Sisters
After Adele went up again, the performances of Faustwere still going. She resumed normal business, with the exception that she was getting new, better parts. In the coming opera, she had the lead role. When Giuseppi heard about the promotion (he had not heard before she left, and had not completely believed it was true) he started to act like she was some sort of long-lost princess, and made the whole thing quite awkward. I resolved to promote him, too, and began plotting again. Ah, the joy of manipulation, and receiving twenty thousand a month for it.
Adele's first real part was Alice in Robert le Diable. She practiced and practiced, and even when I asked her to stop she hummed her songs constantly. "Stop that," I would say. "I want to be the best," she would say. I could not argue with that. In a way, I suppose I was nervous. If she was worse than Christine, I would be disappointed. If she was better, I would be resentful. I kept letting my pen leak on my music, trying to decide which I would rather, and finally gave up worrying and hoped that everything would turn out all right.
Robert le Diable started playing in November, around the time that I finished one opera and started a new one. Every night for a week before the first performance Adele had insisted on coming down and rehearsing until I made her go to sleep. She hardly looked nervous when I sneaked backstage to wish her luck five minutes before the show.
I hugged her. "What, you aren't nervous?"
She shuddered, smiling, and whispered, "Oh, I am. But I am also terribly excited. I also trust your skills as a ventriloquist if I can't find my voice."
"Thank you. Break a leg." She slipped out into the bustle of actors and actresses and harassed seamstresses. I went to my box. I was nervous, even if she wasn't. I fidgeted in box five until the play began, then I watched raptly. Adele sang, I had to admit, better than Christine had in Hannibal. All that practice had paid off. She even managed to look tall, which she most definitely was not. The eye of the audience was drawn to her; I could see it, and I was proud. I threw her the white rose I had found the night before in a florist's shop undeserving of it—it was white, streaked pink in the middle. She caught it and smiled at me shyly. I began to go to her room, then decided against it. She would be busy with the Opera Populaire tonight. I felt a little gloomy about that, and took the long way back down.
The long way down went over the atrium where tickets and drinks were bought before performances, and patrons chatted about the performance and dinner after. It was a huge room, with pink marble tiling and paintings of Dionysian revels on the ceiling. The grand staircase had a fork that ended here, but was roped off during performances. Having nothing better to do, I sat in the spot just over the Dionysius on the ceiling from which you can hear any of the conversations in the atrium if you move your head a little. It took me a lot of practice to find the proper spot and proper motions, but it is a satisfying experience. It is remarkably like being able to eavesdrop on the whole world at once.
"We should go to La Petite Italie, Valerie.…"
"Wasn't their Richard wonderful? So handsome…." I snorted. Antonio handsome! Some taste that girl had.
"Parting is such sweet sorrow, Madeline…."
"No, I need to get the children home…"
"Her name was Adelita, you said? Could I speak with her?" I scowled and singled out the speaker from the crowd. She was a tall young woman, perhaps eighteen, and she looked uncannily like Adele. She was talking to a ticket seller near the stairs.
"Well, Mlle. Cañas, I don't know. She'll be changing, I warrant. Not to be disturbed."
"But I must, Monsieur. It is very important."
I licked my lips. "Let her in," I said in the ticket seller's ear. "I shall see to it that she finds Adele. I believe I know who she is." The ticket seller merely went white, earning a concerned glance from Mlle. Cañas. "Now. Let her into the main hall."
"I am to bring you to the main hall," said the shaken ticket seller.
"Are you all right, Monsieur?"
"I hope so. Come, ma'mselle." He shambled up the stairs to the main hall with the young lady in tow. He did not leave her there without some encouragement.
"What is your name, my friend?" I asked.
"Where are you?" She looked around the hall. I think the paintings of theatre scenes on the walls confused her.
"Everywhere," I said, making sure my voice echoed properly.
"You are that Phantom they said was in box five are you not? What have you to do with my sister?" She looked more puzzled than afraid. This made me happy.
"Tell me your name, and I shall tell it to her."
"Isabella Cañas."
"Do you happen to be Adelita's sister?"
"I think so. Please tell her."
"Your wish is my command, Mademoiselle. I shall send her here, where you shall await her." I went to the over-the changing-room space where one could hear lots of girls were giggling. "Adele," I called. The room went silent.
"Please don't do that," she said. I heard several gasps.
"My sincerest apologies. There is no cause for alarm, and I assure you I am not peeking. I merely wished to inform you, Adelita, that you have a visitor waiting in the main hall."
"Male or female?" (Nervous titters.)
"Female."
"I'm coming."
"No, Adelita!" shrilled a few.
"What if it's a trap?"
"It isn't a trap, Caroline," Adele said coolly. "I'll see you later." She left the changing room. "So who is she, Papa?"
"I think she would rather tell you that."
"Fine, be like that." Her heels clacked to the main hall. "Hello?"
"Adelita?" said Isabella.
I heard the door shut. "I know you," Adele declared firmly, "but I don't remember who you are."
"Isabella."
"Isabella…my sister Isabella?" she asked in Spanish. There was a pause. "Yes, you are! I remember you weren't at the house when it burned down."
"I was at the opera with Marcelo and his mother."
Adele laughed. " Marcelo…you mean the boy who always pulled my pigtails and gave me a puppy for my fourth birthday."
"Yes. We got married, Adelita."
"Oh, goodness! When?"
"Last winter. What have you been doing for eleven years?"
"Oh…learning, mostly. I only started acting a year ago."
"And you're Alice already?"
"My father effected a promotion."
"Your father? Didn't he die?"
"Ahm…I was…"
"Go ahead and tell her, Adele," I said.
"Adopted. By the Phantom of the Opera."
"The one in box five."
"There is only one Phantom, Bella. I think we have some talking to do."
"Yes."
"Come on, I'll show you my room." They left and I did not follow them. I went back down and added a new character to my opera. Her name was Isabella.