Beloved Scoundrel (10 page)

Chapter 5

John Wilkes Booth stood there unsteadily and looking baffled. He turned to the old stage manager and demanded, “What is she talking about?”

Leroy Barnes spread his hands in a gesture of despair. “Peter Cortez left us this morning without notice. We had to use the understudy this afternoon but he’s not up the role tonight.”

Booth groaned and rubbed a hand across his forehead. His handsome face showed that he realized the situation as he asked her, “Was this the result of our meeting last night?”

“I’m afraid so,” she said quietly.

“Damn the man for a fool and a weakling!” Booth said with disgust. “He has taken his spleen out on all the company! He is below contempt!”

Leroy Barnes said, “We are doing
Richelieu
tonight and Mrs. Cornish recalled that you have often played the part. That was why we sought you out.”

Booth listened and then asked her, “Is this true?”

“Yes,” she said. “I did not expect you would so abuse yourself as not to be able to play.”

He eyed her impatiently. “You make too much of
it! My brother Edwin used to play night after night in no better shape than I am now. Drunk or sober I can play the Cardinal!”

She said firmly, “In this company you would have to be sober. We can cancel the performance.”

“No need!” John Wilkes Booth cried. “I’ll be ready to go on.” And to Leroy Barnes, he added, “Get me hot coffee! A pitcher full of it!”

“Yes, sir,” the stage manager said and hurried off to comply with this request.

For the first time Fanny began to have some faint hope again. She watched as Booth unsteadily made his way to the nearest chair and slumped down in it. His sparkling black eyes were dull now, and there were great blue circles under them. He stared listlessly ahead of him.

She said, “Do you think you can truly sober up in time?”

“Yes,” he said wearily. “I can!”

“Then I’ll have the costumes brought to you for any changes in fitting. And do you need the sides to study the role?”

He waves the suggestion away. “I know the part perfectly. All I need do is go over the movement of the scenes with your stage manager.”

Fanny went to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It is very good of you to help.”

Booth eyes her grimly. “You think so? Am I not the one responsible for the situation?”

“You could not have guessed that Cortez would act as he did.”

The actor said, “When I left you last night I was saddened by what you’d told me. I determined to bury my grief in liquor and carousing.”

“You did a classical job of it,” she said wryly. “Why are you trying to destroy yourself?”

He stared across at her and offered a bitter smile. “Because I am a genius and not recognized! My brother Edwin gets all the plaudits. And because I believe in the Confederacy and Lincoln and his crowd are determined to crush it! And mostly because I’m in love with you and you repudiate me like everyone else.”

She shook her head. “This is not a time to talk of love.”

“I would not betray you as Cortez did,” he said.

“Please!” she told him.

“What is Barnum going to do about replacing him?”

“He’s trying to find someone. It’s not easy. Most of the good actors are working or have enlisted in the army.”

John Wilkes Booth looked grim. “My brother Junius would be ideal. But he has returned to the West again. He’s considered a star out there.”

Fanny decided to take the big risk. As she asked, “What about you?”

His eyes showed some of the old fire. “You are inviting me to join your company?”

“To star with me,” she said. “I would share the billing with you. It can be John Wilkes Booth and Fanny Cornish!”

“Your honor me,” he said mockingly.

“I know you would prefer to be on your own but perhaps this might be good for you. I could help you with your drinking and your excesses.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Reform me?”

She blushed. “No. Just try to bring the best out of you.”

He said, “I will play tonight. I promise no more than that.”

“Please do consider it,” she begged him.

He smiled at her. “You don’t know whether I’ll disgrace you or not tonight. You’d better wait.”

“I’m sure you’ll be splendid if you manage to sober yourself,” she said.

“I’m sober enough now not to make any wild promises,” he warned her. “I’m thinking of what has happened at Shiloh, Bull Run, and Antietam. I do not know how long I want to remain in Washington.”

She said, “You should avoid politics as your brothers are doing.”

“I cannot turn my back on what I believe in,” he said heavily. “There are times when I wish I could.”

The stage manager returned with a pitcher of steaming hot coffee and a mug. He poured out a full mug for the actor and he took it and began to sip it. As it cooled he drank it all down. Then he asked for more.

Fanny left him with the stage manager and went to find the wardrobe mistress. As she hurried from the room Leroy Barnes was explaining the movement of their version of the
Richelieu
plan.

The entire company was on edge. It was a touch and go business getting John Wilkes Booth properly sober, fitting him into the various costumes and mapping out the stage directions for him.

She was standing backstage when he came down in his flowing crimson robes of the Cardinal. She was impressed by the way he fitted the part. He looked as one might have expected the great Cardinal to look. Drawing on heavy leather gloves he came striding towards her.

“Does my appearance please you?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “How do you feel?”

“Never better!” he said with a smile and his usual charm. She knew this had to be far from the truth but if he needed this feeling to carry him through the evening, she did not mind.

New posters had been made and placed outside the theatre and in the lobby. Word had come backstage that theatregoers arriving had expressed enthusiasm in John Wilkes Booth taking over as leading man. But there was still the actual performance to present.

The lights in the house were dimmed and the curtain rose. From the first moment of the appearance of John as Richelieu there was a magic about the performance. Peter had only been a pale imitation of the severe, conniving master of all France. Booth’s manner of playing had great force as well as charm. He walked through the production without a falter!

