Mozart's Sister (4 page)

Footsteps sounded in the hall. Mama dropped our hands and we
all turned to face the door. Papa came in, smiling broadly. He carried two huge boxes. "First, I present to you gifts for the children."

He set the boxes on the bed. Wolfie pulled the red ribbon without asking, but I looked up at Papa. "May I?"

"You may"

I carefully removed the emerald-colored ribbon on the second
box and handed it to Mama for later use in my hair. Then I removed
the lid. And pulled in a breath. Inside was a white dress so beautiful
I was hesitant to touch it. Certainly, it was made for a princess, not
an ordinary girl like me. It had pink lace and silver braid at the neck
and at the bottom of the sleeves and hem, and tiny ruffles around
the neck.

"Oh, Nannerl," Mama said. "It's magnificent. A broche taffeta.
And look at all the fine trimmings."

Wolfie had his box open too. His was a coat, vest, and breeches.
"Mine's purple!"

Although it was hard to pull my eyes away from my own present,
I glanced at his-and corrected him. "It's lilac," I said. His suit had
wide gold trim and satin cuffs. It was very beautiful, but not as beautiful as nine.

But as I took the dress out of the box, I was horrified to see it
looked too small.

Marna held it up to me. "Oh dear," she said. "Last year this
would have fit you, but not now" She looked up at Papa. "Perhaps
we can exchange ..."

I knew it was awkward. One did not exchange gifts from royalty.

Papa confirmed my fears. "The note says Wolfie's suit was made
for the son of the empress, Archduke Maximilian," Papa said. "And
yours, Nannerl, was from the wardrobe of one of her daughters."

The empress and emperor had eleven daughters. I wondered
which one had worn the dress. The dress I would never get to wear.
Mama touched my cheek. Her eyes were kind.

As if to rub it in, Wolfie proclaimed, "I will wear my suit forever!" He put on the coat and turned in a circle. It fit him perfectly.

Mama put a hand on his shoulder, quieting him. "You will wear
it until you grow too big."

"Which, unfortunately, will be too soon," Papa said sternly. But
then his face changed. He smiled and pulled out a small velvet
pouch. "I have received something even better than beautiful costumes."

Money! The disappointment of the dress was forgotten.

Mama held out her hand, her voice breathy. "How much?"

He put the pouch behind his back. "First, you must know the
best news. His Majesty the Emperor has requested we remain in
Vienna a little longer."

"You said yes, of course," Mama said.

He made a little bow. "Of course. His Majesty will summon us
soon. But until then ..."

He emptied the pouch onto the bed. Mama knelt beside the
mattress, staring at the coins. "So much!"

"One hundred ducats," Papa said. "Nearly two years of my
violinist's salary back in Salzburg."

Wolfie ran his hands through the money, lifting it up, dropping
it, making the coins clink and clatter. I reached out and took a coin
I'd helped earn. I recognized the empress on its face, wearing a
crown and standing with an orb-topped scepter and a sword. She
looked prettier in person.

"In addition to your fur cape, I plan on buying us our own
coach," Papa said. "With all our engagements, we've been needing
a carriage two, three, even four times a day. Even when someone
has been kind enough to provide the carriage, the tips to the driver
and the footmen amount to the same expense as a hire"

"If you think it's necessary...." Mama stood. "And toward that
end, I could forgo the new fur."

"Nonsense." Papa turned to us. "But remember, you children
must play well to continue to earn such generous payments."

I would. I would play very well indeed.

Mania sat on the edge of Wolfie's bed, stroking his hair, and
blotting his forehead with a coarse towel. Papa stood in the doorway
and I stood behind him in the hall, peeking around his arm. The
doctor had told me to stay away or I would get sick too. Sickness
was a shadow on our travels, always close, often distinct, but sometimes hiding in dark places.

"Well?" Papa said.

Mania put a finger to her lips and whispered. "He cannot go
out, Leopold. The doctor says it's scarlet fever. Plus he's getting new
teeth, so that pain, added to the other ..."

Wolfie opened his eyes. "My back aches, Papa" It was hard to
understand him because his tongue and cheeks were swollen. He
had a rash on his neck and down his body It was red like he had
been in the sun too long, and Mama said it felt like Papa's cheek
before he shaved.

"You look horrid," I said.

"That's not nice," Mama said.

But it was true.

"It's been nearly two weeks," Papa said. "This sickness has cost
us fifty ducats at least."

While Wolfie had been sick, I'd seen Papa's worry and heard
him making his excuses to people who wanted us to perform. I
tugged on the sleeve of his coat. "I could go, Papa. I could perform."

"Sorry, Papa," Wolfie croaked.

"Shh," Mama told him. "Just get well, licbchen."

Wolfie closed his eyes and Mama tiptoed toward us, shooing us
into the hallway. She closed the door. "Nannerl, go tell the innkeeper we need more towels."

I looked up at Papa. "I could perform, Papa. I'm very healthy."

Papa gave me a nudge. "Do as you're told, Nannerl."

