“Thank you, Mr. Schwartz,” Simone said with a sigh of relief. “I am so happy that Charles is nobody to me. As nobody means everything, the whole world, the whole globe, which I can embrace, press to my chest.” She got up, clasped her shoulders with her arms, and screwed up her eyes. She expected that Charles would get up and kiss her. And he was sitting like a stone idol and was looking at the books behind Schwartz.

“What is it, Charles?” Simone asked, having opened her eyes. “Aren’t you happy? You were afraid that I would want to become your wife, right?”

“No, no,” he said, having rubbed his temples. “Just… Can I take a book?”

“A book?” Schwartz looked at him with annoyance. “Why do you need it?”

Charles got up, came up to the bookcase, took a book in an old binding, opened it, and smiled.

“Yes, this was the book read to me before bedtime by a kind storyteller. For me not to forget his tales, he put a flower, forget-me-not, between the pages.”

Charles turned and showed Simone a flower.

“What a miracle!” she exclaimed. “How old is that flower?”

“Eternity,” Charles said after smelling the pages of the book.

“Now, I understand that back then, before bedtime, your father was telling me the story of his love,” having closed the book, Charles said. On the cover, it was written “The Handbook on Astronomy”. Simone began to laugh.

“Yes, dad loved to read fairy tales from dictionaries and scientific treatises on banking. He wanted his daughter to be the most educated girl on the planet. And here I am…”

Charles hugged her and kissed her on the lips. For the first time. Simone did not expect. She looked at him confused.

“I love you,” Charles whispered, and repeated a little louder:

“I love you, Simone.”

She screwed up her eyes and raised her head. Charles kissed her forehead, eyes, cheeks, pressed his lips to her lips, as to a spream. They did not see how Schwartz Schtanzer quietly left the room, having closed the door behind him. He went to the terrace, where his Aspasia La Rouge was waiting for him. She got up towards him and asked: “Well, how?”

Instead of answering, Schwartz hugged her and began to whirl her.

“What are you doing? Stop this immediately. I am going to faint. Have mercy on me, Schwartz,” Aspasia said. “At my age, it is forbidden to make such sudden movements.”

“At your age, my dear, it is exactly the time to make those movements and to be reckless,” having kissed her upon both cheeks, Schwartz said.

“What are you doing?” she exclaimed, having released out of his embrace.

“I express joy,” he smiled. “You were right, Aspasia. Charles loves Simone. He loves her truly. You won!”

“If I won, then you lost. Are you so happy to lose?” she asked.

“No,” he shook his head, continuing to smile happily. “I am pleased with your insightfulness, your feminine intuition, your strength, your… Madame La Rouge, allow me to kiss you.”

“No,” having proudly thrown back her head, she said.

“I knew this,” Schwartz sighed, impulsively hugged Aspasia and kissed her on the lips.

“You… you…” she looked at him distractedly and turned away.

Schwartz hugged her by the shoulders, whispered:

“Forgive me. Forgive me, dear Aspasia. Consider my act to be foolish childishness. Give me a scolding. Just do not be silent, please.”

She turned and kissed him on the lips. She pushed him away, blushed, looked down, and said:

“If you knew how long I was waiting for this foolish childishness from you, Schwartz.”

“But why didn’t you..?” he exclaimed. She raised her head, looked into his eyes widened in surprise, and confessed:

“I was playing the role of an impregnable arrogant woman to hide my helplessness. I do not know how to cope with my feelings. I do not know how to do this. What have I done? What have we done? How will we look each other in the eye after everything that has happened”

“With love and tenderness,” Schwartz said, having taken her hands in his.

‘How will we look your wife in the eye?” Aspasia asked, freeing her hands.

“I do not have a wife for a long time, my dear Madame La Rouge, “Schwartz smiled. “I am a widower.”

“What are you talking about?” she frowned. “This morning, I was talking to Madame Schtanzer in the garden.”

“Aspasia,” he began to laugh. “The woman, whom you believe to be my wife, is my housekeeper. I became a widower seven years ago.”

“Schwarz…” Aspasia pressed his hand to her chest. “But why, why didn’t you tell me? Why?”

“I was afraid to be rejected,” he said.

“That is so foolish,” she sighed. “Why did you decide that I will reject you? I cannot reject someone I care about, someone I…” she pressed her palm to her lips and anxiously looked at Schwartz.

“Well, well, well, Aspasia, why are you silent?” Schwartz asked, removing the hand of Aspasia from her mouth. “Please, finish what you wanted to say.”

“I… lo-ve,” she whispered. He hugged her, snuggled against the flaming cheek, and said:

“Aspasia, you have made me the happiest man on the planet. Just think, it took fifteen years to hear the only right words, which contain the meaning of my life, the meaning of our future life, Aspasia…”

Simone and Charles drove up to the circus in the leather landau, pulled by four chocolate shiny horses. Matilda dropped the bucket of water, froze, watching how Charles, dressed in a light golden suit, was upholding the girl, dressed in black dress-trap. They slowly were going to the show-booth of the clowns, Lele and Bebe were dancing, they flapping on the backs of horses, were seating themselves in the carriage, and were leaving.

“Dad, dad, did you see?” Matilda cried belatedly, throwing off the bucket angrily.

“What happened?” having run out to her shouting, the Director of the circus asked. Matilda waved toward the receding landau and began to stamp her feet.

“What does it all mean? How can this licence be in your circus? Do they want to derail the performance?”

“Do not worry, dear,” Rudolf Welzer tried to smile. “They will come back. We have four more hours before the performance.”

“Only four hours!” Matilda cried.

“What will you do if they do not come back? What will you do if they do not return to your circus at all?”

