“Why did I want them? Ha! Look at this.”
Her gnarled hand proudly indicated the cluttered room.
“I got most of it all here, young man. Nearly all of it. Years and years it’s took to get it all. And when I read in the papers that Victor Ballau’s ownings were going to be auctioned off, I knew I’d find something I wanted because Victor Ballau was always fond of the old Goldsmith and I knew he’d have some of the things. And, sure enough, there was the candlestick. But there ought to have been two of them and there was only one. I recognized it at once ... although it’s more than twenty years since I’ve seen it. But it’s genuine.”
“Where did you see them last?” De Medici asked, his thought groping with the word “Goldsmith.”... He was thinking, “the Goldsmith Theater ... oh, yes, the program in the handbag. It was the Goldsmith Theater program....”
She interrupted his gropings.
“Ha,” she cried, “they couldn’t fool my old eyes. They belonged to the Bandoux Repertoire Company of the old Goldsmith.” She became excited with memories. “Yes, yes, those were the days. You should have been there, young man, you should have known those days.”
“The Goldsmith Theater in London,” murmured De Medici.
“The finest repertoire company that ever lived!” the old woman exclaimed.
“How do you happen to be interested in the old Goldsmith?” he interrupted with a smile.
“Me! Me! Ask anybody if they remember old Fanny of the Goldsmith,” she cried. “I worked there for twenty-five years. I was dresser and mistress of the wardrobe, I was.”