why a light to their path shines as a ficseries

Ten little lantern-sticks,
marching in a straight line;
one of them was left behind,
and then there were...

Nine little lantern-sticks,
hastening not to be late;
the gates closed in on one of them,
and then there were...

Eight little lantern-sticks,
four their records given  (Every second lighter is issued a small book called a record to note down any lamps in need of repair for the seltzermen to attend to.);
...,
and then there were...

Seven little lantern-sticks,
still but lantern-sticks;
...
and then there were...

Six little lantern-sticks
left so far alive;
...
and then there were...

Five little lantern-sticks
bolting the cothouse door;
...
and then there were...

Four little lantern-sticks,
struggling to break free;
...
and then there were...

Three little lantern-sticks,
few, yet hardy few;
...
and then there were...

Two little lantern-sticks
stood right before a gun;
one took a bullet to the chest,
and then there was...

One little lantern-stick
thought he would be a hero;
he looked his death straight in the eye,
and then there were zero.

Or (bowdlerised version, the one Aunt Gillenormand 'the Old Maid' used to tell)

One little lantern-stick
took his ladylove to wife;
they cared for one another
and soon brought forth new life.

With our Musain crew plus Éponine, Montparnasse, and later on Gavroche as lantern-sticks suddenly turned fully-fledged lamplighters in the Ichormeer, StrixAlluka actually created a shorter series than The Seed of the Hanged, yet one that delivers a powerful punch in its simple three-act structure:

• I - the training at Winstermill (fodicar drilling, lighting of lamps along the Pettiwiggin... the basics), disappearance of Jehan Prouvaire in the woods, and sudden change of Lamplighter-Marshal after Pontmercy's demise (there is a short custody war for Marius against his maternal family), with suspicions that the new commander of all lamplighters might be a war criminal - Book the First: The Rise
• II - the perilous eventful cross-Ichormeer journey of Q(uarto) Pontmercy from Winstermill to Cripplebolt, having suddenly received a promotion all of them (Captain Enjolras, Lieutenants Combeferre and de Courfeyrac, Sergeant Thénardier the Younger, and their lampsmen of various ranks), in order for the new Lamplighter-Marshal to get them out of the way since they know he's a war criminal (on the way, they encounter Cosette and her companions and chaptins -calendar senpai- as well as Jehanne Prouvaire, who is now in the Right of the Pacific Dove as well and has undergone sex-change surgery; this chara is always meant to be trans by Alluka) Book the Second: The Journey
• III - settling down at Cripplebolt, reveal of a dark secret (R's identity) that makes the whole quarto defect from the ranks and seals their fate, and the subsequent wartime battles against their fellow lamplighters, including a siege of Cripplebolt, betrayed by Montparnasse, in which the party dwindles echoing the nursery rhyme about the ten little lantern-sticks, their wounds, referred to in the nursery tale, being the same as in canon, (Enjolras and Marius mirroring the two polarly-opposite versions of the final stanza). The person Enjolras gets killed for having killed is Franz d'Epinay, in single combat; he and Grantaire are killed off by a shocked Albert de Morcerf. Book the Third: the Fall

Crossover is of course also present in A Light To Their Path, mainly Les Mis/Monte Cristo (Albert and his parents move into Winstermill when Ferran [Fernand: Alluka uses the Catalan names for both him and his wife Mercè/Mercedes] becomes the next Lamplighter Marshal after Pontmercy's untimely death due to an ostensible "stroke"; Eugénie Danglars and Louise d'Armilly, with the same social ranks as in canon, fled their hometown of High Vesting and arranged marriage to join the Right of the Pacific Dove, and became Cosette's senpaitachi Ena and Wiske) ---- even though cameos from other series are added, for instance Ritsu Sohma gets a funny cameo at one point (at the expense of young Lt. Gillenormand when he thinks to have bedded a wench).
Of note is not only that Grantaire is a rossamünderling or humanoid monster (the R on his foundling's swaddling stood for that) who is in star-crossed love with Enjolras... and this reveal leads to the defection of the entire quarto to protect the innocent enemy in their midst. Also that the relationship between Lesgle/Bossuet (a dexter - ie a kind of super with both electric and psychic powers, with arrows like Aang's tattooed on his skin) and Jolllly (his factotum - ie healer manservant), alongside their calendar ladylove Musichetta, is even better developed in A Light To Their Path thanks to the constraints of the setting; one can tell the chemistry - no pun intended - and even feel the survivors' angst once one of them is killed off.

Also of note are Ermengarde Johannitz (St. John in canon), Wendy Darling, and Christine Daaé, as well as Musichetta and Jehanne Prouvaire, as Cosette's companions at Herbroulesse and later on as part of the Takarazuka-esque theatre troupe Eugénie and Louise wind up leading in the ending.

The Mariusette/Lougénie finale is heartwarming straight on, - even after the revelation that Ferran shot himself as per canon when facing the facts that he was a war criminal as a young lieutenant, and his career has been founded on corruption and betrayal. - 

At the end, it is revealed that the straight surviving couple, caladine (lone high-ranking calendar) Cosette and herbalist Marius in High Vesting, are singing the "ten little lantern-sticks" nursery rhyme as a lullaby to their daughter Éponine (Catherine in The Seed); they later on watch, for the evening after tucking her to bed, a performance by the queer couple, of a story eerily similar to Swan Lake or the Little Mermaid Disney film with Eugénie as the prince and Louise "Wiske" as the villain enchantress, introducing Christine Daaé in the title role; Wendy and Musichetta as scriptwriters. We then get the POV of Lougénie and Chrisraoul and it's as satisfactory as Mariusette's... (even a marriage between Éponine Pontmercy and Gustave de Chagny, both as toddlers, is discussed in the finale... and these two, as adults, wind up being the authors and compilators behind this epic!!).

The story employs a switching POV chapter by chapter just like Westeros, but generally using the records Combeferre, Feuilly, Marius, and Éponine, as well as Wendy, J. Prouvaire, Musichetta, and Cosette, keep as a framing device and a first-person (think of all these "Dear Diary" fiction and you get the idea).

There are also stories within the story, most of them told as fireside yarns throughout the trip across the Ichormeer; - one of them, told by Éponine, is how the Thénardiers got their inn and it's basically the Cat's Arm legend (the severed paw of a gigantic housecat turns out to be a human hand, and a female nearby has suffered a hand amputation-proving she's the werecat). Also, Courfeyrac, Grantaire, and Éponine sing Bellman songs. LOTS of Bellman songs!! And Carmina Burana!

The Twilight Robbery AU As The Luck Would Have It may have crystallised Enj's first name as Paragon, and Madame Defarge being Madame Thénardier's mother (ie the siblings' maternal grandmother), for all of StrixAlluka's crossovers, but the Half-Continent is a rococo world as enticing as the fortress village of Toll (by Day and by Night), aside from one more territorial and militaristic - and it shows, the leading cast cutting a figure in their military ranks and uniforms - linking A Light to Their Path to El semen de los ahorcados, with uniformed and ranked characters at an academy of adventure setting (well, only at the start of Light compared to Hogwarts AU Seed) as a way to find common ground.


