautiful smile. The cry of her Romeo in the deep, mellow utterance that carried an anguish of longing, recalled her to another age and another scene. No longer was she Sweet Nell of Old Islington in her own drawing room, but lovely Juliet of the Looking Glass. She felt as surely as though it were really there, the hushed audience, summoned by Lion's magic, surrounding her like silenjt ghosts. N«ver did she think to chide Lawes for his embrace, to free herself, for to her all this was but a charming game of make-believe. They were not real lovers and never could be lovers, but their art had granted them twin souls.

"'What. satisfaction can'st thou have to-night' ?" she responded swiftly. " 'The exchange of thy love's faithful vow * for mine',"

" ' I gave thee mine before thou didst request it'." • " 'And yet I would it were to give again'!" She faltered slightly, forgetting the entire reply, then with a little move of apology for her Tenegade memory, she added with passion: " ' My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love "as deep; the more I give to •thee, The more I have, for both are infinite. I hear some noise within; Dear love adieu. . . "

Some sound in the room beyond them, as though Juliet's old nurse were there in reality, calling her soft- warning, disturbed them both. Juliet moved a little in Lion's arms, turning her . head slightly so as to view the chance intruder, but with his clasp still encircling her. Mirelda surely, or her aunt returned early from her club. Who else? but now, she encountered the cold, steady regard of Richard Forrest, and in his proud, suffering gaze, was not love outraged, wounded, nigh to death ? , . . .. She got out. of Lion's arms, pushing him abruptly asiSe, "Richard," she cried, < *23icitic* * * She came to him with offered hands, but,' in the cfentre of the room, she paused, for from the rigid figure confronting her, there was no response. _ It was to be the mise-en-scene of thenfirst quarrel, the hour after which they began imperceptibly to drift apart, to be recalled by both the lovers in' later days with heartrending remorse. Did Lawes, watching them with a sneer, forsee this? If not, what made his lips so eloquent of malicious satisfaction ? Having overheard Nell's passionate cry, "The more I give to thee, the more I "have to give, for both are infinite," Richard stood very still, seeming totally unconscious of her swift approach. "Dickie," she said again beseechingly, and behind her, Lawes drew a deep breath, and glared his furv at Richard. At a loss how to proceed, her hands dropped, she grew white, and was on the verge of weeping. Nobody spoke, but Dick bowed ironically to his fiancee and her guest. Immediately and desperately, Nell followed his lead and introduced Jhe rivals. They inclined their bodies a second time in hostile recognition. "I am glad to see you, Dickie," Nell said, outwardly calm, but with the telltale colour splashed in her cheeks. "I wanted you to meet Lion, who, as you 1 know, is' a very old friend. We are almost like brother and sister, are we not. Lion ?" Lawes indulged in what sounded like a friendly laugh. • "I was reminding Nell of old times, Mr: Forrest. At the risk of offending you, I feel obliged to say that there are just a few men and women who, in my opinion, should not be permitted to tie themselves in marriage, because in so doing. they are guilty of robbing the whole of Society of a priceless possession. I can't honestly profess any pleasure in Nell's engagement." "Lion," whispered she, entreatinglv. " Don't be so silly!", She glanced shyly at Richard. He made no rejoinder, but his chin went up in a satirical tilt that adequately expressed his opinion that Lawes' pleasure or displeasure was of not the slightest importance. Nell's fiutv voice travelled at reckless speed. "I wanted you to meet, so much, but I never guessed it would bo before our marriage. Dick. 1 thought Lion would remain abroad for another year at least " The difficult, angry Richard said, " Indeed ?" in a thin, frosty voice, He stood waiting near the door for the actor fo leave. He. too, had persuaded Mirelda to usher him in, unannounced; she, seeing no harm in it, had concurred willingly. From under her lashes. Nell's starry orbs fluttered like disturbed butterflies. If only Dick would be sensible

and friendly to Lion! It was really rather absurd of him to be jealous and cross, for he must be absolutely convinced by now that none on earth could rob him of her love. She wanted to explain then and there, that on his entrance, she and Lawes had not been their everyday selves, but the "Star-cross'd" lovers of Old Verona. If she could but say, naturally, and without a trace of self-consciousness, "We were having an impromptu rehearsal, Dickie, and it was so ridiculous and stupid of me to forget some of my part," that look of his might, be banished for good, but while his suspicion, as of some dark treachery, was so palpable she thought herself incapable of improving matters. She essayed sending the actor a signal of dismissal, but he was blind to the message. A few more difficult moments dragged by before he consulted his watch, declaring lie must "bqzz off to another appointment." He came to Nell and took her hand possessively, appearing loath to let it go. "Think well over my request before you dismiss it, Nell. Give us, if possible, another season at the Looking Glass liefore you bury your treasure." He crossed the floor, measured Dick with cool, grey eyes, bowed and retired. CHAPTER VIII. Dick and Nell stood listening to the sounds of his feet across the mosaic of the hall as though his departure were of intense, interest to them both. They waited for the crisp snap of the door behind him, before Nell said pacifically to Richard, "Why don't you sit down ?" "First, be so kind as to tell me what all this means," he stipulated coldly. "We were pretending we were back in tho Old Islington Theatre. Lion wants me to go back for a few months." "Of course you told him." "I did, but it was hardly necessary. He heard the new!; weeks ago, at sea." "Of your promise to me ? But does such a trifle matter?"

