The Vaudeville Star

She didn’t know what she would say to King once she was face-to-face with him, but she wanted to know the truth. The rain had drenched the streets, and everything was gray and drab. When the taxicab deposited her outside the town house, the sky was darkening. She knocked on the door, and a butler admitted her.

“I’m here to see Mr. Parker,” she said politely.

The butler nodded. “Very good, Miss. Let me see if he is available,” he said, showing her into the front parlor.

Ruby shivered slightly. The rain had been unexpected, and she had not prepared for it and carried no umbrella. She saw from the window the streetlamps in the dreary gray light as she heard the butler’s footsteps recede. He had not asked her name, which she thought odd. She warmed her hands before the fire and tried to frame the words she would say in her mind.

The dark sky and the rain created an eerie setting for the meeting, she thought. She had been placed inside an old Gothic novel, and all that was needed was a flash of lightning and the appearance of the antagonist.

When the door opened, King entered the room looking disheveled. Ruby was used to seeing him in pressed pants and fine linen shirts. Now he wore a dressing gown over his wrinkled pants.

“Oh, Ruby!” he said

quietly when he saw her standing by the window.

“King.”

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, my dear. My butler is new. He didn’t announce you. In fact, he said very little. I didn’t know who to expect. I thought it might have even been the police again.” He moved to his bar and poured himself a drink.

Ruby watched him, and when he offered her a drink, she declined.

“Oh, Ruby. The terrible accident. Lourdes has been killed. I’ve been to the morgue to identify her body. I don’t even know why she was here. ”

Ruby nodded. “I’m very sorry.”

“Yes. She was so alive one day and then gone the next.” He shook his head. “Tragic.”

“King, I—”

“She came to me. Out of the blue. I didn’t invite her to London. I broke it off with her in New York.”

Ruby said nothing and watched as he gulped down his drink.

“I settled the town house on her so that she could live a comfortable life. I thought that would ease the parting.” King refilled his glass. “I guess not.”

“What did she say when she came to see you?” Ruby asked.

King shook his head. “All sorts of things. That she loved me. That she wanted a life with me. How could I tell her I was in love with someone else? That I was going to marry someone else?” He smiled at Ruby.

Ruby ignored his words. “What did you say to her?”

“What could I say? She was past hearing. She followed me to several parties. I attended a ball at Devonshire House. I didn’t see you there, but I heard you sang beautifully.”

“I glimpsed you once, but then you were lost in the crowd. The king invited me after our opening night.”

“She was the reason I didn’t stay very long.”

“No?”

“No. She followed me, and she had been drinking. She was close to making a scene. I didn’t even know how she got in until later. She had lied and said she was my wife. I took her back to her hotel. She was in a state.”

“What did you do after?”

“After?” He seemed confused.

“Yes. After you took her to the hotel. What did you do then?”

“I went home. Here. Why do you ask?”