we should also look our best. I suggest that we practice every day until the performance. We do not want to look or sound like amateurs."
Lily heard the excited whispers around her. She wondered how the choir, which was absolutely quite good in its league, would not sound like amateurs. After all, that was what they were. But Lily held her tongue about that. However, she did raise a matter of some concern. "I have several appointments to sing and teach singing until then, Mrs. Henley. I do hope you can excuse me during these days, otherwise my voice will be too strained."
Mrs. Henley regarded Lily for a while. Lily could almost see the cogs rattle and click behind the old forehead. "Yes. Of course. We should not be in the way of your income, Miss Marin."
The fact that she called Lily "Miss Marin" was a clear sign that Mrs. Henley did not embrace the thought, as Lily was unofficially the musical director of the group, but given the circumstances there was nothing Mrs. Henley could do but agree. "As we probably need assistance during all of this, I have asked Mrs. Burrows-Hill to join us when we leave."
Lily closed her eyes for a moment. She did not know if she should groan or smile. Selma, your dreams are coming true. Oh, Lily would hear all about that in a few days. Then she was scheduled to sing in the hall where Jonathan Burrows, Selma's husband, was the organiser of musical events and dinner-and-dances. Three weeks, she thought. That should be enough to get a decent repertoire rehearsed.
"Miss Marin, over tea I would like to discuss the songs I have selected for the particular evening."
Lily nodded. She braced herself for quite the battle, as Mrs. Henley was usually fond of the songs that the choir was by far not ready for...
-=-=-
The three weeks went buy in a rush. Lily visited Dr. Calgori a few times and apprehanded a few villains that preferred to break into the houses of wealthy widows. The confrontations with Mrs. Henley were rather difficult, but Lily managed to convince the old lady that some songs were really too complicated for the choir.
And then the day was there that the choir, including Selma for extra hands, were picked up to travel to the castle of the count. Lily had her cases packed and waiting outside her house. There was still snow in the streets, but the sky was clear and a wintery sun did all in its power to make the world look pretty.
A carriage came riding up to her house as she stood waiting in front of the window. Hardly ever carriages came in the street, so this had to be the one to pick her up. Lily quickly put on her thick coat, her warm gloves and a hat, and left the comfort of her home.
"Miss Marin?" the driver of the carriage asked without stepping down.
"That would be me, indeed."
The man eyed her cases. "Right then," he uttered as he climbed down. Before walking to her, he knocked on the door of the carriage, much to Lily's surprise. The door swung open and -
"Billy?" Lily could not believe what she saw. "Why are you here?"
The young man smiled brightly at her. "Selma asked me to come along as well, as there is so much to do." He walked up behind the driver, they both picked up a case and loaded it onto the waiting carriage.
"You best step in, miss," the grey-haired driver suggested, "no good catching a cold now."
That made sense. Before she could move, Billy was with her, offering his arm for support. Lily really did not want this, but once again her shoes were not the kind to go around in the snow, so she reluctantly let him help her to the carriage. Why was women's footwear not better prepared for this season?
Soon her belongings were stowed. Billy joined Lily in the carriage and then the journey began.
"It won't take very long," Billy told Lily, "four hours at most. Not the amount of time to go by train, really."
Lily nodded politely and tried to keep to herself for the first hour, but Billy did not give up trying to make contact. She had to give him credit him for that. Once the carriage had left the city, the beauty of the snow-covered rural environment rolled by. Billy kept pointing out nice things and interesting parts of the land, and at one moment Lily was looking out with him, finding that there was a lot of surprise in what she had considered to be just land with a layer of snow.
At a certain point Billy was telling her a very entertaining anecdote about when he and a friend had been throwing snow at each other, and Lily caught herself laughing at the funny expressions on Billy's face.
Billy looked at her and smiled. "You look very pretty when you laugh, Lily."
Lily felt as if she was facing something difficult. It was nice to be so relaxed, to laugh at what she heard. At the same time she needed to be careful, keep to herself, hide her deepest inner thoughts and worries and problems.
