Unknown by Unknown

Very touching, he thought, but he cannot hope to keep her always. Some other man will supersede him in her affections as is only right. Raising her eyes, Sonya caught his expression and guessed his thought. She had felt rebellious lately, resenting the tyranny of her love for her father, but she did not want Sven to guess that.
    'I'm not being maudlin, but you're all I've got,' she said, with her eyes fixed defiantly upon Sven. 'Nothing shall ever come between us.'
    'Dear me!' Eliot was puzzled by this intensity. 'Why the drama? This partnership can't affect our relationship. We three will work together for the same end.'
    Sven said he must be going and he would see Sonya at the rink in the morning and consult with Jan van Goort about their programme. He asked if he might come again, when Eliot would tell him about his triumphs.
    'I am afraid your daughter has monopolised the conversation this evening,' he observed, 'but I am glad you have consented to our union.'
    'You speak as if we were going to be married.' The words slipped out without thinking and Sonya could have kicked herself for uttering them.
    Sven smiled wryly. 'It is a marriage in a sense. A mating of our talents.'
    'Well put!' Eliot nodded. 'Show Sven out, Sonya, Matheson is due to take me to bed.' He sighed. 'Helpless log,' he muttered.
    In the hall Sonya clutched Sven's sleeve. 'In here,' she said, indicating the office. 'I must talk to you alone.'
    Raising his brows, he allowed her to lead him into the small barely furnished room. It contained a big desk, a table and some upright chairs, also a shabby settee pushed against the wall. Once inside and the door closed, she turned to him with the wild aspect of a hunted animal.
    'Mr Petersen, this can't go on,' she said desperately. 'Didn't Jan tell you I'm a fraud? I'm only a mediocre skater—it took me all my time to pass my tests, and I'm incapable of winning a championship. Daddy thinks that because I'm his daughter I must be exceptional, but I'm not... I'm not!' She twisted her hands together and her voice quivered as she made this confession. 'You must find another partner. Perhaps Thomasina would do after all.'
    'Thank you, but I will make my own choice.' He took her arm gently and led her towards the settee. 'Sit down and calm yourself, Sonya. Don't you think I am capable of judging your skating for myself?'
    'That's just it. When we try tomorrow, you'll realise how ... how inadequate I am. I wanted to ask you .. She choked and bit her lip.
    He waited, his face quite inscrutable. 'Well, what?' he asked as she did not go on.
    'Don't tell Daddy I'm no good. Just say we didn't suit. Let him keep his illusions about me as long as he can.'
    Sven sat down beside her and took her hands in his.
    'But my dear girl, he will have to know some time. When you fail at the International it will be even worse.'
    'I shan't compete ... I'll be taken ill.'
    'You'll make yourself ill now if you go on like this.' His voice was unexpectedly kind. 'What is the trouble? You seemed to me to be figure skating very correctly.'
    'Oh, that's not so bad. All that's required is accuracy and precision and using the right edges. I'd probably get some quite good marks. It's the free skating, I ... I'm laboured, I count all the time, so many steps to so many bars of music. I get the movements right, but there's something wrong.' She raised tear-filled eyes to his. 'I'll lose ever so many marks, Jan has given me up.'
    'I see. Perhaps you lack abandon, spontaneity.'
    She shrugged her shoulders. 'If it doesn't come naturally, who can teach me that?'
    'I can.'
    She stared at him. 'No, Sven, you can't. Don't you go getting misled by my name. Daddy lived for skating, but sometimes I hate it. I just haven't inherited his talent.'
    'I am not misled by anything,' he told her quietly. 'You have the physique and build for a skater, and you have grace and balance. As for the spirit to make your work come alive, it cannot be taught, but I can instil it