CHAPTER 25

When the girl greeted us at Mademoiselle Helene’s, Mirela and I were clutching our sides and laughing uproariously. That had been our plan: we decided we should appear to have come from an all-night revel, perhaps hint at some raucous games in which the girls dressed as boys and the maids pretended to be Gypsies.

To my immense surprise, our playacting worked.

They even let me bathe in a copper tub in a private room and poured me a restorative cordial while they took Mirela to the back, cleaned her up, and gave her a suitable, simple dress and cap for a lady’s maid. My credit, I found, was excellent. I took great delight in requesting the most expensive fabrics, asking for an extra bit of lace, having the seamstresses trim the mantelet with miniver, and even choosing a jeweled comb to hold up my hair. By the end of two hours of frenzied work on their part and much-needed rest on ours, Mirela and I emerged from the couturier looking like a fashionable young lady with her maid in tow, ready to spend the morning shopping. So that they would not suspect there was anything at all important about the violin, we pretended at first to leave it behind.

“Oh, dear me! My uncle will be cross if I do not return that fiddle to his musician. Apparently he’s rather fond of it. Can you wrap it in something soft for me, perhaps some velvet?” I asked, not quite believing I had the nerve to act a part so completely.

They did as I asked right away, and I sauntered out into a cloudy afternoon, Mirela behind me with the violin nestled in costly velvet and tied up with a silk ribbon. But I did not trust myself to keep up the pretense for long in the face of the real world, already feeling skeptical eyes following us as we walked. “Let’s go this way,” I whispered to Mirela. “It’s shorter.” I started to hasten my pace.

“Mind you don’t ruin your clothes,” Mirela said. I slowed down and went more cautiously, trying not to catch my skirts or muddy my slippers.

The streets were full of people rushing around on their daily business. A band played some songs and a group of children had gathered around them. I watched as a worried mother rushed up and took two of the smallest ones by the hands and dragged them away. As she passed me, I heard her scold them with, “They’re Gypsies! You should know better. You’ll end up sold as slaves in Turkey.”

I couldn’t help looking back at Mirela, who, although now clean and fresh looking and dressed respectably, had the telltale light almond-colored skin, dark eyes, and jet-black, curling hair of the Gypsies from the encampment. I don’t know if she hadn’t heard or just chose to pretend she hadn’t, but she lifted her chin and assumed a haughty expression. I glanced at the faces of the musicians as we passed, and at least one of them seemed familiar. I thought he was looking at Mirela, too. I was too tired to worry, though. My mind was running fast and my imagination was on fire. I forced myself to think about the task at hand. The Hofburg. That’s where we had to go, making our way as if we had every right to be walking freely in the street with everyone else, and no one had tried to capture either of us and prevent us from bringing terrible crimes to light.

I had never entered the royal palace except from the sewers the night before. Although I knew it was an enormous building, I hadn’t really thought about it much when it formed no direct part of my life. The Hofburg was a landmark, a point of reference when I was going somewhere. Occasionally Toby and I stood to the side and watched processions of guards and gilded carriages when the emperor walked out into the city to greet the people, but that was as close as I had ever gotten to attaching any real significance to the place. And then it was just to peer into the carriage windows and see the ladies in their jewels. Once, I saw a young girl about my age and I wanted to be her. I still remember what she wore—her bodice, anyway. It was shot through with gold that caught the sunlight whenever a beam struck the window in the right way, so that it appeared as if the glow were coming from inside her carriage. She wore a string of large pearls around her neck, which was long and slender, and her skin was so white she looked like a porcelain doll. But as she passed very close by, I could also see that her big eyes were sad, and although she tried to smile, I could tell it was difficult. I remember thinking that I would not like to be forced to look really happy if I felt very unhappy. I rarely had to put on an expression for anyone, especially when I was younger. I laughed when I wanted. I cried when I wanted.

When Mirela and I reached the grand, curved front entrance of the emperor’s winter palace and saw the ranks of sentries on horse back guarding it, we both stood and stared, not knowing what to do. It did not seem like a good idea to just walk up to one of the guards and ask to go in.

I turned to ask Mirela how she thought we should proceed, and was surprised to find she had vanished. I walked a little way back toward the park we had passed through to get there, and found her standing behind a tree, clutching the violin to her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. Her eyes were bright with fear.

“The guards!” she whispered.

