A Summer in Olympia Ch. 06

When all was done, Alfred returned to the balcony a bit flustered, and I raced to intercept him at the top of the stairs: "Let it be, Alfred, let it be. He won't understand why you'll disagree with him, and will assure you that you can work miracles Be patient. We'll come up with something."

"What? What? Must I bear with this just to get the old fool's money?"

"Shh, you'll letting the beer do your talking. Just agree and we'll work around him." I made him pause until he calmed himself.

"What's wrong, Mr. MacLeod?" Sir Charles asked in a kindly voice.

"Herr Ernst is just a bit winded coming up the stairs too fast. Just a moment."

"Very good." It took another moment until Alfred was able to nod in agreement with me. "Now Herr Ernst, I want you to engage the following singers for the cast of the new opera."

"And you'll want understudies as well, of course, Sir Charles?" I cut in.

"Yes, yes, obviously. I have every trust you will have everything in good order next week when we come for rehearsal on Friday?"

Alfred shook his head in renewed outrage and a hand on his shoulder calmed him. "I'm sure Alfred will have the task well in hand. He'll let us know when rehearsal is, and perhaps we can arrange a fine evening's entertainment for you and Lady Alice."

"Of course, Sir Charles, of course. It will work out." The calmness in Alfred's voice was not matched by the wild look he gave me, but it was unnoticed by any of the others. "We shall look forward to your attendance."

"Now I have to arrange some details with Alfred, if you will bear with me, Sir Charles. It is getting to be time to return to Olympia. I shall meet you at the carriage presently."

"Of course. Homeward!" he shouted, thrusting his cane upward like a drum major's baton, and led Penny and Maurice out the door.

Alfred began seething again after he left. "What am I do to? He gives me an impossible cast to match the impossible opera. I'm not sure we need the money that badly."

I took his shoulders and stared him down. "Remember what we did to Kretschmer in Leipzig?" A dawn of understanding crept across his face and a bright smile rose. "Chose the understudies you think best for the parts. By opening night, who knows what misfortunes may have befallen the original cast?"

He brightened a little. "Good. I think I can survive."

Our trip home was a triumph march in Sir Charles' eyes, who pontificated at length about the cast he'd chosen. Penny provided the adoring audience, agreeing to everything he said and asking if she could play viola in the orchestra. He promised to look into it.

Lady Alice was fuming that her tea had been turned into a supper by our delay, and she complained almost incessantly through the meal, as Pearl read the _Nicomachean Ethics_ while picking at her food. Sir Charles was apologetic at first, but his high spirits overrode his wife's pique and she finally retreated into her needlepoint after the meal. Penny sought to soothe her, but she would not be drawn out on her favorite subjects. I maintained my monastic silence as usual, catching Pearl's eye once and getting an unexpected wink in return.

That night, Mrs. Edwards came to my rooms before I retired. "How did it go today?" she asked urgently. "Will they do the opera?"

"Yes, of course they will. Sir Charles is most excited."

"I'm so happy. It's the first time he'll have a major work performed in public."

I did a double take. "What about England? Didn't he get music performed there?"

"He tried to get his musical friends interested in his music, but after they took it home to play through, they wouldn't discuss it again. Sir Arthur Sullivan avoided him for six months after he showed him a melodrama he wanted performed at the Savoy, and only agreed to meet him again when he wanted to sell him stock in the Company. Sir Charles Grove refused interviews regularly, and Mr. Carte of the Savoy dismissed him from the viola section after three seasons after complaints about his intonation from the orchestra."

Why am I not surprised? I thought to myself. "Did he get anything played over there, ever?"

"Some salon pieces, a few songs. He had a publisher print some songs he wrote to stanzas from Wordsworth's _Laodamia_, but their sales were meager and he didn't attempt any more such projects. He printed a Viola Sonata dedicated to Miss Penny just before we left, and that has barely made back the printing costs."

I digested this news, and decided to change the subject: "How did you find Colorado?"

"It was lovely and cool, I enjoyed it immensely. Sir Charles had a fine time with his host, and Augustine and Maximilian took to the mountains as if native born. Of course, they liked Scotland when we went there. Lady Alice was cordial with our hostess, but Miss Penny became a very close friend of Mrs. Perkins, and her son Eric. Perhaps Miss Penny's dreams will come true someday with that lad: a very promising young man and already learning the management of his father's mines."

"Good news for her. I expect they will correspond."

"Yes, I think they have already. I hope Sir Charles will let her go, but I'm afraid he will want another acolyte before that happens."

"Another acolyte?"

"Yes. Sir Charles is energized by the company of young women, and has to have one or two in the household to adore him."

"Really? Adore him in a way that Lady Alice and Pearl do not?"

"Of course. He's had someone around for the last twelve years, ever since. . .Connie was born. Actually, that's what got him kicked out of England."

The hair on the back of my head began to rise; my imagination began to play scenes of his possible affairs with young women entered my imagination based on my witness of his secret activities. "He chose the wrong young lady to tutor?"

"Lord Parkhurst's youngest daughter. They lived on the next estate, and Lucy came over as a very young girl in search of violin lessons. He captivated her, took her to concerts, presented her to Sir Arthur and other famous musicians. One day, Lord Parkhurst came to the house unexpectedly, pushed his way past Maurice's guard, and found them in a compromising position."

"How compromising?"

She looked away and whispered: "The sin of Sodom. Lord Parkhurst threatened Lord Brougham he would launch private prosecution against Sir Charles for lewd behavior unless left the country within a fortnight."

That explains a lot, I thought to myself. "Why did you stay with him?"

She looked frightened. "We were to be turned out, unemployed and blacklisted. They wanted us to disappear into poverty, lest the scandal of us came out as well, and were pleased when Lady Alice offered to take us with them."

"I see. So out of the kindness of their hearts?"

"They have very kind hearts beneath the bluster. But there is more, something shocking that may help you understand some of the emotions as well. Go to the barn tonight, and you will comprehend another secret."