They Were Divided - Miklos Banffy [162]
He was too late. The lights had been turned out and all the tablecloths removed. Balint found himself somewhat put out for he did not know anywhere else where he could get a quiet meal without music. He turned back from the dining-room and had just entered the front hall when he met Peter and Niki Kollonich coming in.
‘Have you come to get some food?’ asked Balint. ‘They’ve just closed here, so I’ve got to find somewhere else.’
‘Come and join us then,’ replied Peter. ‘We’ve got a private room for supper. Kristof Zalamery and I booked it in advance!’
‘It’s really very nice of you, but if it’s with gypsy music and girls then I don’t think it’s for me tonight.’
They reassured him. No gypsies and no girls, except for one who would be coming later. She was La Pantera, a famous Spanish dancer who had been appearing at the Ronacher Theatre for the last two months and who had thrown the imperial capital into a fever.
Abady had already heard of her. She was, he knew, beautiful as well as being an accomplished dancer – but she had become even more famous for her diamonds which had been pictured in every illustrated paper in the world. This had been done many, many times, since La Pantera, or her manager, used these famous jewels for the dancer’s publicity. Just in case interest in the diamonds should wane, they were stolen every five or six months – only to be recovered a week or ten days later. Each time this happened they could be written up again, with every detail lovingly described and the enormous value greatly exaggerated so as to tease the respectable reader.
Balint and his cousins were shown into the private room where they found only Fredi Wuelffenstein, who had been invited by Zalamery. Fredi, who was also a member of the delegation, was admiring his tall, slim figure in the wall mirror. With his padded shoulders, pale blond hair and the face of a white negro, it looked as if he had been trying to emulate the statesmanlike poise he had so admired in Berchtold that afternoon.
Then Stefi Szent-Gyorgyi came in and they all started to talk. At first Fredi tried hard to get them onto politics but this did not suit either Balint or the Kollonich brothers. First of all each one of them wanted to know why the others were in Vienna. Stefi, it seemed, was going to England to hunt, while Peter and Niki were on their way back to Hungary after a visit to Upper Austria where they had been invited for the pheasant-shooting. At first the talk was all about guns and horses and game-birds, but it was not long before they started to talk about La Pantera and Kristof Zalamery. They all knew that Kristof had fallen madly in love with the dancer the very first night she appeared; and since then the whole town had been talking about the fortune that he had been spending on her, and especially about the diamond dog-collar necklace that he had added to her famous collection. Every detail was known to the good people of Vienna. It had been bought at Klinkosch’s in the Mehlmarkt and had cost sixty thousand crowns. It was also known that he was ferociously jealous and guarded her like a dragon, and so, though he liked to show her off, he never left her side.
‘At this very moment he’s waiting in his carriage at the stage door of the Ronacher. He’ll stay there until she’s changed and then,’ said Peter, ‘he’ll bring her straight here thereby making sure she doesn’t meet anyone else on the way!’
Niki laughed. ‘What an ass that Kristof is! All that money spent on the girl and all that trouble keeping an eye on her … and she cuckolds him every night!’
‘That can’t be possible! Why, he lives with her at the Imperial Hotel!’
‘Oh yes, but they have separate rooms divided by a sitting-room. Kristof can stay with her only until three a.m. Then she sends him away saying she has to get her sleep if she’s going to be able to dance properly the following night. That’s when the others come in!’
‘What rubbish you do talk!’ said Peter, who was always upset by his brother’s love of making mischief. ‘That’s far too complicated. Why would anyone else