Of course. The palace guards wore the same uniforms as those who had surrounded the camp and set fire to it. “These are not the same men. You must know that. We will be together. They will believe we are who we act like.” I wasn’t really sure of this, but Mirela’s terror made me overly brave on behalf of both of us. “Look,” I said, pointing to the crested carriages pulling up and disgorging their well-dressed cargoes. I watched the footmen open the doors and hand out the ladies, saw the fine folk walk right into the palace without being challenged. “All we have to do is look confident, and they will let us in.”

“But the ladies don’t have their maids with them.”

She was right. I thought we might have to change our plan, but then I saw a footman follow his mistress in, bearing a gout stool. “I know. I need you to carry the gift that I have brought for Alida. The violin.” It was our only hope. I did not want to go alone, for my own sake and Mirela’s. Once inside the palace, she would be safe, too.

We waited until there was a queue of two or three carriages and a lot of bustling activity around the door, then marched forward as if we knew our business there. If the guards suspected anything, they didn’t show it. We received a few curious stares from the people descending from the carriages, one or two lingering on Mirela’s exotic face, but I answered them with smiles and a polite incline of my head. They could do nothing but smile in return.

Before I knew it we were in a large reception hall dotted with knots of visitors whispering among themselves. No one seemed to be in much of a hurry. The high ceilings and emptiness of the space created an odd, whispering echo. I caught words here and there that assembled themselves into accusations aimed at me. She’s a criminal, and No one should believe … a fake … condemned … I wanted to reach for Mirela’s hand, but that would have called attention to the fact that we weren’t accustomed to the relationship of mistress and maid.

Through it all a large clock ticked. If I focused on the tick, it became deafeningly loud and drowned out the strange echo. I remember noticing that it was a little before two of the clock. As more and more people entered the large vestibule, I thought perhaps something would happen at that hour, and that everyone was waiting on purpose.

I wondered how long we could linger in that space alone without provoking comment. We had better do something, I thought. In addition to those who were clearly guests, a number of servants in the characteristic black satin imperial livery wandered through on their daily business.

“Mirela,” I whispered, “find one of the servants who looks nice and ask if I may be presented to Alida. Say I’ve come to bring her a gift.”

The hall continued to fill with people. While Mirela walked toward a footman, I wandered around slowly to disguise my growing sense that everyone was staring at me, and that soon a guard would approach me and escort me out to the street with Mirela. But the guards left us alone. Mademoiselle Helene and her seamstresses had obviously done their work quite well.

I happened to be standing quite near a long-case clock when it struck the hour with a very loud gong. I jumped and let out a shriek that drew all eyes to me. I know I blushed, but I was saved the embarrassment of continued attention by a fanfare that preceded the opening of a pair of tall doors. Everyone turned and started to walk through them, trying not to appear as if they were hurrying so that they would be first.

I supposed, although I did not know for certain, that someone was giving an audience. Through the open doors I saw a large, ornate chair on a dais. Perhaps it was a throne. I glanced around and did not immediately see Mirela. The last thing I wanted was to be ushered in with all the rest, because without Zoltán, Alida, or even Mirela and the violin to give me some purpose, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was supposed to say or do. I doubted that it would be appropriate to make wild claims about children imprisoned in my uncle’s cellar and Hungarian serfs being tortured and sold as slaves.

Yet for the moment, there was nothing else to do except follow the general movement of people. I kept sweeping my eyes around, looking for Mirela. Just before I was about to be nudged into the audience chamber, I spotted a girl with a bucket wearing the simple, muslin dress and apron of a chambermaid, with Mirela following behind her. I started to walk toward them, but the maid pressed a spot on a wall panel, a panel sprang open, and she and Mirela disappeared behind it.

I stopped where I was and pretended to examine a spot on my skirt until everyone had passed around me as if I were a boulder in a brook. Once the crowd had gone in, I found myself almost alone in the huge vestibule. The few stragglers were too intent on following the rest to bother much about me, so no one noticed me pressing that same spring on the hidden door and entering the secret spaces of the palace known only to the servants.

The corridors between the walls were well lit by windows at regular intervals, but narrow enough so that my skirts brushed either side as I passed. I had no idea which way Mirela and the chambermaid had gone. I hoped I’d soon find someone I could ask.

The first soul I came upon was a young girl with only one tooth in her head. She scurried along with a basket of wood that was almost as big as she was, huffing and puffing through her open mouth.

“Excuse me,” I called out to her.

