Kitty Little

by Freda Lightfoot

  ‘But would people be prepared to come out here, to Repstone, just to see your little plays? What sort of productions could you put on?

  ‘New ones, whenever possible.’ Kitty said, her enthusiasm bubbling over. She would read dozens of plays every week in order to choose only the best, and not be influenced in the slightest by prejudice or critical reviews. She saw herself as becoming almost as famous as Miss Horniman at The Gaiety Theatre in Manchester.

  For the Benefit, however, Kitty told them, the tried and true would hold good. They must have the audience laughing and singing and having a lovely, jolly time. There would be lively songs for the men to sing along with, plenty of rousing patriotism, and perhaps one or two amusing sketches. ‘Charlotte, would you care to dress up as a soldier and do Soldiers of the Queen?

  Charlotte coolly declined, saying that she wouldn’t sink so low. ‘I prefer a splendid little drama to better show off my talent, naturally. I am the one they are coming to see, don’t forget.’

  ‘Quite right. I hadn’t forgotten,’ Kitty kindly agreed, hiding a smile and deciding she could do the soldier act herself. Why not? Kitty was itching to get her feet back on stage.

  But no matter how many hours she spent each day working in the theatre; no matter how exhausted Kitty was when she arrived back at Laburnum House, she always found time to write to Owen. Perhaps it was only to add a page to a letter she would complete and send in a day or two, but never for a moment did she forget him.

  Deep in her heart Kitty felt cleansed. She was finally free of the nostalgia which had held her back, kept her clinging to Archie long after she should have let him go.

  Would that he would adopt the same attitude.

  He could hardly keep his hands off her, always seeking some excuse to slip his arm about her waist, peck a kiss upon her cheek, tweak her nose or tidy her hair, just as if he had every right so to do. Kitty found herself studiously avoiding being left alone with him. It was all most trying.

  On two separate occasions while working late in the evening at the Barn Theatre he’d suggested that she stay, and not bother to return each day to Laburnum House. Kitty’s response was always that the Misses Frost looked after them exceptionally well, and that Charlotte wouldn’t approve. ‘Your wife deserves some privacy. I’m intruding too much upon her life as it is.’

  Yet again today, he’d taken hold of her cycle handlebars as she was about to ride off up the lane, holding it fast while he informed Kitty that he and Charlotte now occupied separate rooms; a fact she really had no wish to learn. ‘It would give you and I ample opportunity to become – reacquainted,’ Archie announced with a smile, and since there was no mistaking his meaning, Kitty had laughed, unable to disguise her embarrassment.

  ‘I shall pretend you never said that, or that I have mistaken your meaning entirely.’

  ‘I’d rather you did neither.’

  ‘Archie, we aren’t foolish young things any more. You’re a married man and I...’ Kitty knew, with a certainty borne of true love, one fed and nurtured by the weekly and sometimes daily letters she received back from Owen, that he was the man for her. Captain Dafydd Owen Williams, that obnoxious, cantankerous, unpunctual, arrogant, exciting and amazingly sensitive tyrant, was the face which haunted her dreams. He it was who filled her heart with longing and with the pain of worry over his well-being. Archie was her past. Owen her future. Kitty was sure of that fact, more than anything else. ‘I prefer to turn the page and go forward,’ was all she said now, then calling Dixie and Lad to her like a pair of recalcitrant puppies, got on her bicycle and set off back to the Misses Frost’s with relief.

  As the day approached for the LTP’s to arrive home on leave, Kitty’s excitement and anticipation mounted. In his last letter to her, Owen had calmly announced that he would be returning with them. He was due some leave, he said, and had decided to take it with her, in Lakeland.

  Kitty could hardly wait. She marked the days off on her calendar each morning, said a little prayer for his safety every night. Once, fleetingly, it crossed her mind that she still had to break it to the Players, and to Owen, that much of their proposed leave was to be spent rehearsing and performing the Benefit. Then she would quickly push these concerns away, for she had every confidence that the LTP’s would wholeheartedly co-operate with the project.

