The Road to Darkness by Paul Leppin

Author:Paul Leppin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781907650635
Publisher: Dedalus Limited
Published: 2011-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

4

The guests were already gathered in Dr. Konrad’s studio when Lazarus Kain and Severin arrived. They were greeted by a babble of voices that emerged from the cigarette smoke, an unusual mixture of conversations in German and in Czech, shot through with the brittle laughter of the women. At a table in one corner a number of strikingly dressed painters’ models were amusing themselves with some Italian game of dice. Leaning casually against the door-jamb next to the blond Rušena was the marvellously slim figure of a lady in a black velvet dress who was observing the company. Severin recognised her at once. With the immediacy and sharpness of something that he had just seen, a long-forgotten image surfaced in his memory. As a boy in his final year at school he had once during the holidays been walking down Ferdinandstrasse at the time when the world of fashion paraded. She had stood out with the huge blood-red ostrich feather in her hat, her rare and elegant slenderness, her delightful and dangerous smile, a smile such as he had only seen on one other face, on a picture of the repentant Magdalene. A handsome young man had come up to her and greeted her, kissing the tips of her gloved fingers. It was a moment that had lodged in his memory and now came to life again: the holiday bustle in the street, the smooth sound of the rubber wheels of the carriages on the cobbles and, in the middle of the crush of people and splendid outfits, that one movement of ineffable grace with which the unknown woman had held out her hand for the young dandy to kiss. He had seen her several times after that, brief, unobserved encounters, then he had not seen her for a long time. She was a singer at the Czech National Theatre who had been at the height of her popularity when he first saw her. Kain, who had observed his fixed stare, told him her story. An illness she caught from one of her lovers had led to the loss of her voice. She had done the rounds of the provincial theatres until her voice gave up completely. Now she was back in Prague and Kain had already seen her several times in Dr. Konrad’s studio.

It was not the custom in these circles for the guests to be introduced to each other. Everyone came and went as they pleased. Despite that, when their host greeted the new arrivals Severin asked him to introduce him to the lady in black. He stood and bowed as Dr. Konrad told her his name. He scrutinised her face for a sign of the grace of that one moment. Then he took the hand she held out to him and kissed it. She gave him a look of astonishment and smiled, but it was not the smile he remembered. Her lips were white and without make-up and fixed in a suggestion of affected indifference.

‘Where is your hat with the red ostrich feather?’ Severin asked.

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