When she saw me, she nearly dropped her entire load and was so flustered that I could barely understand her lisping speech. “Yes, mistress, what’s the matter?”

“My maid came past here, I believe. I had asked her to seek a maid of honor to the Archduchess Maria Elizabeth, for whom I have brought a gift.”

“Himmel. You’re lost,” she said.

“Yes, but can you direct me to Alida?”

“All the ladies-in-waiting is at the audience.”

“Where might I wait for her when the audience ends?” I asked.

“Not here!” she cried. “Ladies is not allowed here!”

I wanted to tell her that I was no more a lady than she was, but I realized that in my present costume that would seem unlikely. “Then perhaps you could lead me to where I am allowed?” I said, trying not to let my irritation creep into my voice.

She dipped an ungainly curtsy to me. “This way,” she said, and I followed her around and around. At any moment she looked as though she would drop her heavy load. I wanted to offer to help her with it, but I decided that if anyone saw us, she might get into trouble.

At last we left the servants’ corridors and entered a comfortable sitting room through a panel next to a small fireplace. “Here’s where the maids of honor sit,” the girl said. She stood there shifting her weight from one foot to another. I saw by the ample supply of wood in the hopper next to the fire that her destination had not been this room, and wondered why she did not leave me quickly so she could continue with her chores.

“If it’s all right, Madame,” she said, “I’ll get on with my work.”

“Yes! Yes, of course you may go,” I said, realizing with shame that she needed my permission to leave.

I hoped that Mirela would soon appear, but at least I was out of the way of general scrutiny there. I suppose I had not realized how exhausted I was, how the constant strain of the last few days had taken a toll on me, but it was not more than a few minutes after I sat in one of the upholstered chairs that I fell asleep so deeply I completely forgot where I was.

“Theresa,” murmured a voice quite close to my ear. At first I thought it was my mother. But it didn’t smell like my mother. There was no faint odor of wood smoke and medicine. Instead, I smelled lavender. “Theresa,” the voice repeated.

I opened my eyes and saw two strange young women dressed in the latest fashion peering down at me. I turned my head, and there was Alida, kneeling by the side of the chair. Beyond her, hovering in the background, stood Mirela, the velvet-wrapped violin still in her arms. I sat upright, then got to my feet quickly, staggering a little because I wasn’t quite awake. “Oh! I beg your pardon!” I curtsied.

“I am so glad you came, my dear, as I asked you to, and sorry that you did not simply enter the audience chamber and await me there.”

Alida could certainly think quickly, I thought. “I was quite comfortable here, thank you,” I said.

“Apparently!” said one of the other two ladies—who I now saw were not much more than girls. Their fine gowns gave them the appearance of maturity. The one who had not spoken giggled.

“Is your maid carrying a package for me?” Alida said, gesturing toward Mirela, who came forward with the velvet-wrapped violin.

“Yes! It is a gift, from—” From whom? I thought. I hadn’t planned for such a public encounter.

“From my dear brother! How kind of him.” She took the violin from Mirela, who then stepped discreetly into the background. The two young maids of honor ignored Mirela as if she were just another invisible servant, but I saw Alida nod slightly in her direction before placing the wrapped package behind her chair. The other maids of honor looked very disappointed that Alida did not intend to open the mysteriously shaped package then and there.

“Shall I ring for some tea?” said the girl who had giggled. She looked to be about my age, perhaps a little older.

Alida nodded.

“Are you come to be a maid of honor?” the other one asked me. I noticed that we all remained standing, as if there were some confusion about who took precedence.

Alida solved the difficulty by introducing me—again—as her cousin, to Lady Liesl and Lady Rebekah, and then suggesting we all sit. Workboxes were opened, and all three of the maids of honor were soon occupied with embroidering tiny designs on squares of linen. I glanced at Mirela, then at Alida, willing her to look in my direction. We couldn’t just let Mirela stand there like a fireplace ornament.

Without looking up, Alida said, “I expect your maid would like to see about the arrangements for your stay this evening. Rebekah, will you ring for someone to show her to our bedchamber?”

Rebekah did as Alida asked, and a footman arrived. After Alida explained matters, he led Mirela away. She glanced over her shoulder at me, and I tried to convey in my answering look how sorry I was that she was being treated like that. I think I would have felt more comfortable being considered of the servant class in that grand palace, so that Mirela and I could stay together.

