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with you.”
     
    “l hope not,” Fanny said worriedly. “David is the only man in my life.”
     
    The girl’s eyes held a mocking gleam in them. As she said, “I have heard that once you gave your heart to a titled gentleman in London.”
     
    Fanny stared at the girl. “Who told you that?”
     
    “It’s been whispered about.”
     
    “That was long ago,” Fanny assured the girl. “A part of my life that is ended.”
     
    Nancy said, “Perhaps Peter thinks you may feel the same way about David Cornish one day.” And with a provoking smile she went off to wait for her cue to rehearse.
     
    Fanny was shocked to know there was gossip about her circulating in the company. And when she and Peter had to play some love scenes together in one of the plays she deliberately tried to behave coldly.
     
    It was her husband, David, who as the director halted the rehearsal to complain, “Really, Fanny, you must put more emotion in it! You do not make me believe you care for the fellow at all!”
     
    Peter Cortez smiled at her and waited as she began the scene again, playing it with more sincerity. And when the handsome actor was called on to kiss her, the pressure on her lips was real and sent a shiver through her. It terrified her to think that her emotions might betray her once again.
     
    But David was in no way upset. He told them, “That was much better. You conveyed something that last time!”
     
    In the midst of this problem there came a welcome break. Their old friend Adam Burns looked them up at Mrs. Larkins’ place and was pleased to hear of their good fortune. He came armed with an invitation for an evening out.
     
    “There is to be a special one night gala to raise a fund to place a statue of Shakespeare in Central Park,” the old hardware merchant told them. “I am one of the committee. And the stars are to be the three Booth brothers in a rare appearance together in Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar.’ The play is to be put on at the Winter Garden and there will be a reception and supper afterwards at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. I’d like you two to be my honored guests.”
     
    David Cornish gave Fanny a glance and said, “I should like to see the Booths. Wouldn’t you, my dear?”
     
    “Yes. I have heard so much about Edwin Booth and his great talents,” she said eagerly. “Surely we are far enough ahead in our rehearsals to take the night off.”
     
    “I’m sure Mr. Barnum will not object,” David told the jolly Adam Burns.
     
    “Capital!” the big man with the gray side-whiskers said. “You need not worry about transportation. I shall call for you in my carriage and take you to the theatre and to the gala supper following the performance.”
     
    Fanny was excited at the prospect of seeing the great Booth and attending a party as well. She at once went about repairing and freshening up one of her best stage gowns for the affair. She also carefully cleaned and pressed David’s evening clothes.
     
    David announced they would not be working the night of the gala. And the elegantly dressed Peter Cortez reacted as she might have expected. He sought her out as soon as he heard she and her husband were attending the play.
     
    With one of his cynical smiles, he told her, “You will not find Booth the handsome hero you expect. He is a smallish, quite ordinary fellow with a thirst for drink.”
     
    “He has a genius on the stage,” she defended the actor. “That is all that concerns me.”
     
    Cortez shrugged, “He is not the only one with talent. He lives on his father’s reputation. While actors like myself have to make their own name.”
     
    She gave him an incredulous look. “You surely are not jealous of Edwin Booth?”
     
    “I’m jealous of any other male on the stage,” he admitted. “If I had no conceit I would be a poor actor.”
     
    Fanny laughed. “In that case you must surely be a genius for you are nothing but conceit!”
     
    The good-looking Cortez warned her,