Leading Lady

by Jane Aiken Hodge

  Diabolically clever, thought Martha angrily. Fatally so, if the opera had ended in the expected débâcle. Monstrous to suggest that it was Franz who had betrayed his own democratic principles, when in fact it was the Lissenbergers themselves who had turned down the idea of an elected parliament. And as for the suggestion about women … She was aware of Princess Gertrude making as if to rise, to lead a mass evacuation of the ladies, when Cristabel took a step forward and spoke. ‘My friends,’ she said. ‘I am not a citizen of your delightful country, but then neither, I believe, is Signor Franzosi, so it seems to me that I have quite as much right to speak to you as he has, maybe more, since I speak for myself, and he has not thought fit to mention who asked him to speak to you tonight. On all your behalf, I do so now. Signor Franzosi?’

  It floored him. He had quite evidently had no instructions about this, since the assumption had been that after the disastrous end of the performance his suggestion would be carried by acclaim. He stood there for a moment, silent, his eyes on the front of the house, where the three princes sat, waiting for a cue.

  It came. Prince Gustav rose to his feet. ‘I did,’ he said into the silence. ‘I who have cared for Lissenberg for twenty-six years and have grown increasingly anxious this last year about our future. What a happy surprise it was, a year ago, what a glorious beginning, my friends! Were we, perhaps, too hopeful, carried away by the excitement of that amazing occasion? I think perhaps we were. Ah, thank you!’ Two stage hands had appeared with the gilt steps that gave access to the stage.

  Franz and Max were on their feet too as the audience broke into a variety of cries, the claque calling for ‘Prince Gustav’ while others just shouted, ‘The prince’ or ‘All the princes’. Martha exchanged a long, questioning glance with her husband and stayed where she was as the three men climbed on to the stage, Prince Gustav inevitably in the lead. Franzosi had seized the chance to disappear, but Cristabel was still standing, very still, very quiet, at the side of the stage, watching.

  Princess Gertrude leaned across to Martha. ‘We should go,’ she said. ‘We should give the lead. This is men’s work.’

  ‘No.’ She was aware that the same exchange was going on between men and women throughout the audience, and found herself wondering for a distracted second where Frau Schmidt was sitting. Because of this she missed an altercation that took place between the three men on the stage. When she looked back, she saw that Franz must have won it, and was glad. He stepped forward, and the audience hushed.

  ‘Men and women of Lissenberg.’ His trained voice had a resonance his father’s had lacked. ‘Prince Gustav has seen fit to call in question my fitness to rule among you, and, I rather think, my wife’s. We have all seen the brilliant performance tonight –’ he turned, with a bow, to Cristabel. ‘And all seen, also, a deliberate attempt to make fools of my brother and me. Oh, entertaining enough in its place, and you all know me for an enemy of censorship, but in the context of an attack on my rule, not, perhaps, very pretty. And since Prince Gustav has claimed credit for Herr Franzosi’s speech, I think Prince Max and I have to thank him also for this. That is not all he has done. He has tried to kidnap me, held my brother hostage at the risk of his life. I had hoped not to have to tell you this; it is a shameful thing to have to say about one’s own father. We had hoped, my wife and I, that by undertaking the upbringing of the little Prince Gustav and thus ensuring the succession for the time being, we could put an end to this unhappy dissension. We were wrong. I think, now, that I have to ask your agreement that Prince Gustav be sent into exile. Only thus, it seems to me, can we ensure peace and quiet here in Lissenberg. Have I your vote on this?’

  It came in a roar, but he insisted, just the same, on a show of hands and got such an instant forest of them in favour that no one dared show against. ‘Thank you,’ he said at last. ‘And now, my friends, since we are all here together, I think we should discuss the international threat of which Herr Franzosi spoke. It is very real. Of course we must hope that Lissenberg will be able to sit it out as neutral and I have been trying hard to ensure this, but I cannot tell you that it will be easy. There are bad times coming, and I can only promise you that we will fight our way through, or suffer them together. We have been thinking, my wife and I, how much happier we would be living in Lissenberg, among our friends, and I can tell you – and her – tonight that work has just started to convert the old town hall for our use. Martha –’ Looking down from the brilliantly lighted stage into the auditorium – ‘Come and tell me you are pleased.’

