Chapter 2 – Chapter 2

Life was good to Marc—even with the heavy-demand fucking and the snide, jealous comments behind his back in the Met troupe that he almost was able to hear. But life didn't stay all that good. As good as Faust was as a production, it was an extremely expensive production to put on stage, and New York society in the mid 1880s was prepared to take only so much of it. The seats could only be filled to break-even capacity for two weeks. The production went on for a third week before McManus realized that production costs were bleeding him far more than he could manage.

He needed a financial angel. And he needed the angel just to stop the hemorrhaging of costs and to cover accumulated debts. The show would have to close anyway.

He went to Henry Powl, a manufacturer with money to burn, and a colleague in the secret "doubles" society he belonged to.

"If you help me get out of this production in the black, you could be an equal investor in my next production without putting any money in," John McManus said.

"I'm not sure New York is ready yet to make any opera of high-quality production profitable. I don't know what would be in it for me to make it worth my while."

"I've seen you at the theater, Henry," McManus said. "I've seen the way you look at one of the male dancers."

"So?"

"He takes doubles," McManus said. "I've trained him to take the double in several different positions."