  They arrived, as expected, during the first week in May. They were tired and travel weary, thankful to be safely back in England, yet despite their exhaustion and quite without exception, they were excited to hear about the coming Benefit. But Owen was not with them. His leave had been cancelled. Kitty was bitterly disappointed.

  ‘Something is afoot,’ Jacob kindly explained, patting her shoulder in his kindly, fatherly way as she struggled to hold back her tears. ‘We can’t begin to guess what it might be, but he was ordered to return to base and was assigned to other duties a few days before we left.’

  ‘He’s been sent to the Front, hasn’t he?’ she whispered.

  Jacob shook his head in sadness, wiped a tear from her cheek. ‘I fear that may well be the case, Kitty love. We can only pray that he will be safe.’

  Kitty drew comfort from the fact that at least she had her friends about her again. Suzy and Felicity were always good humoured and threw themselves into rehearsal for the new show with enthusiasm. Jacob admitted to the need for a little rest, in view of his advanced age, which he was graciously granted while Reg and Frank set about bringing all the LTP’s equipment and fitup out of storage. Reg in particular was like a dog with two tails, so thrilled was he with the new Barn Theatre.

  Kitty, in addition to her other responsibilities, spent a good deal of time auditioning prospective new actors, as the Company was in dire need of some new blood.

  On this particular morning, Kitty was down by the lake taking a welcome break from rehearsals to throw a stick for Lad. The dog would plunge into the water, paddle madly out to retrieve the stick and then swim happily back, carrying it aloft. You could almost see the grin of triumph on his black and white face.

  ‘It’s when he hits the shore you have to watch out,’ Kitty warned Archie, as he came to join them. The dog would run around in circles for a while before finally dropping his precious trophy and, as predicted, shake himself so vigorously he’d shower them with water, soaking them all through.

  ‘Let me throw it this time, Mummy. I want to do it.’

  ‘Well, don’t throw yourself in darling.

  Kitty and Archie stood together, watching the child toss the stick. Dixie put enormous energy into it, pirouetting like a little dancer on the shingle though the stick rarely went further than a few yards. Every now and then, simply to please Lad, Kitty would pick it up and toss it far out into the lake. In between, while dog and child were happily engrossed, she talked to Archie, saying how well she thought it was all going, and what a pity it was that Esme couldn’t be a part of it.

  ‘I think so too, but what can we do? God knows where she is by now.’

  ‘Have you never tried to find her?’

  Kitty sensed his hesitation, even as he remarked that he didn’t think looking for her was such a good idea. ‘I mean if she’d wanted to be found...’

  ‘Don’t start that again.’ Kitty turned her attention away from the lake to gaze more keenly at him, noting the way his eyes avoided hers. ‘You know where she is, don’t you?’

  A telling pause. ‘Whatever makes you think so?’ He looked very like a small boy who had been caught out in some misdemeanour.

  ‘Archie, look at me. You do know, don’t you?’

  There was a longer silence this time. ‘As a matter of fact, I do. I found a letter once, that she’d written to Charlotte.’

  Kitty struggled to hold on to her fast disappearing patience. For God’s sake where is she?’

  ‘At a theatre in Manchester I believe. But I really don’t think...’

  ‘Which theatre? We must go. At once.’

  His face registered utter panic. ‘I’
m not sure Charlotte would approve.’

  ‘To hell with Charlotte. I insist. Esme is so stubborn that if she were in any sort of trouble and I’m not saying that she is, she’d never ask for help. Besides, we’re her best friends. We can at least check that she’s well and happy.’

  He gave a heavy sigh of resignation. ‘Very well. If you insist.’

  Relief that she’d finally made some progress in her search drained all the tension from her, as if her insides had been punctured. Smiling with pleasure, Kitty was in the act of reaching out to thank him more profusely when Charlotte unexpectedly emerged on to the path from behind a clump of trees.

  ‘You both look very secretive. What’s all this hush-hush conversation about?’

  ‘Not in the least hush-hush. Archie thinks he may know where Esme is after all.’

  ‘Where she might be,’ Archie corrected.

  ‘We’re going to go and look for her.’

