“Yes, yes, I am merely…dizzy.” She shook her head to clear her brain. “What is the matter?”
“Hector. It appears he has run off,” Adam said tersely.
Lena came to her senses. “Hector?”
“He’s disappeared.”
“He can’t have gone far.” Her eyes swept the room.
Theo arrived with the others in tow. “Where is he, Les? Surely you must know something. You two are always in league together.”
Les shrugged. “I don’t know. I was bored, so I kept myself busy counting the crystals in the chandelier. One moment he was here, the next he was gone.”
“That little rascal,” Theo muttered. “I’ll tan his hide.”
“What are we to do now?” Mona whispered. “We have to play again soon.”
“Theo, go with Mona and search the rooms on the right. Les, Adam, and I will go to the left. We’ll meet back here in ten minutes.”
“Where could that boy be?” Lena’s eyes swept the room.
“When it comes to Hecki, always follow your nose, Mama.” Theo stuck his nose in the air and sniffed. “The smell of fondant, chocolate, and marzipan definitely coming from yonder room over there,” he said with conviction, pointing to the next room.
Indeed, a lavish buffet had been set up there.True to Theo’s prediction, Hecki was standing next to the cake buffet, his mouth smeared with chocolate. He was in the process of plucking the brandied cherries from each dish and popping them into his mouth.
“Hector Arenheim,” Lena exclaimed, relieved and annoyed at the same time. “How can you leave us like this in the middle of the performance?”
“All thish shocolate ish sho goood, Mama,” Hecki hiccuped. He grinned, then popped another brandied cherry into his mouth.
“Good heavens. Are you drunk? How many of those cherries have you eaten?”
“Many,” Hecki grinned. “Very many. Couldn’t shtop.”
“The boy’s as drunk as a fiddler,” Adam said. “It takes but a handful of those brandy-soaked cherries to get a little boy like him roaring drunk.” He shook his head.
This set Hecki off into a whoop of laughter. “Haha, drunk as a fiddler, haha!”
“For heaven’s sake, child.” Lena bent over the boy, worried. “What are we to do now? Quick, bring a glass of water,” she told Adam, who immediately left to do so.
Theo arrived with Mona. “So this is where he is. Stuffing his face with sweets.”
Les’s eyes grew round and he, too, began to surreptitiously help himself.
“Don’t touch the brandied cherries!” Lena exclaimed. Heaven help them if Les, too, ended up drunk.
Adam returned with a water glass and Lena lifted it to Hecki’s mouth. He drank it with thirsty gulps.
In the meantime, the other children stuffed themselves with sweetmeats.
“We haven’t had any supper, Mama,” Theo defended himself as he bit into an eclair.
Lena looked around nervously. “Children, we are employees, not guests. I am not at all sure we're allowed to help ourselves here.” She threw a furtive look around her shoulder, then she grabbed a piece of almond cake, a macaroon, a raspberry tart, and a piece of chocolate cake, folded them into a napkin and pressed them into Mona’s hands. “Quick, take this.”
In the meantime, Hector bowed to everyone in sight. “Küss die Hand, gnä’ Frau,” he said gallantly, bowing to all and sundry, including the palm tree in the corner.
The ladies tittered. “Isn’t he charming?”
“You were the performers from earlier,” a low male voice said behind them.
