Chapter 3

Drury Lane Theatre Royale

It was as Curtis predicted; coaches were lined up for a mile. "Do you think we should walk the rest of the way?" Curtis was worried they would be late for the first act. He had spent four shillings to see the premier performance, and he did not want to be late. That was more than he could afford with his paltry monthly allowance.

She felt a bit guilty for leaving Mama, yet she knew Mama would have refused to attend and Amina was there to look after her and keep her company.

This was the opening of the new Drury Lane Theatre Royale, owned in part by Richard Sheridan, the famous playwright. They pulled up to see a rather expansive saloon leading to the entrance. There were sixteen Doric pillars supporting the back boxes which led to staircases on each end.

"This is the most opulent place I have ever seen. Are you well impressed, Sister?" Curtis was too busy noticing all the surroundings to pay heed to her response. "We need to find our seats. I think the lights are going to be dimmed any minute."

"Well, lead the way, Curtis. I have no idea where we are going." Muriel held on to Curtis' hand, too busy looking at the theatre itself to realize she was also the object of observation.

"How did you talk us into this? It is crowded and there is such a cacophony of voices, I can hardly hear myself speak." Martin was rarely a theatre goer and only going if there was a comedy, which he knew this play was not.

"If you are unable to recall, perhaps I should remind you that I promised to pay for your drinks after we took Mother back home." Henry wondered if Martin and Fred remembered the agreement.

Martin leaned to Henry. "You failed to mention the ‘entertainment' as well." He elbowed Henry, knowing well that Henry had held that part back due to his mother's presence. Martin would not have forgotten the ‘entertainment'.

"Damn, I knew you would remember that part of the agreement." He gave Martin a sly grin. Henry was not going to welch on his agreement. Martin would never forget anything related to Temple of Venus. Henry was also sure that Martin would get into a card game and sweep the table. In which case, Martin would most likely pay for the evening. Henry owed Martin and Fred so much. They had helped him build up his wealth through their advice. Martin and Fred had a largesse nature that had supported him with the financial advice that most in the peerage would not.

"What is everyone looking at down there?" Henry asked as he searched for the object of attention. Martin and Fred looked down at the gallery. "I see! Wow! No wonder!" Henry began to ogle. "Do you see her?"

"Where? Henry, get your Mother's lorgnette." Henry spoke to his mother, took the lorgnette and pointed it in the direction of the men's eyes.

"Oh, she is beautiful. I have never seen her before.

"Give me those." Martin focused the lorgnette and there she was...almost ethereal; sylphlike. She had on a powder blue empire dress with puffed sleeves and a most impressive décolletage with ample bosom. As Martin watched her struggling to get through the crowd, he was able to better appreciate the beauty of her hair; it was alluring, angelic. He wondered what would it look like with all the pins out and her hair down around her shoulders and back. He considered that it would look even better wrapped around him. "Who is she? Who is that young man she is with?"

"Give me those before she disappears into the gallery." Fred wanted a better look himself. "I have never seen her before. If she is sitting in the gallery, she must not be of the peerage. Then, it is interesting, for the way she is dressed, she must be from some wealth." When he lowered the lorgnette, he was aware that Henry, Martin, and he were not the only ones admiring her frame. "Martin, whoever she may be, she has certainly gained the attention of the males in the theatre."

"I think she may be some kind of apparition. No one looks that–that–what?" Martin was unable to even think of a word to describe her.

"Beautiful, Martin. The word is beautiful. And I really don't think she is an apparition. How would you explain her companion?" He swatted Martin with the program. "You seem smitten with that apparition, Martin. I have never seen you so fascinated with an unknown lady. Let me feel your forehead." He reached over and put his hand on Martin's forehead. "No...no fever. Maybe you are becoming delusional."

"Merely intrigued, Fred. Merely intrigued." He wondered how he could find her. Martin was tall enough to see over a crowd. It could still be problematic as she was rather petite. If he left early and stood by the gallery exit, perhaps he would be able to find her. "Henry, I'm going to leave the box early. I want to get downstairs."

