As soon
as the war ended Michael began to work as an actor and soon
gained a reputation in London
Julia and
Michael were rich enough to send their son to Eton and then to
Cambridge
Tom was
head over ears in love with Avice. As soon as he could, he brought
the conversation to her. It irked him to see Julia home
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As soon as the war ended Michael began to work as an actor and soon gained a reputation in London
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1. As soon as the war ended Michael began to work as an actor and soon gained a reputation in London.
He spared no effort to force managers to pay him the salary he thought he was worth, but if he couldn’t get it, he was prepared to take less.
He still thought of going into management, but though they had saved seven thousand pounds, the sum was inadequate.
Mrs. de Vries came to their rescue. She agreed to put up money and become their partner.
2. As time went on, Michael took to directing. He still acted occasionally, but less frequently than earlier. When he said he was going to direct their next play, Julia was doubtful. She suspected that nothing good would come of it. Michael had no fantasy and his ideas were commonplace. But he made a much better job of it, than Julia expected. As he knew perfectly well what Julia was capable, he was able to get more out of her than any other director.
With the cast he was friendly, but exacting. When tempers grew frayed, his good humour, his real kindness smoothed things over.
3. Michael’s complacency exasperated Julia. He beamed with pleasure when he managed to beat an opponent at golf or get the better of someone in a business deal.
Besides, he was a crashing bore. He liked to tell Julia everything he did and every scheme that passed through his mind. It had been charming to listen to Michael, when she was head over ears in love with him, but after she had fallen out of love with him, Julia had to exercise all her tact not to show him he was bored to death.
More over, he was outrageously vain of his appearance. As a youth, he had taken his beauty for granted, but with advancing years, he began to pay more attention to it and spared no pains to keep what was left of it. It became an obsession.
4. Evie was Julia’s maid and dresser. She had been in Julia’s employment for a long time. Evie was a cockney. One could get it at once by listening to her speech. She was thin, angular and her red hair always looked as if it needed washing. Two of her front teeth were missing. No matter how hard Julia tried to provide her with new ones, all her efforts were in vain.
Michael thought that Evie’s appearance wasn’t suitable to their position and tried to persuade Julia to have another maid. But Julia paid no attention to his dissatisfaction. She was content to have Evie as her maid and dresser, she only wanted Evie to break herself of the habit of sniffing all the time. Evie was a skilful maid, she had never let Julia down. She had the courage to say to Julia’s face what she thought of her. It amused Julia greatly.
Portion IV.
1. Julia had a lot of acquaintances among aristocrats. As she was such a famous actress, they made much of her and went out of their way to be nice to her. She could boast of the fact that she could call some duchesses by their first names.
The papers often put pictures where Julia was photographed at week-end parties among a number of aristocratic persons. It was good publicity. But at the bottom of her heart, Julia had a profound contempt for the great ladies and noble lords, because they lived in idleness and she was an artist. When she had a chance, she was glad to put them in their place. She laughed at these smart women up her sleeve, because they were dazzled by her glamour and had no idea of how unromantic the life of a successful actress was and the hard work it entailed.
2. Charles Tamerley was Julia’s best friend. He had such exquisite manners, that one could see at once, how well-bred he was. He was an amateur of the arts and well-read. Before meeting Charles, Julia had been completely ignorant. He took her to museums, imparted information to her. Julia had a good memory and soon she could pass for a cultured woman as she was able to talk about literature and art. Julia couldn’t help but be conscious of how much she owed to him. Yet, his love of art filled her with a faint derision. After all, she was a creator and he was only a spectator.
3. Julia took Charles fancy twenty years ago and he had been madly in love with her ever since. When finally he plucked up the courage to make a declaration of love, Julia got into his head that there was nothing doing. Exercising all her tact, Julia managed to convince Charles that they should remain friends. Charles was her adviser, her confidant. She could count upon him coming to her rescue in any case. He never let her down.
4. Julia realized that Tom could hardly afford to entertain her and she was taken by his desire to please her.
He said he had forgotten to put his watch on because he had dressed in a hurry. But one look at him was enough to realize that he had taken a lot of trouble to look smart.
When it dawned on her that he must have pawned his watch to take her out to supper, she was inclined to cry. She might have offered to pay the bill, but checked herself in time. It was out of the question. It would have hurt his pride.
Portion V.
1. When Julia realized that she had fallen in love with Tom, she was shocked. She was determined to keep her head. She couldn’t afford to open her true feelings because she knew very well that Tom wasn’t in love with her. She had to admit that an affair with her flattered Tom’s vanity.
Julia did her best to make it plain to him that she laid no claims on him and he was free to do whatever he wanted. She pretended that she was a good actress. She promised to herself that she wouldn’t be jealous, she wouldn’t make him any scenes, she would be tolerant and would take things as they came. She did everything she could to bind him to her.
2. Tom had a passion for titles. He read about grand people in newspapers and now and then saw them in a restaurant or a theatre in the flesh. He was dazzled by grand people. Tom was a snob. But that was to the good. Julia hoped to make the most of Tom’s failing to bind him to her. On one excuse and another, she invited him to grand parties she gave, persuaded Dolly and Charles to invite him to lunch, got invitations for him to balls.
Poor lamb ! He looked forward to every opportunity of getting acquainted with eminent people.
Luckily, Michael took a fancy to him. He even thought Tom could have a good influence on Roger.
Tom made a great hit with Julia’s friends too. He was a good listener and could give a piece of useful advice on finance.
3. Something was bothering Tom. He looked gloomy and nervous. When Julia found out that he had got into debt, she immediately offered to pay all his debts. But sometimes Tom was so out of date. He couldn’t sponge on women. Julia blamed herself that she had led Tom into the life that he couldn’t afford. She tried to convince him that he shouldn’t drudge her the pleasure of coming to his rescue, when he was at a loose end. Using all her arts of persuasion, she was able to convince Tom to borrow money from her.
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