  She was aware of Princess Gertrude, rigid with fury, as she passed her, then friendly hands helped her up the gilt steps and she was on stage beside him, listening to the roar of the crowd. And, oddly, as she stood at his side, savouring his triumph, curtsying as he bowed, a part of her mind was with Max and Cristabel, standing together now at the side of the stage, and she knew, in her heart, that though they looked together, they were entirely apart. It was not for Max that Cristabel had sung that night.

  Coming off stage at last as the excited audience began to leave, Cristabel found her husband waiting for her, his controversial make-up already removed. ‘Let me be the first to congratulate you, my queen! You were tremendous! We showed them what opera should be, you and I, and so I shall tell Franzosi in the morning.’

  ‘I doubt he’ll be here in the morning to be told.’ Had she really hoped to find Doctor Joseph backstage waiting to congratulate her? Waiting to solve her next problem for her, the problem of Desmond? ‘At least everyone could see you had no idea of what was going on,’ she told him wearily. ‘I’m tired, Desmond.’ She was exhausted now, the long strain of the evening catching up on her. ‘God knows what is going to happen tomorrow.’ How could she contrive to suggest he spend this night, like the previous ones, with the seconda donna?

  ‘You’ve a right to be tired, my own. After such a performance! We’ll have you home in no time, snug in your bed. And tomorrow, my life, is all our own.’

  ‘I doubt that. The prince is bound to dismiss Franzosi and then what is going to happen to us all?’ If only she was a man, she thought, she would volunteer to take over the direction of the company. ‘Do you know, Desmond,’ she said now. ‘I think you should join the rest of the company for their after-the-performance celebration. I’m too tired, but you could find out what they are thinking.’

  ‘Oh, no, my queen,’ he told her. ‘We have better plans than that, you and I. Who cares about the company? Tomorrow we will make our arrangements for Vienna. Tonight, I am all yours.’

  Chapter 11

  ‘I wish I was sure exile was the answer,’ Max returned to the problem next evening. ‘We have to face it, he’s a dangerous man, our father. It was a devilish clever plot, you know. If Cristabel had not turned the tide, that opera would have ended in a shambles, with you and me laughing stocks, and Gustav in control.’

  ‘I know,’ Franz agreed soberly. ‘We owe her a great debt.’

  ‘She says it was Doctor Joseph who suggested it,’ Martha told them. ‘He came to her dressing-room in the last interval. She would never have thought of it herself, she says. That’s a clever man! I do hope that now you are safe away from the Trappists, Max, he will agree to come to the palace as our doctor. Or to the town hall in Lissenberg, when we move there. Now that was a surprise!’ With a loving smile for her husband. ‘How glad I shall be to get away from those tunnels. Personally, I would be happy to have you shut Prince Gustav up in one of the damp cells down there, rather than the honourable confinement he is in now, but I can see it is hardly the way for a son to treat his father. Even such a father. But I am afraid I do agree with Max that exile seems a dangerous alternative. He is bound to stir up trouble for us somewhere. You don’t think really close confinement at Gustavsberg would be better?’

  ‘Not now, after last night’s unanimous vote for exile,’ said Franz. ‘I am afraid you may be right, but I think I must stand by it now. But we’ll keep the little prince here as a hostage,
though God knows how much that will be worth.’

  ‘Nothing to Prince Gustav, I’d think,’ said Martha. ‘Maybe something to his wife. And what are you going to do about Franzosi?’

  ‘I’ve done it. He has his notice to get out before the road is closed. And Max has agreed to take his place, I’m happy to say. We are going to need all the cheerful entertainment we can get in the anxious winter I see ahead. Do you think the company is capable of putting on your opera, Max?’

  ‘Daughter of Odin? I don’t see why not. Cristabel would be superb as my valkyrie, but it’s a long part.’

  ‘She’s a very quick study,’ said Martha. ‘But what about Fylde? Cristabel came to see me this morning. He wants to leave! He didn’t much like what Franzosi did to him last night, and you can’t really blame him.’ She did not mention the other thing Cristabel had told her, that Fylde had anticipated trouble in Lissenberg. They had taken care of that, after all.

