Though Bella never saw her host, who always sat in the shadows while she played, she had no reason to complain about her stay in the castle of Baron Liebestraum.
One day, however, Bella could no longer hide her homesickness. “Baron, I have not been home for six months. I begin to miss my family.”
Her host could not disguise his sadness. “Bella,” he said, “you play so beautifully and I have so enjoyed your playing. Of course, you must visit your family. It must be too cruel to be away from them all this time.”
Bella, who did not like to disappoint, said:
“Baron, I promise to return and play for you once again.”
Before she left, her host gave her a present of a mirror. “Though your beauty knows no bounds,” he said, “it will bear no reflection on the beast.”
Bella thanked him for the gift. “Baron, when I look in the mirror, I will always remember your kindness.”
Bella returned home to find the family in an uproar at the up and coming ball to which all the nobility had been invited.
“The Cardinal’s son is coming,” cried her middle sister. “And so is the Duke of Anjou!”
“Forget about the Duke of Anjou,” cried her youngest sister, “I have heard that a prince is coming all the way from Nepal.”
“Fanciulla,” said her mother, “I do not think I could bear you as far away as Moscow.”
“I feel sorry for the fakirs,” said her father. “At least we will get some peace and quiet around here.”
Reeling from their high spirits, Bella retired to her room to get ready for the ball.
When she looked in the mirror and saw the Baron dying, Bella began to cry.
She dressed herself and went down to speak to her father.
“Papa,” she said, “I cannot go to the ball. I must return home.”
“This is your home…”
But Bella still left.
*
“This has to be about loneliness?”
“What makes you say that?”
“The beast is lonely. No one can take him, hence he looks so awful.”
“But Bella didn’t think that.”
“I know. She’s the only one who understands that he is actually beautiful… Somehow she has the patience to get through to him.”
“There is one thing puzzling me, though. Why did he let her go?”