A LIGHT TO THEIR PATH
An Ichormeer Scenario

• lanternsticks amis - all + éponine in the same quarto (q pontmercy)
• enjoltaire
• courferre
• mariusette
• lougénie
• franzbert
• jolesgletta
• montponine
• éposette
• enjonine friendly
• courfeyrius friendly
• courfsette friendly
• cosettaire friendly?
• calendar!cosette
• calendar!musichetta
• calendar!eugénie - calendar!louise
• calendar!christine daaé
• captain!enjolras
• lieutenant!combeferre - lieutenant!courfeyrac
• lamplighter sergeant!éponine
• healer!combeferre - healer!jolllly
• dexter!bossuet (with air nomad arrows)
• factotum!joly (with joestar birthmark)
• trans!lamplighter-turned-calendar!jehanne prouvaire
• rossamünderling!lampsman!grantaire
• lamplighter sergeant!sgt. thénardier
• winstermill cook/culinaire!mme. thénardier (formerly wayhouse landlady)
• lamplighter marshal!pontmercy (dead "of stroke" actually poisoned) and his aide lieutenant théo gillenormand (the foxglove poisoner)
• lamplighter marshal!ferrán mondiego (as successor) - mercè and lieutenant!albert (captain!franz senpai at winstermill)
• lieutenant!raoul de chagny
• foundling!gavroche (joins the quarto as servant from his mum's wayhouse)
• cameos from oc:s
• cameo from lady syntyche vey (as expected)
• cameo from toddler threnody vey
• cameo from hikaru sulu (lamplighter in same quarto as albert+franz)
• cameo from count jean de satigny
• cameo from lt. paul d'arnot (still a polyglot, still goes m.i.a. and returns)
• cameo from lt. charpentier (still d'arnot's childhood friend)
• cameo from alistair mccooley (from oscar pill book series; lamplighter in same quarto as albert+franz, ie q eastwood -- for charles eastwood, not clint!)
• cameo from lloyd asplund + cécile croomy
• cameo from ritsu sohma (as an okama in highvesting)
• and these are only a few of the cameos
• +over with other works
• like hanged men's seed but in the ichormeer instead of hogwarts (and sans condesce or lady alistair or "chewblacka" bossuet)
• like in gankutsuoh; except that enjolras (taking on edmond's role) is the one to duel and kill franz in lieu of albert, and albert kills enj (+r) for revenge
• three acts - winstermill as prentices (academy of adventure) - en route to cripplebolt - cripplebolt 

A LAMP TO LIGHT THEIR PATH

A LIGHT TO THEIR PATH
An Ichormeer Scenario

• lanternsticks amis - all + éponine in the same quarto (pontmercy quarto)
• enjoltaire
• courferre
• mariusette
• lougénie
• franzbert
• jolesgletta
• enjonine friendly
• courfeyrius friendly
• courfsette friendly
• cosettaire friendly?
• calendar!cosette
• calendar!eugénie - calendar!louise
• captain!enj
• lieutenant!combeferre - lieutenant!courfeyrac
• healer!combeferre - healer!jolllly
• dexter!bossuet (with air nomad arrows)
• trans!jehanne prouvaire
• rossamünderling!erre 
• lamplighter sergeant!sgt. thénardier
• winstermill cook!mme. thénardier (formerly wayhouse landlady)
• lamplighter marshal!pontmercy (dead "of stroke" actually poisoned) and his aide théo gillenormand
• lamplighter marshal!ferrán mondiego - mercè and albert (franz senpai at winstermill)
• cameos from oc:s
• cameo from toddler threnody vey
• cameo from hikaru sulu (lamplighter in same quarto as albert+franz)
• cameo from count de satigny
• cameo from alistair mccooley (from oscar pill book series)
• cameo from lloyd asplund + cécile croomy
• cameo from ritsu sohma (as an okama in highvesting)
• and these are only a few of the cameos
• +over with other works
• like hanged men's seed but in the ichormeer instead of hogwarts (and sans condesce or "chewblacka" bossuet)
• three acts - winstermill as prentices (academy of adventure) - en route to cripplebolt - cripplebolt

CHANBARA AU:S (FOR WESTERN LITERATURE)

CHANBARA OTHELLO - The first one, the AU that started this whole jidaigeki trend:
Oni no Me mo Mi-mo Namida (Even Ogres have Tears in their Eyes)

Ever since he was orphaned and fled persecution from the Catholic League and Inquisition in his native Low Countries (so it's 30YW times or such) by stowing away on a clipper, Louis has been a stranger in this strange island nation as rent by war as the Europe he left behind. Towering head and shoulders over everyone else, blond, blue-eyed, bearded, and burned rosy by the hot sun, he's had to struggle for his life, and for a niche in the establishment, ever since he landed here as a pre-adolescent.
With his second-in-command, personal translator, and boyhood friend Ritsu-kun, an Osaka lowlife, stevedore, and interpreter with his wits about him (and who sees the fair leader as more than just a friend), Louis Vreeswijk, now called Aka-Oni (Red Ogre), leads a rebel group against the shogunate.
However, a botched castle-storming has the paths of Louis and Ritsu cross with those of Ayame, a spirited, kind-hearted heiress (and daughter of the iron lady dowager Kikuhime); aside from her adopted brother and childhood playmate Hideki, and her intended fiancé Ryóga. By Ayame's and Hideki's side, Louis finally sees that there are those who love him, instead of dreading him, for his strange features, seeing the man instead of the monster... and the feeling is mutual, reciprocated.
Too sorry that a jealous Ritsu takes advantage of Ryóga's shyness, Hideki's weak head for liquor, and finally Louis's deepest fears about Ayame... all to keep the one he loves all for himself...

Cast:

• Louis Vreeswijk (Othello)
• Ayame Sengakuji (Desdemona)
• Ritsu (Iago)
• Ryóga (Roderigo)
• Hideki Kisaragi (Cassio)
• Akira (Emilia/Bianca; also significantly an onnagata, ie a crossdressing actor)

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SHARED FRENCH UNIVERSE - CHANBARA AU

This is a series of jidaigeki vignettes set in the Edo period, with a backstory in the Warring States era before, that fit together like the pieces of a puzzle - each story, originally a subplot in the original French novels, is standalone, but connected to the others by a series of common elements - the figure of Gozen-sama, rebels and courtiers seeking to depose the shogunate, the shinsengumi (praetorian guard), the wars of the past era, the performing arts -and the all-female Izumo Okuni troupe, one of a kind against the mainstream, foreshadowing Takarazuka-, xenophilia vs. xenophobia...


