Austrian Folk Dances
Part One – The Ländler
Chapter IV
A/N: Beware of the lure of the forbidden….
Disclaimer: I do not own "The Sound of Music", etc.
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"Forbid us something, and that thing we desire."
Geoffrey Chaucer
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"Who is that charming little creature?"
"Who?" Georg glanced up in the same direction of his friend's gaze. There, perched high above the festivities was Fräulein Maria dutifully watching over his children. The girls were pressed against the railing of the upper landing, observing everyone and everything. The boys were leaning against the wall, feigning disinterest. Their governess, who was attempting to also appear aloof, was failing miserably. Although her demeanor of casually glancing at the boys was meant to give an air of casualness, her tight grip against the railing rivaled that of his daughters. A grip that was meant to hold her back from the party but yet still bring her as close to it as possible. "Oh – the children´s governess."
"Hm mm. I see that your criteria for hiring help has improved significantly since the last time I was here." Georg just cast a half smile – a dangerous warning sign, to those who knew him. "Not conventionally beautiful, I would say, although – what a fine figure! With the right haircut, some make up and the right dress, that girl could take Vienna by storm."
The Captain frowned. Not conventionally beautiful? Maybe she lacked Elsa´s classically perfect features, but other than that… Although he had always been reluctant to admit to other things about her, he never denied that he had been fully aware of Maria´s innocent appeal.
The Count of Szaratay continued speaking.
"Do you mind if I…"
"Yes, I do." Georg chuckled, attempting to sound friendly while still attempting to rebuff the Count.
He remembered Peggy Schneider´s outrageous suggestion. Although there was a part of him that whole-heartedly agreed with the eccentric woman, the very thought of Maria receiving her first kiss from a man like the Count repulsed him. It made him cringe. Most especially because he was well aware of András´s notorious reputation for seducing young, unattached females. No, he would not be satisfied with just kissing.
"You don´t even know what I was going to ask."
"Oh, but I do!"
"Georg!" The Count was insistent, a sure sign that Georg had judged him correctly concerning his young governess.
"András, Fräulein Maria is here only temporarily. She is going to be a nun, she will not be interested in whatever you would have to offer her. Your pursuits would be more beneficial elsewhere."
"What a shame! But I would like to be the judge of that myself. Tell me – what does she do during her free time – that is, if you allow her any?"
"I do, and she spends it climbing trees." He smiled at the thought of the young woman in question hanging from the trees. "I've probably been the cause for one or two of them." He chuckled. "András, I'm merely trying to tell you that Maria is - how should I put it - unique. She's a real spit-fire, will put you in your place, and has no qualms about telling you that you're wrong. I assure you, my governess is free to speak to you of her own volition, but she has her mind set on becoming a nun."
"Come on, Georg. Have you not thought about it, just once? The lure of the forbidden is a widely known phenomenon, you cannot be immune to that, no hot-blooded man is. An innocent girl, fresh out of a convent. It would almost be… too easy, wouldn´t it?"
Georg's tone lost it's gentleness that it held before. "Even for a Don Juan, you don't know when to stop, do you? I would advise you not to speak of any woman like that in my presence. It doesn't speak well of you, and it's rather disturbing to the male population, Graf von Szaratay!"
The Count laughed. "Oh, I am disturbed now. Zeller was right. I was just telling him that…"
The Captain´s next words were menacing. "Stay away from her! Both you and Zeller."
"So you have thought about it."
Rage blossomed inside the Captain. How could the man think of Maria as only a trophy of his pursuits? "If you go near her, if you talk to her, if you do as much as look to her that way again, I swear will…"
"Calm down, Georg. I understand. Who am I to damage your property." The Count chuckled, then bowed and left.
The lure of the forbidden, indeed! Maria was alluring, no doubt. Forbidden? Absolutely. Beckoning him to her? Possibly his mind screamed.
"Darling, I was talking to you!" Elsa tugged at his right arm.
Charming, witty, graceful. The perfect hostess. His savior. Why was it that Fräulein Maria frequently invaded his thoughts when he had Elsa, and Elsa was everything he should want in a woman – and for a time, it was what he had wanted? Her classical beauty was unrivaled. She was charming – she had the men and women of Viennese society fawning over her. Her wit was part of her charm, and it matched his own, a trait he had never found before in any other woman, with the possible exception of... He forced his thoughts to return to the Baroness. Graceful was the only way to describe how Elsa moved, how she walked. The perfect hostess is what she would be this evening, and what she was when she showed her a Vienna he had not cared to see since he had lost his love.
His savior… That somehow didn't ring nearly as true now as it had when he had spoken it a few weeks prior. No, that phrase could only be applied to one woman – the young woman in a hand-me-down dress who had caught the eyes of the notorious Count of Szaratay. He smiled at the irony that his savior would be a nun.
"I´m sorry, darling. What were you saying?"
"What made you so furious and what did you say to dear András that he and Herr Zeller find so amusing?" Elsa asked.
Georg looked at the two men, and felt his temper rising even higher. How dare they think so little of Maria? He observed his governess again from the corner of his eye. Forbidden indeed he thought. He looked at Elsa and replied, "Nothing important. Are all the guests here yet? I need to speak to the children."
"Oh yes, of course. The children. Try not to worry too much, their little Fräulein is taking good care of them!"
Fräulein Maria is watching over them. But who is watching - the Fräulein?
His governess had barely made an appearance, and she had already managed to attract several kinds attention – all of the wrong kind. He chastised himself for not making sure she had anything appropriate to wear for such an event, and cursed himself for being so stupid. He could only hope Maria would not be aware of some of the looks that the women were throwing in her direction. Granted, she was an employee, but even Franz was wearing dinner attire, as was appropriate. Maria wore a simple dress, with delicate flowers; she was the epitome of Austrian simplicity. And yet, every thought that he had of the woman was utterly complicated.
