“Then shall we test who is right and who is wrong?How about a game of tag?We’ll make a merry chase of it and have them calling for a Black Maria in no time.”
Nora scrutinized the couple again.They whispered to each other as they cast furtive glances her direction.
What must this look like to them if Winston was not truly standing before her?Dread tautened her body as they continued their discomfited gestures.Wasshe going mad?
The gentleman took a few steps her direction and called out, “Is everything all right, miss?Do you need assistance?”
He didn’t indicate he saw Winston, only her.Oh, Lord, please don’t let it be true.I can’t be imagining him.
“No.”She clutched the knitting needles in her pocket and forced a smile.“I am well.Good afternoon, sir.”
“Believe me now, do you?”Winston asked.“How about we be certain?Let’s walk up to them and ask if they can see me.”
Ill and trembling, she forced herself to turn her back on Winston and stride inside.
Mrs.Reed gently pulled Nora to the settee.“I’m sorry to have upset you so.I did not realize your pain was still so great.Grief can be quite maddening.How long has your mum been gone?”She handed Nora her cup.
Funny choice of words, that—maddening.Nora glanced at Winston outside, who nodded back.“I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Of course not.How inconsiderate of me.Perhaps the story of Katherine Yates would be a good distraction?”
“Yes.”A distraction, that’s what she needed.And information about Katherine Yates.Maybe by the time Mrs.Reed finished, Nora would have regained her senses and Winston would be gone.
“Oh, how I love the chance to tell a good story, and this one is worthy of an opera.”Mrs.Reed scooted to the edge of her seat.Her performance experience was unmistakable in the way her hands told the story with as much enthusiasm as her voice.“Katherine Yates was a rising star.Everyone thought she would be the next Jenny Lind.If she was in a performance, you could be certain of financial success.She had admirers everywhere, and she catered to the rich ones wherever she went, which was all over Englandandthe Continent.
“But—” She emphasized the word with a dramatic effect.“Miss Yates was stealing from them.At all of her private performances, she noted who wore the most expensive jewelry and where the person was staying.Then, while everyone was either in their cups or deep asleep, she would sneak in, crack safes, and steal whatever took her fancy.She was smart too.She planned for a scapegoat at every location—at least until she was caught in the middle of a theft by a maid.
“The maid sounded the alarm.Desperate not to be caught, Miss Yates murdered the poor dear with the very jeweled hatpin she was attempting to take.She fled the premises, taking the other jewels with her.However, a friend of Miss Yates witnessed her killing the young woman and reported her directly to Scotland Yard.It was all over the papers the next day.The poor maid was about to be married and escape her life of servitude.The fiancé was devastated.
“Miss Yates was apprehended, but because of her connections, the testimony of the witness was discredited, and Miss Yates was allowed to go free.She left England and came to this country and started another singing career with a new name.”
No wonder Father didn’t want their family associated with her.Why would Mum choose to claim to beher, of all people?Granted, Mum’s libretto did paint Katherine Yates as a reformed criminal, the witness to the maid’s murder, and a victim of her partners.Maybe Mum had idolized her and desired to write a better version of the events.But how did Winston and Ursula fit into the story of Katherine Yates?
Mrs.Reed took a long drink, then continued.“I’ll never understand why she went with a name as pretentious as Constanza Brisbane.Although I hear the Brisbane part was from the American she married.”
Nora abandoned her cup and saucer before they ended up as shattered bits on the floor.“Constanza Brisbane cannot be Katherine Yates.”
“Of course she is, dear.You’ll see.The opera community is far too small, even globally, for one to start over without keeping the stink of scandal.Changing her name didn’t change her past, but it did give her the chance to professionally distance herself and signal to her audiences that she was a new woman.”
Gossip.This all had to be unverified gossip.Her mother couldnotbe a murderess.Katherine Yates had to be someone else.Otherwise she and Father had lied to Nora for all these years.
And yet ...
Nora gripped the arm of the settee, her world spinning and churning as a growing cacophony of thoughts granted merit to Mrs.Reed’s story.
The existence of Mum’s libretto.
Mum’s proclamation that she was Katherine Yates.
Mum’s frantic need for forgiveness from a past of which she refused to share the details.
Father’s insistence they have no connections to the opera.
“So what do you think?”Mrs.Reed prodded.“Is it not a story meant for the stage?”
If only it had been confined to one.
The old familiar bands tightened around Nora’s chest, making her strain to maintain an even breath.Oh, how she wanted to flee from the suspicion growing within her, but how did one escape their own mind?