I had no choice but to obey. I went down to the bend in the
hall, but there I stopped and listened.

"You must not make the boy feel guilty for being sick, Leopold,"
Mama said quietly. "He is just a child."

"Which is one of the main reasons he has any musical venues
at all."

He. Papa said "he"... .

Papa continued. "As soon as he's well enough, I plan to take
him into public, for a stroll perhaps. The festival of St. Charles is
coming up next week. If I take him out so people can see him,
they'll know he's available for engagements."

"The doctor said his rash may last a long time-even when he
seems well. People may think it's smallpox and will want nothing to
do with him. Perhaps it would be better to wait until he is completely-"

"We cannot wait!" Papa's voice came out in a hiss. "Our time
of favor is fleeting. We mustn't waste it."

I heard his footsteps coming toward me and I ran downstairs.
Mama needed more towels.

I didn't know the man and I didn't like him.

I was waiting to perform for the emperor and empress in Vienna
one last time. Mama was busy straightening Wolfie's wig, and Papa
was talking to an important-looking man I'd heard speak Frenchsomething about playing in Paris? Other people stood around the
Mirror Room of Schonbrunn Palace, chatting as they waited to be
seated. Standing amid the crowd, the man knocked my ear with an
elbow as he stepped around me. He didn't turn around and ask for
my pardon. He didn't even notice me.

For now. But as soon as I played ... he'd notice me then, and
know that I was not a normal child dressed like a miniature adult
but an extraordinary girl with great talent. No one would ignore
me after we played.

The man, who now stood in front of me, whispered to the man
beside him. "Did you hear that the empress is not amused by the
father's exploitation of his children? The boy's been sick, yet he was
seen being paraded through town by his parents like a fine cut of
meat for the market. Her Majesty calls it an `aggressive hunt for
ducats."'

The second man raised a finger. "Those who cannot succeed
according to their own attributes must find other ways of rising
above their station, but ... but ..." He wagged his finger and made
a tsk-tsk sound.

The first man snickered. "But they'd best be careful not to offend
those with deep pockets at the risk of descending far below where
they started."

"I hear Archbishop Schrattenbach in Salzburg is perturbed with
the father for extending his leave of absence"

"Ali," said the first man again. "The archbishop is grumbling
into the wind. The depth of his pockets can never compete with
those of royalty."

"Ducats, 0 mighty ducats. How great is thy draw"

"And dangerous is thy temptation."

The crowd began to move and the men walked away.

But their words remained. They shouldn't talk about Papa
that way.

Salzburg, home, sweet home! We came around the bend in the
road and saw the Fortress Hohensalzburg sitting splendidly upon the
precipice, embraced between the magnificent mountains and our
city by the river.

I ran up the stairs into our third-floor apartment and was immediately met by smells I knew and loved: the smell of the wood polish
Frau Hagenauer used on the banister, the sooty smell of the front
room where the fireplace had never worked well, and the smell of
warm cherries and fruit from the stollen bread Fran Hagenauer had
made for us. We'd been gone three and a half months.

Papa directed the driver to bring in our luggage. We had a new
carriage now, one of our very own. It was quite grand and Papa said
it cost twenty-three ducats. He must have loved us very much to
spend such money on us.

Mama held Wolfie's hand and led him right up to bed. Wolfie
walked as if every step was an effort. After performing at the palace
that last time, we'd accepted an invitation from some Hungarian
nobility to perform in Pressburg. Although it was only a twentykilometer drive, the weather had been foul and fierce. Even the
post-bags had trouble getting across the Danube, and the frozen road
was bumpy and full of ruts. Wolfie and I could have had fun with all the jostling, but he hadn't felt well and had spent the whole trip
home under Mama's arm, rubbing his fingers up and down the fur
trim of her new cape. I worried about him. Papa said Wolfie's sickness had set us back four weeks.

Papa had also been sick for a short while. He'd had a toothache
that made his face swell so much he called himself a trumpeting
angel. Yet his illness hadn't held us back as much as the weather.

But now we were home!

Mama appeared at the top of the stairs. "We must send for the
doctor."

"Is that necessary?" Papa asked.

She descended the stairs and flashed him a look I rarely saw. "In
Vienna we took him out too soon, then undertook the journey to
Hungary ... he was not strong enough. It's cost him." She lowered
her voice. "And us"

"But I must pay my respects to the archbishop."

"I wish you had not offered him so many excuses. His patience
is surely tested."

"I needed to say something in order for us to take advantage of
the opportunities offered us."

"He's a smart man, Leopold. He will see through the deceptions."

"Let's hope not. Our future depends on him."

Mama nodded toward me, then looked upstairs. "I know you
want the promotion-I know it's a dream-but our future depends
on other assets."

Papa angled his body so his back was to me, but I heard his words.
"With a little skill and God's blessings, both assets can be intertwined.
After all, they are what they are because of my instruction."

Mama turned to go upstairs. "The doctor, Leopold. Now"