Читать книгу The Death of a Celebrity - Footner Hulbert - Страница 7

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Bea Ellerman, now, officially, Mrs. Mack Townley, was one of the most beautiful women in the public eye, and the little cushions of self-satisfaction at the corners of her adorable lips suggested that she knew it. Her tall figure, her classic features, her soft dark hair, all were perfect, and she had, in addition, that all-over lusciousness of aspect that defies description. Her husband could deny her nothing. She was wearing a Hattie Carnegie dress of stiff blue silk besprinkled with tiny gold stars and a fifty-thousand-dollar sable coat; clips, necklace and bracelet of diamonds and emeralds. She sat a little forward in the taxi, smoothing the wrinkles out of her gloves, while Mack, from his corner, watched her with a kind of agony of desire and frustration. A tall man, Mack, beginning to grow a little heavy; dark, handsome, self-indulgent face; famous for his perfect grooming.

“We’re half an hour late,” he growled.

“What of it?” said Bea. “They won’t sit down without us.”

“It’s damn bad manners!”

“Nonsense! Nobody’s on time. Not important people, anyhow. I aimed to be late tonight.”

“Why, for God’s sake?”

“Because I wasn’t going to let Gail Garrett make an entrance on me. That old woman!”

“All right,” growled Mack. “But please remember that she’s still an important person in my business.”

“She’s slipping fast. It’s ridiculous the way she tries to hang on to Gavin Dordress. Anybody can see that he is sick of her.”

“What is it to you?”

“Nothing. But I hate to see Gavin made a fool of.”

“Leave it to him.”

“A man is no match for a woman in a situation like this. Gavin needs the help of another woman in getting rid of Gail Garrett.”

A spasm of anger crossed Mack’s face. “Meaning yourself?”

Bea smiled confidently.

“You keep out of this!” growled Mack. “I won’t have it!”

Bea leaned over and slid the glass across so that the chauffeur could not hear. “Don’t speak to me like that,” she said coldly. “I am not accustomed to it.”

“All right,” said Mack. “But you leave Garrett alone, that’s all.”

“So she’s important to you,” said Bea with a disagreeable smile. “Are you thinking of engaging her?”

“No. But I don’t want any feud started.”

“Mercy! I’m not going to do anything. I don’t have to. The woman already hates me as much as it is possible for one woman to hate another.”

“All right,” growled Mack.

Bea smoothed her gloves. “I’m quite looking forward to this dinner,” she murmured. “I expect to enjoy myself. I suppose Gavin will put Garrett at his right hand and me at his left. Then we’ll see.”

Mack drew his lips back. “All right! But don’t forget that a man can stand only so much!”

“What on earth are you talking about?” she said, turning to him.

He refused to answer her.

“Are you going to carry on like this every time a man acts as if he liked me?”

“I don’t care about any other man. It’s only this one man ...”

“He’s your oldest friend.”

“So much the worse.”

Bea shrugged elaborately. “I don’t see how I can act any differently. I certainly can’t set out to keep Gavin Dordress at arm’s-length. He’s your partner. He’s absolutely essential to you.”

Mack said nothing.

“I should think you’d be glad to help him get rid of an incubus like Garrett. It would be tragic if he gave her the lead in his new play. She’s finished. Worse than tragic, it would be bad for business.”

“All right,” said Mack. “But you keep out of it.”

“What’s the new play about?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You announced it a week ago.”

“That’s a routine matter. It’s not finished, I haven’t seen it, and he has told me nothing about it.”

“Does he intend to give the lead to Garrett?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, are you going to let him give her the part?”

“I never interfere with the casting of a Dordress play.”

“Don’t be a fool!” said Bea sharply. “Let us face realities. Do I or do I not get this part?”

“Better wait and see the play.”

“That’s got nothing to do with it. There has to be a leading woman’s part and I’m going to play it. It’s the next step in my career. I’ve been planning this for years.”

“Was that why you married me?” growled Mack.

“For Heaven’s sake, this is business!” she said. “Try to look at it from my point of view. The new Dordress play will be the number-one event of the season. Naturally I play the lead. If the play was produced by Mack Townley and Mack Townley’s wife did not get the lead, it would be like a slap in the face, it would be like repudiation.”

“The final choice rests with Gavin,” said Mack.

“Oh, I’ll take care of him,” said Bea confidently. “I’ll see that he wants me to play the part.”

