18) I will find my way

Mme.Giry was neither blind nor stupid. She knew there was something wrong with her daughter, even before she had set eyes on her in the morning. When Meg was cheerful she could be heard in the entire house, humming and whistling, sometimes even singing. Today the only sound was the opening and closing of doors, and even that seemed to be subdued.

The ballet teacher sat at the kitchen table, sipping her herbal tea and waiting. She was aware that she couldn´t force Meg to talk to her about what was troubling her. Yet perhaps the need to tell someone would overwhelm her sooner or later. Mme.Giry strongly suspected that something had happened yesterday evening with M.Devoiraux. Her daughter had been quiet since she had returned from the restaurant he had invited her to.

The telltale snapping shut of the entrance door interrupted her thoughts. Apparently Meg didn´t feel like meeting her mother at the moment and had already left for the opera. Mme.Giry emptied her cup and filled it a second time. She was in no hurry. Running after Meg would be the most foolish thing she could have done now. She´d surely calm down on the short walk, and perhaps she´d let Christine in on her problem.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Maybe Meg would have indeed done that. But she didn´t attend the lesson this morning. Christine was very surprised about this unusual behaviour. The ballet teacher´s daughter never missed a rehearsal. Christine herself, on the other hand, had only come because she had hoped to meet Meg. The events of the last evening were still making her worried. Could she have done anything to prevent it?

Half-heartedly she began the first exercises. All around her the other girls were doing the same before the lesson started. "You are Christine Daaé, aren´t you?", a small girl standing next to her suddenly asked. Christine nodded and threw Mme.Giry a brief glance. Normally talking wasn´t tolerated during lessons. Yet today the teacher didn´t even seem to have noticed it. Her gaze wandered around restlessly from one possible entrance to stage to the next. Obviously she didn´t know where her daughter was either.

Christine gave a soundless sigh. She had to wait until after the lesson to talk to her, or it would be suspicious. Determined to distract herself she turned to the other girl. She had never seen her before. "Yes, I´m Christine.", she replied. "And you are…?" "Ariane. Ariane Hérder.", the girl said eagerly. "I come from Marseille."

"I guess you´re here because Nicole left." Gossip travelled fast at the opera, and even though she hadn´t been present when Mme.Giry had told the others the good news, Christine had heard about it. "Yes, and I´m so happy about being here. This place has an excellent reputation. The others girls are very friendly as well. They said that lots of interesting people attend the performances."

Ariane giggled breathlessly. "They told me that my chances of attracting the attention of a wealthy patron were very good. Men love dancers, don´t they?" Christine murmured a few words of agreement while groaning and rolling her eyes inwardly. On her first day at the opera she had had other things on her mind than whether she´d find a husband here.

The other girl seemed to be so excited that she stopped her warm up. Christine realised that most girls had done this by now and were chatting idly, occasionally throwing an arm or a leg into the air, pretending to do something sensible. It was a sign of how upset Mme.Giry was that she didn´t shout at them. "I mean, look at that one!", Ariane exclaimed, pointing at a rather handsome young man sitting in the front row of the auditorium. "Isn´t he charming? I think he´s watching me." Christine could hardly keep herself from giving her one of her famous deadly glances. Incidentally she was certain the man was not watching Ariane, but herself. After all, it was Raoul.

"Do you know who he is?", Ariane continued. "Could you…?" A hand was put on Christine´s shoulder, and she turned around to face Mme.Giry. "Do you have a moment?", she asked. "Of course.", Christine answered. The ballet teacher led her away to the edge of the stage, waving at someone. The girl saw that Raoul had stood up and was walking into their direction.

"I wanted to talk to the both of you.", Mme.Giry said in a low voice as soon as Raoul had arrived. "As you´ve surely noticed Meg hasn´t come to the rehearsal. She has left the house in the morning, though. I´d like to know where she is. But I cannot possibly go and look for her myself. After this rehearsal I have a private lesson with the new chorus girl, which I can´t cancel. Could you perhaps search for her?" They nodded.

The woman smiled faintly. She was feeling a little uncomfortable with making Christine and Raoul help her. But her anxiety was stronger than her wish not to be regarded as an overprotective mother. "Thank you. I´ve already thought about where to go. Raoul, could you look for her in the area surrounding the opera? Sometimes she enjoys sitting on a bench in the park or in one of the little cafés. If she´s not there…" She pulled a key out of her pocket and handed it to the man. "Maybe she has gone home again after I had left." "I´ll do what I can.", Raoul promised and made his way to the door.

"And what do you want me to do?", Christine asked instantly. She was desperate to help as well. Besides, the lesson wasn´t that important for her anyway. There were only few dance sequences for her in the new opera. And even if there had been a thousand… Meg was her best friend. Mme.Giry threw her a questioning glance, as if in her opinion the answer was perfectly clear. "You´ll go to Erik."