The 'Un-ladylike' discovery

“In a minute, Maman,” I cried glancing at the mirror again. My head hurt since Hilde had tied my long brown hair in a very tight bun on the top of my head. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered with such balder-dash but today was special. It was my fourteenth birthday and Maman had invited some guests over for dinner. I smiled as I thought of what Anneliese, my friend would say if she saw me now, ‘That blue dress makes your eyes really come out but try loosening up the waist.’ I laughed; she always had such a fashion sense, maybe it’s because she goes to the School Of Fine Arts. I sighed, if only Maman would let me go too.

I glanced once more at the girl in the mirror, surely it cannot be me! She looks as good as Gisela! I practiced a curtsy and walked slowly down the stairs to the living room. I held my head straight and tried to walk as gracefully as I could. Frau Keltzer, my tutor had said that I walk like a boy. I don’t mind though she always says that, ‘You do this like a boy. You do that that a boy.’ Uhh! If it weren’t for the fear of Papa’s cane, I would have told her that I like being who I am. For the Lord’s sake, its 1892 not the 1700’s but Maman and Frau both think that girls should be like little kitty cats. I smiled as I neared the living room, I knew I was faking it but I couldn’t help it.

“Hallo, Liebster,” greeted Frau Keltzer in German. I didn’t know why she always talks to me in German yet tells me to speak in English.
I curtsied to the guests and sat down in the only empty chair. I was glad Gisela couldn’t come; now at least they’ll notice how nice I am and not how much I’m not like my sister. Papa stood up and made a toast. My heart warmed as he dedicated it to me. Maman served supper to everyone, normally it was my responsibility to do that but since it’s my special day today, Maman had agreed to do it.

“So...”Herr Balicki started, “How do you like your school?”

“It’s good,” I answer politely.

“You got to Frau Vega’s Girls’ Academy right?

“Ja”

The short conversation was followed by a very uncomfortable silence.

“So, what are you entering in the flower show this year, Astrid?” asked Maman to Frau Wolff.

“Oh, this year, I have some beautiful Blue Veil plants,” replied Astrid Wolff.

“Blue Veil? I didn’t even know they grew in Austria. Why? Papa and I had to travel to the Vienna Flower Showcase to buy some for Gisela’s wedding. And even that was imported from Germany,” said Maman with awe.

“Most people don’t realize it but actually it grows very well in the Austrian climate. You see the trick is that you…” I stopped listening as Frau Wolff went on to explain her gardening techniques. I wondered if Maman really cared about all this. The conversation was really dull and I almost fell asleep during the remaining portion of supper.
I looked around at the people sitting at the table. There were eight people present including me, Maman, Papa, Herr Balicki, Frau Keltzer, Herr Wolff, Frau Wolff and John Wolff. Herr Henrik Balicki is Papa’s cousin. He is very close to our family. Frau Keltzer is my very demanding tutor who finds a mistake in everything I do. Maman had asked her to teach me proper etiquette because according to her I was ‘unruly, defiant and rude.’ Herr and Frau Wolff have always been around my family. Frau Wolff and Maman were good friends. John Wolff, their only son was a year younger than me and went to the Christian Brothers’ Academy.

As papa shifted the conversation to the war, Maman dismissed me from the room. I’m fourteen years old yet she still thinks I’m too young to talk about it. John can still listen since he’s a boy. It’s not fair! I did a curtsy again and walked to my room. I quickly called for Hilde, the maid to take off the uncomfortable hairstyle and to help me with my dress which was really tight around the waist. I put on my nightgown and went to bed. I was happy that I didn’t fall and everyone noticed me but nothing was as elaborate as Gisela’s birthday when everyone talked and danced. I decided to sleep before Maman checks on me and talks me into washing the plates to feel sleepy.