Tachibana-ichizoku (Danglars): wealthy bourgeois from Osaka, the spotlight is on them in "Izumo no Michi" (The Road to Izumo - compare La route de Belgique)

• Yúto Tachibana (Julien Danglars)
• Michiru Tachibana (Hermione Victoria Danglars)
• Akira Tachibana / "Akio Tsubaki" (Eugénie Danglars / "Léon d'Armilly")
• Kaede Tsubaki (Louise d'Armilly)
• Tachibana-jiiya (Étienne)
• --
• "Prince André d'Orange" / Yukio Fubuki ("Andrea Cavalcanti" / Benedetto); a Eurasian bastard child, raised by an ashigaru who found him in the snow - now posing and completely performing as a royal prince of his real father's native land...
• --
• Okuni of Izumo / Izumo no Okuni (historical character, fills in the roles of the Italian theatre directors who employ Eugénie and Louise - employs Akira and Kaede in her all-female troupe)

Pluijter-ichizoku (de Villefort): immigrants from the Low Countries who, in spite of the racism they encountered, have risen to become prominent Edo-based magistrates. However, the patriarch's remarriage has created a dysfunctional household, with a scheming stepmother and an annoying little brat of a stepbrother:

• Geeraert "Geert" Pluijter (Gérard de Villefort)
• Renate Pluijter+ (Renée de Villefort+) 
• Valeria Pluijter (Valentine de Villefort)
• Cornelia "Oma" Pluijter (Composite character of Noirtier de Villefort + Mme. de Saint-Méran)
• Willem "Will" (Barrois)
• ---
• Asagao Pluijter (Héloïse de Villefort - her given name means both "convolvulus" and "datura" >:3 )
• Shinobu-Edward Pluijter (Édouard de Villefort)
• ---
• Masayoshi (Maximillien Morrel; a stateless ronin)
• Sayuri "Yuri-chan" (Julie Morrel; a war orphan and Masayoshi's adopted sister)

Jiyuu no Nakama (Amis de l'ABC): a rebel group at war against the shogunate and shinsengumi (praetorian guard) - they have their base at an izakaya, coming from different walks of life:

• Atsushi "Enji" Kurenai (Enjolras): lordling, the aloof leader. Wears a blond wig and actor's make-up courtesy of Fujiko -is naturally Asian, raven-haired-.
• Kakeru (Combeferre): the scholar of the group, and the only sane man as he says; wears spectacles
• Kenpachi Sengakuji (Courfeyrac): lordling, uses his umbrella/parasol as a weapon, concealing a rapier within the cane and spinning it around for hypnotic effect, as well as using it for a parachute
• Fujiko (Fujitaka) Hanasaki (Jehan Prouvaire): lordling, an onnagata who provides the group with atrezzo and costumes - including Kurenai-kun's blond wig and make-up he uses for the Enji identity; he became a crossdressing performer to overcome stage fright
• Tsukasa Yakushiji (Joly): a meek, hypochondriac medicine seller and lovable eccentric - the medic of the group
• Daikaku "Dai" (Grantaire "R"): idealises Enji-sama and would gladly die for him. A witty self-made trickster from Osaka and left-handed/left-footed drunken master of martial arts (drunken monkey/drunken fist style) who often signs with 大 the kanji for "dai/big" alone (much like Grantaire signs with a capital R)
• Takashi "Ushiwakamaru" Yoshizane (Feuilly/Lesgle composite): an orphan from Hokkaido with a bald head and impossibly bad luck, he works at the izakaya where the others hang out
• Yuuma Jinbashi (Marius Pontmercy): a translator and interpreter working for Europeans; disowned scion of the Narunogawa-ichizoku due to his father, Jinbashi-sama (the surname literally translates to "mercy-bridge"), being a freedom fighter. Finally, he marries Tsubame Kisaragi

Kang-ichizoku (Korean immigrants who have risen to prominence in the military):

• Kang Jong-il (Ferran Mondiego de Morcerf): a shinsengumi captain - who betrayed the lieutenant of his company to become next in line, and that was only his first atrocious feat - commits seppuku at the end of it all 
• Kang Chun-hyang (Mercè / Mercedes Mondiego de Morcerf): Not originally his fiancée, but he forced her into marriage. Is very close to her boy, whom she dotes on and whose real father is a secret she keeps
• Kang Yong-koo (Albert Mondiego de Morcerf): an innocent and sheltered young man of high rank whose life is suddenly overturned when Gozen-sama saves his life and frees him from a brigands' lair...
• Frans van de Doornroose (Franz d'Épinay): Yong-koo's European best friend since childhood. Holds a grudge against the Pluijters in general, and Geert Pluijter in particular. Frans is also in love with Yong-koo; 'tis a pity his beloved is straight!

Gozen-sama (The Count) and his entourage of European servants

• Gozen-sama (real name ****???): (Edmond Dantès): a sailor from Osaka, marooned since he was accused of plotting against the shogunate, now he has returned in French court dress and with a new identity
• Heidi (Haydée): a coast pirate from the Low Countries and Gozen-sama's mistress, adopted daughter, and overall personal assistant
• Han (Ali): another coast pirate from the Low Countries, a bear of a man, and Gozen-sama's bodyguard (looks like Han Solo mashed up with Chewbacca)

The Kagurazuka Ryoukan (The Sergeant's Inn - also the Bell and Bottle counterpart in Izumo no Michi):

• Ritsu Kagurazuka (Sgt. Thénardier): former arquebusier (ashigaru)
• Azusa Kagurazuka (Mme. Thénardier) ran the family inn even unmarried, before marrying the surnameless ashigaru whom she nursed back to health
• Isuzu Kagurazuka (Éponine Thénardier) - also, like Akira Tachibana, she is fond of the all-female Okuni Troupe as well as having feelings for Yuuma
• Karin Kagurazuka (Azelma Thénardier)
• "Gaku" Kagurazuka (Gavroche Thénardier)
• ---
• Tsubame -later adopted and surnamed Kisaragi- (Cosette Fauchelevent)

Kisaragi-ichizoku (not a proper clan, since it only consists of an older benefactor and his adopted child):

• Yonjuuro Kisaragi -real name Shuntaro, surnameless- (Jean Valjean / Ultime Fauchelevent)
• Tsubame Kisaragi (Cosette Fauchelevent) - later marries Yuuma and becomes Tsubame Jinbashi (Cosette Pontmercy)
• ----
• Toshiro Hijikata (Javert) - a real-life shinsengumi lieutenant and the founding father of the corps, of peasant birth and orphaned as a young child - here he takes on the role of Javert

Sengakuji-ichizoku (main branch of the clan):

• Shinichiro Sengakuji (Philippe de Chagny)
• Shinjiro Sengakuji (Raoul de Chagny)
• ---
• Christina Sengakuji, née Daaé (Christina Daaé); a refugee from the Low Countries who got on the wrong boat as a child when she and her father were about to leave for Sweden due to Habsburg persecution; was adopted by the Sengakuji brothers - she is also the latest member of the Okuni Troupe
• ---
• Nadeshiko Hanasaki (Carlotta Giudicelli) - a proper lady and the star of the Okuni Troupe; Christina's rival. She is also Fujiko's sister (Fujiko of Jiyuu no Nakama), although no one would tell
• Hinagiku Shiroi (Meg Giry) - Christina's confidante; her name translates literally to "white daisy"

Narunogawa-ichizoku -high-ranking elite courtiers, faithful to the shogunate-

• Yoshizane Narunogawa (Luc-Esprit Gillenormand): the patriarch, a century-old eccentric
• Kikuhime Narunogawa+: the prodigal daughter, who ran off with a rebel and died in childbirth
• Suiren Narunogawa: the dutiful daughter, Yuuma's aunt and governess
• Suiren's children: a shinsengumi lieutenant and a pampered little girl

A Terrible Scandal / Moi et les autres

A Terrible Scandal

'The possibility that Mlle Louise d'Armilly might one day appear on the stage meant that Mlle Danglars, although she received her at home, did not appear with her in public.' - The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 53

(Somebody had to explain that to Mlle Danglars...)

