The oil in the frying pan sizzled, flames shot up from the stove, and a cloud of steam enveloped the portrait of the kitchen god. A minute later, Ada was presented with two pieces of perfectly fried meat on her plate.
“Now, eat!” Yun ordered.
She stared at her plate, feeling more dead than alive.
“You’d better not upset the cook,” said Sam.
At that moment footsteps came echoing from the corridor, and a man in a riding coat entered the kitchen, his pith helmet under his arm.
“Here, Yun, can you give me some apples?”
Sam stood up and bowed to him. “Good afternoon, Mr. Bernard.”
Ada was dumbfounded: only a few weeks previously, she had seen this man in the Havana. He had caught her attention because his face had been unnaturally red, but now he looked fine.
“Are you going to spoil your horses again?” Yun muttered, filling the pith helmet with small yellow apples. “White people are nuts, riding horses in the midday sun or chasing golf balls all day long.”
Mr. Bernard crunched an apple. “Stop grumbling. It’s for a new horse I bought, but it’s wild and needs to be tamed.”
“And we are taming your young librarian here,” said Yun, pointing to Ada.
Mr. Bernard turned to her, and she realized that he had recognized her, too.
“What have you given her?” he asked, looking at Ada’s plate. “Chinese rat snake? Yun, give her a break. Don’t torture the poor girl.”
“Me? Torturing her? It’s one of the finest delicacies in China!”
Mr. Bernard winked at Ada. “If he gives you any more of that muck, just ask him for tea with milk in it.”
“It’s barbaric to pour milk in tea!” Yun screamed. “You might as well pour it into beer.”
“I can eat your rat snake,” Sam whispered to Ada after the master had left and Yun’s back was turned.
She nodded silently. Her heart was trembling. What would happen now? Would Mr. Bernard kick her out?
As Ada made her way back to the library through the gallery surrounding the courtyard, she noticed two grooms holding the reins of the black horse below while Mr. Bernard tried to coax it towards him with an apple. The trick didn’t work, though. The horse looked at him with wild rolling eyes and kicked out in all directions.
Mr. Bernard noticed Ada. “Come over here,” he ordered.
Her heart almost bursting out of her chest, Ada descended the stairs to the court yard.
“What an exceptional breed,” said Mr. Bernard, approaching Ada. “These horses are caught in the Mongolian steppes, and when they come to Shanghai, it takes at least four months for them to get used to good fodder. Out on the steppe, they eat nothing but dry grass and don’t want to try anything else.”
Mr. Bernard took off his dusty gloves and threw them into his hat.
“Your name is Miss Marshall, isn’t it? You know, my wife would be furious if she were to find out where you used to work.”
“Please don’t tell her,” Ada pleaded. “Otherwise, she might ask how you know me, and it would become obvious that you’ve been to the Havana.”
Mr. Bernard laughed. “That’s true. Well, in that case you’d better get back to work, hadn’t you?”
Back in the library, Ada collapsed into an armchair. She had been so brazen with her new master on her very first day at work. It was almost as if she had been blackmailing him: “If you don’t betray me, I won’t betray you.”
But Mr. Bernard hadn’t seemed to be offended. Betty was right: men like bold spirited girls.
8. CHASING AFTER ANOTHER WOMAN’S HUSBAND
Daniel Bernard never sent Nina his visiting card and hadn’t even bothered to call. She had learned that there was to be a banquet celebrating his safe return home, but she and Jiří had not been invited.
Nina couldn’t understand what he was playing at. Had he merely been dallying with her on the train to break up the boredom of the long trip? It was as if Destiny was deliberately mocking her.
Tamara had invited her over a couple of times, but Nina had refused, pretending she had a migraine. She couldn’t stand the idea of discussing her failures with anyone. But Tamara was persistent. She mentioned Nina’s reluctance to Tony, and he went to see her directly.
“Have you and Tamara fallen out?” he asked. “I hope you understand that this sort of anxiety is not good for her in her condition.”
Reluctantly, Nina went to the Aulmans. She had expected an interrogation about Daniel Bernard immediately, but Tamara never mentioned him and gossiped instead about Shanghai’s newly-opened movie studio.
“You should invite a cameraman to your next party,” Tamara said, “and get him to film all the guests. They would love it.”
She continued to elaborate on her idea, but Nina wasn’t listening. Finally she couldn’t hold herself back anymore. “Why were you so keen for me to meet Daniel Bernard?” she asked.
Tamara raised an eyebrow. “Daniel Bernard?”
“Please don’t pretend that you weren’t. You wouldn’t stop talking about him, and I know you wanted me to go to Lincheng. Why didn’t you tell me he’s married?”
Tamara stared at Nina incredulously. “This is ridiculous—”
“You set everything up,” Nina interrupted. “You even planted his portrait on your dressing table here.” She pointed to the photo on Tamara’s bedside table and then tailed off. The photograph was a portrait of Tony, not Daniel. Nina could now see that Daniel’s presence was largely incidental.
“You seemed to be interested in Daniel, so I told you all about him,” Tamara said calmly. “The rest is purely speculation on your part.”
Nina was speechless. Was this some kind of a practical joke? Or had she really blown the whole incident out of all proportion?
“I might be able to help you,” Tamara said, “if you tell me what happened. But if you feel uncomfortable, let’s forget about it.”
Brushing over the episode with Klim, Nina told Tamara all about her trip to Lincheng, her chance meeting with Daniel, and then his refusal to continue their acquaintance.
Tamara listened, her face growing gloomier.
“I think Daniel really did like you,” she said. “But I’m also sure he made inquiries about you and found out that you and Jiří are impostors. I told you not to do anything without consulting me first. Daniel is a Czech national. He constantly visits Europe and spends a lot of time with the diplomats in Shanghai. He must be well aware that there is no official Czechoslovak Consulate here.”
“But I was so sure that you wanted me to meet him,” Nina protested.
“No, I didn’t, and you’ve been very foolish.”
Nina lowered her head. There was no point in arguing.
“You need to lay low and forget about Mr. Bernard,” Tamara said. “You’re never going to catch him anyway. He’s married to the daughter of the Police Commissioner, and he would never leave her for a Russian adventuress.”
On her way home in her recently purchased Ford, Nina was deep in thought.
“I have a license to drive in the International Settlement,” her chauffeur said, “but if you want to go to the Chinese city, we’ll need a different one.”
Nina nodded absentmindedly. She was convinced Tamara had wanted her to see Mr. Bernard again. “I think Daniel really did like you,” she had said teasingly to Nina. But again, it was impossible to be sure what she truly meant. Tamara was a master at hiding her intentions.
Nina herself was not about to give up on Daniel that easily. She didn’t want her whole future depending on the good grace of a man she barely knew. Even though he was married and a serious relationship with him was out of the question, she could nevertheless try to turn his head, and then he wouldn’t dare harm her.