In the dark Victorian villa, soft music played. The curtains closed for when she looked outside the window to find people would stare at her. The music she played was not for them. Even when she played at her father’s theatre, the music was never for the audience; it was always for her mother. When Alice’s mother met her father the theatre had been in construction for a year. He had come back from the Second Burma War after a gunshot wound to the head almost ended him. Many thought once he entered politics and had taking a seat in the Lord Mayors council, that'd be enough for him. But he found it completely boring. He found the theater to be enjoyable, not the arts but the fools who participated in them. So that year he decide to have his own theater built. The day Alice’s parents met was at a social gathering at the Lord Mayors mansion. Her mother was there with her parents. They were collectors of the arts and found it charming that a politician had become involved. Her father was a much older man than her mother by ten years. His grey hairs then already showing on his dark hair on his head and mustache. Her mother was a beauty; her hair was as golden as the sun and her eyes shined like amber. The day Alice was born, her mother was in awe. Saying she looked like the girl from a children’s book with her blonde hair and blue eyes. Alice’s father found it ridiculous, but decided to humor her, and so she named her Alice.

When she was no older than four, Alice showed a liking to the grand piano in the living room. Her mother bought it more for decoration to fill the empty space by the long windows. The dark wood of it went well with the bright red rug, and the champagne colored curtains and furniture. Her mother watched from the doorway as her little fingers play a familiar nursery rhyme. Once Alice finished, she looked up to see her mother’s wide smile. Soon after, there was a tutor showing up three times a week. It was absolute joy for Alice to listen to her own progress and see her mother’s beaming smile. To her, her mother’s pride was all the motivation she needed. Always sitting on the sofa, listening. Their two maids and butler even stopped work to listen as well. Sometimes Alice would look over to see a tear come out of her eyes. She asked why and her mother replied with “Pure joy, dear”.

Her father never approved of Alice’s musical skills. He never knew until six months into her lessons. They always stopped before he came home from his office, and Alice would change into her stockings and skirts. They were a hassle for her, so her mother bought her trousers. No one in the household addressed it to him either. He gave her mother an allowance each week so she wouldn’t bother in his finances, so he didn’t didn’t know he was paying for them either. He yelled at her mother after coming home early finding the tutor sitting next to Alice as she played, and her mother sitting in the chair by the piano. Alice only stopped when she saw the fear in her mother’s eyes when she turned back to look at her. The tutor was scared away and antiques and knick-knacks were being smashed around the house. He started his rant about the waste of his own money, his threat about cutting off her allowance, and how unladylike it was for Alice to wear trousers, her mother had settled the argument down, soon he calmed down they came to an agreement; The lessons would stop, Alice would wear skirts again, but she would continue to play the piano as much as she pleased. Her father agreed to this, but cut her mother’s allowance in half. After that, Alice played as much as wanted. Her father would never come into the room to listen, and when company came he sent Alice to her room.