“Gracious no,” the earl said. “I would never allow such a thing.”
“I only perform for the family,” Cordelia said. “But I do it often,” she added for further clarification.
“She’s Desdemona,” Juliet said. “You will not believe your eyes.”
Cordelia rose and attempted to ignore the fluttering in her stomach. She was not at all nervous as a performer, but thiswasMrs. Dorothy Jordan.
“Now, what I have done, Mrs. Jordan,” Cordelia said, “is refashion poor Desdemona’s tragic death scene by removing the other actors’ parts in it.”
She noted Mrs. Jordan’s brow wrinkle, so Cordelia hurriedly explained, “As I am always my entire troupe and do not have other actors to employ.”
“Ah, yes, I see,” Mrs. Jordan said.
“Also,” Juliet added helpfully, “it’s faster and more exciting without having to listen to Othello drone on and on.”
“Yes, it would be,” Mrs. Jordan said, a smile playing at the edge of her lips.
Cordelia walked to the fireplace and draped herself elegantly against the mantel. “Alas!” she cried. “He is betrayed and I undone! O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!”
She raised her head and took on a faraway look, as if she were viewing the afterlife ahead of her. Cordelia raced across the room, stopped dramatically and turned to her audience. “Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight! But half an hour! But while I say one prayer!”
Cordelia viewed Mrs. Jordan and became very encouraged; the lady was leaning forward in her chair. Now, it was time for the final poignant moment.
She ran to the inn’s window and banged dramatically on it. “O, falsely, falsely murdered! A guiltless death die I! Nobody, I myself. Farewell! Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell!”
Cordelia slowly sank to the ground and lay still.
Among the loud applause from her family, Mrs. Jordan roared with laughter.
Cordelia opened one eye. Mrs. Jordan was clapping along with the rest, but she was laughing too. What did it mean?
She scrambled to her feet. Mrs. Jordan rose and walked to her, grasping her hands. “That was astonishingly good, Lady Cordelia. It is a shame you will never walk the boards of Drury Lane, you have a natural gift for comedy—you could have been one of the best.”
Cordelia was nodding and smiling, but thoroughly confused. How on earth had Mrs. Jordan taken Desdemona’s tragic death as comedy?
The lady turned to the table. “Earl, you have a charming family. I greatly appreciate the entertainments you have provided this night, it is so rare that I am ever truly entertained. I bid you all a fond goodnight as in my condition I do need my rest.”
She curtsied to the earl, blew a kiss to Juliet, patted Cordelia’s cheek, and swept out of the room.
After the door closed behind her, the earl rose and said, “Well done, Cordelia. Now, I think we should follow Mrs. Jordan’s lead and retire so we are fresh in the morning.”
As Cordelia fairly staggered up the stairs to the bedchamber she would share with Miss Mayton and Juliet, her sister patted her arm and whispered, “I am afraid Mrs. Jordan is not very familiar withOthello.”
“Even so,” Cordelia said, “how on earth could she think it a comedy?”
As they entered the chamber and Lynette shut the door behind them, Miss Mayton said, “It occurs to me that while actresses can seem as if they have so many original ideas, they are only reciting what they have memorized. They need not have the slightest bit of real intelligence.”
“So,” Cordelia said slowly, “you think Mrs. Jordan did not understand my interpretation of Desdemona because she is stupid?”
“Well, I do not see what else it could be,” Miss Mayton said.
“Really, it is the only explanation that fits, Cordy,” Juliet said.
Cordelia nodded, somewhat soothed over the idea that Mrs. Dorothy Jordan must be a dolt.
*
Percival had takenPericles to the park, which would suit them both.