The pretty clock on the mantelpiece chimed the half hour and broke the sulky quiet. Hermine Danglars was the first to speak. 'You had better go and dress. The Vicomte will be calling for us shortly, and you spoke most particularly of your desire to hear Madame Prévost's first aria.'

'I shan't,' said Eugénie. 'I won't stir a step without Louise.'

Why, Hermine wondered, must the child be so unreasonable? Surely it was obvious that the situation was impossible. 'It's out of the question, Eugénie. To receive your friend in your father's house, that's one thing, but to be seen with her in public, that's quite another.'

Eugénie scowled. 'It's ridiculous.'

Mademoiselle d'Armilly herself was not present, having removed herself from the scene at the first sign of trouble with a grace and delicacy that Hermine envied on Eugénie's behalf.

'It simply won't do,' she said patiently. 'You tell me that Mademoiselle d'Armilly intends to go on the stage.'

Eugénie's face glowed. 'Yes, and surely the more opera that she sees from one side of the curtain, the better she'll be when she's on the other.'

'Eugénie! We are not a charitable body for the education of destitute musicians.'

'Why not? Papa can afford it.'

The provoking child! She might have been a decade younger than she really was, with her constant why? Hermine, doing her very best to keep her temper, said, 'That has nothing to do with it.'

'I don't see how.'

Hermine sighed. 'Let me explain. You are our only child, and everything that your father and I do, we do for your sake. We wish to secure your future, Eugénie! Your painting, your verse, your music – they're all desirable accomplishments, and we are pleased with the talent and dedication you show to them. And it's good for you to be seen at the opera and to learn how to behave in society.'

'I don't care about any of that,' Eugénie said.

'That much is obvious,' Hermine retorted. 'Nevertheless, it's a fact of this world that we live in. We acceded to your request to have Mademoiselle d'Armilly here both in order to please you and in order to improve your musical skills yet further. But letting you be seen with her at the opera would undo all of that good work.'

'Do you doubt her propriety?' The girl seemed genuinely puzzled.

'Not in the slightest; we would not have received her here if we did. But for as long as a career on the stage remains a possibility for her, you cannot be seen to associate with her in public. It would be a terrible scandal. And I'm afraid, Eugénie, that if your lack of maidenly decorum, renders you unable to understand that, then you must just take my word for it. Mademoiselle d'Armilly is not coming with us.'

Eugénie regarded her mother with an angry stare. Hermine returned it coolly. 'I shan't ask the Vicomte to wait for you.'

The slam of the door set the ornaments rattling. Hermine said nothing. That was a battle for another day.

* * *

Two scant years later, the Baron was bankrupt, the Baroness was in hysterics, the house was in uproar, and nobody paid any heed to where Louise d'Armilly was going. Eugénie, dressed already for travelling in men's clothes, paused for a brief moment in the act of cutting off her long black hair, seeing in her mind's eye the journey that lay ahead of them, and the stories that would be told in Paris. 'It will be a terrible scandal,' she murmured to herself, and she laughed.

Actions

Moi et les autres

« Elle ne pouvait s'empêcher de se dire que tout cela n'était qu'une vaste comédie, et qu'elle seule semblait s'en être rendu compte. » Drabble sur Eugénie Danglars, ses pensées pendant l'Opéra, et explication possible de sa haine du mariage. Léger Eugénie Danglars/Louise d'Armilly.

Tout cela n'avait aucun sens.

Était-elle la seule à s'en rendre compte ? Pourquoi les autres ne voyaient-ils rien ? Pourquoi donc étaient-ils à ce point aveugles ?

Elle ne comprenait pas.

Et elle n'avait pas vraiment envie de comprendre.

Le fait est qu'à cet instant précis, elle n'écoutait pas vraiment l'opéra, elle avait d'autres choses en tête.

Elle regardait ce qu'il y avait à ses alentours.

Son regard se posa sur Albert. Enfin, le vicomte de Morcerf.

Son fiancé.

Supposé, bien sûr. Et pas choisi par elle.

(Elle n'en voulait pas.)

Il était venu les voir dans leur loge quelques instants, sans réel envie d'être là, selon la jeune femme.

Enfin, ce n'était pas comme si elle aussi avait voulu qu'il soit là…

Eugénie poussa un léger soupir, auquel sa mère ne prit pas attention.

Elle n'aimait pas Albert ; cela n'avait rien à voir avec lui, mais plutôt avec le concept même de mariage.

Et avec les hommes en général.

Elle se sentait prise au piège par ce futur mariage, qu'elle ne désirait en aucun cas, tout comme Albert par ailleurs.

(Ce qui leur faisait au moins un point commun.)

Elle ne pouvait s'empêcher de se dire que tout cela n'était qu'une vaste comédie, et qu'elle seule semblait s'en être rendu compte.

Eugénie s'était toujours sentie différente des autres, depuis l'enfance, loin qu'elle était de ces autres femmes coquettes et superficielles.

Elles ne l'étaient pas toutes, certes, mais elle en avait côtoyé beaucoup trop dans sa vie, et ne se sentait aucunement en affinité avec elles.

Elle aurait voulu quelque chose d'autre, quelque chose de plus.

Il y avait quelque chose en elle, quelque chose qu'elle n'avait pu nommer.

Jusqu'à l'arrivée de Louise.

Quelque chose, cette chose-là s'était réveillée en elle.

Pour la première fois, elle était amoureuse.

Elle n'avait rien dit, pour l'instant, malgré l'intérêt que Louise d'Armilly semblait avoir pour elle.

Un intérêt partagé, bien sûr.

Elle attendait encore un peu, afin d'être sure que ce soit bien réciproque.

§§§§

Elle ne voulait pas se marier, n'avait aucune envie que cela se passe. C'était pour cela qu'elle était aussi froide envers Albert, elle ne le détestait pas, mais ne voulait en aucun cas de lui comme mari.

Sauf qu'elle ne pouvait rien faire contre cela, seulement rester digne et fière, et parfaitement hautaine face à lui, ou même en public. Ce qu'elle n'était pas en vérité.

En fait, Eugénie n'était elle-même qu'en présence de sa chère Louise, qu'elle aimait comme une amie, et plus encore.

Elle aurait voulu se révolter contre cette vie qui ne lui convenait pas, ce destin dont elle ne voulait pas.

Ce mariage, qu'elle avait en horreur.

Elle se sentait atrocement seule à cet instant , même avec la présence de sa mère.

D'un certaine manière, elle l'avait toujours été, non ?

En raison de cette différence que personne n'avait vu e chez elle, de son attirance pour les femmes, elle était presque sure d'une chose.

C'est qu'il y avait elle d'un côté, et les autres de l'autre.

À moins qu'elle ne parvienne à trouver quelqu'un comme elle…

Quelqu'un comme Louise, qui lui permettrait enfin de s'évader d'ici.

Son regard se fit rêveur, ce dont personne ne se douta.

Elle avait presque envie d'y croire.

Dommage que ce soit impossible.