  ‘Well, well!’ The polite smile froze, and, as Kitty had seen Charlotte do so many times in the past, she turned to address Archie in peremptory tones, ordering him to fetch her coat as the breeze was really quite cool. Without protest he obediently set out on his mission, almost as if it were a relief to escape.

  Charlotte tucked her arm companionably into Kitty’s and led her a little way along the shore line. ‘Dear Kitty, perhaps we should have a teensy-weensy word about this fancy of yours to find Esme.’ She glanced back along the path but Archie was out of sight, probably in the house by this time searching for her coat, or perhaps deliberately staying away.

  Kitty stifled a sigh, determined not to make things easy for Charlotte. If she’d something to say about Esme, let her struggle to say it.

  ‘The thing is, you see, I’ve really no wish to find her.’

  Kitty was shocked. ‘Why ever not?’

  ‘Of course, it’s delightful for all of us to be together again after - everything - well, you understand, for a little while at least. But we can’t continue to accommodate you indefinitely at Repstone. We are not made of money.’

  ‘I realise that, but I didn’t think you were accommodating us. Every one of the Players is staying with the Misses Frost at Laburnum House and, as I said, should we use the Barn Theatre after the Benefit night, which I hope we do, we will of course pay Archie a reasonable rent for it. We could have a lease drawn up. Always best to keep things on a businesslike footing. But what has all of this to do with Esme?’ Kitty presented a carefully bland face of polite enquiry to Charlotte.

  ‘There were difficulties, if you recall.’

  ‘Difficulties?’

  ‘For heavens sake, my back was turned for five minutes and she did her damnedest to steal him from me.’

  Kitty almost snorted with laughter, since both she and Esme would have done anything at one time to win Archie from Charlotte. ‘You shouldn’t have spent so much time away in Yorkshire then, or wherever it is your poor mother lives. However, that was all a long time ago, so what exactly are you saying?’

  ‘That Esme’s privacy, which she has been at pains to carefully guard, should be respected. I will freely admit that my marriage with Archie hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, as I dare say he has mentioned, but I certainly don’t want him taking up with old girl friends, or being used by them.’

  ‘Friendship was always important to Archie.’

  ‘Was it? I wonder. You really should appreciate that he’s only being kind when he says he wishes to see Dixie. He feels it’s his duty to take an interest in the child. He is stricken with guilt at times, as if he let you down in some way, which is perfectly ridiculous since you have no proof that the child is his.’

  ‘Frank is prepared to admit that I never slept with him.’

  ‘Then its your own fault if you lost Archie. You shouldn’t have lied to him.’

  ‘I never lied. I simply didn’t tell him. I didn’t think having a child was a good enough reason to stampede someone into marriage.’

  ‘Quite so darling, if they have no wish to be stampeded, that is. And it is so sweet of you not to hold it against me that I was his choice, and not you, despite the er - um – circumstances.’ Charlotte smiled triumphantly at Kitty, as if she had proved her point.

  Kitty bit down hard on her lip, determined not to fall into the trap of arguing that Charlotte had done exactly the same thing, stampeding Archie into ‘doing the decent thing’. Far too degrading. Besides, Charlotte had lost her child so it wouldn’t be fair; assuming of course that she had been genuinely pregnant. But was Charlotte happy now that she’d got what she wanted? It didn’t seem so. In many ways, the pair of them deserved each other.

  But where was the point in all of this when it was Owen she loved, Owen she longed for. Charlotte just had that knack of rubbing her up the wrong way. Gritting her teeth, Kitty said, ‘I still think we should find her.’

  ‘I’ll be perfectly frank with you Kitty. Finding Esme may well spoil my last chance to make our marriage work.’

  ‘Oh, I think you underestimate your powers, Charlotte. I’m sure you have a much tighter hold on Archie than that. We’ll go first thing in the morning.’ And Kitty walked briskly away to collect Dixie and take her home.

  Charlotte was furious. She sat writing posters and tickets with hands that shook with rage. How dare Kitty defy her? How dare Archie override her wishes in this way? Surely he wasn’t still pining for that dratted girl. Charlotte had grown sick and tired over these last months of being unfavourably compared to the angelic Esme. And it was all so annoying that it had blown up now. Trust Kitty to spoil things.