"So, you are going to look for her." Fred had known Martin since they were tykes. When Martin was interested in something, he would doggedly pursue it.

"Damnit, Fred. Must you know me so well!"

During both intermissions, Martin, Fred, Henry, and a majority of the males at the theatre watched for Miss Apparition. The sad thing was that no one saw even a trace of her.

"Sister, would you like something to drink? I'm unsure if I can bring anything back. If you want something, I can try."

"No, Curtis, I'm fine. You go ahead. Do you have enough money to purchase a drink?"

"I have enough." He gave her a little pat to her shoulder with a big grin.

"Go on then, before it is too late. You may never find your seat again." While he went for a refreshment, she enjoyed the surroundings. She looked up to notice a turret through the high roof, which she assumed was for ventilation. She heard noises going on behind the curtain. She read that the new theatre had machinery to change the scenery and sets. Very likely, that was the cause of the noise. She looked around at the people that had attended and found it interesting to see such a wide variety. People in boxes seemed to be much better dressed than the audience in the gallery. She knew it was due to the disparity in income. She could easily see that many seated in the gallery were likely dressed as nicely as they were able.

She saw Curtis struggling to get through the row to get back to his seat. She could hear him. "Excuse me." Excuse me, please.' "So sorry." She had to look away so as not to laugh.

"You made it. Was it very crowded downstairs?"

"It most assuredly was– I was fearful I would be crushed before I could get something to drink." He sat down. "Did you entertain yourself?"

"I did. I was admiring the new building. And the people."

He sat down and took a breath. "You know what happened to me while I was downstairs?"

"I can hardly imagine." She watched his eyes. So like Papa's.

"I had two different men, at two different times, come up and ask me if I was with the lady in the powder blue dress. Can you imagine? I was taken aback when the first gentleman approached me. I was most befuddled when the second gentleman approached."

"That is all they asked? That was peculiar.

"If you were with me."

"I think that is rather curious." Muriel could not imagine what would possess a gentleman to approach a stranger and ask such a question. "How gauche."

"That was my thought. The first gentleman asked if we were betrothed. I told him I would most certainly not respond to the questions of a complete stranger."

"You did the right thing, Curtis."

"There are all kinds of people that attend the theatre. My roommate told me that many come to the theatre to meet, see, and be seen. I never heard that before. Have you ever heard that?" That sounded more like vanity.

"No, of course not." What a waste of money to come to the theatre only to see and be seen. "It sounds most superficial." The thought that men were asking of her was disconcerting. She knew that she was an attractive lady, yet never thought she was anything special. Her mother was the beauty, so Muriel knew quite well what a beautiful woman looked like and it was not her.

Martin almost fell asleep through the play. He could not think of anything he would want to do less than sit through a Shakespearian drama.He knew it was almost over as he leaned over to Fred, "I'm going to head toward the exit. Tell Henry." Fred nodded.

"Martin, this is not fair. I must stay with Mother while you go in pursuit of Miss Apparition." Henry was stuck with Mama.

"I can't be blamed for you bringing your mother to the play. Sorry, my friend." When he stood, Fred stood with him.

"You won't go to find this ethereal beauty without me." Martin wondered how many men would be standing at the exit from the gallery. It mattered very little to Martin. He was taller, stronger, and much more persistent. He had every confidence, if she was coming down to the exit from the gallery, he would find her.

Curtis whispered to Muriel. "After the play, I would like to at least try to get backstage to meet Mr. Kemble. It would be so exciting to meet him."

"That is fine with me, Curtis. Tomorrow is Saturday. The only thing we have to do is meet with this Trenchard fellow."

"We need to get through the crowd. Once we get to the end of the row, we can head towards the front. I'm unsure how to get there. I would think if we start walking toward the front, we will find the way to backstage."

"Curtis, there is probably going to be quite a crowd of people backstage. You are sure you want to try?"

"Yes, of course. Keep moving, Sister." They were moving against the crowd so it was much more difficult to get through them.

"I think I would like to see the actors up close while they still have their make-up and costumes on. How fun." He held tightly to her hand.