Once Mirela left, I longed for a private moment to talk to Alida. I could tell she was curious not only about how I managed to find her—and look so respectable, considering my condition the last time she had seen me—but also to hear whether I had found Zoltán, why Mirela was with me, and what had happened to Danior since she had last seen him that morning. But she gave no hint that she was anything but entirely content simply to sit and sew.

Part of me, though, wanted to postpone forever telling her the news that her beloved Danior had been taken away by the guards and put in prison. I did not want it to be me that distressed her by reporting my uncle’s accusation and threat. Worse, I would have to admit to her that he had been taken away under the falsest of pretenses. It had been me, not Danior, who had fired the shot that wounded my uncle.

No, I did not want to tell her any of this. Alida did not deserve such unhappiness. Yet I knew that soon I would have to find a way to say something, or all hope of justice would be gone.

“Liesl, Rebekah,” Alida said to the two girls, “I believe it is time to take the archduchess her tonic. Would you care to do it, so that I may stay with my cousin?”

Clearly this was a great honor that Alida bestowed on her two charges. They stood up at once, nearly dropping their work on the floor, and could barely restrain themselves from running out of the room to accomplish this task.

As soon as we were alone, Alida turned to me. “Tell me quickly. We have very little time.”

I gave her my information in as few words as possible, telling her about the raid on the camp and Danior’s peril. But I could not tell her that final piece of information, about my own guilt. I simply couldn’t.

“He could be in the dungeons below,” she murmured, already far away from where we were and thinking rapidly, I could see.

“The violin,” I said, “Danior’s violin. It contains documents.” I pointed. I had also not told her about my climb to the top of the pyre of house hold effects, or my desperate rescue of Mirela. I thought it best to distress her as little as possible.

Her eyes opened wide. “You brought them? Here?”

I thought for a moment I had made some terrible mistake and was about to apologize.

She lifted her hand to stop me from speaking. “You cannot know what you have done!” she said, leaping from her chair and pacing across the room. “Now that we have them, I must think how best to bring our case.” I had never seen Alida so agitated. She ran to me and crouched beside my chair, taking both my hands in hers. “Don’t you see? If these are even half the documents we have been collecting, we have proof! I wanted to show them to the archduchess long ago, but my brother said we should wait until we had the final evidence. But this is enough, I am certain! The Gypsies will be freed, and we will regain our lands.”

And then you and Danior could marry, I thought, more hoping than believing that would be so.

“Can we not take these to the emperor or the empress right away?” I asked.

Alida wilted visibly before my eyes. “The empress is always ill. The emperor has been running things, but as her son he still has little real power. Everything he decides has to be ratified by the councilors. Including your uncle.”

“Then how—?”

“Tomorrow all prisoners who were captured today will be brought before a magistrate to be judged and sentenced,” she said. “We must find a way to make an extraordinary appeal. This can occur only if someone is sentenced to death, and there is a strong possibility he has been wrongly accused.”

“And if the appeal fails?” I hardly wanted to know. Alida did not answer.

I could tell that she warred with herself, trying to maintain control over her feelings. “I cannot go. It would cause a scandal and probably harm rather than help the cause. Can you perform this one final service for us? After this, we will either have won, or we will be completely lost.”

I wondered exactly what she could ask of me that was more dangerous than anything I had already done. “Toby is still safe here?” I asked.

“Yes. You need not worry on his account.”

I agreed to attempt what ever task she gave me. It was the least I could do, with Danior imprisoned for a crime that I had committed. In the few minutes we had left to ourselves before the other maids of honor returned, she explained everything to me.

When she finished, I asked, “Where is Zoltán now?” I longed to see him. To know he was safe. Even though Danior was in such great peril, I felt as if I would die if anything had happened to Zoltán.

“Don’t worry, he is safe.” Alida touched my cheek when she said this. She knows how I feel, I thought. “He has taken the general to a place where he will not be found. When I inform him of our next steps, he will bring our prisoner forward. It must all be done with the utmost precision. If the timing is not exactly right, they will be able to lock us all away forever.”

I spent an agonizing, quiet evening with Alida and her young charges, my heart fluttering about what I would have to do the next day. They all seemed happy to have me as a guest, and the servants took my presence in stride. I was surprised to discover that ladies in the imperial palace slept in beds that were no softer than my own humble bed, and kept the same hours as a farmer, retiring soon after sunset and awakening before sunrise.