Mysteries - Knut Hamsun [50]
The teacher stole a glance at his watch.
“Let me remind you,” said the hostess, “you won’t be allowed to leave until my husband gets back. Strictly forbidden. Do anything you like, but you can’t leave.”
Then coffee arrived, and the company grew livelier immediately. The lawyer, who had been arguing with the student about something, jumped up, light as a feather for all his corpulence, and clapped his hands in rapture; even the student rubbed his fingers, went over to the piano and struck a few chords.
“Aha,” cried the hostess, “how could we forget that you play the piano. Now go on. Yes, you must!”
And, sure enough, the student would be glad to play. He didn’t know much, but if they didn’t mind hearing some Chopin, or maybe a Lanner waltz...
Nagel applauded the music enthusiastically and said to Dagny,18 “Listening to that kind of music, wouldn’t you like to be at some distance from it, in an adjoining room, say, holding hands with your beloved without speaking? I don’t know, but I’ve always imagined it would be so lovely.”
She gave him a scrutinizing look. Did he mean this nonsense? His face betrayed no irony, and so she fell in with his banal tone:19 “Yes. But you wouldn’t want too much light, would you? And the chairs should preferably be rather low and soft. But outside it had to be rainy and dark.”
She was exceptionally attractive this evening. Those dark eyes in the fair-complexioned face left a strong impression. Though her teeth were not perfectly white, she often laughed, even at utter trifles; her lips were red and full, so you noticed them immediately. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about her was that tinge of red which invariably colored her cheeks every time she spoke and then quickly vanished.
“Oh, the teacher has disappeared again!” Mrs. Stenersen cries. “Of course, of course! That’s just like him, it’s impossible to keep an eye on that man. I hope at least that you, Mr. Reinert, will say good night before you leave.”
The teacher had gone out by the rear entrance; he had sneaked off quietly as always, tired after his intoxication, pale and exhausted from lack of sleep, and had not returned. At this piece of news, Nagel’s face suddenly changed. He was struck by the thought that he might be venturesome and offer to walk Dagny through the woods in the teacher’s place. What’s more, he asked her at once, without delay, beseeching her with his eyes and his bowed head, and ending with, “And I’ll be so good!”
She laughed and replied, “Well, thank you, as long as you promise me that.”
From now on he just waited for the doctor to be back so he could get going. At the prospect of this walk through the woods he became more vivacious, chatted with the guests about everything under the sun, making them all laugh, and was extremely amiable. He was so delighted, so filled with happiness, that he even promised to inspect Mrs. Stenersen’s garden and, in his capacity of a semi-expert, to examine the quality of the soil in the garden’s lower corner with the sick red currant bushes. He would get the better of the lice, all right, even if he had to read an incantation over them, exorcising them.
Did he know magic, too?
He dabbled in all sorts of things. For example, as they could see, he was wearing a ring, an ordinary iron ring with, however, the most miraculous powers. Would anybody think so from the looks of it? But if he should lose that ring some evening at ten o’clock, say, he would have to retrieve it by midnight, or he was in for trouble. It had been given him by a hoary old Greek, a storekeeper in Piraeus. Well, he had done the man a favor in return, and presented him with a tin of tobacco to boot, for the ring.
But did he really believe in it?
A little, sure. Truly! It had cured him once.
A dog could be heard barking in the direction of the seashore. Mrs. Stenersen looked at the clock—it was the doctor, all right, she recognized the dog. How nice! It was twelve o’clock, and he was already back! She rang for more coffee.
“That ring is so remarkable, is it?