This chapter and the next will have quite a bit of dialogue…..it is just for the two characters to get to know each other.
Chapter 2 -
"May I inquire as to what you are doing in my school at this hour unannounced?" Elizabeth finally got the courage to say.
"I assumed an academy of the arts would have an organ or at least a piano inside. I soon found this one; it's not the best I have played. It was slightly out of tune, I might add, but I found it useful to my purpose." He replied calmly.
"Yes, but you still are trespassing in my school. sir, which is unacceptable since I do not trust strangers near my students." She replied getting angrier. Then she got an idea. "Although, you do play very well."
"What on earth is that supposed to mean?" He asked, not caring how rude he sounded, because he was, in fact, still Erik, who never was one to care how rude he was.
"Never mind!" she stated angrily.
"If it was nothing, silly girl, you wouldn't have said it. Now, what do you mean? Were you being sarcastic with me? Because I assure you, I am not a person of good humor. And I do not mean to boast, but I do believe that I play very well." He was standing now, and had made his way closer to her, making himself even more intimidating.
"No, I was not being sarcastic. I happen to think you play well, and in truth I was just wondering out loud if you had ever taught."
"Taught? Taught what? Taught people how to play the organ?" He looked at her as if she was crazy, and he truly believed she was at that moment. Who would he ever have taught to play the organ?
"No, vocal lessons. You were also singing." she replied as if it were completely obvious. The look in his eyes changed and Elizabeth soon saw sadness in his eyes. Apparently, this was a bad memory for the man, one that seemed to haunt him.
"I see," he finally replied after a long silence. "I have only ever taught one person and teaching is not what I plan on doing with my life." His tone had changed and it seemed as if it was painful for him to speak those words.
"I was only asking," Elizabeth tried to make the man feel better after she had obviously brought up something very painful.
"Besides, I am only passing through on my way to Liverpool. The companions I was traveling with left me here nearly a month ago, and I am trying to find alternate transportation to get me there," he replied. He had made it halfway, or so he thought, to that city when the men he had traveled with had actually changed their minds and gone instead to London, and he did not want to go to London. Therefore, he had gotten off at the nearest sight of civilization, but this town hardly seemed civilized to him.
"Why Liverpool, if you don't mind me asking?" Elizabeth inquired.
"I do not mind you asking, girl, but that does not concern you. Just because you ask does not mean I shall answer."
"Would you please, sir, stop referring to me as girl. I give you the courtesy of giving you the respect you may, or may not, deserve." Elizabeth was beginning to find this man insufferable.
"This job of yours—what would it require?" He changed the subject as if it were nothing.
"I thought you did not want it." She replied with a half smirk on her face.
He saw the smirk and replied angrily. "I was merely asking. You seem rather desperate since you would ask a man who snuck into your establishment unannounced and uninvited."
"It would require working with young children, some as young as five, some as old as twelve, on their singing abilities. You would be an accompanist as well. However, you say you have very little experience, and you also seem to have anger issues. I do not believe a man with anger issues should work with children. So, if you wouldn't mind, kindly leave my school."
"You seem to be getting quite angry with me right now. Maybe you yourself should not be working with children." She opened her mouth to protest but she could not say a thing. This man was horrible. Elizabeth already disliked him, and this was before knowing of his past, had she known, she would have been terrified of him being near her students fearing their safety right away.
"Do you seriously have nothing to say? I am shocked. In addition, I would make a great teacher, as I would not lose my temper near the children. I assume you do the same daily. Furthermore the student I did teach before grew up to be a very accomplished singer, and for a brief occasion was lead soprano at an opera house in Paris, but I would be much obliged to leave your property at once." It took all his might not to break down at the thought of Christine, but instead he gathered his cloak and slipped past the speechless woman near the doorway.
Elizabeth stood for a few more seconds trying to decipher what had actually just happened. When she did, she realized that the man who had not only been rude to her, but also openly insulted her, was the best man she could possibly hire for the job at her school. By now though, he was already out the door and down the hall. She hurried after him and was able to catch up with him as he got to the front doors. "Sir, are you interested in the position or not? Even if it just were temporary, I would like to hire you. If I found another who was good enough for the job, I would happily let you go. You are right sir, I am desperate, my students need a proper teacher, and for my students' sake, I am not too proud to beg."
"How long would it be?" He asked feeling bad for this woman.
