Fawn gently pulled her hand away fromhis inspection. ‘I may look elegant on stage but I’m not the most graceful of creatures,’ she laughed. ‘Always walking into things.’
‘They look like fingermarks, Fawn.’
‘Can’t think why.’ She pulled herself to her feet using the theatre chairs to help her stand, but slipped a little when the seat she’d held onto started to flip forwards. ‘Whoops! See. I’m never on my feet for toolong before I’ve slipped over again.’
‘It’s Hamish, isn’t it?’
‘Walter…’
‘You can tell me, Fawn.’
‘I don’t evenknowyou.’ She backed away from him and skittered back into her original row, gathering up her belongings.
‘I know, but —’
‘And it’s Miss Burrows,’ she said. Her face had hardened; the bright smile and sparkling eyes had dulled, and Walter couldtell, despite not even really knowing her, that she was scared.
‘Miss Burrows,’ he took a moment to compose himself, ‘I mean you no harm. I am an employee of this theatre and therefore a friend to you. If ever you need someone to deliver your mail, someone to pop out and get you food between performances… or someone you need to confide in, I’m your man.’
‘No,’ she sighed, her eyessearching his for something more than she found, ‘you’re a boy.’
And she left.
