She licked her dry lips. “What…what happens to them?” She ignored his reference to her not being a widow.
“They end up in the poorhouse. You have no idea what they are like, do you? A while back I saw a whole family of six—a mother and her five children—dragged out of their house because they could no longer pay the rent. They were carted to the poorhouse. Heard there was a cholera outbreak there only yesterday. Half the people are dead. Are you certain you won’t be facing the same fate when your landlord finds out you can’t pay the rent and that you’re not really a widow? He won’t be in a charitable frame of mind once he discovers the truth of your particular circumstances.”
“I have no idea what you mean,” Lena stammered.
He looked at her almost pitifully. “We know that you never married Simon Arenheim.”
She clenched her hands so tightly that her knuckles whitened. “What are you saying now? Are you blackmailing me?”
He shook his head and raised his hands as if to reassure her. “You misunderstand. I would never do anything so dastardly. I only sought you out because I was aware of your particular circumstances. I thought you of all people, would appreciate the opportunity rather than continuing to march down a road that ends in thepoorhouse. I merely wanted to offer you a way out of this predicament.”
The picture August had just painted was terrifying. She imagined her children, her beautiful children, Theo, Les, Hecki and Mona, cooped up in the squalid quarters of the poorhouse with disease ravaging the place. The poor, when they died, ended up in mass graves outside the city walls of Vienna. She’d seen it. It was horrifying beyond words.
August continued talking. “But since you’re not interested and there are many other people who are?—”
“Suppose I agreed. What would I have to do?” She wrung her hands.
He did not appear surprised by her change of heart. “Not much. Do what you do best. Perform. Enjoy it, without the worry of having to secure another performance afterwards. Observe who is there. If you can, keep an eye on who is talking to whom. It’s not that difficult. I’d be your contact, and you’d pass your messages to me.” He paused. “What do you say? Will you do it?”
Lena massaged her temples. Her mind was spinning.
Here was a golden opportunity impossible to refuse.
All her dreams would come true.
Their financial woes would be solved at a stroke.
Their rent would be paid.
If she worked for Baron von Hager, she would no longer have to fear exposure. She would receive commissions in the upper echelons of society.
They would not end in the poorhouse. Their future would be made.
“I—I—I, oh heavens.” She paced up and down,wringing her hands. Then she stopped in front of the man and pulled herself up. “I am probably selling my soul right now. You are right. I will do anything, anything at all for my children and their safety.”
The man gave her a piercing look. “You’ll do it?”
Lena let out a big breath that sounded like a sigh. “Very well. I’ll do it.”
Chapter Four
Prince Metternich'svilla was one of the most magnificent estates in and around Vienna. Situated just outside the city walls opposite the Belvedere Palace, it had been built as a summer residence, a newly constructed, stately, neoclassical two-storey mansion with a vast park stretching into the distance.
“Famos!” Hecki and Les exclaimed in unison, their eyes wide as they gazed up at the imposing colonnades of the portico. ‘Famos,’ a Viennese term for something absolutely fantastic, was currently their favourite expression. Everything wasfamos, such asKnödelwithSauerkrautthat their neighbour Emma, the good soul, had cooked for them earlier; the splendid fireworks that had lit up the sky the night before; the parade of emperors; the bag of roasted chestnuts they’d bought; the performing monkey they’d seen at the fair. Now, Metternich’s palace seemed to have been added to the list.
“Hector, Achilles, don't forget the music stands!” Lena called, her nerves on edge. After careful consideration,she had decided to bring the younger boys along as musical assistants. They were to assist with setting up, turning pages, and carrying instrument cases and stands.
All were dressed as eighteenth century musicians, thanks to Emma, who had unearthed a trunk full of clothes once worn by her grandparents. It was this or nothing, as Lena couldn’t possibly afford new outfits for them.
“It looks like carnival started early,” her husband Karl had commented with a pipe between his teeth.
Dressed in matching brocade waistcoats and jackets, complete with breeches, stockings, wigs, and buckled shoes, the boys resembled charming little page boys from a bygone century. Lena herself was dressed in an unfashionably heavy, burgundy brocade gown with a low neckline, a fitted narrow bodice, and sleeves with laced cuffs.
“Not only do I look like I've stepped out of Empress Maria Theresia’s drawing room, but these lace cuffs are completely impractical for playing the piano,” she remarked, lifting the lace covering her hands and shaking her head in mild frustration.
“I think it's lovely,” Mona chimed in, pleased with her emerald-green robe cut in the same historic fashion.
Theo, dressed in a distinguished grey velvet suit with breeches, buckled shoes, and a grey wig looked particularly dapper.
