Chapter Five: Perfect, a Pure Paragon!

"I'm not joking, Sofia!"

At the sound of this outburst, Frau Schmidt poked her head out the kitchen and peered down the hall to see two housemaids huddled together, both of them clasping their feather dusters and talking in an animated hush.

"What are you girls doing?" Mathilde Schmidt asked.

Both girls jumped and rushed down the hall towards her, both gabbling hurriedly.

Mathilde raised a hand. "One at a time, please."

"Oh, Frau Schmidt!" gasped one of the girls. "I walked past the library and I heard the master in there – with the governess!"

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Mathilde gave the girl a withering look. "So, Anya? Captain von Trapp meets with her every evening." Then she stopped and realised what the maid had just told her. "Did you say the library?"

The top of Anya's frilly housemaid cap flapped as the girl nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! And I heard him…" The girl paused for dramatic effect and leaned in closer towards the housekeeper."… laugh!"

"Nonsense!"

"Who'd have thought?" said Anya excitedly.

"Who'd have known?" said Sofia in a daze as she gazed into the distance, clutching at her feather duster.

"It's so peculiar," agreed Mathilde, though she was hesitant to believe them. The two maids were notorious with their gossip.

Turning around, she headed back into the kitchen and called out for Franz who was busy bustling around the cook like an overattentive mother hen.

"Franz!"

"Yes?" he asked as he approached, raising an eyebrow at the overexcited housemaids.

"Apparently the Captain is with the governess in the library," she said, giving the housemaids another disbelieving look.

Franz frowned. "Don't be ridiculous. The library is locked. And I know the Captain has reservations with the Baroness and Herr Detweiler at the Goldener Hirsch this evening."

"He's in the library," said Anya, her eyes shining.

"You must be hearing things," Franz said with a wave of his hands. "Captain von Trapp would not forgo dinner with his two guests just so he could spend more time with the governess. He will be at the Goldener."

"He's in the library!" repeated Anya.

It was ten minutes later when Mathilde returned to the kitchen and sat down at the worn bench. She stared at a knot in the wood until she heard the scrape of a chair and turned to see Franz sit down next to her. They'd both followed the housemaids to the library, all four of them pressing their ear against the locked door. And then they had waited with baited breath until they heard the muffled sound of the governess talking and then a second later the unmistakable rumble of their Captain laughing.

"But she's the governess," Franz said for the tenth time.

Mathilde fixed her grumpy companion with a hard stare. "And, so? She's done a great deal of good in this house."

"The governess, Mathilde," said Franz, raising a pointed finger. "Why isn't he in town with his guests? I thought he brought that Baroness here so he could marry her." He threw his hands up in the air and then fixed the housekeeper with a irritated glare. "This is your fault you know!"

"My fault? Where did you get that from?"

"You're the one that had to feed her! No, we couldn't just let her starve and run away like all the others. Instead she stayed and now she's going into forbidden rooms and making the master laugh!" Franz said all of this accompanied by woefully pitiful sighs. "Captain von Trapp doesn't laugh!"

While Mathilde knew Franz to be one uptight man, she knew that he did care for the family. Sometimes, though, he just made no sense at all.

"I'm sorry, Franz, but I thought that this would be a good thing that the girl stayed? You always complain that they never last; that the children or the Captain scare them off. But she's still here."

"Ha! Yes!" said Franz triumphantly. "For now. What happens when she returns to the abbey?"

Mathilde shrugged.

"A-ha! You see?"

Mathilde shook her head, she didn't see at all.

Franz tapped his nose. "It's obvious, isn't it?"

Mathilde stared at Franz, her head cocked to the side.

"Come on! Once she's gone he'll go back to being his brooding self and he'll lock all the doors again and then there will be more governesses. And it'll be worse this time because they had someone they liked and then she'll be gone!"

Franz was making no sense to her and so Mathilde asked, "What about the Baroness, everyone knows he's planning to marry her – you just said it yourself. Hopefully they won't need a governess."

A smug smirk found it's way onto Franz's face. "Ah, but you see that's exactly my point - she won't want to marry him now."

"Why?"

"Because he spent the damn evening with the governess!"

Letting out an unladylike huff, Elsa tapped her fan on the top of the bar's countertop and glared at a pot plant in the near distance.

She was furious.

