Delia’s heart soared. What joy! That would give her time to think through what she should do next, or even to take a trip out to Paull and discover if her darling boy really was all right. But Mr Rogers hadn’t yet heard her sing! He must be desperate to take someone on without knowing what she could do.
‘What kind of role?’ she asked cautiously, anxious not to sound too enthusiastic, even though she would have been willing to scrub the stage and auditorium on her hands and knees if necessary. She’d done that before; she could do it again.
He clasped his hands together. ‘I’ll be honest with you, Miss Delamour. You’ve been in this business long enough to know the pitfalls, so I will tell you that we have been let down very badly by our lead singer, whose agent has informed us that she cannot fulfil her engagement. In fact, I had already heard a rumour that he had found her a more lucrative role in Manchester, so our lawyers are to sue both of them for breach of contract.’
‘Quite right,’ Delia murmured, inaudibly blessing the woman and her agent.
‘As we are almost into December we are producing a Christmas show. Not the usual pantomime – that will come in the new year – but a show of music, song and dance. We would like you to take second billing as songstress of romantic music. Not music hall songs,’ he emphasized. ‘We have a singer for those, who of course is further down the bill.’
He mopped his forehead with a large handkerchief. ‘I’ve had to turn down a dance troupe where there should have been six but only three turned up.’ He tutted. ‘Professional! They don’t know the meaning of the word.’
Poor Miss Turner, Delia thought as she shook her head in commiseration, finished before she’s begun. But if she’s intent on a stage career she’ll make a comeback. The offer he had made her was only just seeping through. Second on the bill! She had never been higher than third, and that was only occasionally. In London and Brighton there was enormous competition for starring roles, and theatre managers could pick and choose whom they wanted.
‘We shall close for Christmas, and then following the pantomime we are planning another production,’ Rogers went on, ‘which is why I need to be assured you can accept a three-month contract. After that, well, we’ll see how the shows run. Audiences are what we need,’ he said in a breath, ‘but I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that.’
They discussed terms of contract and he asked her if she would like him to inform her agent, to which she replied that she would write to him herself as she had other business to discuss now that she would be staying in the north for a long season. She also asked Mr Rogers if he would be willing to pay her directly rather than through her agent, as he hadn’t been involved with the arrangement.
‘This will suit me very well indeed,’ she said at last, ‘and you needn’t think I would ever let you down.’ Her fingers played about her mouth as if she were considering options, and then she added, ‘As I am staying for a longer period, I will want to find a good lodging house where I can be comfortable, and do it tonight before everyone else does. So I was wondering,’ again she hesitated as if mulling something over, ‘would it be possible for you to pay me an advance so that I can give a substantial deposit and secure the lodgings for the time I’m here? My agent is notoriously slow in passing fees on to his clients and as I am not in London to badger him for what I am owed …’
He looked a little startled for a second, and then his face cleared. ‘I don’t see why not, Miss Delamour. For someone as esteemed as yourself I am sure that can be arranged. If you will wait just another moment longer.’ He pushed back his chair and got up. ‘I’ll see the wages clerk straight away,’ and he hurried out of the door.
Delia let out a huge breath. How had she dared to ask such a thing? But if he came up with a substantial advance, or even a small one, she could have a meal and a bed to sleep in that night.
CHAPTER NINE
Giles Dawson recommended the lodging house where he was staying off Church Street. He said that most of the visiting musicians stayed there as it was in a quiet area even though in the centre of town, and the landlady didn’t mind if they practised; many of the regular members of the orchestra lived in Hull and didn’t need accommodation.
Delia walked with him to see it and it proved to be clean and comfortable. After leaving a deposit out of the cash advanced to her by Mr Rogers, she returned to the railway station to collect her trunk and came back in a cab to find that supper was included in the rent. She sat in the small dining room with Giles Dawson and another musician, a cellist, whose name she didn’t catch, and it was then that Giles Dawson told her that he’d recommended her to Dennis Rogers.
‘But, Mr Dawson, you’ve never heard me sing!’ she said in astonishment.
He laughed. ‘I can tell by the timbre of your voice,’ he said. ‘But he’ll hear you at rehearsal and he can change his mind if he doesn’t care for it!’
‘But he’s given me a three-month contract,’ she protested, and put her hand to her mouth to cover her own amusement when he gave a great guffaw and said, ‘He must have been desperate!’
After supper, which was hot and hearty, and saying
