The Short, the Long and the Tall by Jeffrey Archer

Author:Jeffrey Archer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Questions were whispered in the cloisters as to where she would go to the lavatory, who would cover for her when she was having her period, and even who would sit next to her in the dining room.

Several former alumni made their feelings clear to the president of Yale, and some even moved their offspring to other universities lest they be contaminated, while another more active group were already plotting her downfall.

When Dr Burbage had entered the same theatre some forty-two years before to deliver her first lecture, the troops were lined up and ready for battle. As she walked onto that same stage, she was greeted by an eerie silence. She looked up at the 109 students, who were ranged in the amphitheatre around her like lions who’d spotted a stray Christian.

Dr Burbage opened her notebook and began her lecture.

‘Gentlemen,’ she said, as there weren’t any other ladies in the room, ‘my name is Margaret Burbage, and I shall be giving twelve lectures this term, covering the canon of William Shakespeare.’

‘But did he even write the plays?’ said a voice who didn’t attempt to make himself known.

She looked around the tiered benches, but wasn’t able to identify which of the students had addressed her.

‘There’s no conclusive proof that anyone else wrote the plays,’ she said, abandoning her prepared notes, ‘and indeed—’

‘What about Marlowe?’ another voice demanded.

‘Christopher Marlowe was unquestionably one of the leading playwrights of the day, but in 1593 he was killed in a bar-room brawl, so—’

‘What does that prove?’ Yet another voice.

‘That he couldn’t have written Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet or Twelfth Night, all of which were penned after Marlowe’s death.’

‘Some say Marlowe wasn’t killed, but to escape the law, went to live in France, where he wrote the plays, sent them back to England, and allowed his friend Shakespeare to take the credit.’

‘For those who indulge in conspiracy theories, that rates alongside believing the moon landings were set up in a TV studio somewhere in Nebraska.’

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