“I will think of something else,” the Director said hesitantly, having gone to the show-booth of the clowns. He knew that Matilda was right something irreparable happened: he lost his best clowns. He knew it would happen sooner or later. He was prepared for that from the very moment when a tall gentleman came to him and left the annual revenue only for the little boy Benosh to not change his stage name. If they took off on that very day, he could have stayed without the clowns fifteen years ago. It is a considerable period of time. They visited many places during this time… He made a decent fortune, married off Matilda. What else does one need?

Rudolf Welzer sat in front of a mirror, put a red wig on the head, and smiled:

“I need the circus because it is my whole life. I will die without it. Only here, at the circus, I feel needed. Only here.”

He put on a big red nose, whitened his face, and winked at his counterpart in the mirror.

“The problem is solved, friend! Today, the unsurpassed clown Rudy the red nose will come into the arena of the circus! Finally, my lifelong dream of becoming a clown will come true. Finally, no one will dare to condemn me for the choices I have made. Everyone will consider me a hero because I will save the program.”

The horses were running together along the road. Lele was enthusiastically shouting and was clapping hands. Bebe was smiling condescendingly and was nodding to passersby. Simone and Charles were laughing lightheartedly. Everyone was having fun.

“Lele, tell me, why did you call me Benosh?” having caught her hand, Charles asked.

“O-o-oh,” having rolled her eyes, she sang. “Once I heard… No, it was not so. One day, I was walking down the street, and the carriage was slowly driving past, similar to ours, this carriage. There were few horses, so he was not driving very fast. Maybe, that’s because a sugary beauty was sitting in the carriage. No, she was not sugary, she was very, very beautiful and somewhat unreal. She was sitting like that,” Lele made a pose, in which the sugary beauty was sitting, closed her eyes, paused for a few moments, and then began to jabber:

“The young lady was wearing something airy. The white lacy foam was wrapping her neck, arms, and was raising above the hair. And her hair was copper, gleaming copper of the polished pipes. She had curls at the temples. Her eyes were hidden behind black velvet lashes. And there was a boy beside her. O-oo-oh…” Lele closed her eyes. “The image of this boy still excites my imagination. He was not a child but a three-year-old angel with plump rosy cheeks and large, as cherries, eyes. He was also dressed in something lacy. Having seen this sugary family, I froze,” she paused, showing in what position she stopped on the sidewalk. Charles and Simone exchanged glances, thinking about their angel from the boarding house.

“I was standing and looking at the sugary family, and people around me were shouting: “Benosh, Benosh, Benosh!” Lele continued enthusiastically in a mysterious voice.

“Benosh, I repeated, having decided to call my baby this name. You, Charles, got the name.”

Lele smiled, thinking that for the first time she was calmly talking about the child she never had. Though, she has the grown-up Benosh and not very grown-up Simone, who are taking Bebe and her to visit a rich uncle.

“You know, Lele, I am that same sugary three-year-old boy, whom you saw,” Charles said.

“You?” she waved away. “It cannot be true.”

“Lele, Charles Benosh is my real name,” Charles smiled. “Benosh is the last name of my parents.”

Lele turned pale, pressed into the seat, and retreated into herself.

“We appreciate jokes, son,” Bebe said.

“But we never made a fool of anyone.”

“He is not fooling you,” Simone exclaimed.

“There is a portrait of little Charles and Natalie Benosh, dressed in white lacy clothes, in our house. Lele described them very accurately. On that day, about which Lele was telling, the Benosh family was driving from the artist Baudelaire, who was painting a portrait of Natalie at the request of my father.”

“Really?” having hopefully looked at Simone, Lele asked.

“Yes, yes, Lele, having given Charles the name Benosh, you gave him back his last name,” Simone said. “If you named him differently, we would have never found him. Thank you, dear Lele.”

Lele began to wave at her and dropped her head on her knees. Bebe ran his hand over her back.

“Well, now we have a new number the clown bursts into tears. It will not work this way. We still have to entertain the respectable public in the evening. Brace up, pull yourself together.”

“Tonight, we will not let you go,” Simone said. “We have kidnapped you to invite for dinner with the best people.”

“No, no,” Lele roused herself. “I will not stay for any dinner.”

“You will stay,” Simone said forcefully, “because the best people are you, Bebe, my uncle Schwartz, Madame La Rouge, and Charles. Today is our day. It is the day of happiness, the day of dreams and hopes. You have long wanted to escape from the circus and to go traveling around the world,” Lele nodded.

“So, Marie, consider that your journey has already begun.”

“Oh, my soul, you know my name,” Lele said, having pressed her palm to her chest.

“Yes,” Simone smiled. “Now I will always call you Marie. And you Michael.”

Bebe grunted, rubbed his nose, smiled, and said:

“You are able to move even the most insensitive ones, Mademoiselle Simone.”

“You are not insensitive,” having gently looked at him, Simone said. “You are the best people, who can give away their warmth, kindness, and tenderness, sent down to us from heaven.”

“Freely you received, freely give”, Lele said. “Give, grant, gift others.”

“The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously”,¹

Bebe smiled, continuing to rub his nose to hide confusion and tears.

“We never chased wealth, we were content with what we had.”

“The one who loves money will never be satisfied with money, he who loves wealth will never be satisfied with his income. This also is futile!”²

“Lele said, having winked Charles.”

“Thank you, my dear Marie and Michael,” he said. “Your wise lessons helped me become a good person.”

“Goodbye, the red-haired clown. Hello, Charles Benosh,” Simone said. The carriage stopped near the house with white columns. Charles helped the ladies to go down. The porter opened the door to a new life, full of unexpected events and new experiences…