OPENING NIGHT

Opening Night

El Staplador (elstaplador)

Summary:

No one disturbs the prima donna when she's warming up. No one except Mlle D'Armilly.
For the ladiesbingo prompt 'Artist'

It would have been an impressive bouquet, by ordinary standards; but far lovelier, grander ones had already been ignored, dismissed to the chorus' dressing room, and Henri was losing patience.
'Alas, monsieur, it is impossible to disturb her. She will see nobody before a performance. The artistic temperament, you know.' And even if it were possible, it would call for rather more than what had been pressed into his hand. A reputation as a reliable doorkeeper must be sold more dearly than that.
'Then will you at least see that these are brought to her dressing room?' The man thrust the flowers at him.
Henri examined the bouquet carefully. Not lilies, which made the great lady sneeze, and not freesias, which gave Mlle Louise a headache. And there was something clinking gently in the man's hand. He relented. 'I'll see what I can do, monsieur. Georges,' he called, 'would you mind watching the door?'

There was, as it happened, not much to be done. The door to the prima donna's dressing room was locked, or, at least, her dresser swore it was. Victorine had a chair backed up against it, and she was knitting. 'Madame is warming up.'
'Is that really so?' Henri liked Victorine. He thought Victorine might like him, and he didn't want to push his luck. Still, he had taken the man's money and he felt vaguely that he should earn it.
Victorine scowled and cocked her head at the closed door. 'Don't you hear her?' And indeed the tinkle of a piano was audible, and the closed-lipped drone that was Madame exploring her lower notes.
'What should I do with this?' he asked.
Victorine looked down at the three other bouquets at her feet. 'Leave it, if you must. Or I dare say the ballet would appreciate it.'
Somewhat against his better judgement, Henri left it. Victorine returned to her knitting.

The acoustic in here was flattering. Louise thought this an accident, but Eugénie affected to believe that one of her predecessors had had it made so deliberately. She prided herself on the lack of any similar impulse. If anything, she had told Louise, it irritated her; she felt impelled to compensate. Out on the stage there would be no such comfort, and she needed no flattery now.
'Play me the entry in the second act,' Eugénie commanded Louise, authoritative even in her chemise and corset. 'From Margaux's lead – and then hold the C major chord.'
The score lay closed on the stand. Louise did not need to open it; she had played this section often enough over the past weeks.
Eugénie sang the entry; then, as Louise depressed the pedal, she hung on the top G, coaxing it from piano to forte and back again, then introducing a little shake, and smoothing it out again.
She nodded, and Louise let go of the chord. Eugénie ran up and down the scale one last time, two octaves. Louise, free now to listen, thought it good. The low notes were secure, the top notes placed beautifully, the whole tone rich and open.
Eugénie smiled, cautiously satisfied. 'Now,' she said.
Louise's breath caught in her throat. She tipped her head back to look at Eugénie, who came behind her, and, putting one bare arm either side of her, gently closed the lid of the piano over the keys. Then, taking Louise's waist between her two hands, she pulled her up to stand. Louise twisted around to face her, leaning one knee on the piano stool. Eugénie tightened her embrace and kissed Louise fiercely.
'Are you certain...?' Louise murmured, knowing the answer. This was how it always began, every opening night: the notes once being in place, Eugénie's abrupt change of interest, her own token demurral, and then -
'Yes.' Eugénie pulled her closer, dragging her upwards so that she knelt on the piano stool. 'Come...' One arm around Louise's back, the other behind her knees. Louise, knowing what was coming, looped her arms around Eugénie's neck and let her carry her to the chaise-longue at the other end of the dressing room. She gazed up into dark, intent eyes, and shivered with anticipation.
Eugénie could be gentle when she chose. She was gentle now, laying Louise down and arranging a cushion under her head, drawing her skirts up and kissing along her thighs, further, further -
Always it was like this, had been ever since Eugénie had attained the right to a dressing room of her own: the bustle of the opera house locked outside the door, Louise stretched on the chaise-longue as if she herself were the prima donna whose every whim must be indulged, and Eugénie's dark head among her skirts.
Once or twice she had tried to reciprocate, but every time Eugénie had caught her wrists and pinned them down, making it clear that in this moment they must not confuse artist and audience. Eugénie needed nothing but Louise's undivided attention. And Louise, contented, captive, did not scruple to give it her, then or now.
The combination of past memory and present sensation brought her to the edge, and past it, and she cried out. Flushed, triumphant, Eugénie straightened up, then dropped to her knees to kiss Louise. 'Well?' she murmured.
'I'm yours. You know it.' Louise's breath was quick, her heart racing.
'Dearest Louise,' Eugénie murmured, with uncharacteristic tenderness. 'You're so patient with me.'
Louise let herself smile up at her for a second – two seconds – leant up impulsively and kissed her – then stood up and smoothed her skirts down. 'Shall I call Victorine?'
Eugénie nodded. 'Thank you,' she said.
Louise crossed the room quietly and turned the door handle. Victorine had already wound her knitting around the needles. Now she was gathering up the collection of flowers from the floor.
Louise did not speak, contenting herself with a conspiratorial smile at Victorine and a glance backwards at Eugénie. Already she seemed taller and more remote, her being concentrated in that glorious voice. Every time, Louise thought, as she slipped through the door that led to the auditorium, every time I lose her. No. She lost nothing, nothing that she would not be repaid with interest when the curtain came up, and – Louise smiled – again when it came down. Every time I give her... give her what? I give her to them. I give her to herself.
Her breath still coming a little quickly, she settled herself in the red velvet seat and waited for the curtain to rise.

ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis

El Staplador (elstaplador)

Summary:

If Louise can't sing, and Eugénie won't sing, the future looks bleak for the two runaways.
For the ladiesbingo prompt "The Theatre"

Eugénie pulled the flimsy curtain back from the window, and Louise, blinking, saw the dust motes toiling in the sunbeams. She was conscious of a vague sense of shame connected with the state of the room, though she supposed that the doctor had seen worse in his time. He was a tall, wavering figure, dark against the sunlight, looming over her bed. He seemed somewhat nonplussed; perhaps Eugenie's lordly tones had deceived him into thinking that he was summoned to some grand house.
'This is the patient?' he was saying. 'Very good, very good. Let me see. Tell me, when did this begin?'
Louise tried to say, ten years ago, but her throat was raw and her lungs empty. Had she been able to speak this morning, she would have stopped Eugénie going for the doctor. She thought of the ever-dwindling pile of coins in Eugénie's trunk. How many would the doctor carry away with him? How few could they give Madame Fournier before she threw them out into the street? And if she could not sing, and Eugénie would not, then the pile would never be replenished.
For Eugénie would not sing – at least, not on any terms except her own, and those were such that it was unlikely that any impresario would accept them. She demanded parts to match her vocal ability, wilfully uncomprehending of the fact that she had not the theatrical experience that would justify her so doing, and that, perhaps most damningly of all, she had no patron to persuade the management of her assets on her behalf.
Louise, who had feared that this might be the case, produced the Count of Monte Cristo's letter of recommendation and took the modest part offered her, a temple priestess who stepped out from a trio for a few bars of solo recitative. In vain did she attempt to persuade Eugénie that it was better to sing 'Third Lady' and live than to starve to death because she could not be prima donna. In vain did she show her the calculations of their meagre income and inevitable outgoings.
Eugénie announced her intention of turning to literature. 'Words,' she said, 'can be had for nothing.' But, for all that, there seemed to be precious few of them coaxed from Eugénie's pen, and those words could hardly pay for bread without assuming a more solid form. Louise sought occupation during the hours of daylight as a piano teacher, but found that the respectable mamas, those who would have paid a rate that was not an insult, were chary of a woman from the stage. She sighed, and went off every evening to sing, and tried not to notice that every performance left her more and more weary, her lungs aching, her throat raw.
And Eugénie sulked and wept and cursed, writing ten or twelve words in a day, and declining to leave the house. Their cramped little room seemed to shrink; Louise was grateful to leave it each night as twilight fell, to escape Eugénie's directionless, sullen disappointment. She could feel the weight of Eugénie's envy on her shoulders, knew that Eugénie envied her being on the stage even in such a lowly part, never forgot herself so far as to reproach her, either for turning down the opportunity in the first place, or for regretting it now. Louise kept silence at home, and sang for their bread in the theatre, and prayed for some resolution to the impasse to manifest itself swiftly, before -
The day came sooner than she had expected. She remembered little of it. A cracked G sharp. A coughing fit that would not stop. Blood. The footlights flaring and whirling in front of her dizzy eyes. An interminable journey home, jolting, jolting, wrapped in Simone's cloak, propped between Madame Leclos and little Jean-Marc. And then flying – no, she was carried in Eugénie's arms – and some hoarse, angry sobbing, and then nothing.
And now this.
The doctor poked and prodded, and had Louise open her mouth and blow against a feather. 'She sings, you say?' he asked, and looked grave when Eugénie nodded. 'I will prescribe a mixture that will help, and I will return in three days. In the meantime, she must use her voice as little as possible.'