But it was another kind of attention that worried him even more. He saw a couple of his friends gazing at her, and it had been enough to make his skin crawl. And the words of the Count only added to his worries.
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As Maria looked down on the hall, her breath caught. The children were equally speechless. The Captain and the Baroness were still greeting the last arriving guests. Lots of people stood about talking, before going to the ballroom, where the orchestra was already playing. No one was dancing yet, and no one would, until the Captain opened the ball, with the Baroness.
Maria observed her employer. He was naturally at ease among guests, although something in his stance spoke of a certain inner tension. He looked so formal in his attire, so very much like a decorated naval hero. He wasn't anything like the pirate that Hans Schneider was, nor was he the cold hearted sea captain she had met at her arrival. No, this was the aristocrat, the Baron.
There was a dark haired man standing next to him now. He was just as tall, but not nearly as fit as the Captain. Suddenly, the man raised his eyes to look straight at her. It was a look that made her extremely uncomfortable, so she immediately tore her gaze away, and fixed it on the entrance to the ball room. When she felt remotely confident that she was no longer the subject of their gazes, she returned her eyes back to the Captain. They began exchanging a few words, and the Captain flashed a look in her direction, but never held her gaze for more than a fraction of a second. His polite smile suddenly changed to that dangerous half smile she knew so well. Then his whole expression darkened, and it was clear that, whatever the other man said, it had angered him. But Elsa was soon there to calm him down. His expression softened again, and he was, once more, calm and composed, ready to greet the next guest in line.
So this is how he looks like among his peers, she thought. Never before the distance between her world and the world of von Trapp´s seemed so vast – and notably after her gaze turned to Elsa von Schraeder next to him. For even among the magnificently brilliant gathering she stood out in her gold gown. If she had any intention to attract attention to herself she could not have chosen anything more calculated to bring this result.
"Look!" whispered Brigitta. "Father is going to open the ball."
"I wonder who he will do it with this time," said Louisa sarcastically.
"With whom he will do it," Maria corrected absentmindedly, her attention entirely on the scene below.
"We can´t see it from here," said Liesl. "Where should we go?"
"We can take the back stairs and watch it from the terrace," said Maria.
"Come on, quickly, I don´t want to miss it for the world," said Brigitta.
The orchestra had already begun to play a traditional waltz when Maria and the children reached the terrace. The Captain took The Baroness by his gloved hands, and led her to the center of the ballroom – just where Maria had seen him earlier.
Maria turned her eyes to the garden, but she found herself swaying to the rhythm of waltz. She couldn't help but recall Peggy's words from earlier. Peggy had once again implored her to reconsider becoming a nun. Peggy wanted her to kiss someone. Peggy wanted her to waltz. Her! Maria! Although that idea seemed a bit far-fetched, Maria couldn't help but think that a dance would be lovely. To be in the ballroom, twirling with all of the other ladies as the music soared above everyone. The waltz ended, people clapped. Another one began - the Blue Danube. She was startled from her fantasy by a male voice.
"Fräulein!"
She turned around quickly. "Yes, Captain?"
Apparently, he had not danced with the Baroness any longer than the rules of etiquette required.
"Do you mind parting from your charges for a few minutes? I wish to take them to meet some of the guests."
She looked to the children, their expressions unsure.
"Of course I don´t mind, Captain. They are your children!" And then she said to the children, who eyed her uncertainly. "Go on with your father, I will be waiting for you right here." The children remained silent. She insisted. "Oh come, you told me you wanted to meet the guests. Go on. Mingle!" They still did not move. "Why are you looking at me like that? Don´t you want to?"
"Not without you, Fräulein Maria," said Marta.
"Children, I cannot…"
The Captain interrupted her. "Yes, yes, of course you can. You too are free to wander around if you want to, Fräulein. You don´t have to be a wallflower."
"A wall… flower?"
"What I mean is that you do not have to hide out here. You can come inside with the children."
"Oh please, do come with us, Fräulein," pleaded Brigitta, and the others agreed.
"All right," she said, shrugging.
As they walked behind the children, towards the main hallway, he said to her, "They are still reluctant to leave your protection. They still fear me, don´t they?"
"You must give them time, Captain. Rome was not built in a day, was it?"
Yes, but not many days are left until September, he thought.
They approached the door to the ball room, and he was greeted by his youngest child. "Father, do you know what I think you should do?"
"What, Gretl?" He asked, leaning down to her eye level.
"You should dance with Fräulein Maria." The other children smiled and nodded in approval.
He looked up at his governess and noted a startled expression upon her face. "Maybe I should," he whispered enigmatically, almost as if to himself. He then stood to escort his children into the ballroom. Unfortunately, Gretl´s comment was overheard by the Baroness, but his reply was not.
"That is preposterous, dear. Your father cannot dance with the governess, not matter how much you all adore her. Imagine the scandal!" Then she turned to Georg. "Can you imagine? You dancing with… with the the governess?" she laughed at her own joke.
The Captain was visibly annoyed. This is my home, and I will dance with whom I please, whether it is appropriate or not. But instead, he said.
"O-ho, I don't imagine that my two left feet will do much dancing this evening."
Maria followed the Captain and the children for a while. At first it was easy, because Marta and Gretl refused to let go of her hand, which probably reassured her more than it reassured the girls. But as the children began feeling more at ease, her own uneasiness increased. When she saw the Baroness staring at her quizzically, she knew it was time to leave and go back to her hiding place. Taking advantage of the first opportunity, she mumbled an excuse and did just that.
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A/N: Thanks to Mellie for her super beta work, and to Max, for suggesting the Count´s name. And to all of you dear reviewers!