Chapter Two

The Dance

Ebert Gausel: June 1937
Adalheid pouted, her pretty face creasing into a frown, ‘See, I told you, we've missed the start.’
‘Addie, I already said, it's not my fault, Trinkhaus hadn't finished the reports I needed.’
‘It's still disappointing.’
‘You should have asked Gus to bring you.’
Her frown deepened, clearly that suggestion barely deserved a response. ‘You know very well August hates dancing. Besides, if there is one thing you are good at, it's giving a girl a good time on the dance floor.’ She craned her neck trying to see through the doorway, ‘I can't see anything.’
We were standing in a queue on the stairs leading up to a Munich ballroom, ‘No one can, but there's no rush now, the first dance has already started.’
Despite Addie's impatience, and the line, I felt a warm glow of contentment. It was nice to be alone with her after so much time apart. I restrained myself from laughing out loud. At twenty seven Addie looked as excited about this ball as she had been about ballet lessons at seven.
We finally reached the ticket booth. ‘That will be thirty Reichsmarks,’ said the bored looking girl behind the glass.
‘Thirty?’ My contentment vanished with a sense of alarm, my budget was already stretched for the month. ‘That's five times the normal price.’
‘Look at the posters, love, tonight is a charity event.’
‘Yes, look Ebi,’ said Addie her face beaming excitedly, ‘it's the 'Princess Marie von Brunnenstadt Memorial Ball. The guest of honor is her daughter, the Princess Victoria.’
‘But thirty Reichsmarks! Is Bavarian Royalty worth thirty Reichsmarks?’
‘Ebi, I have not been to a decent dance since last time you were in Berlin, and we might meet the Princess.’
The girl in the booth looked amused by our bickering. I said with a pained expression, ‘I know when I am beaten, tickets for two please.’
Despite the excessive price of the tickets the ballroom was crowded to capacity. For a moment we simply stood and watched the multicolored sea of dancers ebb and flow. Addie bubbled as excitedly as a child on Christmas Eve, ‘This is just what I have been missing. Which one do you think is the Princess?’
I was still smarting over the highway robbery at the door, so I was not going to be too generous with help. I craned my neck and peered round the room, ‘Probably the old lady standing by the punch bowl over there. The one talking to the man who looks like a walrus.’
‘Do you think so?’
‘Well, she has enough diamonds to keep a Jew happy for a week, and look, she has a tiara.’
‘So she does. Isn't that disappointing? I'd hoped for someone young and glamorous.’
‘What difference does it make? You came here to dance, and speaking of dancing the next one is just about to start.’
The next dance was a Waltz. Even with the cramped conditions caused by the crowd it was a pleasure to be on that floor with Addie. She was a good dancer and was infectiously happy. ‘Ebi, we should do this more often.’
I glanced at her intermittently. The room was crowded and I had to watch where we were going to avoid collisions. I also secretly agreed with a sentiment of Addie’s that half the fun was watching other dancers. ‘Does that mean you are going to move down here to Munich?’
‘No, definitely not! You shall have to come back to Berlin.’
‘As tempting as…’ my attention was abruptly diverted to one of the faces in the crowd of dancers, ‘that girl…’
‘What girl?’
‘She's behind you now, blonde hair in a blue gown, very pretty. Look for her as we turn.’
As we turned, Addie craned her neck to look for the girl, ‘What about her?’
‘She's the girl who hunted me off last weekend.’
Addie laughed, her face creased with mirth, ‘The one with the pig?’
I pulled a sour face, ‘Yes the one with the boar.’
‘She doesn't look much like a peasant girl.’
‘No, but she certainly sounds like one. You should hear her accent, and her language!’
I had my back to the girl now, but Addie was watching her curiously. ‘She's recognized you as well. Look she's frowning over at us now.’
We turned again and as we did so my eyes met the girl's, ‘So she is, she looks cross again. Isn't she pretty though?’
‘Yes very, and she knows it. She's deliberately picked the blue of that gown. It emphasizes her blue eyes.’
‘A perfect match, but you're just jealous. I should see if she'll dance with me.’
‘Ebi you’re just going to stir up trouble, and who will dance with me?’
I laughed cheekily at her complaint, ‘You're pretty enough. Someone will soon ask you.’
She almost stamped her foot with frustration, ‘That's hardly the point, you came to dance with me!’
The music came to a halt. The crowd stilled, I decided to be daring, ‘That's it, I’m going to try my luck.’
‘Ebi, don't you dare leave me standing here!’
‘Go get a glass of punch, I'll dance with you next dance.’
