Chapter Fourteen: Erik, the Masked Marauder

                                    

                                          
      A few days later, after George and Nora left, Grace came down the stairs to find the theatre in a frenzy. Véronique called Grace to her dressing room. 
    Véronique wore a very revealing number, and Grace blushed just at the sight of so much skin. She averted her eyes when all of Véronique's... prominent features were turned upon her. Never had she seen a dress so low cut, nor a hem cut so high. And she must have laced her waist down to seventeen inches. Who was she trying to seduce?
   "Ah! Mais non !  Ma chère, est-ce que tu porte ? "
  "I'm wearing my normal clothes," Grace replied, confused. 
   "Yes! Exactement ! That is the problem! You do not display or look prettier than normal. Are you not interested?"
    "Interested in what? Je ne comprende pas."
  "Erik! Erik is here. How could you not know?" Véronique's painted mouth dropped. "You did not know. For an hour, he has been here, giving orders and putting everyone up on their toes. We must go find Guy to rehearse. If we rehearse, we see Erik."
   "But why the fancy -"
    "Because. And you should be interested, as I and the other little girls are. He is rich. He does not have a mistress, as far as anyone knows. And he is rich."
    Véronique looped her arm through Grace's - probably realizing Grace's plain attire would accentuate her own - and walked with her through the door. "He has never been interested in anyone, so we try - I especially, as I want him - to make him propose offers to us. So far, it has not worked. But no one can resist Véronique for long. And you do not care?"
   "I'm... not the mistress type. I prefer to focus on other things besides love, but I'm sure you'll... do well." Grace tried being as nice as possible about the subject. Her friend had a great pride, and an ego taller than the Eiffel Tower.
   "Merci."
   Everyone was bustling around, careless about any department that was not their own, each one searching for attention. Grace thought it a bit absurd that everyone should run like chickens with their heads off for a man who didn't bother to care enough to drop by his theatrical company more than every so often. He couldn't have very high standards, could he? 
   They were just passing the stage when Véronique pointed Erik out. He was standing in the middle of a circle of carpenters, making wide, sweeping gestures with his arms, talking. He was describing the set pieces he wanted.
   Grace could only see him from behind but it was enough to know he was not what she expected. She expected an older man with an unclean suit and a very staggered, unseemly disposition. What Erik really was, was a tall man with deep black hair, a thin but certain body clothed in an extremely well tailored - and expensive - suit, and something about him radiated power and quickness of all the traits that can be considered to be quick: tongue, mind, wit, and movement. He had charisma.
    They passed him and moved over to where Guy waited. He was not at all happy. Grace guessed it was because the girls were paying less attention to him than usual. 
   "What is Erik like? Personality wise and -"
   "He's creative and strict. Very severe. Mean. A little cruel, I've heard. I don't know, everyone says something different. But very rich. So rich he could buy me a house on the coast with twenty rooms and still give me five hundred francs a week without receiving a dent in his bank account. I do not know how he looks. He wears a face covering," Véronique claimed. 
   "I heard he was scarred in a knife fight in Vienna... well, Vienna or Portugal, Spain. His sardonic sense of humor and the mockery with which he sustains himself - is his food and water - made him take the classic mask of the theatre... er... I believe it's called Tragedy, the frowning mask... and cut it in half to hide his scars. He was in Spain when the idea struck. I just am not sure though... did he cut up the crying mask or the laughing one?" Guy mused for a moment. "Knowing him it's Tragedy. He doesn't like happiness."