“And so you didn’t,” Stalkey concluded gloomily.
“No, I didn’t,” Katherine Nelson said cheerfully. “But why should I follow his orders like a robot? After all, I’ve had thirty years of experience in the theater. I’m an established star. Surely I’ve got some right to express myself in my own way. Be reasonable, Oscar.”
“Well, what about the other people in the cast? You treat them like dirt.”
Katherine Nelson looked shocked. “I do not,” she declared. “I haven’t said a word to them.”
“That’s the whole trouble. You completely ignore them.”
The actress looked pained. She leaned forward in her chair and spoke intensely. “I’m a professional, Oscar. The theater is my business. I don’t go to rehearsals to socialize or have a good time. I’m there to work. And I expect others to do the same.”
Oscar Stalkey threw up his hands. “Have it your own way, Katherine, but something’s all wrong. I know it and so do you. You’re not the only professional in the cast. Emily Burckhardt’s been in the theater as long as you have and she’s upset.”
“Poor Emily,” Katherine Nelson said sweetly. “Her trouble is that she’s got to play so many scenes with that horrible man.”
Stalkey glanced at her shrewdly. “Tom Agate?”
Katherine Nelson didn’t answer. She smiled instead.