Mysteries - Knut Hamsun [83]
Watching him go, she hesitated a moment and then ran back to him. She seized his arm.
“I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is, I cannot be anything for you.11 But maybe we’ll meet again sometime, don’t you think? Well, I have to go.”
She turned on her heel and quickly marched off.
XII
A VEILED LADY came walking up from the docks, where she had just stepped ashore from the steamer. She headed straight for the Central Hotel.
Nagel happened to stand by the window of his room looking out; he had paced the floor restlessly, up and down, all afternoon, only stopping now and then to drink a glass of water. His cheeks were unusually red, feverishly red, and his eyes were burning. For hours on end he had been thinking of one and the same thing: his latest meeting with Dagny Kielland.
For a moment he had tried to persuade himself that he could simply leave the place and forget the whole thing. He opened his trunk and took out some papers, a couple of brass instruments, a flute, a few sheets of music, some clothes, including another yellow suit just like the one he was wearing, and various other things which he spread over the floor. Yes, he would leave, the town wasn’t fit to live in any longer; there were no flags flying anymore and the streets were dead, so why shouldn’t he leave? Why the hell had he wanted to poke his nose into this place anyway ? It was just a hole, a little one-horse town, with small, longeared people.
But he knew very well that he wouldn’t leave, that he only wanted to boost his morale, thus deluding himself. Despondent, he again packed all his things and put his bags back in their place. Then, utterly distraught, he paced up and down between the door and the window with hurried steps, while the clock downstairs struck one hour after the other. Finally it struck six....
When he caught sight of the veiled lady just climbing the hotel steps as he stopped by the window, his expression completely changed and he clutched his head once or twice. Well, why not! She had just as much right to visit the place as he. Anyway, it was no concern of his, he had other things to worry about, and besides she and he were quits.
He at once forced himself to be calm, sat down on a chair and picked up a newspaper from the floor, looking at it here and there as if reading it. No more than a minute or two later, Sara opened the door and handed him a card on which was written, in pencil, “Kamma.” Just Kamma. He got up and went downstairs.
The lady was standing in the lobby; she was wearing her veil. Nagel bowed to her without a word.
“Hello, Simonsen!” she said in a loud, emotional voice. Simonsen, she said.
Startled, he quickly composed himself and called to Sara, “Where could we go for a moment?”
They were shown into a room next to the restaurant, where the lady collapsed in a chair as soon as the door was closed behind them. She was in a state of great agitation.
Their conversation was intermittent and obscure, with half-words of which they alone understood the meaning, and with many allusions to the past. They had met before and knew one another. Their encounter lasted less than an hour. The lady spoke more Danish than Norwegian.
“Pardon me for still calling you Simonsen,” she said. “That amusing old petname! How old and amusing! Every time I say it to myself, I can see you before me, large as life.”
“When did you get here?” Nagel asked.
“Now, just now, a little while ago; I came by the steamer.... Well, I’m leaving again right away.”
“Right away?”
“Look,” she says, “you’re glad I’m leaving again right away, don’t you think I can see that? ... But tell me, what should I do for my chest? Feel here, no, higher up! Well, what do you think? I believe it’s rather worse now; I mean, it has taken a turn for the worse since we saw one another, hasn’t it? Oh well, it doesn’t matter.... Do I look a mess? Tell me if I do. How does my hair look? Maybe I’m dirty too, downright filthy, I’ve been traveling for twenty-four hours.... You haven’t changed, you’re just as cold, just as cold.... Do you have