Rose felt more alive than she had in a long time. Although she still sensed that something was missing—probably the deep sense of devotion and trust that came with a stable, loving relationship—she persisted in her affair with Richard, shallow though it was.
Rose had only enjoyed being with a man once before—with Jack—and while her relationship with Richard was hardly on the same level as her relationship with Jack had been, it was what she needed at this point. She still wasn’t ready for another serious relationship, but one that was based purely on lust was satisfactory for the time being.
Of course, the affair did not go unnoticed by the other members of the troupe. At first, people paid little attention, as Rose would slip quietly into Richard’s room late at night. The fact that he was right across the hall from her made it even easier. However, people frequently noticed her leaving Richard’s room in the morning, and Ellen was the first to notice.
She quietly took Rose aside one morning and asked if she was sure that she knew what she was doing. Ellen wasn’t a prude—she had had her share of indiscretions in her life—but she knew the hazards of carrying on an affair. Aside from the obvious dangers—unwanted pregnancy, venereal disease—there was also the problem of emotional entanglement; especially if the people involved in the affair had different ideas of how the other felt. Richard was notorious for pursuing a girl for a short time, and then dropping her as soon as someone more interesting presented herself.
Rose wasn’t surprised by Richard’s reputation—she had been with the troupe for several months—but she didn’t think there was much danger of emotional entanglement. Their relationship was based purely on lust, nothing more, and Rose really didn’t want it to go any farther. As to the physical hazards, Rose assured Ellen that she knew what she was doing. Rose was no longer the naive girl she had been a year earlier, and Alice had happily told Rose everything she knew about preventing pregnancy, a considerable amount. Rose had insisted upon contraceptives from the start, whether Richard liked it or not, and she had experimented with different methods until she found one that she was comfortable with and that she had a fair amount of confidence would work. She had no intention of becoming pregnant again, and she had combined several things that Alice had mentioned to protect herself. She had never used contraceptives before, but they seemed to work, as she never conceived.
It wasn’t long before everyone knew what was going on. Evelyn pretended to be shocked, then giggled, having seen this sort of thing many times in the open society of the theater. Some people gossiped for a short time, but soon found new things to talk about. Affairs were common enough that they didn’t cause a great scandal. Only Marietta took offense.
From the start, Marietta had disliked Rose. She had wanted the position of leading lady for herself, and considered Rose to have usurped what was rightfully hers. Moreover, Marietta had a serious and long-standing interest in Richard, and felt that Rose was standing between them. Richard had occasionally paid attention to Marietta, but she wanted his attention exclusively for herself, despite the fact that he never stayed true to any woman, including Rose.
Rose tried to ignore Marietta, but it was difficult. Marietta had a talent for making cutting comments that sorely tried Rose’s temper, and she was very persistent. She often made unpleasant comments to Rose, just loud enough for Rose to hear. If she behaved in an insulting fashion in front of others, they usually jumped to Rose’s defense, but Marietta knew exactly how to irritate Rose. For her part, Rose tried to ignore her, relying strongly upon the training she had received as a member of the upper class, which did not allow for a lady to be rude or insulting, but it was hard, and she occasionally found herself making cutting comments of her own, which only made the situation worse.
Despite Marietta’s interference, Rose and Richard continued their affair, and after they left Pittsburgh and traveled to St. Louis, they began openly sharing a hotel room. Marietta grumbled, but the other members of the troupe turned a blind eye. Neither Rose nor Richard let it get in the way of their work, nor did they let it cause problems with other members of the company, so people left them alone.
Rose worried initially that some nosy newspaper reporter would catch on to the affair and treat it as a scandal, but the troupe moved around so much that neither she nor Richard ever became really well-known in any one place, despite the use of their names in advertisements, and so many people already considered actors to be immoral that it would not have shocked them to know that an affair was in progress between two minor theater performers, especially in cities with numerous theaters and actors. Moreover, most members of the troupe were discreet about things that happened within the company, and the affair never made its way into the newspapers. The era of the actor as a major celebrity was still in the future, and only a few theater actors ever received the kind of notoriety afforded film actors.
As the summer progressed, the Shakespeare company made its way further west, leaving St. Louis in late June and heading for Chicago, where they stayed for two months, adding a third play, King Lear, to their repertoire, and finally heading for Denver on the first day of September, 1913.