"Are you sure we are going in the right direction, Curtis? I think we need to go down and then to the front."

"Keep walking." By the time he figured that they were going the wrong way, most of the crowd had made it out of the building. They went down, then walked toward the front.

As they walked, they heard someone calling from one of the boxes. It was a male voice. "Hello?" Muriel and Curtis both looked up. "My friends and I would sincerely love to meet you. Could we do that?"

"Muriel, don't look up there. Keep walking. You hear me?"

But Muriel did look up. She thought the gentleman amusing. She smiled at him. He was standing with an older woman, probably his mother. She smiled, waved, and kept walking. "I shan't say anything to him. Besides, he seemed friendly enough. It is sweet that he brought his momma to the theatre. She probably likes that same actor, John Kemble, you do."

"Sister, I can't help but worry over you. Being a female in a man's world is very difficult. The older I get, the more I see the disparity."

"Well, thank you for that. Even though, I like being a lady."

"Ah, here are the steps to the stage." He was so excited at the possibility of having a chance to see the great John Kemble, he was paying very little attention to anything else. They were behind the curtain when Muriel heard that same sound she heard during intermission. She recognized that machinery was moving the sets and scenery.

"Curtis! Look out!" The scenery swung in the direction of Curtis. It hit him hard and he went down. "Curtis, Curtis!" Muriel bent down by him. Curtis had passed out. Stagehands ran towards Muriel. "It is my brother. The scenery knocked him down. He has passed out. Does the theatre have a doctor?"

"No, Miss. Can we do something to assist?" With no physician on-site, the only alternative she had was to find their coach.

"Is there an exit in the back?"

"Yes, Miss."

"If I can find our coach and get it around to the back, could you be so kind as to carry him out so I can get him home and message our family physician. If he should regain consciousness, please tell him I have gone to get the coach."

"Yes, Miss. We will be happy to help you with that." She looked over to notice three men that were standing back while the one man spoke with Muriel. "Michael, go open the back door so the coachman will see it when he pulls around."

Muriel was so relieved to have the help. "Thank you so much. I will be back as soon as I find the coach. You have been very kind to help my brother and me." The four men smiled and nodded their heads in unison. She ran down the steps, up the aisle, and out onto the large saloon. By the time she got outside, there were only three or four coaches. As soon as she stepped out, her coachman immediately rode up to fetch her.

Before Jimmy could say anything, Muriel was short of breath. "Curtis has been injured. We must go around to the back of the theatre to get to him. There are stagehands that will carry him out. We must get him home."

"Yes, my lady. Right away." He helped her into the coach, then got back up on the coachman's seat and quickly moved the coach to the back of the building. It was maybe a minute; Muriel was so worried about Curtis, it felt like hours before they noticed the open door and Jimmy stopped. "Do you want to wait here?"

"No, please, Jimmy, assist me out." He helped her out and followed. "Come quickly." She ran to the back door and through the backstage to find her brother still unconscious. "Gentlemen, has he moved or spoken, anything?"

"No Miss. Is your coach by the back door?"

"Yes, thank you so very much for your help. My coachman is strong but I don't believe he could have carried my brother by himself."

"My Lady, you should go ahead of us so we have one less person to worry over. It is getting too chilly for you to be standing in the cold." Jimmy saw Muriel had no heavy wrap.

"Yes, you are right. I will go down and open the coach door."

"That would be very helpful, Lady Muriel." Muriel ran out the back door and had the cabin door open, ready for her brother. As they brought him down toward the coach, Jimmy spoke to Muriel again. "Please step aside, Lady Muriel. We need to get him inside." One of the men entered the coach and helped to pull Curtis inside as two other men held his body and legs. "He is in, Lady Muriel. We need to get him home."

"Gentlemen, thank you again. I could not have done anything without your generous help."

They had heard her coachman use her name a few times. "We were pleased to be able to assist you, Lady Muriel. We hope it is nothing serious."

"I hope that as well. Thank you again." Jimmy helped her into the coach, got up on the coachman's seat, and they rode through the streets with expediency.

Martin was standing by the Windham coach with Fred when Henry and his mother finally came out. "You missed her, Martin. I spoke to her."

