a darling of the theatre

Lindy herself hated the name Lindy. She said it sounded like a girl in pink gingham. At the beginning of this school year she'd started making all the teachers address her by her full name, Linnet. (She'd been named for an English bird that a soldier had mentioned to their mother during the war.) At first Karen had tried to call her that too, but it had felt so unnatural that she'd gradually given it up.

He shot her a black look.

Do not fear; he who fears hates; he who hates kills. — attributed to Gandhi