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There was an embarrassing tremor in her voice that made her feel awash with fresh embarrassment. Any other actress in this establishment would know how to turn Barty down without making a complete exhibition of herself. Why was she so woefully inept at everything off stage? When Barty just sat there staring, she added a breathless, “Please Barty.”

He swore under his breath, then raked a hand over his face. “I made a right mess of this,” he said ruefully, then stood up. “You still want to be my friend, Dora?”

She gave a wobbly smile. “Yes, please.”

He drew in a sharp breath. “Even though I’m a clumsy fucking idiot?”

She gave a short, grateful laugh. “No, you’re not, Barty. I’m the idiot and we both know it.” She swallowed. “I would just appreciate it if you did not mention it to me again.”

Barty opened his mouth, then closed it again before breathing out slowly. “I wish I’d put a bit of varnish on it now, truth be told,” he said so frankly that he brought a tremulous smile to her lips.

“It would not have made any difference, I assure you,” she replied.

He snorted, then looked thoughtful. “Let’s not be too hasty. Who knows? It might be that you can accommodate me at some future point,” he mused, clearly deriving amusement from the way she had phrased it. “After you’ve had your heart well and truly broken, I mean.”

Theo’s spirits abruptly plummeted into her boots. Now he was just being rude. “And my standards have fallen to a more realistic level? I collect you think it an impossibility for someone to form a genuine attachment to me?” she asked in a brittle voice. Before he could answer she continued swiftly, “I believe you’re right, Barty Ewell, you should apply a coating of varnish in future. Your own particular brand of honesty has a rather nasty sting in its tail.”

“That was not my meaning—” he started with a frown, but she thrust out an abrupt hand for him to shake.

“So, we’re in agreement?” she said briskly. “No more talk of love affairs between us, Mr. Ewell?” Barty cocked an eyebrow at her, but he took her hand and let her pump it. “Thank you so much,” she said politely then turned her head. “Eddie?” she yelled over her shoulder. “Sam?” She had certainly heard one of their heavy tread in the corridor outside only a few moments prior.

“You don’t need to get me escorted off the premises,” Barty objected wryly, reaching for the hat he’d discarded on Lil’s dressing table.

The door opened and Eddie’s curly head popped around it. “Mr. Ewell is just leaving us,” she said brightly. Eddie’s look of surprise quickly transformed to one of narrowed suspicion. Theo bustled about the room busying herself putting garments on hangers as Barty’s footsteps halted at the door a moment.

When she kept her attention firmly fixed on the waistcoat she was buttoning, the door closed. Theo let the waistcoat slip from her fingers and burst into her second bout of tears that day. She had only just wiped them away when there was a short, sharp knock and Eddie loomed in the doorway with a grim expression on his face

“What ‘appened?” he asked vengefully, shutting the door behind him. “He get handsy wiv you, Miss Dora?”

Theo gulped. “N-no, of course not, Eddie.”

“Don’t come that wiv me, Miss Dora,” he replied, surprising her greatly. “I can see you been crying.”

She hesitated, then realizing she had come to trust this man-mountain, she took a steadying breath. “He was very polite,” she said with quiet firmness. “I’ve just never … never been propositioned before, you see. It caught me off guard.” Eddie’s eyes blazed and he reached for the door handle. “Eddie!” she squeaked in dismay. “Where are you going?”

He hesitated. “’E needs teaching a proper lesson,” he growled. “I’ll tear ‘im limb from fucking limb!”

“Oh, please do not Eddie!” she shrilled, sounding even to her own ears like some wronged damsel from a melodrama, but his wrathful expression was somehow alarming. “Besides.” She eyed the hulking brute doubtfully. “Mr. Ewell is a trained pugilist—”

Eddie gave a nasty laugh. “Oh yeah? Well, I fight by London rules, not the Marquess of fuckin’ Queensbury.”

Theo did not precisely know what this meant, but it sounded ominous. “I promise you; it wasn’t the way you think,” she persisted doggedly. “The only reason I’m crying is because …”

“Because what?” he asked suspiciously.

“Because I am selfishly sorry that I have now lost him as a friend,” she sighed, realizing it was true. She sank down wearily into a chair. “Now everything’s spoiled between us, and I can never again treat him with the casual camaraderie that I do with you or Albert, Sidney, or Jim.”

She did not mention Sam who was extremely monosyllabic and could barely be brought to give more than one-word answers or grunts to any of her attempts at conversation.

“You never could,” he said harshly. “He ain’t like me nor Albert. Albert’s just a lad and I’m—well I’m a different story.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “You got to have your wits about you, Miss Dora. When it comes to men. I dunno why Mr. Dabney allows it. For you to go about the way you do—to associate wiv’ all them rough types. They’re not fit company for you and so I shall tell him next chance I get.”

Theo spluttered. “Eddie, I’m an actress, not some delicate creature who needs shielding from the world.”

“You’re a lady,” he said grimly. “No matter that you prance around in trousers on the stage.” He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “You can tell you was raised a lady and you are one through and through. I know all about it, me and ‘Arold Allsop talk about you often. He couldn’t ‘old an ‘igher opinion about you and that’s the truth.”

Theo’s mouth fell open to hear that Eddie and Harold were on such familiar terms. She had not realized they were even friendly. “Mr. Dabney should never permit the likes of that Ewell to be calling on you casual like that,” Eddie continued in an ominous rumble. “He should be keeping a better eye on you.”

Theo gazed at him fondly. “Eddie, I am truly flattered that you think so highly of me, but the truth of the matter is that I love the freedom Clem affords me, the freedom that being a married lady brings me. You cannot comprehend how hemmed in by life I was, how restricted, how stifled. My life now is … so much richer. Can you understand?”