“Well, then what do yousuppose it is about?” Emil said a bit impatiently, crossing his arms and lookingat London in his most professorial manner. “Surely you can figure it out.”
London thought for a moment, thenquickly realized that Emil was right.
She said, “It must be acelebration of E.T.A. Hoffmann—the composer and writer.”
“And don’t forget painter,” Emilsaid.
“Right. He lived part of his lifehere in Bamberg. We’re planning on visiting the house where he lived on today’stour.”
Emil scoffed. “We will see howthat works out. Our well-made plans for today are rather at the mercy ofanarchy and chaos, I fear.”
“I don’t understand,” London said.
“Suffice it to say, Hoffmann Fest ought to be a celebration of literature,music, and painting. But from what I hear, another aspect of German culturetakes precedence here today.”
“What’s that?” London asked.
“Beer,” Emil said with a smirk. “Bambergis home to nine breweries. That’s a considerable number for a city with apopulation of about seventy thousand.”
Sipping the last of his coffee, hegot up from his chair.
“I will meet you in the receptionarea shortly,” he said curtly.
Without another word, he left therestaurant.
He’s not being much friendliertoday than he was yesterday, Londonthought.
As she sat wondering what the daymight have in store, the waiter brought London her coffee. She sipped at it butrealized the rich dark brew wasn’t helping to clear her head.
At that moment, Bryce appeared outof the kitchen with a tray in his hands. The chef was obviously helping out thewaiters during this unusual breakfast rush. She felt a little thrill when heglanced her way and their eyes met. But with no more than a nod and a discreetwave, he turned away and vanished back into the kitchen again.
London sighed, remembering whatEmil had said just now.
“Our well-made plans for todayare rather at the mercy of anarchy and chaos.”
Even her wish for a simplespontaneous encounter had lost out to the hullabaloo.
She figured she’d better be readyfor anything today.
Abandoning the rest of her coffee,London left the restaurant and headed up the stairs to the Menuetto deck. She thought that her tour group wouldsoon be gathering in the reception area, so she might as well get there and beready for them. She wasn’t expecting a large number of passengers for the tourthis morning, but when she got to the reception area, she was amazed to see theroom filled with excited people. They were jammed against the big glass doorsthat led out to the gangway.
“Somebody get these doors open,”one man shouted. Others muttered in agreement.
London gasped. She knew that the stewardswere fastening the gangway into place just outside. Those doors would be opened as soon as the crew had thegangway secured.
But chaos seemed to be already ineffect, and London was beginning to feel a bit panicked. If all of these eagerpeople were signed up for the morning tour, how would she ever deal with somany of them? Would they even be able to hear what she had to say?
CHAPTER TEN
As London tried to reimagine her plans for the day, the big doubledoors at the end of the reception area swung open. She watched in astonishmentas the mass of people surged through the doors and clattered down the gangway.
So they hadn’t been waiting for her tour after all.
But what could be happening? She almost wondered for a momentwhether the Nachtmusik was being evacuated.
Then she saw that a much smaller group was still there in thereception area, looking somewhat bewildered. Among them were a few familiarpassengers, including Letitia Hartzer and Audrey Bolton.
Amy was waving her notebook, checking off names, and Emil stoodthere with them, looking rather cross.
“A lot more people had signed up for the tour,” he said crankilyas London walked toward them. “But these seem to be the only ones actuallygoing with us.”
London felt a wave of relief. What had looked to her like toomuch of a crowd to handle had actually been tourists eager to get to thefestival on their own. So the tour was still scheduled, but just with thishandful of people. She thought that this should make the tour easier to handle,even though one of them was already complaining.
“I had thought this was going to be a more sophisticatedadventure,” Audrey Bolton said. “Do all those upscale passengers really want togo a German beer fest?”
“You bet they do,” Letitia Hartzer answered her. “And I will too.I just want to see a bit of history first.”
Amy shoved the list of names into London’s hands and left thereception area. It was clear from the marked-up paper that a lot who had signedup had changed their minds. London had to admit, after coping with two murdersduring the last week, a beer festival was likely to be a healthy way to let offsteam. In the long run, it would probably improve morale aboard the Nachtmusik.She half-wished she could skip the tour herself.
“Emil and I appreciate your interest,” she said to the smallgroup that remained. “But I’ll understand if some of you would rather join thefestivities.”
A man shrugged and said, “Well, I don’t want to miss the partyingaltogether.”
A woman said, “After all, the festival is part of Bavarianculture, just like the sights we’re headed out to see. It’s the kind of thingwe came on this trip to experience.”
Emil grunted discontentedly. But London knew that the woman wasright. It would be a shame for any of the tourists to miss the festival.
“Let’s do it this way,” London said. “We’ll keep our formaltouring to a minimum. We’ll take a look at the unique Old Town Hall, butleave the cathedrals for you to visit on your own if you want to. Since thiscelebration is all about E.T.A. Hoffmann, we’ll focus on things pertaining tohim. We’ll finish quickly, and everybody can head off on their own to dowhatever they like. Just make sure you’re back aboard tonight before we setsail for Amsterdam.”
Almost everybody smiled and nodded and murmured words ofapproval.
Then London realized she was making some important decisionswithout consulting her partner.
She turned to Emil and asked, “Does this plan sound OK to you?”
Emil rolled his eyes and frowned.
“Who am I to say otherwise?”
