VI
Your letter only arrived this morning‚ÅÝ‚Äîafter wandering round all over the place‚ÅÝ‚Äîbut I see you are in Cardiff so this will get you at once. It was sweet of you to think of me like that‚ÅÝ‚ÄîI shan‚Äôt forget, my dear!‚ÅÝ‚Äîand three months ago I would have jumped at it, jumped at anything nearly‚ÅÝ‚Äîto say nothing of South Africa! I‚Äôve always longed to travel‚ÅÝ‚Äîto go everywhere‚ÅÝ‚Äîwearing white and helmets and anything‚ÅÝ‚Äîand some day I will‚ÅÝ‚Äîwith a private carriage or whatever it is the stars do have. But now I have just got to turn it down‚ÅÝ‚Äîdon‚Äôt ask me for exact reasons, my dear, you know how one feels about a thing!‚ÅÝ‚Äîit isn‚Äôt the money‚ÅÝ‚Äîthere‚Äôs absolutely nothing wrong with your man‚Äôs offer, I assure you, and I know I am lucky to get it‚ÅÝ‚Äîand here it is only Five a week, though marvellously regular, I can tell you, like clockwork‚ÅÝ‚Äîwhich of course makes a difference. But I have simply got to go on with this Good Companions show just now‚ÅÝ‚Äîit‚Äôs been made out of the ruins of Mildenhall‚Äôs rotten old Dinky Doos‚ÅÝ‚Äîan angel of a woman, very erect, y‚Äôknow, and tweedy, and straight out of the Old Moated Grange from Little Widdleton-on-the-Wortleberry yes, the real thing‚ÅÝ‚Äîpopped up from nowhere in a car‚ÅÝ‚Äîblushed a bit and looked very brave‚ÅÝ‚Äîpaid everything and started us off again, all on her own, not knowing the first thing about it! If you could only see her‚ÅÝ‚Äîyou would see at once it was the maddest and loveliest thing that ever happened, her doing this. And she lost money hand-over-fist for weeks and weeks‚ÅÝ‚Äîand not a murmur‚ÅÝ‚Äîand now she is beginning to get a little back again‚ÅÝ‚Äîand before she makes some. I don‚Äôt stir an inch from this show‚ÅÝ‚Äînot if they offer me Daly‚Äôs though I must say they haven‚Äôt given any signs of doing so yet.
Has ta ivver played Luddenstall, lass?‚ÅÝ‚Äîits nobbut a little pla‚Äëa‚Äëace i‚Äô Yorkshire‚ÅÝ‚Äîand as usual looks like a Gas Works all spread out‚ÅÝ‚Äîbut I will say this, they know a good show when they see it here‚ÅÝ‚Äîpacked house every night, really, and giving the little girl a hand every night‚ÅÝ‚Äîyou should just hear them! And they ask us to parties‚ÅÝ‚ÄîI was the regular Belle of the Ball at a dance here on Boxing Night after the show‚ÅÝ‚Äîpresented the prizes and was given a box of chocolates as big as a suitcase‚ÅÝ‚Äînay, lass, shut oop! Really though, as far as Luddenstall and district is concerned, we have the Leeds pantos knocked flat. And I have a feeling the luck‚Äôs going on‚ÅÝ‚Äîand that sooner or later Something will happen. So no S. Africa just now, you see.
The two Brundits are still with us‚ÅÝ‚Äîand I‚Äôm glad, though they‚Äôre not exactly Covent Garden, are they?‚ÅÝ‚Äîbut darlings all the same. Good old Jimmy is still here‚ÅÝ‚Äîbetter too‚ÅÝ‚Äîand though I know all his jokes off by heart, about as well as he does‚ÅÝ‚Äîhe seems to be as good a little comedian as there is in C.P. work‚ÅÝ‚Äîand better than some up aloft among the electric lights. Jerry Jerningham‚Äôs here too‚ÅÝ‚Äîand going strong, I must say, and better to work with than he used to be‚ÅÝ‚Äîand the girls here follow him round with their tongues hanging out, as usual‚ÅÝ‚Äîbut always from the tabs he‚Äôs the same as ever, 1 gent‚Äôs outfit, 1 dose of brilliantine, 5 cigarettes, 1 good opinion of himself, 3 bleats‚ÅÝ‚Äîand then nothing‚ÅÝ‚Äîthat‚Äôs our little friend Jerry. Then there‚Äôs our new pianist, who let himself be called Inigo Jollifant‚ÅÝ‚Äîhe‚Äôs an amateur really, was a schoolmaster, Cambridge Varsity and baggy flannel trousers and the same weird tie every day and ‚ÄúGive me my pipe‚Äù and all that, wants to write books and is very Lofty and Highbrow when he remembers to be‚ÅÝ‚Äîbut quite clean and really very very clever and he‚Äôs writing the most marvellous numbers for me, miles and miles beyond anything that comes from Shaftesbury Avenue these days. One of these nights, somebody from the West End or thereabouts will hear these numbers and then, my dear, I assure you his fortune is made‚ÅÝ‚Äîabsolutely, as he always says. He is really rather sweet and we have lots of fun together‚ÅÝ‚ÄîNo, my dear, I‚Äôm not, quite decidedly not‚ÅÝ‚Äîwe are just good friends, that‚Äôs all, at least on my side. You don‚Äôt say a word about Eric‚ÅÝ‚ÄîI do hope it‚Äôs all right.
If it was Canada instead of South Africa, there‚Äôs a little man here who would be just dying to come with you. He is our property man and stage carpenter‚ÅÝ‚Äîa little Yorkshireman, not little really but you think of him being little because he is such a darling‚ÅÝ‚Äîand he too popped up from nowhere and is now one of the family‚ÅÝ‚Äîyou should have seen him and heard him this Christmas here, telling all these other Yorkshire people where he had been and what he had seen‚ÅÝ‚Äîeh, it wor right champion, lass! He wants to go to Canada because he has a daughter there‚ÅÝ‚Äîahr Lily he calls her‚ÅÝ‚Äîand because I‚Äôm supposed to be like her (Lord help me!), he simply adores me. Oh, I forgot there‚Äôs also an old boy called Morton Mitcham, banjoist and conjurer, we picked up on the road‚ÅÝ‚Äîvery weird, Laddie, very weird‚ÅÝ‚Äînot a bad turn, but easily the champion liar of the Profession! He certainly has knocked about in his time, but if he was a hundred and fifty years old and had never stopped touring, he would still be lying, the yarns he spins!
Yes, I know it all sounds very queer‚ÅÝ‚Äîand I‚Äôll bet we are easily the oddest C.P. on the road‚ÅÝ‚Äîbut honestly we‚Äôre the nicest too, and I only wish you were nearer and could come and have a look at us. Well, that‚Äôs all, my dear‚ÅÝ‚Äîbut don‚Äôt forget I really am most affectionately grateful for the offer, and you do understand, don‚Äôt you, why I can‚Äôt accept. But don‚Äôt go and imagine I‚Äôm glued to the piffling C.P. business! Not a bit of it! Very shortly, you‚Äôll see, I shall be Blossoming Out‚ÅÝ‚Äîand then I shall expect a cable from S. Africa when the news gets through. Best of luck to you all, Kitty darling.