"Did I say something wrong?" Billy asked. He had of course noticed Lily's sudden change, the rare enough radiance disappearing from her face.
"No..." Lily sank back into the seat. "No, it's just something... I thought of." Suddenly she wanted to run away, disappear. A few tears welled up from her eyes, as this train of thought about her dark other side had suddenly spoilt the trip. She hated Dr. Drosselmeyer, who was to blame for all this. Lily dug in her little purse to find her hanky and could not find it. To her great surprise, Billy put a hand on her arm and offered her his handkerchief. It was white and clean. Perhaps even brand new. It made her feel even worse, because this meant he had seen her tears. She accepted the handkerchief and carefully dried her eyes. "I'm sorry, Billy," she said. "I didn't mean for this."
He just nodded and smiled for a moment. "Don't worry, Lily. We all have our moments."
At that moment the carriage left the main road and pulled into a small patch of snow-covered land that lay behind the row of trees they had travelled along.
"What is this?" Lily asked. "Where is he taking us?"
"Not to worry, Lily. We are making the last part of this journey not by carriage," Billy said. As to reassure her, he patted her hand for a moment. Lily pulled it away, but just a moment too late. She knew it, and she was convinced that Billy knew it as well.
Outside the carriage, the horses were upset about something, they both heard it, but the carriage stopped moving. The driver climbed down and opened the door. "Best to be quick about it, miss, it's a cold wind out here. I stopped as close by as I could, but the horses, you see..."
Now curious, Lily cast a quick glance at Billy who was buttoning his coat. She followed his example and then she stepped out of the carriage, helped by the driver. What she saw in front of the carriage almost took her breath away before the cold breeze did. "An airship!"
She almost jumped when she felt a hand in her back, even though that was protected by several layers of clothes and her good coat. Almost had she lashed out, Masked Woman style, but she held back just in time. It was Billy's hand that gently nudged her. "Come, let's go inside, it is too cold here."
Lily agreed, it was very cold. They quickly walked to the cabin beneath the airship. "Isn't it small?" Lily asked Billy, but before he could answer, someone opened the door and let them in. In the wind and snow, the drivers of several other carriages were loading her suitcases into the airship.
Then, behind her, she heard voices. One of them was Selma. Selma was loud as usual. But also there was Mrs. Henley, who nodded at her. And Billy, so close next to her. Involuntarily Lily stepped aside a little. Then she walked over to the older lady and asked why they were in this airship. Lily had never been in one of these contraptions before.
"This is a little extra that our host, the count, granted us. He wants us to make a special entrance, and so he arranged for this tiny flying basket. And I may add, Lily, that I do not feel very much at ease about this." The last words were whispered, only for Lily to hear. It surprised her that Mrs. Henley was so open towards her. It only lasted for that moment, though.
"Everyone please sit down," a voice came from a copper, trumpet-like speaker that was mounted in the ceiling. "We are ready to depart."
There was ample space for everyone to sit, on the four rows of couches that
ran along the limited length of the gondola. Still Lily wished they had continued in the carriage, even though that had been a lot colder, and would have taken longer. Luckily there was no need to be squeezed in between Selma and Billy.
As if lifted by a large, invisible hand, the small airship left the ground. A short swaying motion made Lily gasp, and she was not alone in that. "We have succesfully lifted off," the voice from the copper trumpet informed everyone. "Please feel free to walk around, but please keep the weight balanced in order not to tilt the gondola."
Almost soundlessly, the airship floated over the forests and fields. Lily carefully walked from one side of the cabin to the other to see as much of the world below as possible, even when most of it was white with snow, and therefore void of most recognisable shapes.
Far too soon the voyage in this miraculous construction was over. The voice from the copper trumpet invited everyone to sit down again, as the castle of Count Selezeanu came into view. "We shall be touching down on the inner yard, to make your entry into the building as easy as possible," the man said. "Do not worry, we have done this manoeuver before, you will be perfectly safe."
Lily did not feel comfortable as the man felt it necessary to emphasise this, but the landing was extremely gentle. Everyone buttoned up and put scarves on again, and when the door was opened, they stepped into the yard of the