Pleasure Reading ( Theatre by Somerset Maugham) 6-10

In the next chapter  some more information about biographies of Julia and Michael was told to the reader. When Michael joined the troop, Julia had been playing in Middlepool for a year and had already become a local theater star. Because of Gosselyn’s attractive appearance young actress fell in love with him. But Michael accepted all her compliments not exactly with indifference, but as he might have accepted a compliment on a fine old house that had been in his family for generations. They spent a lot of time with each other, but unfortunately to Julia, she was only a friend for Michael. Character of Gosselyn was far from perfect – he was very greedy, but it wasn’t a problem for Julia. All her attempts to charm Michael were not successful.
But one day Julia was invited to Michael’s parents to Cheltenham. Of course she agreed. During this visit, on the first sight, elder Gosselyns were rather kind to her, but Julia realized, that at the same time they were taking stock at her. She used all her talent to receive their sympathy. And her efforts were praised. One evening Michael said to her, that she made a good impression on his parents and asked her to marry him. Surely she couldn’t deny him. And in spite of the fact, that she knew, that he didn’t really love her, Julia was more than happy.Soon all the troop knew about their relations. Michael didn’t hurry to marry, and he was planning to save up some money and to open his own theater. Julia didn’t like this situation, because she wanted to marry Michael as soon as possible. More of this one American manager offered a one year contract to Michael, Gosslelyn agreed. So he was going to leave Julia for a year.