Page:Richard Marsh--The goddess a demon.djvu/97

Rh you are one of the few persons in London who does not." "What on earth do you mean? Who is the lady?" "You are not a theatre-goer, sir?"

"Why do you say that? I suppose I go to the theatres as often as other people."

"You haven't been to the Pandora lately."

"The Pandora? I've been there three times within the last month or so."

"Then, on the occasion of your visits was Miss Bessie Moore not acting?"

"Miss Bessie Moore!"

"This is the portrait of Miss Bessie Moore, and an excellent likeness, too. She has honoured us several times with sittings, and this is about the most favourable result we have had so far. It is not easy to do justice to the lady."

Bessie Moore! The assistant was a much smaller man than I; but if, at that moment, he had given me a push, though ever such a gentle one, I believe he would have pushed me over. What an idiot I had been! No wonder that her face had seemed familiar. Bessie Moore—admittedly one of the loveliest women in town, whose name was on every tongue, who was honoured by all the world! At that moment her acting was drawing all London to the Pandora Theatre, I had seen something of theatres,