The curtain fell to literally thunderous applause. John Wilkes Booth showed a dignified mien and a pleasant smile as he brought her forward with him for several curtain calls. Then in a deliberate gesture she let go his hand and stepped back for him to receive the deserved acclaim of the audience for his own.

For the final curtain call he reached out for her to rejoin him, which she did, and the audience cheered and many stood up in tribute to their performance. The curtain came down to stay and they faced each other in the center of the stage.

“Are you satisfied?” he asked her.

“More than that! I’m proud of you!” she said.

“Then I am a genius?” He was smiling.

“Yes! Yes! You are!” she said emotionally.

Still in their costumes they embraced. Booth kissed her gently and then led her offstage. The other members of the company had gone to the unusual trouble of waiting for them and now cheering them! She and John found themselves surrounded by a circle of cheering actors and stage workers.

Booth, still as the Cardinal, raised his hand for silence. And when they gave it to him, he said, “I thank you for the fine support you gave us tonight!”

Then he led her up the iron steps with the cheers of the company following them. He saw her to her door and halted. “Will you have a late supper with me somewhere?”

“Yes,” she said. “You must be badly in need of food. You’ve had nothing but black coffee since you reached the theatre.”

His eyes twinkled. “They should have offered their applause to the coffee. It was the miracle worker. I’ll come for you in twenty minutes.”

Booth had a carriage waiting to take them to Caspar’s, a popular downtown restaurant. It was filled with late diners but the stout head-waiter beamed at John Wilkes Booth and led them through the crowded room to a table for two on a small terrace with a half-dozen other similar tables. Fanny was used to being stared at in public but it seemed to her that tonight every eye in the place was upon them.

She had chosen a fine yellow gown with a matching cape. Booth was all dash and charm in black and wearing his usual cloak. They had no sooner been seated than a tall, dark-bearded man in the uniform of a Major in the Union Army came over to their table and bowed respectfully.

He said, “My congratulations on the fine play tonight. You were both outstanding. I trust Mr. Booth will be playing with you regularly, Mrs. Cornish.”

She smiled, “Thank you. We’re not sure about that yet.”

The Major gave his attention to Booth next. “You must remember me, sir. I am Major Furlong. You were at the last party given by my wife and myself.”

Booth nodded and showed a strange friendliness towards this man in the uniform of the army which he hated. He said, “Most enjoyable affair.”

“We are having another tomorrow night,” the Major said. “I would ask you and the good lady to join us when you are finished at the theatre.”

“That is most kind of you,” Booth still on his feet for the visitor, said, “We will be there.”

“I shall so inform my wife,” the bearded major said with a smile. He bowed to them and strode off to rejoin his own table.

As Booth sat down she gave him a surprised look and said, “How easily you accept invitations for us!”

“If I elect to play with the company again tomorrow, you can at least accompany me to that party,” was his reply.

She smiled. “You strike a hard bargain.”

“I must with you.”

“And I had no idea that anyone with such strong southern sympathies would fraternize with members of the Union Army. You treated the major as an old friend.”

John Wilkes Booth looked amused. “He is a friend. I have friends on both sides. And it is useful to my career and to the cause of the Confederate for me to have friends in high places in Washington.”

“How complex you are,” she marveled. “You continually amaze me.”

“Let us hope I may continue to,” he said suavely. Then the waiter came and he ordered a feast of food and drink for them.

Fanny was pleasantly surprised to find that the usually abrupt and temperamental Booth could be a friendly social creature when he liked. And there was no doubt that his charm attracted much attention. In addition he had great talent, more than she’d realized.

Well into their dinner, she gazed at him across the table and said, “Until tonight I had no idea of the power you possess as an actor.”

“You brought out the best in me,” he said gallantly.

“That is not so,” she protested. “It was you who lifted me and the others to a higher level of playing than ever before.”

His sharp black eyes fixed on hers. “Was I the equal to Edwin?”

“I have always felt you to be his superior.”

“Many do. But not enough. I have tried to emulate my father. He was truly great. Edwin is too mild in his approach to the great roles. But there is a new fashion in the theatre for this sort of playing. And so he is given my father’s cloak, while I am denied it.”

“If you continue as you did tonight no one can stop you from being famous,” she said.

“I must move quickly,” he said. “Get seen by the large Eastern cities before Edwin returns. He is going to be in England for a while yet. I have to make my mark in the minds of his supporters before he returns.”

“You will not do that in the South,” she said.

“New York is where I must win acclaim,” he replied. “Not even Washington is important.”

She said, “Mr. Barnum has promised me a season in New York when we are finished here. If you would remain and share the star billing with me, you could arrive in New York with your own trained company.”

He gave her one of his winning smiles. “I tell you what,” he said. “Have Barnum confirm that and it is a deal.”

“I’ll send a telegram tonight,” she promised.

The terms which Barnum offered John Wilkes Booth did not satisfy him. He wanted more salary than the producer had paid Peter Cortez. There was a flurry of telegrams back and forth and then it was settled. A happy Fanny quickly went over the plays in the repertory and changed a few at Booth’s request. He had favorite roles he wished to include. After that it was merely a matter of rehearsing and playing. And when they left Washington a theatre in New York would be open to them.

Fanny still felt badly about Peter Cortez. In many ways she blamed herself for giving way to his wishes and becoming his mistress. He was a young man of many good qualities but he was spoiled by his wealth. He felt it should buy him anything he wished, including friends and love. And his mad jealousy of her had made him turn his back on both her and the profession he had chosen.