  Initially, she’d almost regretted her impetuosity at suggesting this Benefit. Then she’d realised that it might well turn out to her advantage, in more ways than one. She’d been secretly looking forward to re-establishing herself as a star, though only for the sake of the war effort, of course. Charlotte had come to look upon the money she was lavishing upon the theatre as an investment. Not in Kitty, for heavens’ sake, or the LTP’s, but in her own future as a woman of note in Lakeland Society. She certainly had no intention of giving up her ambitions in order to play in petty little dramas in the Barn Theatre week after week. Far too much like hard work. But being its Lady President might well prove beneficial. Evidence of involvement with some worthy charity, particularly one of an artistic nature, would do her no harm at all. It might actually prove to be the key to the success she craved.

  But Charlotte had believed herself to be fully in control. She’d milked Magnus for a small fortune over the years which she’d carefully hoarded and was now enjoying spending. Archie often teased her about making his money go twice as far as he could, not realising that he was absolutely correct in this because she did indeed have twice as much as he imagined. But then he didn’t realise that she had two husbands.

  Charlotte was perfectly aware that the situation was delicate. This affluence couldn’t last for ever. Ever since she’d examined the state of her bank balance the previous week, she’d felt the first stirrings of disquiet. Yet for once, she hadn’t an idea in her head how to put the matter right. She hadn’t been to see Magnus for almost twelve months, which she recognised as somewhat careless. No doubt that sour faced nurse would well and truly have got her feet under the table by this time.

  It was really such a pity that Magnus had survived that accident. If only she were completely free. Her life would be so much less complicated if he’d simply died. If he died even now.

  Charlotte nibbled on her pen and began to think. If he were to die, that would make her a widow – a rich one – at least in theory. In practise she would remain ‘married’ to Archie. Only she knew that their marriage still wouldn’t be truly legal. But then she could always persuade dear old Archie to go through with a ceremony again, to retake their vows as it were. They did only elope after all, with a hasty wedding in a blacksmith’s shop. A proper church ceremony would be lovely and perfectly fitting in the circumstances. This notion brought a smile of amusement to
her lovely face. Perhaps it was time to pay Magnus another visit.

  As she continued to address envelopes Charlotte’s mind calculated risks, and played out various scenarios. It couldn’t be too difficult, could it? He was a cripple, for heavens’ sake. All she had to do was hold on to her nerve, and when had she ever failed to do that?

  She was rather tied up at the moment with the Benefit. But the moment that was over and done with, she would go and see him - tie up a few loose ends.

  Her own cleverness never failed to amaze Charlotte: she somehow always managed to get exactly what she wanted.

  They drove to Manchester without a single hitch, not even a puncture. Arriving early in the morning, they spent the entire day wandering from theatre to theatre since Archie claimed to have forgotten the name of it. Kitty, remembering her early efforts at searching for an agent in the streets of London, again used her charm on theatre porters and acquired a list of all known theatres in the city. A surprising number if you included the new cinemas which, in their desperation, were checked too. One by one they crossed them off with no success. Not only was Esme not working in any of them, no one had even heard of her. It was most discouraging.

  They made a sorry trio standing helplessly outside the Manchester Palace, right back where they’d started, Archie complaining that it was a complete waste of time. ‘Esme probably left long since.’

  Charlotte protested, as only Charlotte could, that she was freezing cold and wished to go home. Both of them had been saying much the same all day, so Kitty ignored them.

  Again she studied her list. There were only a few names left unchecked. The Blossom Theatre Club, out towards Salford, and two cinemas. She hadn’t the first idea where any of these were, or even if they were worth the effort, yet felt bound to try since they were on the list. ‘We could ask someone,’ Kitty said, refusing to climb back into the motor as Archie seemed to be insisting she do. Spotting an omnibus driver making his way home after a shift, Kitty ran across to ask him.

  Charlotte uttered a quiet oath under her breath and got back into the car where she sat tapping her polished nails in silent fury. The man was obviously giving directions while Kitty nodded and thanked him. This wasn’t at all the way things should have turned out. The last thing Charlotte wanted was to find Esme Bield. Drat the woman. Drat both of them.