They Were Divided - Miklos Banffy [70]
‘We are always on our guard,’ said Maier, ‘though up until now there has never been any sign of anything of the sort. It seems that even if there should be some sort of nervous crisis the patient usually soon reverts to apathy … so she would once again be as your Ladyship saw her today, to all intents and purposes unconscious of her surroundings. This can last for years until such time … such time as the body just wears out and starts slowly to … to … crumble away.’
Once alone again in the darkened sleeper Adrienne had thought about everything that had happened during the two weeks she had been away from home; about Lausanne and Clemmie and the talks with the head-mistress, and, of course, about that sombre visit to Meran. She had been thinking of nothing else since she had got into the train long before night fell.
But, though Adrienne had gone over and over it all in her mind, repetition had not had the effect of making her memory of what had happened any clearer or more vivid. On the contrary, the closer she came to Kolozsvar, to home, so all the depressing events of the whole trip paled into insignificance compared with the sense of joyful expectation she felt arising her.
When the train emitted a long whistle and for a few minutes all other sounds were drowned by a deep thundering reverberating rumble, Adrienne smiled happily to herself. They were passing through the Sztana tunnel, the last before she reached her destination. Home! Home! In an hour she would be home! In just an hour she would be lying back on her great white carpet covered with red cushions in front of a roaring fire.
There she would wait, gazing into the flames, until about midnight she would hear a little sound from the latch of the French window that gave onto the garden and her lover would come to her. Then, and only then, as she lay in Balint’s arms, would she really feel at home. Then she would forget all her cares, her sorrows and worries, and the memories of the cruel days that were now past. Everything would vanish in their triumphant reunion. And this was the only reality … only this.
Chapter Four
A FEW DAYS AFTER Adrienne’s return to Kolozsvar there took place one of the season’s most elegant balls. It was a Bal des Têtes at which all the women were required to wear elaborate head-dresses.
The idea had come from Elemer Garazda, the young man from the district of Tolna in Western Hungary who was in his third year studying law at the university. In Transylvania he was known to everyone as ‘the Garazda Boy’, or just ‘Boy’ for short, for one could hardly see his light-blonde moustache on his youthful pink and white face and also because it seemed amusing to address such a tall robust young man as ‘Boy.’ He had been chosen as leading dancer and organizer (elotancos) of all the dances and balls; and this in itself was a tribute to his popularity and efficiency as well as being an unusual compliment to someone who was not born in Transylvania. In recognition of this he had been doing his best to show his gratitude for the honour done to him, and so he had put forward the idea of the Bal des Têtes so as to show that he was full of energy and enterprise and capable of organizing something new and beautiful and amusing. He wanted to justify the confidence they had put in him.
The Garazda Boy had seen similar balls at the exclusive Park Club in Budapest where they had recently been introduced and had become very popular. The Kolozsvar Bal des Têtes was a charity ball given in aid of some Szekler