Mother Agnieszka shifts uncomfortably and cuts in. “As I mentioned, Pan Skrzypczak, our asking you here may have been ill conceived. A teacher of your renown and we have no funds.”

“I thought you could play for him,” Sister Nadzieja presses on before Pan Skrzypczak can respond to Mother Agnieszka. “Perhaps start with your arpeggios?” She hands Zosia the classroom violin and bow, and Zosia understands: she arranged this meeting.

Pan Skrzypczak nods Zosia on. Zosia brings the violin to her chin and plays her arpeggios. As soon as she finishes, Mother Agnieszka breaks in again. “That was very nice, Zosia. Now, Sister Nadzieja, if you will take Zosia back to—”

“Please—wait.” Pan Skrzypczak looks apologetically at Mother Agnieszka. Turning to Zosia, he says, “Do you know any songs you could play for me?”

“She knows the beginning of Mazurka Obertas,” says Sister Nadzieja.

Zosia loves the dramatic start! As she plays, she imagines costumed dancers circling one another, arms hooked, their eyes sparking with each playful pluck of strings. Zosia pulls her bow its full length, back and forth. When the music slows, briefly languid, she imagines an embrace; then speeding up, the flight of feet, raised arms, and twirling skirts; and on an extended note, long and trilling, her bird flitting above the dance, excited and happy.

“That was very good,” Pan Skrzypczak says when she finishes midway. “Now, can you copy me?”

Pan Skrzypczak takes out his own violin and plays an array of notes, simple at first, then more and more difficult, with subtle variations in tempo and volume. Zosia matches him exactly each time. They play, back and forth, a long while.

“Pan Skrzypczak, I must apologize for taking up your time—”

“Astonishing.”

Zosia flushes warm.

“But we cannot afford—”

“You needn’t pay me.” He smiles at Zosia. “Twice a week.”

“What?” Surprise marks Mother Agnieszka’s face.

“I’d like to work twice a week. She must have a better bow. I can get one for her. And she must be given time every day to practice.”

“You’d have to teach her here, Pan Skrzypczak. Zosia cannot leave the grounds.”

Pan Skrzypczak turns to Mother Agnieszka with another smile. “A teacher lives for a student like her.”

Back in her room, Zosia sits on the edge of her bed, her mind a jumble. A real teacher! Once, in a snippet of story she remembers about an enchanted garden, the little girl composed a pastorale for her bird to chirp, alerting a mother deer to a giant’s presence. Now, Zosia thinks, I can learn to play it myself!

Chapter 30

Summer 1943

The girls form a tight circle in the yard, each with a daisy in hand, and take turns playing “He loves me, he loves me not.” Each flushes and giggles as the group demands, “Who? You have to name the boy before you start, or else it won’t be true!” Ula and Adela wear daisy chains as crowns.