The Fifth Business is used in a term by Leisl. She defines fifth
business by using it in a play. In an opera, there is always a
prima donna, always the heroine or soprano and a fool. There is the
tenor who plays the lover to her. Then the contralto who rivals the
soprano and the basso who is the villan or rival to the tenor. She
also claims that you cannot make the plot work unless there is a
baritone, or the fifth business. The fifth business is the odd one
out because he has no rival, but he is the one who carries the
twist in the plot. Although the soprano, tenor, contralto, and the
basso get the fabulous music, the baritone is essensal to the story
plot, because he knows a secret that the others do not. In the
story, Leisl implies that the fifth business may know the secret of
the hero's birth, which is the case inside this story, because
Dunstan Ramsay knows the secret of the birth of Paul
Dempster/Magnus Eisengrim
