They were passing the church in the High Street. ‘Would you like me to swear, here, on the steps of the church, that I will never leave you again?’ asked Sindbad, gazing into the woman’s eyes.
‘I know now that you will not desert me,’ she answered with peculiar certainty and smiled at Sindbad. ‘Tonight we shall die together.’
‘We shall die,’ Sindbad repeated mechanically.
‘When you were deeply in love with me, when I was everything to you, when you knelt at my feet and we spent whole days crying or laughing together, or walked hand in hand and knew each other’s thoughts without having to say them and gazed at each other happily, with unwearied love … when our time fled by free as a bird, when we invented wholly new words of endearment to make each other happy, when we exchanged kisses that seemed to go on for ever, and when, behaving perfectly conventionally, we believed we were the chosen, the only pair of lovers, children of God, souls born in the moon and the sun, that was when you promised me we should die together.’
‘Die together?’ asked Sindbad, more of himself than of Fanny. ‘I know death. Death is for women.’
‘Come back with me. I’ve sent the servants away and I want to take farewell of my mother’s picture. Calmly, with full premeditation, you will kill me, so that I can be looking at you as I die, until the moment I close my eyes and feel your lips on my brow, your hand holding my hand as we set out on the great journey. I am quite sure you will follow me, that you would not leave me alone in that vast unknown.’
‘I will follow you,’ Sindbad’s voice trembled.
‘If we were to stay alive we’d only part again. We’d weep and moan for each other, we would suffer exceedingly, and who knows whether we would love one another as deeply if we were to meet again.’
The man bowed his head. ‘Love,’ he sighed, like an exhausted gambler on his way home, having lost everything.
‘We shall die, Sindbad. Together, happily, our hearts filled to overflowing. Who cares whether the sun rises in the morning. We will no longer care about the dawn.’
‘It’s dawn now.’
The woman shuddered. Girls on their way home from the other world were trailing grey veils across the Danube. A seagull, like a wandering spirit, flew off bitterly in the direction of Pest having witnessed the last rites of darkness.
‘It’s dawn,’ the woman repeated sadly, ‘and once day comes I will no longer be able to die. The milkman is due, my husband will arrive by the first train, the servants will be up and ready to go to the market, the postman will deliver an invitation from a friend saying they intend to spend summer in the country and I shall go to hospital to visit my sick brother. Another time, Sindbad … Should we meet again another night …’
Fanny found a cab and waved Sindbad a resigned farewell. The cab slowly disappeared around the corner.
Sindbad took a deep breath. ‘Heavens,’ he thought, ‘Mrs Bánatvári is still sitting on her trunk waiting for me.’ He started to run and arrived at the doors of the house in Hat Street sweating and out of breath.
The woman was sitting on her trunk. ‘I knew you would come back to me,’ she said simply.
Sindbad collapsed onto the settee and before falling asleep smiled sweetly and gently, reflecting on how women were so sure of everything.
NOTES
Who he was: the Lubomirskis were Polish princes and landowners whose property in Hungary included Podolin, which is itself now part of Slovakia. In the early seventeenth century Jerzy (George) Lubomirski set up various charitable foundations.
sumach trees: the sumach is a shrub or small tree of the genus Rhus. Certain kinds of sumach are indigenous to southern Europe and are used in the tanning process.
Kaiser Baths: the Császár fürdő. Many of the baths of Budapest are a legacy of the Ottoman occupation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Kaiser Baths in Buda comprised Turkish baths and steam chambers. They are still open and in use today.
Fisherman’s Bastion: The Fisherman’s Bastion or Halászbástya is the mock-Romanesque fortress constructed betwen 1890–1905 on the hill top next to the Royal Palace overlooking the Danube. It provides romantic walks and panoramic views across the river.
the guard dog is called Tisza, after the river: the Tisza, ‘the slothful Hungarian Nile’ according to the nineteenth-century novelist Kálmán Mikszáth, is one of the two great rivers of Hungary. It runs through central and southern Hungary and joins the Danube between Novi Sad and Belgrade.
tarlatan: thin stiff muslin.
Eperjes: now Pre¿ov in Slovakia, but in Krúdy’s time it was the capital town of Sáros county in Hungary.
the Great Bercsényi inn: Count László Bercsényi (1689–1778), Marshal of France, was born in Eperjes. He founded the French Hussars. His father, Miklós, before him had been one of the most influential generals in Ferenc Rákóczi II’s army. Rákóczi (1676–1735), Prince of Transylvania, led ultimately unsuccessful wars of liberation against the Austrians. His grave has long been an object of pilgrimage for Hungarians.
Pancsova: a town in Greater Hungary, now part of Yugoslavia, some ten miles from Belgrade, scene of Austrian victory over the Turks in 1739, and over the Hungarians in 1849.
blue-dye man: blue-dyeing is a traditional peasant craft and provides the basic colour for skirts, headscarves and other items of clothing.
the White Woman of Lőcse: Mór Jókai’s novel, A lőcsei fehérasszony (`The White Woman of Lőcse’) appeared in 1885. It is about the end of the Rákóczi campaign (see note to p. 60) in 1711. The central character is based upon the historical figure of Julianna Géczy, who betrayed the town of Lőcse, now in Slovakia, to the Austrians, and was consequently tortured and beheaded. A painting of her as a woman dressed in white was displayed at the town gates.
half-crazed Jewesses: Krúdy himself married a Jewish woman (see Introduction), and he wrote a defence of Jews accused of blood crimes.
Kisfaludy: Károly Kisfaludy (1788–1830) was the younger brother of the poet Sándor Kisfaludy (1772–1844). He wrote melodramatic plays and comedies as well as short stories and lyric poetry. His short stories focus on romantic subjects, but incorporate satirical elements.
Liska: pet form of Julia or Juliska.
The body of St Ladislas being carried on a wagon: St Ladislas, King of Hungary from c. 1040–95, founded bishoprics and was a hero of the wars against the pagans. He was canonised in 1192.
the Matthias Church: the Church of the Blessed Virgin in Buda. One of Hungary’s most important and illustrious kings, King Matthias Corvinus (ruled 1458–90), was married here. In 1896 it was restored by Frigyes Schulek.
King Béla: King Béla III (1148–96) ruled Hungary from 1172 to his death. His remains were brought to the Matthias Church in 1848.
Baron Miklós Jósika: Baron Miklós Jósika (1794–1865), Transylvanian author, was regarded as the founder of the historical novel in Hungary, also its foremost theorist.
Euphrosyne: Krúdy calls her Fruzsina, the Hungarian equivalent. The name was popular in the eighteenth century.
Kisfaludy: see note to p. 81. Could be either of the brothers, possibly the elder.