Chapter 2- Madame Giry's questions

Meg led Rene to her room and helped her unpack a bit before taking her up to meet her new instructors. She waited and saved the ballet instructor for last. Meg introduced Rene to the voice instructor and the orchestra conductor. Finally before she took Rene into the ballet teacher's office, she turned to her at the door.

"The last of our instructors you will meet is the ballet instructor, my mother, Madame Giry." Meg turned and knocked on the door. She put her ear to the door and listened.

"Excuse me…" Rene began. "Why are you…" but the door opened swiftly before she could finish her question. Standing in the door way was a woman in her early 50s. She wore a stiff black dress and her hair was braided in a long silver strand which ran down her back.

She covered as much of the doorway as possible, but Rene could still see parts of the room. It was not well lit, and so when she thought she saw someone walk across the back wall, she dismissed it as her eyes playing tricks on her, but was still curios. She smiled warmly at Madame Giry. Rene held out a hand for her to shake. Madame Giry took it with one hand. She shook it only briefly.

"I assume you are the new pupil." Madame Giry did not wait for an answer, but turned to her daughter. "What is it, Meg? I am busy right now."

"I just thought that I would introduce you to Rene. I gave you a few minutes, hoping that you would be done, but apparently not, so we will come back after the tour of the theater." Meg replied and began to turn to leave.

"No, no. Don't be silly. Now is as good a time as any. Just come in, come in."

Rene and Meg stepped into the poorly lit room as Rene scanned for the person she thought she had seen earlier. She saw no one and so her logical mind told her that it had been the flicker of the candles.

"Well, Rene, how are you feeling about our Opera? What I mean is, why did you come here?" Madame Giry asked as she sat in a chair near a table in the corner of the room. She motioned for the two girls to sit.

Rene sat on a small couch on the other side of the small room, near the fireplace. "I am here to study dance and music with the world famous instructors here at the Opera Populaire."

"Yes, I'm sure that is the answer that every other one of the instructors here have accepted, but I would like to know the real reason." Madame Giry slid to the edge of her chair and looked Rene in the eye. "Why are you here?"

Rene leaned back into the couch. She breathed deeply, and began to answer. "I am here because I have no where else to go." Madame Giry nodded. "My father died before I was born and my mother passed away less than a year ago. My only family is my mother's niece and her husband, whom I have never met. I love the theater, and so I applied to the Opera Populaire, and by some strange sequence of events, I made it in."

"Why is it strange? No doubt you are talented." Madame Giry said.

"Well, I thought that I had been a disappointment, because I…" Rene could not bring herself to relive that day.

"It's okay, Mademoiselle, we are not here to judge." Meg said. Meg turned to Rene in her seat. "Please, go on."

"Well, my vocal audition went very well, but in my second audition, my dance audition, I fell, and I thought that I had ruined the entire interview." Rene said, lowering her head in shame.

"I am sorry to pry, but where did you audition, Mademoiselle?" Madame Giry asked sitting back a bit in her chair.

"I auditioned in the theater, on the stage, actually. I was told that only a privileged few where allowed to audition in there." Rene said.

Madame Giry stood quickly. "Meg," she said looking at her daughter. "Please take Mademoiselle Delacour to her room."

"But, mother, she…" Meg began, but Madame Giry raised her hand to silence her.

"I have some business to attend tonight." Madame Giry arose, and the other two stood with her. "It was good to meet you, Mademoiselle."

"Thank you, and I am very delighted to have met you also." Rene answered.

Meg and Rene walked out the door and into the hall. Rene walked slowly and as Madame Giry closed the door to her room, Rene thought that she heard a man's voice behind the door.