Martin wanted to kick himself. How was it that Henry spoke to Miss Apparition and he was not even able to get another glimpse of her. "What did you say to her? What did she say to you? Out with it."

"Calm down Martin. Mother and I were still in the box when I spied her with the young man going toward the stage. I called out to her and she looked up at me. I said that my friends and I would love to meet her and where might we be able to do that. I heard the male say something to her. She smiled at me and waved. That was it."

"Damn! I wonder if she might have known someone backstage." He was turning around with a vacuous look. They were waiting for him to say something. "You go on. I'm going to go inside and see if the actors are still backstage."

"Martin, seriously? Come with us. She is very likely not even there. We can take Mother home, then go to our club," Henry winked at Martin at the word ‘club,' "and enjoy a scotch."

"No, you go on. I will hire a hackney and meet you at the club. " He turned around and walked back toward the entry. He looked around. Walked down the aisle. Toward the stage. He walked up the steps and went around the curtain to hear men talking. As he got closer, he overheard them speaking about a beautiful lady. "Hello, gentlemen. I overheard you speaking about a beauty. Did she have beautiful blonde hair. Wore a powder blue dress?"

"Oh, yes. She should be on the stage. I don't care if she can act or not. I would pay to see her if she stood there for an hour." The spokesman was quite impressed by her.

"And she was so nice, polite. She called us gentlemen like you did. Man, she was pretty. I couldn't even talk. I was too afraid to say anything." Evidently, all four were impressed.

"Was she here to meet someone from the play?" He was hoping she was not. She could not be an actor's lady.

"We don't know why she was back here. Her brother got hit by one of the sets that was on a pulley. It hit him and he went down. She asked if we would help her. Hell, I woulda' helped her if she asked me to dig her a ditch. And she had a nice set, you know." He raised his hands to his chest and moved them both up and down. God, how disgusting. Martin was not going to say a word as he wanted to get every bit of information from them.

"Did she introduce herself?" Give me a name, give me a name.

"No, my lord, she did not, but when her coachman came in to help us carry her brother out, he kept calling her Lady Muriel."

"Nothing else?" He thought for a second. "What of her brother. Did she tell you his name?" The smallest one spoke up. "She might have but I was so taken by her, I couldn't tell you if she did."

"Yes–we were all taken with her. Wow!" The three others all said they never heard her brother's name.

"I thank you gentlemen, for the information. It is greatly appreciated." With that he gave them a short bow, turned and left.

Martin made it to Temple of Venus, shortly after Fred and Henry had arrived. He tried the bar first and there they sat, drinking a scotch. "Did you order one for me?" He kicked Fred's chair before he sat down.

"That can easily be done." Fred waved his hand at the bar wench. "Did you find Miss Apparition?

Talk to her?"

"No, however, I did get a name. Lady Muriel."

"Lady Muriel what?" Henry leaned in. He was most interested in the apparition; as were many others at the theatre .

"That was all I could get out of the stage hands, Lady Muriel."

"Bloody hell, Martin. A most unusual name. Even with that, there are almost a million people in Town. I fear your information is not much help." Henry flicked his wrist. "It matters very little to me. I find I'm in need of more personal attention. Gentlemen, I will see you on the morrow. Just put the charges on me." Henry stood to walk in the direction of the private rooms, then quickly he sat back down "Damn–look who has graced us with his presence."

Martin turned in his chair to see an Eton foe, Michael Crumb. He was rather tall, rather thin, with dark brown hair and green eyes. He was a nice looking man. There was no need for him to be a...crumb, except he was. His father was a lowly Baron, which made Michael Crumb...an idiot. His name could not be more germane. He would cheat on tests, steal books and essays, and spread lies about fellow students he wished to harm. He would not confront anyone or fight because he was absolutely not good at it. What he was good at was spreading lies. He was careful not to spew his smut around the Four Horsemen for fear of confrontation. None of the four initiated any physical altercation. The four always ignored Crumb. The ‘incident' that graduated Michael from an irritation to an unscrupulous bastard was during their last year at Eton. Ralph Sloan, the Marquess of Wessex had a lovely younger sister, Ada, that came to visit Ralph one spring weekend. She wanted to see the Royal family's weekend home, Windsor Castle. She had traveled from London with her chambermaid for the visit. When Ralph took his sister around Eton to introduce her to some of his Eton comrades, Michael Crumb walked by and ogled her. Michael asked to be introduced to Ada. Ralph flatly refused. Ralph told his sister that Crumb was exactly that; he did not want Ada to make his acquaintance.