At ten minutes past their reservation time, she'd been merely annoyed. Georg was normally a punctual man but of course there was a first time for everything. Surely one of his brats or even the ridiculous excuse for a governess had done something and kept him. She'd assured herself he'd be here soon.

At half past she'd moved on from annoyed to highly vexed. Max had suggested they order an entrée or two and assured her Georg would be here in time for their main meal.

That was nearly three hours ago. And after a bottle of wine, Elsa was ready to strangle Georg and watch his handsome face turn purple as she slowly deprived him of air. How dare he humiliate her? She was, as he had put it, his saviour. And now he was doing God knew what somewhere else. What could possible be more important than her?

"Elsa, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation," she heard Max say as she willed the pot plant she'd been staring at to burst into flames.

"Three hours, Max," she hissed, dragging her gaze away from the pathetic flora to point her fan accusingly at the impresario. "Three hours."

Letting out a dramatic sigh worthy of any wronged heroine, Elsa raised a gloved hand to her forehead as she sunk gracefully into one of the plush loveseats in the bar's lounge.

"It pains me to see you so down in the dumps, Elsa," Max said, plonking down next to her, a drink in his hand.

"Dismissed. Rejected. Publicly humiliated." Elsa sighed and let her bottom lip tremble. "Why, it's more than I can bear."

"More champagne, darling?" Max suggested, waving his glass.

"What for?" Elsa said sadly as she gestured with her fan. "Nothing helps." Giving her best woeful sigh, Elsa let her eyes fill with tears – a handy skill that had saved her many times. "I'm disgraced!"

Max patted Elsa's hand idly as he awkwardly looked around the bar. There was a group of men, dressed in finely tailored suits, all eyeing Elsa appreciatively. While she was obviously in distress, he had to give her points for still managing to look fabulous. Her body was practically draped over the lounge, like some exotic - and erotic – throw blanket, while she let her perfectly made-up face rest in a gloved hand.

"You, disgraced? Never!" Max said cheerfully. "You've got to pull yourself together. Every guy here loved to be with you, Elsa."

Elsa formed her red painted lips into a sad little pout.

"Come on, Elsa, everyone's awed and inspired by you," Max went on, he gestured suggestively to her leg that had managed to find itself placed strategically near the split in her figure hugging dress. "And it's not very hard to see why."

Elsa sighed again. She cast a glance in the direction of the group of men, all of whom immediately raised their glasses at her. How could they not be awed for her, Max was right. She was the perfect hostess, utterly charming, witty, graceful - she was lovely.

"Thank you, Max," Elsa said, letting her lips quirk into a smile. "I needed that."

"You need nothing, darling!" Max said. "Don't worry, I'm sure Georg has a perfectly good reason and will surely make it up to you."

"I suppose," Elsa conceded. He better, she thought.

"Excuse me?"

Max and Elsa turned to see a waiter hovering next to them.

"Yes?" they both replied.

"There is a telephone call for a Herr Detweiler."

Excusing himself to Elsa, Max stood, gave her one more encouraging smile and sauntered off in the direction of the reception which was located down a short, lavishly decorated hall. Taking the phone from the clerk's hand, Max gave a little sigh before bringing the receiver to his face.

"Max Detweiler, speaking."

"Max!"

"Georg?" Max hissed into the phone, turning his back to the bar. "Where the bloody hell are you?"

"Is Elsa furious?"

"Let's just say that even if Austria still had a Navy you'd still be without a command."

"What?"

"She could sink ships with the look on her face when she realised you weren't coming!"

"Max…"

"Where are you, Georg?" Max risked a glance in the direction of the lounge and heard the sound of Elsa's husky laugh travelling down the hall. "She seems a little better now but you embarrassed her."

"I'm sorry, I just got caught up with something at home."

Max opened his mouth to let out a somewhat sympathetic remark but paused; Georg hadn't sounded like whatever had kept him had been unpleasant.

"What something?"

"Just... just something with the children. Look, Max, I'm sorry. Please, do tell Elsa I shall make it up to her, I promise." There was a pause on the other side of the line. "And have the bill sent to me."

"Already have!" trilled Max.

There was no response, just the dial tone as Georg hung up. Frowning, Max returned the phone before sauntering back off in the direction of the bar. He distinctly felt like something had happened at Aigen and he had missed it. Whatever it was, it wasn't Max's problem; his only problem right now was that he had no drink left. But he intended to remedy that – with compliments from Georg von Trapp.

