Isabella waits for Thomas's return and spends her days and evenings learning more about The Daughters of Keira and The Sanctuary.
*
The women sat chatting and swapping stories as they ate and drank Maria's sumptuous feast. The boys ate with them, quietly, but sometimes laughing amongst themselves or venturing a comment to the women in Arabic. Jax rose from the group of women and spoke with the boys at some length, causing them to giggle and argue good-naturedly with each other. She took the eunuch Gemil by the hand and he rose. They walked back to the women and Jax whispered something to Gabrielle, who nodded and smiled to Isabella.
"Come now, my lovely Isabella, it is time for us to prepare you for your stage debut," said Jax, holding out a hand to Isabella. Jax, Isabella and Gemil left the others to their coffee and cakes and mounted the stairs to the upper floor. "About fifteen minutes," said Jax over her shoulder as they left. "The boys will set up the scene for us."
Once upstairs, Jax suddenly became excited. Her sarcastic and sometimes severe demeanor dropped away and she giggled and fussed like a teenager. Isabella was greatly amused by the change that had come over her and she sat on the bed in Jax's apartment watching her give Gemil his instructions for the role he was to play. She handed him a suit coat and spectacles and had him sit in front of a mirror while she brushed his smooth upper lip with a paste she applied with a small brush from a china jar. She then pulled a patch of black fur from a drawer and teased a small handful of fine hairs from it, placing then neatly along Gemil's upper lip. "It wouldn't pass for a real disguise, but its good enough for the theater," she said to Isabella. Gemil turned to her and beamed. He had a thick black mustache and was clearly enjoying both the effect and Jax's attention.
It was Isabella's turn next. Jax worked quickly. She had Isabella take Gemil's place by the mirror and as she powdered Isabella's face and rouged her cheeks and lips, she gave her instructions for the role she was to play. Alicia was the twenty-year old daughter of the new British envoy in Tunis, a Sir William Smythe, played by Gemil. Alicia was a virgin, quite pretty, somewhat plump, very naive for her age and a bit silly and romantic. Jax referred to her love of French romantic novels. She swooned around men, especially handsome men and believed everything she was told. Her mother was ill and had remained behind in England when her father had taken his posting to Tunis. Jax continued with her specifications for role and, once finished with Isabella's face, produced a blond wig, all ringlets, ribbons and curls, which made them both laugh. She curled Isabella's own hair into a bun and fitted her with the wig. Isabella saw herself in the mirror and giggled. She recognized the type immediately; a typical upper class, birdy, silly English girl, so common these days as tourists in Naples. Jax then had Isabella remove her robe. Jax traced her hands over Isabella's hips and tummy and cradled her breasts. She moaned quietly, but shook her head and continued the dressing. She scurried to her dressing room and returned with a pair of large drawers, the kind the English called 'bloomers' and a frilly floral printed dress with a low neckline. Isabella slipped into the huge drawers, laughing, and carefully pulled the dress over her head.
Isabella understood her role to involve her seduction by a handsome Italian academic her father had brought home several times since they had arrived in Tunis. The academic was to be played by Jax herself.
Jax told Isabella and Gemil to wait while she dashed to the dressing room. She was only gone a few minutes before returning in a man's black suit over a white ruffled shirt. She sat at the mirror and slicked her hair to one side and gave herself a thin mustache.
"How do I look?" She asked.
"Oh, very handsome!" said Isabella. Then fluttering her lashes and adopting a plumy accent, she said, "I'm sure I shall be unable to resist your advances Signor Jax."
They laughed and Jax replied "But on this occasion my dear, I am professor Jacqemo Pressardi, lecturer in ancient Persian history at the University of Padua." Jax's voice had dropped an octave lower and her accent was perfect for that northern Italian town. Isabella reflected on her certain prowess in the field of espionage and was looking forward to this particular story unfolding.
The three actors made their way down the stairs. Gabrielle acknowledged them with an "At last, they arrive!" but everyone laughed and whistled when they saw the costumes. The area in front of the couches had been rearranged. A long leather settee now stood where the ensemble had played earlier and the lanterns had been placed so that the audience was in darkness and only the settee, and a low table in front of it, was illuminated. The audience, including the other eunuchs took their places on the couches. Ribald comments and suggestions were passing freely.
Jax had Isabella and Gemil stand in the darkened wings while she took center stage. The audience finally fell silent under her steely gaze. The show began. Jax bowed and introduced herself formally as an agent of the Daughters of Keira on a secret mission to Tunis to discover information about certain transactions between the King of France and the local Bey. She also hoped to cultivate new sources of regular intelligence. Adopting the guise of an aristocratic academic from Italy, a certain Jacqemo Pressardi, a persona she had previously established on earlier visits to the capital, she had infiltrated polite society and her attention had been drawn to the new Ambassador from London, Sir William Smythe. At this point, Jax gestured to Gemil and he walked into the light and bowed, to the applause and catcalls of the audience. One of the boys had an attack of giggles and had to be calmed by Kahlia before the show could proceed. Gemil stepped back into the dark and Jax went on with the story.
The Englishman had recently arrived in Tunis with his only daughter, the beautiful Amelia, a debutante and maiden of refined sensibilities. Jax held out an arm and was joined on stage by Isabella, curtseying and bobbing like a young Englishwoman. More applause and whistles, and a few quite licentious remarks from Gabrielle, greeted her appearance.
Isabella took her place on the settee, sitting demurely with hands clasped on her knees. Jax explained that she, as Jacqemo, had paid an unannounced call on the Ambassador's home only to find, as she had in fact planned, that Amelia was at home alone, her father having left only minutes before for a meeting with the Bey of Tunis. Jacquemo had charmed his way into the house and had quickly moved Amelia to the formal sitting room, the scene of the crime to come.
Isabella had watched Jax carefully. She was prancing as she spoke and Isabella noticed an occasional movement in her trousers. On closer inspection, Isabella could have sworn the she had a half-hard erection sitting against her thigh.