"Only until you wanted to leave. I would find a replacement as soon as you asked it of me."
"What are the wages?"
"Ten pounds a week." she replied, hoping it would suit him. If it did not, she would be willing to go higher.
"And what of the lodgings? Am I to stay here?"
"No, I have three people who watch the children at night. The teachers are free to go home at the end of the day." Elizabeth was trying to be as nice as she could to this man; she still did not like his attitude one bit.
"I have nowhere else to go." He replied honestly.
Elizabeth did not know what to say to that. She was not able to have him stay at the school; the rooms were full. Then a crazy idea popped into her head, and in the state that she was in, crazy things are very often blurted out. "You could stay at my home. I live just down the street at a home called Summerside. It is only my servants and I who live there. There would be many open rooms for you."
He was taken back by this statement. "You want me to stay with you?" he asked with a slight laugh to his tone.
"If you would accept the job, I would." she replied. "I would dock off one pound a week for food and lodgings, if that is to your satisfaction."
"I could find a cheaper home than a pound a week, Miss."
"But it would not be as nice as what I could offer you at Summerside, I assure you that. I take much pride in my home and I think you would like it there." she replied, smiling.
"I shall see and find out. We shall go there now." He stepped out the door. He was commanding her, and that was a new occurrence for Elizabeth.
"I first need to go to the repairman to have some instruments fixed."
"What types of instruments?"
"String."
"I can fix them. Bring them along." He replied. His tone had changed; this man seemed to like to have the control of a situation.
"Sir?" Elizabeth said as she brought the three instruments outside
"Yes?" He asked impatiently.
"What is your name?" she asked wondering how in the confusion of it all she did not know that small bit of information.
"Erik, Just Erik, and yours miss?"
"Elizabeth Bennet, but I prefer just Elizabeth, except from my students."
The two made their way to the mansion in silence. Although he did not say anything when they reached Elizabeth's home, Erik's expression changed, and she knew he was impressed by it.
When they got inside, Elizabeth, who had been gone for much longer than an hour, asked the maids to instruct her chef to have more food made for her guest. She also asked them to go and make the finest bedroom in the east wing usable for her guest. They agreed nicely ,although they knew the chef would be angry. He was in fact furious, so he decided on a simple dish for the two that he could make quickly.
Elizabeth went back to find Erik in order to show him where he was to stay, but she found her guest sitting on the floor, like a child, trying to fix a violin. "I can show you a table which might be better."
"I am fine here, I assure you." He replied and turned his full attention back to the instrument.
Before dinner was ready, Elizabeth insisted on showing him to his room. He had almost an entire wing of the house to himself—not that he would really need it. His bedroom was nice; the windows were far too big for his taste, since he still much preferred the night, and darkness, but the bed called to him. He had very much wanted to sleep in a nice comfortable bed ever since he left Paris. That, of all things, he missed most about his lair back in Paris.
After being shown his room, he was also shown around the rest of the house. He saw where the kitchens were, where the very large and well-stocked library was, and where the various studies, parlors, dining rooms, and such were. He was in fact very impressed by the home Elizabeth kept, and he wondered for the first time why she lived alone.
Surely, there must be someone in her life worth living with—but he also knew all too well that prying into other people's business was not something to be done in this way.
After showing him the inside of the house, she mentioned that she had much more to show him in the backyard. "I have a swimming pool, it was built for my nephew a few years ago, but I hardly ever use it, now."
He was quite surprised, from what he knew, swimming pools were not something that the average person had at their home.
"I also have a private tennis court, it is one of only seven in the country, and out of the seven it is the only private one. Very few people even know of it." He just nodded calmly, trying to say it was not that impressive. It was in fact very impressive.
"You may go back to what you were doing, sir. I won't keep you away from your violin any longer."
"Call me Erik, Elizabeth." he replied. He turned around. She tried not to get angry; she had not actually given him permission to call her by her first name, but she also had not denied him the privilege, so she said nothing.
After the tour of the home he went back to find that the violin had been moved. He went to sit at the table, where he assumed a maid had put it. She also seemed to have moved the rest of the instruments nearer to the table, too. He would have preferred just to sit on the floor and work on it, but what maid would want violin parts all over the floor? Therefore, he calmly sat at the table and began to work intently.
When dinner was ready, he did stop to eat because although he never ate much, he did find that the lack of food was catching up to him, and this freshly prepared meal would be nice.