I woke up to at five thirty in the morning like usual, Frau Vega wants her students to be very punctual and even though, it’s Sunday and there’s no school today, Maman wanted me to wake up early. I started my chores one by one, washing the clothes and the plates, and getting milk. I hated washing clothes because I always ended up spraying water on my clothes. I wished we had one of those new machine things that they have in Anneliese’s house but Papa says that idle hands make the Devil’s work and that the machine itself is diabolical. I quickly finished the dishes and prepared to go to the Salzburg store to buy milk. The store was quite a distance from here and I sighed as I thought of walking back with the heavy milk jug. I wore my Sunday dress and decided to wear my hair as simple as I could. The house was quiet since Maman had already left for church. Papa didn’t let me go anymore since the priest had different disagreed with my father on something. I didn’t know what it was since I was ‘too young’ and it was ‘adult talk.’ Hilde and Papa were still asleep. I didn’t get why Papa even hired Hilde. She didn’t do anything except help me with my hair on special occasions, and sometimes cook. I held my resent in me and walked down the street.
Our house was different from all the others on the road since they were all original Austrian houses and I lived in an old Victorian mansion built by the English. I walked down the road to Frau Keltzer’s house and was about to go in when I saw two men standing in front of her door. They were talking worriedly. I ran up quickly to see what happened. The men were from the AMP (Austrian Metropolitan Police) but let me through when they heard that I was Frau Keltzer’s friend.

“What happened?” I demanded as soon as I walked in.

“Oh! My necklace has been stolen. I can’t find it anywhere! I’m so scared. I don’t know what happened to it,” explained Frau Keltzer. I understood which necklace it was by the way she looked. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her hair looked terrible. I admired the way that she poised herself perfectly even in the midst of all this anguish. She motioned me to sit in the settee in front of her.

“When did you last see the necklace?” I asked.

“Yesterday, a few of my friends came over to tea and they wanted to see it…Of course I showed to it them.”

“Who all came over?”

“Well, Frau Wolff, Herr Wolff, Luise Schmidt, Herr Balicki, Herr Burgen and of course Ilsa and I were hear…Ilsa served them her famous scones..,” she said dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

She continued to say that Frau Schmidt had asked to see this legendary necklace. I wasn’t the least bit surprised since all of town was talking about this necklace worth 40,000,000 Crones. It was supposed to have once belonged to the Archduchess of Austria, Maria Theresa and was more than a hundred years old. Frau Keltzer was traced to be a descendant of this Archduchess and this necklace which was previously displayed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna was given to her for five months. The necklace was believed to have been Maria Theresa’s good luck charm during the War of the Austrian Succession. It had a beautiful pendant with twelve precious stones around a large diamond. The more I thought about the necklace the more I realized that I wanted to solve this mystery. I wanted to show Papa that girls can do almost everything that boys can. I stood up and asked to talk to Ilsa, the maid. Frau Keltzer rang a bell and summoned Ilsa.

“Yes, Herrin,” Ilsa said agitatedly, “I’m on the phone, Ma’am. Can I just finish the conversation?”

“Of course... Of course… by all means,” cried the embarrassed tutor.

I drew in a deep breath. And Maman had said that I was rude! Uhh!

“I’m sorry. Something has been bothering Ilsa lately…She wasn’t… I mean she used to be really nice…”Frau apologized to me after Ilsa left.
I accepted it and left to speak to the police men. I planned to talk to them as casually as I can about the robbery. I wasn’t going to tell them that I planned to solve this case because they’ll certainly tell Papa and get me spanked. ‘What a ludicrous thing for a girl to do! You are such a fool! Leave the officers to their work…Why…when Gisela was your age….,’I smiled as I heard his voice in my head.

“Guten Tag!” I greeted the officers and curtsied.

“Guten Tag miss, you are Frau Keltzer’s friend, aren’t you?” asked one of the men.

“Ja, I am. My name is Liselotte Rosenthal.”

“I am Stefan Bergen and this is my colleague, Aharon Cohen,” Stefan pointed to his friend, “Nice to meet you, Liselotte.”
I acknowledged both of them by tilting my head sideways, though Frau Keltzer had always said that I do it wrong.