Georg still couldn't believe that he'd spent nearly three hours in the library with Fraulein Maria. When he had first realised how much time had been spent with the little governess he hadn't even bothered to do anything about it. He had been too busy being swept back into conversation with the woman that he'd forgotten to even call the hotel. It wasn't until nearly another hour later that he'd remembered and had bid goodnight to the governess and hastily returned to his study to call Elsa and Max. And while he'd felt incredibly guilty for leaving Elsa, he had had to admit that it had been a pleasurable evening absent of waltzing, champagne and bores he detested.

It had been such a long time since he'd had decent conversation with someone. And while many of their interests and opinions had been varied, it had been stimulating. He'd felt challenged. It had been exciting to talk of the things he enjoyed and he had grudgingly admitted to himself that he'd rather enjoyed listening to her talk as well.

Fraulein Maria was so different to the people he'd met before. She didn't hide behind a mask like most people he knew. She tended to wear her heart on her sleeve. Before she'd arrived, Georg couldn't remember the last time someone had answered back to him. This simple country girl didn't seem to be fazed by the fact that he was Captain Georg von Trapp. It was oddly refreshing. Although, she definitely had a way of getting under his skin and he was certain there were many more arguments to come.

After mustering up the courage to call the hotel, he'd been unable to tell even Max the truth and instead he'd settled for saying it was due to the children. Of course, he was going to have to make it up to Elsa – probably do something grand and glorious. Though, he told himself, not a proposal. While he was certain that would make her happy, he still wasn't ready.

There was the sound of the front door opening and so Georg walked out of his study and into the foyer where his two guests were standing. Elsa was handing her coat to a nearby maid and when she turned back around to face him, she raised her chin and eyed him carefully.

"Good evening, darling," she said, her tone decidedly frosty. "Well, I do hope whatever it is you've been doing tonight was worth it."

Georg opened his mouth to speak but she held up a gloved hand. "No, Georg. I've suffered enough for one night, I do not want to listen to your grovelling excuses."

Clearing his throat pointedly, Georg said, "I had no plans of grovelling, Elsa. Of course, I apologise for not letting you know sooner. I'm sure Max was able to keep you entertained."

Elsa said nothing, choosing instead to sweep up the stairs without a backwards glance towards the two men.

"That went better than expected," Georg said once Elsa had disappeared up the stairs.

Max shrugged. "It's Elsa, you know how dramatic she can be. We had a good time, despite what she says. There were men – and women – fawning all over her. Turns out news gets around – even to this sleepy old place."

"Salzburg isn't exactly some poor provincial town, Max," Georg retorted. "It may not be Vienna, but it's not the exactly nowhere."

"True – though, try telling that to Elsa," Max said as they began to walk towards Georg's study.

Sinking into a plush armchair, Max fixed his friend with an inquisitive eye. He couldn't deny he was incredibly curious as to why Georg had forgone dinner with Elsa in order to stay back at the villa. Clearly, there had been no crisis.

So," said Max casually, "what were you doing? You said something about the children?"

Georg, who had been ready for this attack, simply said, "Yes, it took a while to settle them." He brushed some dust of his jacket. "And I must have just got caught up in it. It has been a while."

Max nodded thoughtfully. "So, you're telling me it took you nearly three hours to get your children to bed?"

"Have you met my children, Max?" replied Georg.

"Well, yes, I get what you mean," said Max diplomatically. "But they have been behaving so well lately – all thanks to that little governess of yours!"

"Of course," agreed Georg. "But, that doesn't mean they are like that all the time, Max." He shifted in his chair, he was tired of discussing this and he knew the less he said the better. "Anyway, I am sorry for forgetting to call earlier."

Deciding to let it drop, Max waved a hand. "I told you, Elsa will be fine. Though, of course, you will still need to make it up to her." He watched as Georg nodded in response.

Max knew Georg wasn't being completely honest, and whatever he had been doing probably had nothing to do with the children – or if it did, it wasn't the whole story. He also felt a little disappointed that his friend couldn't be honest with him, as he knew most things about Georg von Trapp. But he knew not to push it, Georg never responded well to being needled for information – and Max did not feel like dealing Georg's temper. It was far too late and all the alcohol had given him a lovely buzz; he was certainly not going to let Georg ruin that.

A/N Sorry for such a long wait on this one. Hope you enjoyed it :)