Many schemes were in consequence discussed and rejected before the Town Hall Committee finally decided in favour of amateur theatricals.

Here again Lucas Errol’s assistance was cordially invited, since no place suitable for such an entertainment existed in Baronford.  It was naively intimated to him by Dot that he might provide the theatre and the scenery, so that the profits might be quite unencumbered.

Lucas forthwith purchased an enormous marquee (the cost of which far exceeded any possible profits from the projected entertainment), which he had erected upon his own ground under Dot’s superintendence, and thenceforth preparations went gaily forward; not, however, without many a hitch, which Lucas generally managed directly or indirectly to smooth away.

It was Lucas who pressed Nap into the service as stage-manager, a post which had been unanimously urged upon himself, but for which he declared himself to be morally and physically unfit.  It was Lucas who persuaded Anne to accept a minor role though fully aware that she would have infinitely preferred that of onlooker.  He had taken her under his protection on that night in March, and he had never relinquished the responsibility then assumed.  With a smile, as was his wont with all, he asserted his authority, and with a smile, in common with all who knew him, she yielded even against her own strong inclination.

Nap laughed when he heard of it, despite the fact that he had himself yielded to the same power.

“You seem to find Luke irresistible,” he said.

“I do,” she admitted simply.  “He is somehow too magnificent to refuse.  Surely you have felt the same?”

“I?” said Nap.  “Oh, I always do what I am told.  He rules me with a rod of iron.”

Glancing at him, she had a momentary glimpse of a curious, wistful expression on his face that made her vaguely sorry.

Instinctively she went on speaking as if she had not seen it.  “I think with Bertie that he is a born king among men.  He is better than good.  He is great.  One feels it even in trifles.  He has such an immense patience.”

“Colossal,” said Nap, and smiled a twisted smile.  “That is why he is everybody’s own and particular pal.  He takes the trouble to find out what’s inside.  One wonders what on earth he finds to interest him.  There’s so mighty little in human nature that’s worthy of study.”

“I don’t agree with you,” Anne said in her quiet, direct way.

He laughed again and turned the subject.  He was always quick to divine her wishes, and to defer to them.  Their intercourse never led them through difficult places, a fact which Anne was conscious that she owed to his consideration rather than to her own skill.

She was glad for more than one reason that Lucas had not pressed a very onerous part upon her.  She had a suspicion, very soon confirmed, that Nap as stage-manager would prove no indulgent task-master.  He certainly would not spare himself, nor would he spare anyone else.