The Dark Palace

‘Who is she?’ asked Qui

‘Don’t you know?’ said Macadam.

‘An actress?’ Qui

‘She’s more than an actress, sir. She’s a star. She’s Eloise.’

‘She has beautiful eyes,’ observed Qui

His two sergeants nodded in agreement, but said nothing.

‘She is … French?’ asked Qui

‘Yes.’

Qui

He wondered whether Eloise would turn out to be genuinely French. This was a business based on illusion and pretence. It was possible that no one was who they seemed to be.

The thought brought him back to the reason they were there. ‘All right, you men. Time to find our Germans, if they’re here.’

But neither sergeant could take his eyes off the actress.

There was some mute buffoonery with a stout man whose deep-set eyes gave his face a mournful but slightly seedy cast. The crowd responded with far more hilarity than the dumb show warranted. Qui

Qui

As Qui

It was an electrifying discovery.

Qui

The girl – a brunette in her twenties – was pretty enough, but of course she suffered in comparison to Eloise. There was something affecting about her face, a kind of frailty, but he realized that it was just as likely to make you despise her as love her. It seemed put on. A delicate, gossamer mask covering a hard-faced egotism. He couldn’t quite believe in her, and certainly didn’t trust her.

As for the man, if Qui

If he was not a gigolo, then he was a pimp. And that was not to exclude many other unsavoury things that he might also be.

Of course, Qui

But really, he was not here to babysit the man from the Admiralty. ‘Get on with it, you two. If Hartma

Qui

Qui

Waechter directed a few urgent – possibly angry – words towards a man holding a Yorkshire terrier. Qui

The exchange had no impact on the actors, who maintained their good-natured rapport with each other and the audience. At least this was the case with Eloise and the stout comedian with the mournful expression. The other couple he had picked out, the ones who had taken an interest in Lord Dunwich, followed the discussion with greedy eyes, as if they suspected that there was profit to be made from whatever might fall out from it.

But the altercation petered out. The reassurances of the South American played a part. So too did the intervention of a large, imperious-looking woman with a spreading bosom who spoke sharply and decisively to the man with the dog.

Qui

The group of film people began to wave and make their way back inside Porrick’s Palace. But just as they were doing so, an ugly scene broke out.