Eugénie insisted that Louise must not overtax herself, and Louise felt guiltily grateful for the extended period of rest. Had it not been for the prospect of a penniless future glowering over them, she would almost have welcomed her enforced unemployment. 'Don't worry, dear heart,' Eugénie said, and indeed it was true that Madame Fournier had not yet evicted them. Louise supposed that Eugénie had sold some of the few treasures she had brought away with her.
Louise's voice returned, whisper by whisper, murmur by murmur. Eugénie was comically strict, insisting that she take the treacly concoction regularly and insisting that she communicate by writing in a little memorandum book.
The doctor returned. He was unequivocal. 'She must not sing again, particularly not on the stage. Another attack might well be fatal. It would be as well to avoid all forms of vocal strain.'
'Well,' said Eugénie, when she had paid the doctor and sent him on his way. 'What have you to say to that?'
Louise laughed grimly. 'I am forbidden to say anything,' she muttered. 'I know what Eugénie Danglars would say.'
'She would say that she would be lost without her Louise; that a song is precious but lasts but a breath, and that none will hear you in the grave: therefore heed what you have been told.'
'That,' said Louise, 'was not quite what I meant. Had the doctor said to Eugénie Danglars, that she must cease to sing or she must die, I do not think that he would have heard that same answer – would he?'
'No -' Eugénie exclaimed, and fell silent.
'She would say,' Louise pressed on, ruthlessly, 'ars longa, vita brevis, that a single day in the courts of the muse were better than a thousand years among mortals, and that, must she keep silence or die, she would gladly die and sing.' Louise smiled in spite of herself.
'Oh! beloved, don't tease me so! Yes, it's true, but I've never come to that pass. It's you we speak of.'
'And my art is worth sacrificing, where yours is not?'
Eugénie buried her head in her hands. 'How can you bear to laugh about this?'
'Because,' said Louise, 'I am so very afraid that I cannot find it in myself to speak soberly. My voice is, if not precisely my life, then at least my living; I know not if I can afford to pay our rent on what I could make from pianoforte lessons alone; and -'
'Yes?' Eugénie was glowering.
'Could I live with you, and not sing with you? Would you not tire of me, did we not share that?'
'So! You doubt my fidelity; and you tire of supporting the pair of us.'
'There will come a time,' Louise said steadily, 'when I will no longer be capable of doing so; and the more I sing, the faster it must come.'
'I will never leave you,' Eugénie promised grandly. 'You might do me the same courtesy.'
'Very well,' said Louise. 'I prefer living, myself.' And, she did not say, she had spent enough years making her living by her art not to feel sentimental. Moreover, she knew that Eugénie's was the greater talent.

Even without the doctor's dire verdict, Louise would have known that she was gravely unwell. She found herself faint and dizzy after crossing from one side of the room to the other, and she slept longer and more frequently than she had ever believed permissible or possible, at any hour of the night or day.
She was woken by the click of the doorknob at about noon the next day. Eugénie was unwinding a shawl from about her head.
'You've been out?' Louise croaked.
Eugénie sat down on the edge of the bed. 'I went to your theatre. I demanded to see the chorus master. I explained to him that you were still unwell and that I was prepared to sing in your place.'
'Goodness,' Louise said faintly; M. Lebrun was a Tatar. 'What did he say to that?'
'That I am too tall to replace you in his formations; but that if he can see a way to persuading M. Pinault that Zélie Ferrand is up to singing your part permanently, then he can use me in the chorus of peasants.'
'And what did you say to that?' For the peasants had less to do even than the priestesses, and the pay was proportionately diminished.
Eugénie assumed an expression of martyred pride. 'If the muse wishes me to be a peasant, then a peasant I shall be. Besides, if there is any justice I shan't remain one long.'

