The Journey Home

Chapter 22 A Parlor Song Around the Piano

Edith had settled at the piano, excited to play for the group a new piece she had purchased earlier in the day. She was an exceptional pianist; far outshining Margaret when they were young and took piano lessons together. Edith began her performance with a complicated piano piece by a German composer, mesmerizing the room with the intensity of her playing. As she played, Lieutenant Brandt moved to occupy the chair vacated by Henry Lennox. Margaret smiled warmly as he sat with her.

"We missed your company this afternoon," he said with sincerity.
"My apologies, Lieutenant Brandt. Affairs at home required my attention." Margaret explained. He was encouraged by Margaret's slip. She referred to Harley Street as home. Perhaps she was not moving on, as Sholto intimated. Perhaps, as Edith had gossiped, it was Henry Lennox that kept her in London.

"It has been some time since I saw Maria Louise. How is my young lady?" Margaret smiled tenderly at Brandt, because it was he who had been the most gentle with and supportive of her niece. He had visited her almost daily, finding ways to entertain and ease her anxieties about losing her mother and having her father so far away. With Brandt's encouragement, Maria Louise had shyly come out of her self imposed silence, for fear that her halting English would not be understood. She chatted away with him while she played at serving tea, tripping through a combination of English and Spanish.

Brandt was enchanted with the little girl, because she was open and honest with her thoughts. Knowing something of her pain, his heart suffered with hers because he knew that his son was victim of the same sorrow at the loss of his mother. It had been months since he last saw his son and had resolved to spend more time with his own boy.

He had also come to know Margaret Hale better during this time. Although she was as lovely as when she was 18 years old, Brandt saw a completely different woman now. She was confident, yet she had lost all the haughtiness common to young ladies of London society. She appeared to be more transparent in her thoughts and feelings, no longer playing at school girl parlor games, teasing gentlemen to discover her true intentions. Margaret had become worldly in her travels and had gathered a confidence that exemplified her independence. She was more than capable of taking care of herself, if needed, but it was clear to Brandt that her heart still searched for peace and companionship.And this was what made a match with Henry Lennox rather hard to believe. However, Brandt was harboring a hope that he might be the man to fill that void.

He did not know if he was in love with her, but he was attracted to her forthrightness and intelligence. She was well read and eager to learn of the shifting landscape of national politics. Brandt found her thoughts on social reform to be enlightening; she believed that the education of men and women was paramount to changing the class inequities of society. She also believed that the vote needed to be expanded and include all men, regardless of their wealth or property. Margaret spoke intelligently and based her beliefs on facts she had gathered from study and contemporary writing. Henry Lennox had noted that her cunning in debate would make her a fine lawyer - or worse, a politician.

It had been with considerable effort that Lieutenant Brandt had successfully lived down the persona that Sholto, Edith and Mrs. Shaw created. Since the Crimean War, England had relatively amicable foreign relations and many of Brandt's contemporaries serving her Majesty's service had little else to do but spend money they did not have among London society, gamble and over indulging in alcohol. Brandt was one of the army reformers, who supported a meritocracy and found useful application of his talents training those that were shipped off to India or West Africa to act a s peace time police. He hoped that Margaret saw through the Lennoxs' pretext of a bachelor officer, taking advantage of all the distractions London had to offer.

It actually mattered to Brandt to hear what Margaret thought of him, and as Edith completed one piece and moved to a lighter sing along, Brandt decided that he should like to be Margaret's dinner partner and de facto dance partner at the party the next evening.