I have booked transport with Fekete Neni's help, and have packed my trunk with clothing and supplies that I hope will be useful. Mr. Galton's advice, I now see, is rather more suited to darkest Africa or the deserts of the Maghreb than to the lands under the dominion of Franz Josef. However, I have purchased clothes which I hope will suffice, most especially a pair of rather splendid leather boots. No doubt I will make quite a good impression in my cotton shirts, black trousers and those boots. My pistol cannot help but add to the impression of my seriousness.
I am told the towns that I shall pass on my journey are rather more provincial than Budapest, and I am certain that will prove true. But I am told that I will be able to find a meal and lodging, and perhaps some workmen to help with the tasks ahead. First, though I plan to explore the area on horseback, and where the terrain requires, on foot.
HADN’T THAT JUST put the cat among the pigeons, hinting that I might be on Karoly's side of this little drama. Diana went off in a huff immediately, without even leaving her share of the bill. The others tried to carry on as if nothing had happened, until at last dinner was over. Grace and Cybil took a taxi back to the hotel. Morgan and I walked out to the Danube. The bridges were all lit up, as was Buda Castle across the river. It was a really beautiful sight. I travel to a lot of places, and like a lot of them, too. But every now and then I happen on somewhere new and lose my heart, and this, I knew, perhaps because it was such an unexpected pleasure, I was in danger of doing in Budapest.
Morgan felt it too. "You want to walk for awhile?" she said. We ambled up Vaci utca to Vorbsmartyter, and headed into the Gerbeaud for a nightcap.
"Are you really on Karoly's side?" she asked.
"I'm on no one's side right now," I said. "The point I was trying to make, which is the one I've been trying to get across all along is that—"
"I know," she said. "You will trace the provenance of the Venus, but it won't necessarily come out the way we want it to. I think all of us except Diana know that. She is just so convinced she's right, that she can't imagine another outcome, and therefore you will be her enemy if you don't prove her right. It's something of a bind for you, but I want you to know that I do understand. I did have to smirk quietly to myself when she said she had nothing to hide, and then proceeded to tell us that she'd essentially been stealing documents from her employer. What did you think of that business about tenure, by the way?"
"I don't know what to think. It's true, of course, that if you want a long career in academia with a nice pension at the end, you have to be tenured. But could one person prevent her getting it? I don't know. Does it have to be unanimous? I don't know that either, but I wouldn't think so. And would she be denied it if everyone but Karoly thought she was fabulous? I doubt it."
"Just what I was thinking," she said. "I'm not sure where the truth lies there."
"Speaking of truth, I have a question for you," I said.
"Shoot," she said.
"What happened that night in the bar, after I, you know, passed out."
"You didn't pass out, exactly," she said. "You were acting a little peculiar, though. I wondered if you were ill. Your eyes looked funny. The thought crossed my mind that you might be on drugs, actually. Sorry. I'm sure you weren't. Were you? Anyway, we all left shortly after that. Diana said she'd get you home. I had to drag Woodward away from Courtney. He's boinking her, of course."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," she said. "Have I caught them in the sack together? No. Have I even seen them smooching in a restaurant? No. But yes, I'm sure. Was your husband unfaithful to you?"
"Yes," I said. "But not until, as he'll tell you, it was essentially over. And did I know at the time? Yes, I did. I gather you've met Clive."
"Yes," she said. "Cybil told us she'd called you the other night, but that you hadn't responded. And you didn't answer calls the next day either. Then we got your e-mail. So I was delegated to see if I could find out what hotel you were in. Clive is rather cute, by the way. Are you still in love with him?"
"No. I like him a lot better now than I did when I was married to him. He probably feels the same way about me. We were a disaster as marriage partners, but we are a good business combination. And he never lets me wallow in self-pity, which is a good thing, because I am inclined to do so from time to time."
"I've been wallowing in it a bit myself, lately," she said. "I could use a Clive. Are you wallowing in self-pity now?"
"A bit, I suppose. There is no question I have not been my usual optimistic self. I broke up recently with a man I'd been with for a few years. A lovely man really, by the name of Rob Luczka. I don't know why I left him, other than that we'd hit a rough patch. His daughter had some bad things happen to her, and we tried to help, but neither of us really talked about it, how we felt, what we thought we needed to do. Perhaps it was all just too painful. I've always thought we discussed everything, but it turns out we didn't. I didn't feel that I could. I think maybe it was like a worm eating its way into my feelings for him."
"Too bad," she said. "I wish I could confront Woodward on the subject of his philandering, but I just carry on as if I don't notice. That night at the Cottingham he wanted me to chat up some bank president because his company has run into some financial difficulty, and needed extended credit, so of course I did it, even though I felt like a whore. It was 'darling this' and 'darling that' all evening while he's making goo-goo eyes at Courtney. Pathetic, isn't it?"
"I suppose I could say to both of us what Clive says to me on a fairly regular basis these days: Shit happens. Get over it."
She laughed until the tears ran down her cheeks. "I'll try," she said. "I'll try."
"Me, too. Why did all of you rush to follow me here?"
"I don't know. Perhaps it was because Diana insisted. I just wanted a break from Woodward. I think maybe Cybil just wanted to get away, too. None of us had been to Budapest before, so it seemed like a bit of a lark. Diana couldn't pay her airfare by the way, even though she was the one insisting on coming, and we got these fabulous last-minute tickets. I paid for her ticket. She says she'll pay me back, but I'm not sure how she's going to do that, given her circumstances. Was she that sour in college, do you recall?"
"Not quite so bad," I said. "But there always was an edge there. And Cybil always ran herself down, and Grace never really shared her thoughts with any of us."
"I don't remember her being quite so sanctimonious, though, do you? You know, we're too old to be bickering like children, that sort of thing," she said. "She is rather tiresome, isn't she?"
"I guess!" I replied.
"And you and me?" Morgan said.
"I always admired you because you had so much courage," I said. "You did things the rest of us wanted to, but didn't, and you didn't give a hoot what people thought."
"I'm not very courageous now, am I?" she said. "I should leave Woodward, get my own place, and find a real job. But somewhere along the line I lost my nerve. As for you, speaking of courage, I always thought that beneath that very refined exterior of yours, the daughter of a diplomat schtick, the person who tried to do the right thing and say the right thing at all times, there was someone else. I only looked like the rebel, you know. I was the one that cut classes, smoked and drank, and slept around, but I was a fraud, and the real rebel of the group was you. I thought in many ways you were absolutely fearless, and I still think so."