The Lost Princess [Hamliza Anastasia AU]

Chapter Four: Elizabeth Auditions

Monday, February 21, 1927. Georgetown, New York.

"I am Elizabeth Schuyler!" The third girl, Maria Lewis, declared, fluffing her cinnamon brown hair. After the girls who wished to audition had shown up, the boys had snuck them into the old abandoned theater so they would have more space to give their performances. Despite years of disuse, there was still a certain grandeur to the place that Alex enjoyed. 

"She's worse than I was," The first girl to audition grumbled. 

"Bow and curtsy," Aaron ordered Maria.

"At the same time," She protested, pouting.

"God, Alex, I can't understand why you like this girl," Aaron told him.

Maria glared at him, arms crossed. "Excuse me."

Aaron waved his hands dramatically. "That was a theatrical aside, dear. You didn't hear it. Continue."

Maria flattened the paper with her audition lines scribbled on it, fluffed her hair again, and struck a dramatic pose. Alex's traitorous eyes immediately snapped to the way her dress fell around her body, but he shook himself and focused on her face. This was serious, he couldn't afford to be distracted. 

"It is me, aunt. Your precious... Elizabeth!" Maria continued, waving one arm around her head in a way that was probably supposed to be dramatic, but really just came off as cheap. The theater atmosphere is really getting to her, Alex decided, watching Maria perform. 

"They shot me, but I lived!" She exclaimed. "and I have come all this way to Philadelphia to tell you. I'm alive!" Maria dropped down onto her knees, grabbed Alex's hand, then fell forward as if overcome with emotion, resting her head in his lap. From behind them, John coughed. 

After taking a moment to let Alex stroke her hair, because when else was a man supposed to do when a beautiful woman put her head in his lap, Maria got to her feet and faced Aaron. "This doesn't make any sense," She told him. "She's come all the way to Philadelphia, of course she's alive," Aaron raised an eyebrow and Maria blushed. 

"I'm not really an actress," She admitted.

"No," John commented dryly. "I thought it was Jeanne Eagles posing as a peasant girl."

Aaron stood up. "Alright everyone, auditions are over. We'll let you know."

Maria glared at him, arms crossed, weight resting on one leg, lips in a slight pout. It seemed to be a position she favored. "Come on Peggy. That means no," She turned and started toward the door, but then something struck her. 

Maria turned and marched back down the aisle to stand in front of Alex. He had never noticed it before, but she had a deadly glare. He shuddered. "You know, what you're doing is against the law," She snapped. Alex nodded slightly, and Maria's expression softened. She placed a hand on his cheek and said. "If you weren't so handsome, Alex, I'd report you."

"Out," Aaron ordered, pointing toward the door. "We have things to do," Glaring at him, Maria stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"Well, we tried," John proclaimed, throwing up his hands in defeat. "Elizabeths don't grow on trees."

While John and Aaron commiserated over their inability to find an Elizabeth candidate, Alex picked up the music box (which he had brought with them, because you couldn't just leave gold lying around nowadays, someone would surely steal it) and started trying to figure out how to open it. 

The only sign that it wasn't just solid gold was the delicate hinge on the back. There was no button, no clasp, not even a keyhole. Alex tried working his fingernail into the crease between the lid and the rest of the box in the vain hope that it would just snap open, but it didn't work. 

John had apparently noticed what he was doing, because he said. "Stop fiddling with that before you break it.

Frustrated, Alex slammed it back down onto the seat next to him. "I can't get it open!"

Aaron rolled his eyes. "It's a fake. What did you expect."

"It can't be a fake!" John protested. "I paid two cans of beans for it!"

Aaron shook his head. "No one spots a fake like Count Aaron Burr." 

"The biggest fake of them all," Alex grumbled. He didn't really have anything against Aaron, but after how this day had gone so far, he was too frustrated to be nice. 

To Alex's surprise, normally Aaron could take that kind of thing without flinching, his friend sank into one of the dusty theater chairs. The rusty springs squeaked, but he ignored it. "The only ones we fooled at court were ourselves." 

"What happened?" he asked. Aaron usually kept anything bad that happened to himself, so even though he talked all the time about his court days, Alex had never heard this story.

Aaron sighed. "The Dowager Countess took one look at my grandfather and I and said "That man is an impostor!"" He pointed dramatically off to the side, probably in imitation of the Dowager Countess.

Someone knocked sharply on one of the theater doors, and they all stiffened. 

"I knew it!" Aaron whisper shouted as John dived underneath a row of seats to hide. "Those women ratted on us!"

Alex picked up a chair, not one of the theater chairs, but one that served as a stage prop, and stationed himself in front of the door. If the government had sent only one man, he could clock him over the head and escape. 

"At least they feed us in jail," John whispered from beneath the seats, and Alex rolled his eyes. Couldn't John find it in him to be serious for once, seeing as how they might be in a life or death situation.

The door swung open and in ran not a redcoat officer, but a girl. Before Alex could decide what to do, she ran past him and stopped in the center of the room. "I'm looking for Alexander Hamilton," She gasped, looking around. 

Historical Note: Jeanne Eagles was a semi-famous actress of the 1910's and 20's who worked on Broadway and in some sound films and posthumously received an academy award for best actress for her performance in The Letter (1929). She portrayed Maria in 1917's Hamilton, so I feel it's a fitting comparison.