Miss Meijer. Not Meijer’s girls, not anyone’s sister, cousin, niece, or daughter. Just a Miss Meijer. Miss Meijer who taught music, who spent all her time teaching music. Miss Meijer, who lived with her own, former music teacher, as two very respectable maidens who had a small enterprise together. A quiet life, at least from the outside. But inside their little kingdom, they could create as much magic and clamor as they wished. They could be bold, they could be loud, they could be frivolous or very serious indeed, based on their whims. No one could control them, as long as they paid their rent and their bills. And to do so, one needed to make music. Or teach children how to make music.

Ruth had not had that much experience as a teacher so far. Truth be told, Dita would have preferred her to gain a little more experience before sending her off to give an actual lesson, but she had no choice: she was stuck in bed for the time being and if they wanted to keep their reputation, someone ought to keep their pupils and their families happy.