Sho coloured with resentment. ''Now don't be so very stupid, Dick, and make a mountain out of a molehill, and pray don't speak to me in that way." "Then, how? I pay you a surprise visit, and find you uttering love-cries in his arms!"

"We 'Were carried away by the recollection of one of our greatest successes, that is all."

"Carried away ! I can well believe it, Nell. That cur' has been trying to induce you to give me up. It looks rather as though he were succeeding," "You are absurd!" she flashed back, heatedly. "Be careful, Richard! Nobody has ever presumed to use that tone with me before."

"What have I to do with anyone else ?" he demanded, so driven by pain and distrust that he could hardly enunciate the words. "Of your own free will you gave 'me a promise, and now it seems that you are ,being influenced to break it by that conceited beast." "He isn't. You know as well as I do he's a genius, I won't listen to you! You don't know what you are saying. Besides, I won't, be bullied by you or anyone, so there! If he wants me back, isn't it very natural? Besides,, Adimore asked me to come." - " To play at love again on the stage, and to be exploited by Lawes ? It sounds, I admit, the,, most natural thing in the world." " Richard, you are hateful!" "Eleanor, I thank you !" " After what has passed between us—" she began in lower, more gentle tones, but Richard interrupted in loud, furious speech. " Do you mean between you and me—or between you and him?" She stamped her foot. " How dare you ? You are going too far. I am at the end of my patience. Why should I lb accountable to you ? Adimore is in trouble. He was always good to me—a kind of foster-father. It may interest you to know that I am strongly inclined to do as he wishes." " Oh, Nell, why tell me? I guessed it from the start." She gave him a quick, probing glance, and with fire in her eyes, laid her hands upon his arms. " Look at me, Dickie!" she commanded. "How dare you quarrel with me and make all this fuss ? Have you no sympathy, no understanding at all ? Have I not said many times that I owe Jimmy Adimore a debt which I would gladly repay, if ever the chance came, yet now that I have this chance, you want to rob me of it. He's losing heavily, getting thin houses. It means ruin if it goes on."' " Rob you?" he repeated, angrily shaking free of her hold. " Rob you, indeed, of what is nothing more than an oppor-

tqnifcv of resuming your old intimacy with Lawes. What has all this to do with your solemn promise to me ? Did I ever try to get you to give up your career ?" " No, Richard." " Was it not purely voluntary ?"

She bent her head in assent, saying gravely: "It was." " Adimore asked you before to go back. You refused, but when he sends Lawes with the same request, you find the appeal irresistible." " I can assure you I had no idea that my dear old manager was in such a bad hole until Lion told me. I have heard rumours that the theatre was going down, but I am afraid I have been too selfishly happy to take heed, and Adimore is not the "kind to advertise his troubles, of which he made no mention at all when he asked me to keep on at his theatre." " How do you know this is not pure fiction, concocted for Lawes' own purposes ?" " I happen to be au courant with theatrical news," she returned coldly. "As I admitted just now I have heard rumours of Adimore's ill-luck. I blame myself most bitterly for my selfishness. Lion would never dream of telling me a lie." " That is a statement as generous as it is rash."

" Let me remind you that I have known Lion for years, intimately."

" And you want to go back to the stage, chiefly because he has returned from abroad ?"

"Yes," she admitted, as-angry as he,

" For when we play together wo are at Our best, and it means money for Adimore."

" In that case, what do you expect, what do you wish me to do?" he asked icily. "An autumn at the 'Jxjoking Glass ' means the postponement of outmarriage, I presume?" "It might be advisable, under the circumstances,' she said, without looking at him.

" Which, I shall keep in mind, are of your own making!" He began to move to the door. "Be sufficiently merciful to inform me of your decision at as early a date as concurs with your convenience, Nell," he said, and before she could quite realise it, he had passed from the room, from the house, on heavy feet.

The ring of the telephone disturbed her weeping. She dried her eyes before the reiterated summons came sharply. Old man Forrest spoke to her in mild, quiet tones. He asked her to come to his house on Friday evening at six and terminate the interview which Dick had interrupted in the Hatton garden office. She consented, believing she had nothing to fear from him. She was far more concerned about his son.

Pride, however, prevented her from writing him that evening.

But these two lovers were too closely united to bear the burden of discord for long. With the passage of two days, which to each was like twice their number of months, Dick came to Nell and took her in his arms, imploring her pardon for his " frightful " conduct. Nell laughedand cried, with wet cheek laid close to his, and with her hands locked tight behind his head, as though she were loath to let him go ever again. In this dear attitude, each was secretly a little pleased about th(j! quarrel which provided the excuse for these close caresses, for Richard's contrite confession, " 1 didn't sleep a wink, both nights. I didn't deserve to, did I? thinking of you, mourning you, as though you were dead, my dariing

Nor I, Dickin. My eyes were wide open at daybreak. How foolish it is to quarrel, and ye f how sweet to know yon care enough to lose your temper with me!" " Nell, Nell," he cried passionately, holding her tear-stdined face in his hands. " Don't be angry with me ever again. I can't stand it. It—it breaks me utteJy." " I wasn't really angry, Dick, only so dreadfully hurt. I shan't do anything about the without .your permission. I'd sooner cut off both my hands than make you unhappy, Dickie." Yet, when he went away, he passed Lion Lawes in a taxi at the gate. Neither acknowledged the other, nor chose to pretend, except in Nell's presence, that they were anything less than deadly enemies. But the actor found her unapproachable that day. She declared that after much thought she had declared definitely that her first duty was to her betrothed. They parted coldly.'

(To bo continued on Saturday next.)