The next night, when Eugénie had departed for the theatre, Louise crept out of bed and, wrapping a shawl about her shoulders, scrabbled in the trunk to find pen and paper. She found to her dismay that she had underestimated the effort it required, and had to retreat, breathing fast, between the sheets, but she put the writing materials just under the bed, where she could reach them.
Weeks passed. Eugénie was promoted from the chorus of peasants to Second Lady, and also understudied the High Priestess, which meant less singing and better pay. The run ended, and M. Pinault cast her as Emilia in Otello. She complained occasionally to Louise that Lebrun had no musical sensitivity, or that Signor Andretti's voice put her in mind of a cup of cold coffee, but she was, Simone reported, as good as gold in rehearsals. The muse was smiling upon her at last, and Eugénie returned the compliment.
And Louise wrote. Every night, when the door had shut behind Eugénie, she brought out her own work. At first she was able to write only for a few minutes at a time, but as she grew stronger those minutes stretched to half an hour, then an hour, then two. Louise was careful, but all the same, it was inevitable that Eugénie would catch her eventually. Knowing this, she became careless, and let herself write for as long as the candle burned and her strength allowed and inspiration flowed. And, one night, all were generous, and Otello was over and Eugénie home while Louise was yet sitting up in bed with paper strewn across the blankets and an aria half-written.
'Louise! What are you doing? You mustn't tire yourself!' Her face was streaked with greasepaint, her expression indignant; it was an oddly endearing combination.
'When I'm tired,' Louise said defiantly, 'I sleep. At the moment I'm perfectly awake.' It was true: though her eyelids had been drooping, Eugénie's sudden entrance had roused her to a feverish alertness. 'See what I've been doing, all these evenings.' Though she affected calmness, her fingers trembled as she handed the stack of manuscript to Eugénie.
'The Death of Sappho: an opera in four acts by L. d'Armilly.' Eugénie turned over the pages, politely at first, and then with what seemed to be genuine and urgent interest. 'Louise: this is good.'
'You mean that.' There was no need to pretend disbelief, not for Eugénie, who would never pretend admiration. 'I thought I might write to the Count of Monte Cristo, to see if he might use his influence in our favour again.'
'He must, if he sees this. Fame will be mine, but you shall have immortality.' Her eyes glowed.
'You too,' said Louise, 'for much of the libretto is yours – your poems, which you wrote in Paris.'
'Oh,' Eugénie said, pleased, 'but they won't remember the librettist. Only the name of d'Armilly will go down in history.'
'Perhaps not on account of this opera,' Louise said, 'for the more I write, the more conscious am I of my deficiencies. Besides, Pinault wouldn't look at it twice if he knew that I was the composer.'
'Your useful brother Leon might make another appearance,' Eugénie suggested. 'I believe you had that idea in mind all along.'
Louise laughed and did not deny it. 'All the same, the name of Eugénie Danglars shall appear on the playbill in larger letters, for she shall sing Sappho.'
'M. le directeur won't have that, not while Célestine's in his bed.'
'I've written an aria for Cleïs that she won't be able to resist. And if he makes me rewrite that for Sappho then you shall be Phaon.'
'You know my fondness for the trouser roles. But, my heart, if it will only make them produce your opera, I'll gladly be the call boy. All the same,' switching suddenly from the artist to the nurse, 'you're working too hard, and you ought to be in bed.'
Louise smiled. 'I am in bed, and so should you be.' She took her manuscript back and laid the stack of paper on the floor: there was no need to hide it any more.
Eugénie took her shawl off and spread it over the bed. She unbuttoned her dress deftly and let it fall to the floor, and clambered into bed in her chemise. 'You're quite right. I admit the superiority of your argument.' Her face flickered into a sudden grin, and at last Louise knew the certain hope that their own story was not, after all, to be a tragedy. She blew out the candle.

A PRACTICAL METHOD OF ITALIAN SINGING

A Practical Method of Italian Singing

El Staplador (elstaplador)

Summary:

Scenes from the illustrious careers of Mlles Louise d'Armilly and Eugénie Danglars, set to music by Nicola Vaccaj.

Notes:

Nicola Vaccai wrote his 'Metodo Pratico de Canto Italiano de Camera' in 1832, setting words by the poet Pietro Metastasio. In this story, each section is headed by one of Vaccai's exercises. I've done my best to provide a rough translation within the narrative.
This is a Yuletide treat - hope you enjoy it! I am extremely fond of Eugénie and Louise.

Lesson I
The Scale
Manca sollecita
più dell'usato,
anchorche s'agiti
conlieve fiato,
face che palpita
presso al morir
1836
'What's this?' Eugénie asked. 'A new way of singing scales?'
'More or less,' Louise said. 'M. Neuchâtel sent it to me.' She showed Eugénie the cover.
'Metodo pratico di canto italiano per camera,' Eugénie read. “'A Practical Method of Italian Singing for the Chamber'.” She flicked through the book. 'It's rather below your level, surely?'
'Certainly. But if for any reason I'm unsuccessful on the stage, I could teach singing – as a profession, I mean, rather than simply for your amusement. It would come in useful as a textbook.'
'Indeed, if you are teaching rich young ladies with no aspirations towards serious singing.'
'It's rather below your level, too,' Louise said sweetly. 'If we'd had it when you first started learning to sing it would have been very useful, but you have long passed that stage. Still, it couldn't hurt to go through it – for after all, you are still a rich young lady.'
'Oh, Louise, if you knew how I long to -'
'To what?'
'To be like you. To live for nothing but my art, to leave this wearying round of men and money! Indeed, I had much rather teach rich young ladies than be one! At least I should then feel that I was contributing something to my muse.'
Louise smiled. 'Very few artists – Mozart excepted; one must always except Mozart – had contributed much by the age of fifteen.'
Eugénie was not to be placated. 'I see my life stretched out before me – an interminable scale, one dull note after another. First the suitors, then the marriage, then the children - and all punctuated by dull women discussing their dull lives!'
'One has to sing scales,' Louise said, feebly.
'Signor Vaccaj seems to think not,' Eugénie said, indicating the Practical Method. 'See this - why, it was years before you let me attempt an acciacatura! And here he introduces it in lesson eight.'
'Why, you said yourself - this method is not for those who wish to be serious singers, but only those who wish to make a charming noise in the drawing room.'
'That's true,' Eugénie said, mollified by the implication. She looked more closely at the first exercise. 'How would you translate this, do you think?'
'Italian is not my strong point, as well you know,' Louise said. 'I know enough for music, and my pronunciation is acceptable, but I am not sure that I could produce a respectable translation. However, since you insist, something like this: a candle flame, beginning to flicker even more than usual, is restored by the action of a light breath, though it was close to dying.'
'That's close,' Eugénie said. 'Close, but not exactly right. I think you have the opposite sense from what the poet intended. He is saying that a light breath makes the flame flicker. But then you are an optimist.'
'Am I?' Louise murmured. 'Am I indeed?'
'Say, for example,' Eugénie said, 'that the poet, Signor Metastasio, speaks not of a literal candle flame, but of the fire that burns within the heart...'
'What then?'
'Well, in my translation, a tiny setback, a doubt or a fear, is enough to extinguish that flame. In yours, the lover is not daunted by that doubt, but loves the more fervently. I believe -'
'Yes?'
'I believe,' Eugénie said, 'that I prefer yours.' And she bent and kissed Louise on the lips.


Intervals of Thirds
Semplicetta tortorella,
che non vede il suo periglio,
per fuggir da crudo artiglio
vola in grembo al cacciator.
1838
Eugénie lowered the blinds but, even though she could no longer see, she still could hear, and the sound of sniggering reached her.
'Oh, why is the world not a desert?' she exclaimed, throwing herself into Louise's arms.
As the barouche rolled away from the Bell and Bottle, Louise did her best to keep from laughing, but at length the desire overwhelmed her. Eugénie sprang away from her, hurt.
'Louise, you too? Isn't it bad enough that those peasants outside are laughing at me? Must you join them?'
'My love, I'm not laughing at you. It was - Cavalcanti's face! Do you know, I believe that up until he saw us he really thought that you would be pleased to have him - and now he understands that you despise him.' She buried her face in her hands, once again overcome with mirth, and then added, 'And do you remember that song we used to sing? Signor Vaccaj's intervals of thirds?'
'Which was that?' Eugénie asked, distracted momentarily from her insult. She hummed a third, and said, 'Ah, yes. The turtledove.'
'The foolish turtledove, fleeing from the falcon, that finds itself into the hunter's snare. That was us - almost.'
'Ah, but the hunter was himself hunted,' Eugénie said, smiling. 'Well, my turtledove, since you contrive to laugh about it, I shall do my best to see the funny side myself. And after all, we are still heading in the right direction - away from Paris, and towards our freedom.'
'You will have to change your clothes again,' Louise said after a little while. 'While my passport looks well enough made out to Léon d'Armilly travelling with his sister, I fear I'm not so good a forger that I can change that to Léonie without arousing suspicion when we come to the border.' She paused, a little afraid that Eugénie would not care to risk a double unmasking. 'Nor do I make nearly such a convincing Léon.'
'Very well,' Eugénie said, and she almost laughed.
The carriage bumped over the cobbles. They would be in Belgium by nightfall.