Ralph decided to walk Ada to the local village bakery. Crumb, having spied them, decided to follow. As it was a lovely day, Ada said she would wait outside while Ralph went in to pick out the pastries. Before she knew what was happening, Michael grabbed her, pulled her around to the side of the building, pushed her against the wall, roughly kissed her, pulled her dress up, then assaulted her. When Ralph came out and Ada was gone. She knew nothing about the area. She would not have wandered off. He started calling for her. When he walked to the side of the building, he could hear someone crying. He walked the length of the building and saw her behind the building, on the ground. He ran to her. She was dirty, shoes had small heels that were broken off, her hair had come down, her dress was hiked up, and it looked like her mouth was bruised. He asked who attacked her. She was too overset to speak. Ralph thought he could not have been in the bakery more than five or six minutes, at the most.

He helped her up. Took her back to the inn where she was staying and her chambermaid cleaned her up. When the chambermaid came out to speak with him, she reported that a boy from school had pulled her around the side of the bakery. He was rough. She had never been kissed and he had hurt her mouth. He had raised her dress and put his hands ‘down there'. He was unbuttoning his fall when Ralph started calling for her. He pushed her down and ran away. She recognized the attacker, yet she refused to tell her brother until he graduated. She feared what her brother would.do. By the time she identified Crumb, he had left school.

He was found in Town late one night, coming out of one of the less reputable houses of ill repute. Oddly, to Crumb's recollection, two men surprised him, beat him, and told him he deserved worse. Crumb told the magistrate that the men were tall and strong, however, that was all he could remember. He was extremely foxed. Fred and Martin were very sure Crumb had abused other women since the time he assaulted Ada.

Crumb eyed Fred and Martin at the table and sauntered over from the bar, sloughing ale from his stein as he approached them.

"Well, it is Crumb, the younger. You don't even rate a true title, Crumb the younger ." Fred wanted to taunt him.

"Crumb, I don't like you. If you walk away from the table now, I shan't hurt you. If you say one word, it will be my pleasure. Do as I say, Crumb. Walk away." Martin never even looked up as he spoke.

Fred and Martin resumed their conversation. Michael stood there, weaving back and forth while he considered his options. Even as far into his cups as he was, he had enough sense to listen and heed Martin's words. He staggered back to the bar, then became abusive to one of the bar wenches. Martin could hear the girl try to be diplomatic in her continued requests for him to let her go. As Crumb's words became more abusive, her voice raised and went from a request to pleas. Martin continued talking with Fred. Loudly, the girl told him, "Please!" Martin stood so quickly, the chair he was sitting in fell backward. He walked over to Crumb and put his hand on his neck.

"Let her go, you Crumb."

Crumb looked away from Martin and began groping the girl. Martin had one hand on Crumb's neck and grabbed his ear with the other. "Let her go or I will break your neck." He let her go.

"You don won me to hav aanny fun. Tha's right. Well, fuuck you."

Martin let go of Crumb's ear, grabbed a handful of hair, as he kept his hand on Crumb's neck. He led him to the front door. Every step or two, Martin would knee him in the arse. Martin used Crumb's head to open the front door. The doorman, Ernie, looked around, less than surprised. "My lord, I can take him from here. Thank you."

Martin still held on to him. "Give me a moment to say good night." Martin let go of him, then kicked him so hard, Crumb flew off the frontage and landed face down in the gravel. "Now, you may escort him to the sewer, or whatever he crawled out of."

Martin walked back into the bar area to a round of applause. He responded with a bow and walked back to the table, picked up his chair, and sat down.