The Captain dropped her hand, and went into a rapid-fire speech, gesticulating wildly. The other man listened closely, his brows creased with concentration. Finally he made a placating gesture with his hands and got the Captain to calm down and stop talking. He turned to Giselle and, to her relief, he spoke in perfectly understandable tones, even if his accent was not one she was used to.

“If I understand my good compatriot, the Captain, you, fraulein, are something of an extraordinary shot with a rifle?” he asked. That was when she recognized his voice; this was the man who had provided all the announcements during the show.

She sensed that this was no time to be modest. “Yes,” she said, drawing herself up as tall as she could, and setting her chin. “I am.”

“Forgive me for asking this, because it is, after all, a rather personal question, but—do you live in this town? Is your family here?” He looked extremely uncomfortable at this point, and indeed, this was not something that a stranger should be asking a young woman whose name he didn’t even know.

“Tell him everything! Tell him!” The sylphs had followed along, and now they were fluttering overhead, dancing in midair with excitement. Giselle didn’t look up at them, of course, but it was clear that this was something other than idle interest.

“I come from a small village quite some distance away,” she said, ignoring the complete impropriety, and with growing excitement. Could it possibly be—no, she wouldn’t dare hope. But . . . I’m a girl. What if they want me to disguise myself as a young man? Would those who were looking for Gunther possibly seek him in the middle of a Wild West Show? No, she would not dare hope. Maybe they wanted her to teach one of the others. “My only relative was my Mother, who died a year ago. I was going to seek employment with some family friends when I came upon your show—” she shrugged a little “—I am a great admirer of Karl May’s books, you see—and I could not resist.”

“Ah! Karl May! Of course!” He nodded wisely. “I haven’t read any myself, but I am not much of a reader of fiction. Well! In that case . . . I shall come straight to the point. Captain Cody wishes to offer you employment here, with our show. Provided, of course, you have no objection to taking on the guise of a frontierswoman.”

“As a—” She felt stunned, and couldn’t finish the sentence.