Lesson II
Intervals of Fourths
Lascia il lido e il mare infido
a solcar torna il nocchiero,
e pur sa che menzognero
altre volte l'inganno
1839
'Well, tesorina?' Eugénie asked the moment Louise returned from her audition. 'What did they say?'
Louise sank into a chair. 'The usual sort of thing. That I have an exceptional talent, but that there are two or three others who might suit as well or better, and if I perhaps display some special advantages – ugh.'
Eugénie's eyes flamed. 'How dare they!'
'I shall have to go back,' Louise said. 'Or, if not back, to another such. We can live perhaps three, four, years on the money we brought away with us, but what then? We cannot continue to live without work, without money. And I would rather earn my living singing than skivvying.'
'Where you would be equally likely to be molested. Men!' Eugénie said, with inexpressible contempt.
'What else is there to do? Lascia il lido... The sailor returns to the sea, though he knows it betrays him.'
'How I wish...' Eugénie began, and then, 'Yes! Louise, you shall go back once more and audition for Signor Colorni, and you will leave the rest of it to me.'

Intervals of Fifths
Avvezzo a vivere
senza conforto,
ancor nel porto
paventi il mar.
'I fear I have changed my mind,' Louise said. 'My resolve has deserted me.'
'With your protector at your side?' Eugénie said. 'Shame!' Once again she had cropped her hair short and donned a suit of men's clothes.
'Ah, but you won't be at my side – you'll be outside. And you know how it is: even when one is accustomed to hardship, it is difficult to leave the harbour and face the open sea.'
'Why such a change, chicken-heart?'
'Yesterday,' Louise said, 'I didn't believe that you would do this. Today – you seem bent upon it.'
Eugénie laughed. 'It's like this: whether this sailor of yours fears the sea or not, he still has to go out upon it. You and I, we must earn our living, and this is the only way to stop this nonsense. Therefore – onwards!'

Lesson III
Intervals of Sixths
Bella prova è d'alma forte
l'esser placida e serena
nel soffrir l'inguista pena
d'una colpa che non ha.
She sang Come dolce all'alma mia, and she knew that she had not sung it well. In order to keep her composure, her mind had clung to a much simpler piece: Vaccaj's exercise featuring intervals of sixths. 'It is a beautiful proof of a strong soul,' she murmured to herself, 'to be placid and serene, suffering the unjust pain of a guilt one does not have.'
For Colorni was smiling, an oily smile that assumed things about Louise that were not true. 'As I said last week, Signorina d'Armilly, you have a substantial talent, one that I would be delighted to cultivate, subject to our coming to a... mutually satisfying agreement.'
Inwardly, Louise shuddered, but her countenance remained calm as she said, 'What kind of agreement were you thinking of, Signor Colorni?'
One must, after all, give him enough rope to hang himself.
'Come, come, my dear, you must know that very few auditions are concluded without... well, that is to say, our artistes must not only be mere singers, but must be actors, too, capable of great passion...'
'I've heard enough,' Louise said. She rose to leave and coughed twice. That was the signal.
'Oh, Signorina d'Armilly, be reasonable!'
At that moment the door burst open and Eugénie, looking every inch the furious young gentleman, dashed into the room.
'Sir, you have insulted my sister!' she exclaimed. 'I demand satisfaction!'
And indeed, Eugénie had in her hand a small pistol, that appeared to be none the less deadly for that.
Colorni turned white, but managed to say, 'I wonder that you are her brother, for I never saw two siblings look less alike.'
'And that's twice!' Eugénie exclaimed. 'She's my step-sister. What's that to you?'
'Well, I...'
'Pistols?' Eugénie said. 'Or do you prefer the sword?'
'Neither! That is, either... but really, my good boy, you can't be of age; it would be most dishonourable of me to fight you.'
Eugénie smiled as if she had not heard him, and looked thoughtfully at the pistol. All the while, Colorni grew whiter.
At last, Louise said, 'Come, Léon. I believe there's little use in our staying here.'
'Very well,' Eugénie said, though proving her own acting talent with a convincing show of reluctance, and followed Louise to the door. Then she turned and said, 'But remember, Signor, it was not I who refused to fight...'

Lesson IV
Intervals of Sevenths
Fra l'ombre un lampo solo
basta al nocchier sagace,
che gia ritrova il polo
gia riconcosce il mar.
'Now what do we do?' Louise asked.
A smile had been playing round Eugénie's lips since they had left Colorni. Now it grew broader. 'Now, cucciola mia,' she said, 'we go to the Teatro Fenice.'
A single light is enough to show the sailor the true direction, and he sees his way across the sea he traverses.
**
'Colorni refused to fight?' said Vincenzi, manager of the Fenice. 'Oh, that's priceless!' He threw his head back and roared with laughter.
'We thought that you might find that amusing,' Eugénie said, 'and so, before we told anyone else, we came to you. After all, it would be quite a coup for you, wouldn't it, to engage the woman that your great rival was afraid to fight?'
'Forgive me, signorina – I was under the impression that the other lady was the singer?'
'Mlle de Servieux,' (for Eugénie had appropriated her mother's maiden name) 'was my pupil,' Louise explained. 'She is a singer of great talent and character. And indeed, you might see your way to engaging the pair of us. You would not regret it.'
'I will not do anything of the sort -' Vincenzi said – 'without first hearing you sing. But, as it happens, I am looking to revive Tancredi within the next few months. That scheme of yours, Signorina de Servieux, was worthy of that noble gentleman; Signorina d'Armilly, you could make an adorable Amenaide. And,' he twinkled, 'as you say, it would be one in the eye for Colorni.'

Intervals of Octaves
Quell'onda che ruina
balza, si frange e mormora,
ma limpida si fa.
And so began the operatic career of Signorina Louise D'Armilly and Signorina Eugénie de Servieux. Tancredi (in the version with the happy ending) was a roaring success: the singing was magnificent, the love scenes touching, and the general spectacle divine. The two ladies, already known throughout Naples for being both eccentric and (what is essential if one chooses to be eccentric) rich, now became famous throughout Italy.
(History does not record whether or not Baron Danglars, now settled in obscurity in Rome, ever learned of his daughter's success, or, rather, that it was his daughter who was so successful.)
Eugénie took lessons in both fencing and in the use of firearms 'for,' she said, 'one never knows when Colorni may think better of turning down my offer to fight. And the fencing at least proves useful on the stage.' She was a great sensation, lauded particularly for her interpretation of Bellini's Romeo, Handel's Julius Caesar, and Rossini's Falliero, besides, of course, his Tancredi.
Louise, more reclusive than her dear friend, became none the less fêted in the world of the opera. Unlike Eugénie, she rarely sang en travesti, but excelled as the high soprano heroine. Much to her delight, she was also able to take on a couple of pupils at the same time, and contribute to the development of a new generation of singers.
The mountain stream tumbles down the Alpine heights, falling, falling, with a noise of thunder, but underneath it flows in a clear current. So it was with Eugénie and Louise, whose lives, on the surface a confection of operatic tinsel, were grounded in a love that was deep and enduring.