“So do you have any leads, Inspector?” I asked.

“Well, aren’t you a smart young lady?” he asked chuckling, “I’m sorry but I can’t divulge any information to the public right now.”

“But I’m not public, Inspektor. After all we are both Frau Keltzer’s friends…bitte...”I begged. Just then it hit me, Inspektor was at Frau Keltzer’s tea yesterday!

“Well...I guess there's no harm in that, we talked to Ilsa and she’s sure that she locked both doors before she went home at seven…I left at five yesterday and the necklace was still there…But then again...Well I was the first one to leave.”

“Did Ilsa see the necklace before she left?”

“No, she said she didn’t go near it at all since she already dusted the case in the morning.”
I bid him farewell and headed toward the Salzburg Store. In the midst of all this excitement, I had forgotten to buy the milk. Maman will be really mad at me. I ran to store, not caring about ruining my dress. When I came back to me my house, Papa was talking to Inspector Cohen. I could see that Papa looked annoyed.

“Hallo Liselotte,” Aharon acknowledged as I walked in.

“You know each other?” Papa asked angrily.
I quickly went to the kitchen without answering his question. Aharon can do that! I knew Papa would yell at me when I got back but for the first time in my life, I didn’t care. I left the milk in the kitchen and told Maman that I was going to Anneliese’s house. I then hurried off to Herr Balicki’s house. I knew that God hated people who lied but I was sure that He could see reason.
“Guten tag, Liselotte!”

“Hallo, Herr. How are you today?” I asked politely. I filled him in about the necklace. His face went pale and he looked genuinely surprised and sad.

“Oh my…How is Frau Keltzer? This must have gravely distressed her.”

“She is…umm…dealing with it. But tell me, when did you leave her house yesterday?”

“Umm…around five, I’d say…right after Stefan,” said Joseph Balicki.

“So right after that, you came to our house, right?”
He nodded and called for Gretta to bring him a cup of tea. Herr Balicki was a lot like Papa, they both drink tea when they are angry, worried or sick. I decided that he wasn’t sick so he must be either angry or worried. ‘Why?’ I wondered.

“So how was tea yesterday?” I asked trying to keep him talking.

“It was good…Those scones were delicious…should tell Ilsa to teach that to Gretta…anyway Herr Wolff is a very interesting person…He’d keep you interested in a subject for a long time…and the ladies kept to themselves mostly. As for the Stefan, well, he was very queer…”

“What do you mean? How was Inspector Bergen queer?”

“He hardly spoke at all except for a few words with Luise…And when he saw the necklace, he looked so excited…I don’t know if I should tell you this but…,”he paused.

“But..? Go on, bitte,” I urged.

“When he saw the necklace, he yelled, ‘I found it at last. My…’ He didn’t finish that sentence but instead went pale. He looked really sad all of a sudden. Frau Schmidt asked him what he meant to say…The inspector then paused for a while and said, ‘my servant told me about it’…But I didn’t believe him and I’m sure that none of the other did either but…anyway…it probably isn’t very important…”

“Of course it is…We...I mean the police can put together a case with even the smallest leads…Haven’t you heard about Sherlock Holmes?” I asked, “Anyway, did you notice any other suspicious things?”

“Sherlock Holmes? He sounds familiar but can’t seem to place him right now but as we were saying about the suspicions…umm…Well, after we saw the necklace, Stefan seemed very depressed and uneasy. He seemed to be in a hurry to leave and was constantly wiping his forehead with his handkerchief….nothing else.”

“Ok then, thank you for answering my questions. Bye.”

“Of course, glad to be of service…I don’t blame you for being curious, I would have been too if I was your age,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.
I didn’t bother explaining to him that I wasn’t just being curious or that I planned to solve this case. I then started out to the Wolff’s house. I thought about what Herr Balicki had said. What did the Inspector know and why was he being so devious about it?

“Guten tag,” I greeted Herr and Frau Wolff. They were both sitting outside in the veranda enjoying the afternoon sun. As I told them about the burglary, their face filled with concern. They both seemed very surprised.