Mack’s face turned blackish and his right hand clenched instinctively. “By God!” he muttered. “By God! ...”

Bea, busy with her thoughts, did not notice him. “His giving a dinner at this time falls just right,” she said. “I’ll get him to tell me about the play. I’ll clinch the matter tonight ...”

Mack broke out in a low, thick voice. “God damn the play! And Gavin Dordress, too! I’ll have nothing to do with it. Let him find another manager!”

Bea turned her head swiftly and looked at him from between narrowed lids.

“I’m fed up!” stormed Mack. “Fed up, do you hear? Gavin this and Gavin that; you din his name into my ears from morning until night. The man has laid a spell on you. Do you expect me to stand for it? Gavin and Gavin’s play! No, by God! I’m through with him and I’ll tell him so tonight. I’m going to take you away from all this!”

“You don’t mean what you’re saying,” put in Bea quietly.

“All right! You’ll see!” he cried.

“Listen to me,” she said. “You’re at the head of your profession in New York and London. The first nights of the plays that you put on are important social events. The people don’t come to see your bright eyes. It’s because you’re the fashion. If you drop Gavin Dordress, Maurice Stein will get him, or Sam Nicodemus, or Gregory McArdle, and he will become the fashion. You will be handing a great fortune to one of your rivals, while you drop into second place!”

“I’m going to retire,” muttered Mack. “I’ve made money enough. We’ll travel abroad.”

“Who, me?” said Bea. She laughed delicately, and paused to allow the sound to sink in. “Can you see me fluffing from one European resort to another with nothing to do but exchange gossip with the other exiles, and get fat? You can do it if you want. Not me! I’m twenty-nine years old and I’m not going to stop until I get to the top of the ladder. Get that. When I agreed to marry you it was understood that you were to help me in my career. If you chuck your part of the bargain, don’t expect me to keep mine. The day you drop Gavin Dordress I go to Reno!”

“By God! you’re a cold-blooded proposition!” muttered Mack, beaten.

“That doesn’t help any,” said Bea pettishly. “Really, Mack, I don’t understand you. With all your experience you must know that in our profession business is all mixed up with personal relations. You can’t separate them. If, in order to get this part, it is necessary for me to cajole the author, and even appear to make love to him a little, why should you care? You must have been through it a hundred times before.”

Mack shook his head heavily. “No. Never before,” he said quietly. “Because I’m in love with you, Bea, see? And there’s something in a man more powerful than business policy, or making money or getting ahead of others. A man may keep it under for years, he may never have known that it was there, but it breaks out ... it breaks out....!”

Bea appeared to relent a little. She patted his hand, but did not look around. She was intent on her own thoughts.

“I’m crazy about you!” he murmured. “You came into my life at a time when I thought all that was past. It is like a fire in me. It scorches. Everything in me is changed. You can make my life either a heaven or a hell on earth!”

“Bear!” she said in a fond voice, but her expression had not changed.

“Tell me you are not so cold-blooded as you make out!”

“Of course I’m not! I was talking business!”

“Tell me you’re just a little fond of me.”

“Certainly I am. Or I wouldn’t have married you.”

“Kiss me, Bea!”

She obediently turned her head. “Don’t muss me!” she warned. He kissed her gently, his hand closing hard over hers.

“Ouch! You’re hurting my hand.”

“Sorry, dear.... Let’s not go to this dinner,” he pleaded. “Honestly, I don’t feel up to it!”

“But we must!” she said. “We’re there! We can’t back out now.... Besides, the matter may be decided tonight. If I am not there, Garrett will wangle the part out of him!”

“All right,” he said heavily. “But I feel that it is a mistake.”

“But, Mack, we understand each other now. If you see me being very nice to Gavin you will know it is only through motives of policy.”

“You are not nice to him through motives of policy,” he said darkly. “The man excites you. I have eyes.”

“I will be extra nice to you after we have left,” she said softly.

“All right. But don’t goad me too far while we’re there.” It was like a groan. “Don’t goad me!”

When they got out of the cab, Mack hung back in order to give the photographers a fair show at Bea. Bea smiled dazzlingly at each young man in turn.

“Hello, boys! We meet again.”

“Couldn’t be too often for me, Miss Ellerman,” said one.

The bulbs flashed. When Bea passed on they took Mack in turn. When Mack had disappeared into the apartment house one young man said to another, “Townley’s showing his age.”