  ‘But what of Cristabel?’ asked Max. ‘Does she want to go?’

  ‘No. That’s why she came to me. She can’t shift Fylde, asks our help.’

  ‘Good of her to want to stay,’ said Franz. ‘When the word gets out of this last performance, the world will really be at her feet. But we need her here! No use pretending it’s going to be an easy winter.’

  ‘She’s a good friend,’ said Martha. ‘She’ll stay.’ Was it only that? She wished she knew, and she also hoped that Max was not reading too much into Cristabel’s decision.

  ‘Will Fylde go without her?’ Max asked now.

  ‘I doubt it. Poor Cristabel, by her very success she has tied herself more firmly to him than ever. He will never let go of such a promising source of income. And now there is her father’s allowance too. No, he’ll stay, I am afraid. Will that present insuperable problems for Daughter of Odin?’

  ‘I don’t just see him as Odin,’ said Max ruefully. ‘But it will be an interesting challenge to try what we can manage with the company we have, since there is hardly time to find new singers before the road is closed. I’ve called a special meeting of the whole company for tonight, to discuss what we are going to do. It will do them good to talk over what Franzosi tried to do, I think.’

  ‘I’m sure it will,’ said Franz. ‘I’m a great believer in discussion.’

  ‘Unlike your father,’ said Martha. ‘How lucky we are. And no more performances of Night of Errors!’ To Max, but with a smile for both of them.

  It had been a night Cristabel never wanted to remember, but found it impossible to forget. Satisfied at last, Desmond had fallen into a deep sleep and she managed to leave him there and make what felt like her escape to the palace and Martha’s comforting company. Had she also hoped to meet Doctor Joseph there? If so, she was disappointed, but the promise of Martha’s support was something.

  Returning as late as possible to the hostel, she was relieved to learn that Fylde had gone down into Lissenberg. To apologise to the seconda donna for failing her the night before? He was capable of anything, she began to think. She encountered him for the first time at the meeting of the whole company with Prince Max later in the evening, and saw his start of surprise when she gave Max her promise to stay for the winter. ‘I look forward to singing your valkyrie, Max.’

  When the meeting ended, she made an excuse to go to her dressing-room and, as she expected, Desmond joined her there. He was very angry, she noticed wearily, but this too was only what she had expected.

  ‘You agreed to stay!’ He burst right out with it. ‘Without consulting me! Your husband. Though you knew how much I want to go. You went off up to the palace and gave all kinds of promises to your friend the upstart Princess Martha, who wouldn’t be a princess at all, today, if it had not been for you. And all without even mentioning it to the person most concerned. To me – your husband!’

  ‘We have to talk about that, you and I.’

  ‘But not tonight! How right you are, my angel. You are exhausted. I, who know and love you, can see that. Tomorrow will be time enough to talk about our careers, our future. Your great success. For tonight, it is time to go home, time for your bed, my beauty. I have thought about you all day! Thought about last night. You are the only woman for me, my angel. Never for an instant doubt that. We have sacrificed ourselves long enough. And we are never going to let any interfering old sawbones come between us again! I can’t do without you, my own. I’ve learned that.’ He put a hungry hand on her shoulder.

  ‘No.’ Very quiet, very firm. ‘I said we had to talk, you and I. That’s why I waited here. My dresser is outside, with a couple of friends in case they are needed. I hope they won’t be. Only, you must understand, there is going to be no repetition of last night.’

  ‘Last night?’ He was genuinely puzzled. ‘We were happy last night.’

  ‘You may have been. I was not. And you did not even notice. That sums it up. No need to say more. You say I’m a success. Good. If you want your share of that success, you must undertake to leave me alone. No, wait a minute.’ She raised an imperious hand to silence him. ‘Let me finish. I married you. I was a fool, but I married you. So – I’ll work with you; I’ll share my earnings with you; but from now on I will not share a bed with you. Nor a room. Understand that, respect that, and I’ll let things go on, apparently, as before. Refuse –’ She paused.

