The Musician's Daughter by Susanne Dunlap

Author:Susanne Dunlap
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2009-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

When we emerged from the anteroom, the ballroom was much more crowded than it had been before. Now it was difficult to get from one place to another, and Alida had to let go of my arm just to avoid bumping into people. Every other word I heard was “Pardon,” or “Entschuldigen-Sie.” Soon I lost sight of Alida completely. I remembered to hide the medallion away again. The attention it seemed to receive when it was in view made me even more uncomfortable than the stares that followed me. I did my best to appear as if such public gatherings were as natural to me as breathing, and listened to the music to calm myself. The small orchestra—more a band, really—was playing something quiet that was meant as a backdrop since the dancing hadn’t started yet. I recognized a popular aria from one of Salieri’s operas.

“Theresa Maria!”

My uncle’s voice startled me into whirling around. He reached out and grasped my arm with so much force that I thought someone might notice.

“How do you come to be related to a maid of honor?” he hissed into my ear. “Especially one who is known to have Reformist sympathies?”

I was spared the need to answer him by General Stein-hammer, who bowed to me and restated his intention to claim my first dance. The orchestra struck up a leisurely triple time, and I decided I had better not put off the task Alida had given me. I saw her joining the dance with a handsome young officer. But they were down at the other end of the room.

To my dismay, however, rather than a country dance, which would have made conversation difficult, the movement changed to a Polonaise. The reason soon became clear: the archduchess had risen to take the floor, her partner none other than my uncle. Now we would have to promenade around the room, and I would be forced to talk to the general. What I had recently learned about him from Alida made my flesh crawl as he lifted my hand to lead me into the dance. I couldn’t help watching my uncle smile and lean in to whisper to the archduchess, who more than once fluttered her fan in front of her face to hide a giggle.

ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three, I counted to myself, getting into the rhythm of the dance and trying not to forget to sink into one knee and point out the other toe on the strong first beat, then rise up on my toes to step for the weak beats two and three. I noticed that most dancers simply walked in time to the music, but a few stalwarts among us actually tried to dance. That made it a little easier not to talk, since it was also necessary to angle one’s head out prettily in the direction of the extended foot every three beats. So I looked first toward the general, then away.

“I daresay you are a fine dancer, but I had something particular I was hoping to say to you, Mademoiselle.

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