“What time did you leave the tea?” I asked first.

“Around 5:30…,”Frau replied constantly dabbing her eyes.

“How was the tea? Enjoyable enough?

“Yes…it was very pleasant. Luise is such a lively person to be with. She was so nice es-”

“Lively? Nice?” Herr cut Frau off, “She is what? 26? And she still isn’t married…there must be something wrong with her…Liselotte, dear, don’t get oriented with people like that…Hear me?”

“Now, come on… This is a new age…a new way of living…She chose not to get married yet, there isn’t anything wrong with that…Why is it that men can wa-”

“Why don’t you tell me more about the tea?” I interrupted though I would have liked to hear about the marriage dispute.

“Oh yes. Curious, aren’t you? Well, we talked for a while and then Luise asked to see the necklace…Oh child! That necklace was so beautiful…And then the new Inspector…
What’s his name? Belgen? Burgen? Oh you know…he said, ‘At last I got it. My,’…he didn’t continue…A-,”For the third time Frau Wolff was cut off.

“He looked so pale…I thought he was going to faint…Poor kid…Just got out of the university, I presume…Luise asked him what he was going to say and he said something about his maid telling him something…,”said Herr Wolff.

“Who was the last one out of the room after you saw the necklace?”

“Ilsa…Now, coming to think about it…Ilsa had waited a few minutes before coming out…,”

I thanked both of them and made my way out. I was confused. I knew Ilsa couldn’t have taken it right then because Herr Bergen had said that he saw the necklace before he left. But then again, she had opportunity to take it at anytime after the Inspector left. I decided to talk to Ilsa before going to Frau Schmidt’s. Ilsa was outside, watering Frau Keltzer’s roses.

“Hallo, Ilsa,”

“Ja, Liselotte?”
“When did the guests arrive yesterday?”

“Uh…around three, I imagine…I don’t know, child…Don’t waste my time. Why don’t you run along and play for a while?” Ilsa said irritated.

“So, were they all pleasant people?” I asked ignoring what Ilsa said.

“Most of them were…Frau Schmidt walked around as if she owned the world…ugh! Don’t tell anybody that I said this or anything…But I overheard her tell the inspector that if she owned the necklace she would have gone to court to keep the necklace and that once she had it, she’ll sell it…I couldn’t hear what she said next but a while later she said, ‘…must get it..’,” she said with displeasure.

“Oh…Did anything else seem suspicious to you?”

“Hmm…not really...”

“Who was the last one to leave yesterday?”

“Frau Schmidt, she wanted to take a last look at the necklace and when she came back she looked very gloomy.”

“How about when Frau Keltzer first showed them the necklace? Who was the last one to leave the room?”

“I guess I was… Herr Balicki had knocked over the vase with the fresh roses…uhh.. I had to clean it up…Thank God the vase didn’t break!”

“Ok then…bye.”

So Frau Schmidt did have the opportunity to steal the necklace, but then why on earth did she look distressed? Had someone already stole the necklace? I went to Frau Schmidt’s house to clear up the doubts.

“Hallo, Frau,” I said to the woman who was sitting on the settee.
She looked really elegant and kept her head high. I felt a pang of jealousy; Frau Schmidt was just like Gisela, everything my parents want me to be.

“Hallo, Liselotte.”

“Did you hear about the robbery?”

“What robbery?” she asked wide-eyed.

“Frau Keltzer’s necklace was stolen and I want to ask you a few questions.”

“Okay. The police sent you to question me?”

“Erm...something like that. Anyway what time did you leave the tea?”

“Hmm…around 5:30…Right after the Wolffs’ left.”