  ‘Yes, my queen, what would you do if I were to refuse? Man and wife are one flesh, remember. And woman the weaker vessel. The law is on my side.’

  ‘The law! Here in Lissenberg, among my friends?’ She looked him up and down. ‘Now, are you going to your mistress, the seconda donna, or must I ask my friends to get rid of you for me?’

  ‘Oh, I’m going where I’m wanted.’ He gave in angrily. ‘But I promise you, you’ll be sorry!’

  ‘I think we shall do very well.’ Max was telling Martha and Franz about the meeting of the opera company over a late breakfast next morning. ‘Fylde looked black as thunder, but I have Cristabel’s promise, which is the main thing. She says she looks forward to singing my valkyrie. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you, Franz, for giving me this second chance, after my failure in Vienna.’

  ‘I’m sure that was a matter of politics,’ Franz told him. ‘I very much look forward to seeing your opera. That’s settled then.’ With relief. ‘What a pleasure to turn to such an agreeable subject after the chaos and confusion of the last two days! If only my friends weren’t so intent on naming and taking revenge on the people they regard as my enemies, my life would be much simpler. Of course there was a claque shouting for Gustav the other night. They were paid for it. Nothing would induce me to “make examples of them” as Hals urges.’

  ‘Here comes Baron Hals,’ warned Martha.

  ‘And in one of his panics by the look of it,’ said Max. Martha’s heart stirred as she saw her husband brace himself for more bad news.

  ‘Sir! Madam!’ Hals was actually stuttering a little. ‘I can hardly believe it still, but the man’s in the uniform of the Emperor’s own guard.’

  ‘What man?’ asked Franz patiently. ‘Calm yourself, baron, and tell us what guard and which emperor.’

  ‘Forgive me. It’s the shock! I’m an old man. I’m sorry.’ He accepted the glass of wine Martha had silently poured and passed to him. ‘Thank you.’ He took a sip, hardly aware what he did. ‘Sir,’ to Franz. ‘It’s the Emperor Napoleon. He is on his way here; will arrive in half an hour; sends to warn you of his friendly visit.’

  ‘Friendly?’ questioned Franz. ‘He’s moved fast! What can this mean?’

  ‘Nothing good,’ said Max.

  ‘We’d best arrange to receive him,’ said Martha. ‘What retinue does he bring?’

  ‘That’s what I can’t understand,’ said Hals. ‘Just a small contingent of the Old Guard. A family visit, he calls it.’

  ‘Trusting of him,’ said Franz. ‘I suppose we should take it as a compliment.’

  ‘We might as well,’ said Martha. ‘But I doubt that is how it will
turn out.’

  Half a desperate hour later they were drawn up in the familiar position on the dais of the great hall. Hals had nervously suggested that the Emperor should be received at the castle gates, but Franz had been firm about this. ‘No, that is a courtesy that must be reserved for the Emperor of Austria, our overlord. Napoleon shall have his due, nothing more.’ He had also refused to free Prince Gustav, another suggestion babbled by Hals, who had visibly lost his nerve. Instead, Franz had ordered the guard doubled on the guest wing. ‘After this visit, we may find ourselves thinking again about Gustav’s future,’ he said to Max and Martha. ‘For the moment, it’s a comfort to have him safe in custody.’

  How safe is safe? wondered Martha, as she took her place beside her husband on the dais. And how very strange to find herself, plain American Martha Peabody, waiting in full dress to receive the man many Englishmen looked on as practically the Anti-Christ himself. She had met him in Paris, when Cristabel gave a concert in Talleyrand’s house, and had seen nothing to shake the dislike and distrust of him she had learned in England. Since then he had made himself Emperor, publicly murdered an innocent opponent, threatened England with invasion, and was now launching a new attack across Europe. But what in the world had made him turn aside for this extraordinary visit?

  Here he was, striding into the great hall at the head of his retinue, plainly dressed as usual, sweeping off his hat in a friendly bow at the sight of her, holding out a hand to Franz who had stepped forward to greet him. ‘I am come to return your visit, prince, since you left me so suddenly. Not that I blame you for that; I should have known better than to keep a man so long from his new wife.’ With a civil bow for Martha.