Jane had just noticed that there were several extra scripts on the table next to her chair at the back of the room. She took one and handed another to Shelley.

Imry's face turned bright red. "This is my script. And I'm the director. You will read it the way it's written and is being directed."

"I'm not as easily replaced as Joani, you know," Denny said. "You don't seem to know my charac‑

ter as well as you should. Where did I go to high school? My parents are rich. They'd send me to the best private schools. I'd know better grammar than you've let me use in this script. It's absurd that the script tells me to say 'Angeline and me are getting married.' The correct way is 'Angeline and I are getting married,' and I'd be well enough educated to know it."

Imry pretended he hadn't heard. "Continue. It's Edward's line next."

Edward, who was really Jake, had it memorized. He played a sort of comic-relief younger brother. Somehow he managed to make Imry's stiff writing light and almost amusing. Jane thought of all of them, he might be the best actor, except for Ms. Bunting.

The next bit of script was spoken by someone Jane hadn't even noticed before. He hadn't been introduced. Glancing at the script, she saw that he had the role of the butler, Cecil, and that his real name was Bill Denk.

"Madam and sir, Cook says luncheon will be served in ten minutes." He was a young man, but spoke in the cracked voice of an elderly retainer.

Jane and Shelley both glanced at their watches. Enduring this wrangling wasn't exactly fun. "Could we slip out now?" Jane whispered.

"Why not. Nobody needs us here," Shelley admitted.

They went outside and Shelley found them aplace to sit on a wall in the shade of a small tree. She gestured at the building and said, "Paul found out that this theater has a long and interesting history. At the beginning, this was a pricey neighborhood, and the building was a nice theater with live actors-this was before radio and television. Then the neighborhood started going to pot, several patrons were robbed on the way to their carriages, and another, nicer theater was built elsewhere.