“Di-,”

“I need to tell you something,” Luise cut me off, “During the tea, Herr Bergen told me a lot about the necklace…that it was handcrafted and that the pendant had some rare stones so the jewelry lover I am, I asked to see it...When he saw the necklace, Herr Bergen’s face lit up and I’m sure that you already heard about what he said. Anyway he looked very worried afterward so I asked what was wrong when we went back to the veranda. He said that this necklace had always interested him and he had taken many history and craftsmanship classes in college just to learn about this necklace. He said that Maria Theresa’s necklace was made of a very special material that was very expensive and rare. He said that he was sure that the necklace that Frau Keltzer had was fake. I didn’t believe him so I went back to look…I’m not an expert and I don’t know anything about this special material but I know enough about diamonds to know that it is fake.”

“Fake!” I sat up on my chair, “Then what happened to the real one?”

“I don’t know anything but that was definitely not Maria Theresa’s necklace!”
I was so confused! Who took the real one and who took the fake one? I decided to go back to Frau Keltzer’s house. Herr Bergen was outside talking to Ilsa. He nodded as I cam closer but continued his conversation. I went in and found Frau Keltzer.

“Frau, I need to talk to you,” I said burning with excitement. I told her about the necklace being fake. She didn’t seem surprised at all.

“I know, Liselotte,” she replied, “I have the real one. Herr Bergen told me that it wasn’t safe to keep such a necklace in this house so I had it put in the bank safe. I didn’t tell him that but I made a very good replica of the necklace with cheap materials to show people.”

“But you looked genuinely sad this morning…How come?”

“I was sad, I knew it had to be someone at the tea…I couldn’t believe that one of them could do that to me!”

“Oh…But then do you have any idea as to who took the fake one?”

“No...,”she sniffled.

“I think I do,” a male voice interrupted. It was Herr Bergen, “Ilsa has it. She didn’t know it was fake and planned to sell it to an English dealer.”

“How did you find that out?” Frau Keltzer asked doubtfully.

“Well, it wasn’t too hard; I figured that she was the only one who could have because everyone else had alibis. The only people alone in the room were Ilsa, Luise and me, and I knew for sure that I didn’t do it! And Luise knows enough about jewelry to know that it was fake so I questioned Ilsa. She broke down and confessed to me. You know how women are…,”he paused.
My face burned with anger. ‘You know how women are?’ Ahh! How dare he? I was about to lose control when Inspector Cohen came in with the red-eyed Ilsa. Frau Keltzer looked at her sadly and shook her head.

“Don’t do that to me!” Ilsa exclaimed to Frau, “I’m so tired of you ordering me around, telling me what to do…I do all the work for you lazy old…uhh…lady but what do I get in return? Criticism and more criticism…I don’t even get a decent pay, for the Lord’s sake!”
Frau Keltzer looked down sadly; I quickly went over and gave her a hug. I didn’t care if it was unladylike! Ilsa rambled on and on about how hard she worked and how everyone always criticized her. As I listened to her say that, no one looked at the nice things about her, I realized that I’m the same way. I realized that I’m the only one not looking at the good side of the world. Inspector Cohen took her back to the station after she finished her speech and burst down crying.

“So what’s going to happen to her now?” Frau Keltzer asked.

“I don’t know. She didn’t exactly steal the real one so…it’ll be hard to get a case against her but Frau can press charges if she wants to,” said Herr Bergen gently.

“No, I just want to forget about all this,” she said retreating to her bedroom.

“Liselotte?” Inspektor started, “I’m sorry about what I said…That’s not exactly the way I wanted it to come out…,”his voice trailed off.

“It’s okay. I understand now,” I said. It surprised me how easily I forgave him especially since I was angry enough to burn the house down just a few minutes ago but I guess that’s what people mean when they tell you trust your instinct. I walked home thinking about everything that happened. I didn’t know what would become of me, and I didn’t know if people will ever stop treating women and men differently. But I did know that however people can change me outside, I’ll still be the same person inside, with the same thoughts and the same feeling even if they make me become a plastic doll. I had complete control over who I wanted to be and no one can ever change that. Ilsa chose what she wanted to do though she said that Frau Keltzer had controlled her. I paused as a gentle breeze swept past me, taking with it my doubts, worries, and anguish.