Summary

Chapter 9: The passing days are affecting Fevvers’ appearance. Her hair has grown out, and she is molting, her feathers returning to their ordinary brown. The peroxide and dyes she could have used to freshen her look have been lost with Lizzie’s handbag. It makes her feel gloomy to return to such an ordinary state.

As Lizzie gives the Maestro a haircut, he explains how was duped into starting a conservatory in the Siberian wilderness by the Mayor of R. The Mayor assured him he would be teaching the daughters of fur-traders, but instead pocketed the money the government gave for the school, conveniently forgetting about the Maestro, leaving him destitute and stranded: left to forge his own way in the house miles from the town. He considers the arrival of the Princess and Mignon to be a miracle, his happy ending, as...