pay what we owe, or he’ll take legal action against us.”
“Can we come up with two hundred fifty dollars?”
“How much money do you have?” Hugh asked.
“About fifty dollars,” Rachael said.
“We can come close.”
“But that fifty is all I have. If Garon is gone and we are on our own, I’ll need money to live.”
“We’re all in the same boat, my dear,” one of the other players said.
“Maybe we can do another performance tomorrow night,” Rachael suggested. “Surely, one more performance will make enough money to get us out of this.”
Hugh shook his head. “We’ve already approached the theater manager with that proposal,” he said. “But he has the theater all booked. There’s nothing we can do.”
“At least, our hotel bill is paid for one more night,” Mary said.
“And we have train tickets that will take us back to New York,” Hugh said.
“But not enough money to eat on the train,” another added. “It’s going to be a long, hungry trip.”
“The way I see it, we have no choice,” Hugh said. “We have to go back to New York.”
“I’m not going back,” Rachael said, surprising the others.
“What do you mean, you aren’t going back?” Hugh asked, surprised by her statement. “Surely you don’t intend to stay out here in this—this godforsaken West, do you? Don’t you want to go back to New York?”
“No, why should I go back?” Rachael replied. “There’s nothing for me back there.”
“Rachael, it is ridiculous for you to let Edwin Mathias ruin your whole life,” Hugh said.
“Hugh,” Mary scolded.
“Oh,” Hugh said. “Look, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Rachael said. “I know you are just trying to be helpful.”
They debated as to whether they should have dinner at their usual place that night, or save what little money they had in order to get back home. In the end, they decided they would have dinner.
“We may as well have one last dinner together,” Hugh said. “For who knows when we will eat again?”
“That’s Hugh for you,” one of the others said. “Laughing as we pass through the graveyard.”
The others laughed.
Although the dinner could have been a somber affair, the members of the stranded troupe laughed, and exchanged stories in spite of—or perhaps because of—their situation.
Afterward, Rachael went up to her room at the hotel, then lay in bed, staring up at the darkness. She had very little money, no job, no prospects, and no contacts in the West. But she also had no intention of going back East. Her situation was bleak at best, and a lesser person might have cried.
Rachael refused to let herself cry. She had been through a worse situation than this. She had been through Edwin Mathias.
Unable to sleep after her first performance of the season, Rachael Kirby waited until she was sure that the morning paper was out. Getting out of bed, she went downstairs, and out onto Fourth Avenue to wait by the newsstand until the vendor arrived with a large packet of the day’s newspapers.
“Good morning, miss,” the vendor said.
“Is that today’s paper?” Rachael asked.
The vendor chuckled. “It is indeed. Hot off the press, miss,” he said. “It’s five o’clock in the morning. There must be a story you really want to see.”
“The reviews,” Rachael said.
“Ahh, the reviews, yes, I understand. You are an actress, are you?”
“I am a musician, and I did my opening show of the season last night,” Rachael said, handing the vendor two cents.
“I hope it is a good review for you then, miss,” the vendor said as he gave her a folded issue of the paper.
Rachael took the paper over to the corner and stood under the greenish cast from the gaslight in order to read the review.
Mr. Mathias and Miss Kirby Thrill Audience at Stuyvesant Theater
The opportunities to hear chamber music under satisfying conditions in New York are not frequent, and therefore it is a pleasure to record that Mr. Edwin Mathias and Miss Rachael Kirby gave a violin and piano sonata recital, in the first of what is planned to be many performances for the season.
If last night’s performance is any indication, they are assured of a very successful season. The performance was in the Stuyvesant Theater, a perfectly excellent auditorium for chamber music. The feeling is the same as if one is in a drawing room.