Ignoring Addie's protests, I pushed my way across the floor. As I came near, it was obvious the girl was changing partners. The man she had been with, a fellow in his thirties, was apparently introducing her to a much younger man. She smiled charmingly at the boy and said something at which he blushed. It is sometimes a problem for pretty girls, all the single men want to dance with them and if they want to be polite, it can be a very mixed night. I stood behind her to one side and avoided making eye contact with her prospective partner. As I waited, I watched the conductor. He tapped his baton on the podium and brought the orchestra to order. Cutting it as fine as I could I stepped round beside the youth, ‘I am sorry but you’ve made a mistake, I’m next on the card.’
‘But…’
‘Sorry, check if you like.’
As the music started, The Blue Danube, I took the girl's hand and put my other hand around her waist and before she could protest, we whirled away with the crowd. She stared at me, with what really were the most amazingly vivid blue eyes, as if at a loss for words. I decided to attempt to keep the initiative, ‘I’m sorry, I don't believe we have been introduced, I am Ebert Gausel.’
For a moment I thought she would explode, as I had seen her do the previous weekend, but instead she laughed, a glorious sound that sent a shiver down my back. ‘A poacher in the forest and a poacher on the dance floor. If someone gave you a boat you'd be a pirate in no time.’
‘Har, har me hearties, that's me, Cap'n Gausel. But seriously, to be a poacher I would have had to steal something.’
‘What other name is there for a trespasser hunting on private land?’
‘I don't know, I prefer to remember the incident as if I was a gallant knight saving a damsel in distress.’
She smirked, ‘A gallant knight? Not suffering from delusions of grandeur, are we?’
‘Probably, but I like to think I am as good as any knight, at least on the dance floor.’
‘What a boast, well, you haven't trodden on my toes, yet!’
We fell silent for a moment. I was enjoying myself. In addition to the sparring, she was a wonderful dancer. We drew level with the drinks table and the girl spoke again, ‘The woman you were dancing with before is having a punch, but she looked very sourly at you.’
‘Addie? She'll keep, I told her I would let her have the next dance.’
She looked shocked, ‘That seems very callous. I really don't think you're the kind of person I want to dance with.’
For an instant I thought she was serious, then I realized she was playing with me.
‘Oh, I am sorry, Addie is my sister, we banter with each other. I'm not really that insensitive.’
Those wonderful eyes looked wistful for a moment, ‘I always wanted a sister.’
‘You can have mine if you like, they're not all they are made out to be.’
She grimaced, ‘You really are frightful.’
‘It's the beauty of the girl I'm dancing with, it's gone to my head, I don't know what I'm saying.’
‘You’re being trite, stop it!’
‘Why? I think you are enjoying it.’
‘Yes, no, wait! I shouldn't admit to that!’
‘Too late, it's out, you can't take it back.’
‘No, perhaps I don't want to.’
There was a pause, ‘You are a good dancer, Ebert.’
‘Thank you, but you're just saying that because I haven't trodden on your toes.’
She frowned at me, ‘I'm being serious.’
I stared into her amazing eyes and smiled, ‘I know, but you are so magnificent yourself, that it’s all too easy to dance well.’
She smiled happily up at me and it was as if a beam of sunlight had illuminated the room.
We danced in perfect harmony a little longer, laughing and joking, then I realized with alarm that I had neglected one vital piece of information. ‘You know my name, but you haven't told me yours.’
She looked at me with a pained expression, ‘You must be joking, you can't have missed it.’
‘I'm missing something here, we weren't introduced.’
‘Oh, I see, you must have come in late.’
‘What's that got to do with it?’
The music came to an end and reluctantly we came to a halt. She looked at me despondently, ‘I am sorry, I really do have a full card, I’m committed to dancing at least the next three full sets of dances.’
‘You haven't told me your name.’
‘You really don't know, do you?’
‘No, how could I?’
‘See if you can guess, you can tell me in the break after this set finishes.’
The young fellow I had duped, now stepped up beside me, ‘Excuse me, this is my dance!’
I stepped aside, the girl now switched her attention to the boy, she smiled charmingly, ‘You really must excuse the trick my friend played on you, but it’s your turn now, so no harm done.’
The music started again and she was swept away in the crowd.
I found Addie near the punch bowl. She smiled knowingly and handed me a glass. ‘You know who you've been dancing with?’
‘No, she didn't say her name.’
‘You didn't notice, but you nearly caused a riot. You jumped the queue, on about thirty men who have each paid fifty Reichsmarks to charity, for the privilege of dancing with a princess.’
‘You're joking.’
‘No, you've been dancing with... let me think I'll remember it all. Victoria, Katharina, Marie, Astrid, Chesterfield, the Princess von Brunnenstadt!’