Free The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning

guests he could see only faces and hands. He was reminded of Dollie’s séances where ectoplasm had oozed out between the black curtains of the medium’s cabinet.
    He began to feel tired and befuddled. Cautiously he essayed out a little, feeling his way from one piece of furniture to another until he came upon a waiter carrying a tray. He sniffed at the glasses. He was about to take a whisky, when he was distracted by the larger glasses. ‘Ah, champers, dear boy,’ he said, ‘champers for me.’
    Smiling again, he moved cautiously about. Hadjimoscos was talking to two pretty girls. Approaching them, Yakimov heard Hadjimoscos say: ‘Think of it: one black shoe and one brown! I noticed them in the lift.’
    The younger girl gave a yelp. The other said: ‘ Les Anglais! Ils sont toujours sâouls .’
    Hadjimoscos’s face, that had been agleam with mischief, straightened at the sight of Yakimov and assumed an enchanted smile. ‘Ah, there you are, mon cher .’ He pressed Yakimov’s arm. ‘Allow me to present you to my charming friends, Princess Mimi and Princess Lulie. Surnames do not matter.’
    Mimi, the younger girl, was very pretty in a babyish way. The other was sallow and drawn: her smile, that camereluctantly, was slight and did not linger long. They let him kiss their hands, then stood silent, examining him.
    Hadjimoscos, still gripping Yakimov’s arm, spoke effusively: ‘I was just saying, we must – a little later of course, when we are in the mood – play a delicious game called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Mon cher , I insist that you be a dwarf.’
    ‘Not much good at games, dear boy.’
    ‘This is no ordinary game. We invented it ourselves. We choose an attractive girl – Mimi, say, or Lulie – and she is Snow White. Then we choose seven men to be the dwarfs. They leave the room and take off all their clothes. Inside the room, Snow White takes off hers. Then one at a time, the dwarfs enter and are confronted by Snow White. According to the reaction of each, so we name them – Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy and so on.’
    ‘And Dopey,’ Mimi cried, then clapped her hand over her mouth.
    ‘Now promise me’ – Hadjimoscos gave Yakimov’s arm another squeeze – ‘ promise me you will be a dwarf!’
    Yakimov stepped back nervously. ‘Not me, dear boy. I’m no good at that sort of thing.’
    ‘How sad for you.’ Hadjimoscos spoke gravely, then, releasing Yakimov and excusing himself, he trotted off on his soft shoes to where Princess Teodorescu sat on a sofa embracing a young man with a large red moustache. Above the other noises of the room, Yakimov heard Hadjimoscos’s whisper: ‘He said: “I’m no good at that sort of thing”.’ Yakimov was not disturbed. He was used to being quoted.
    Suddenly Mimi, like a little clockwork doll that had been wound up, began chattering in French. Yakimov spoke French as well as he spoke English, but this Rumanian French confused him. He gathered she was speaking of a man who stood a few yards distant, a Baron Steinfeld, who was, it seemed, paying the rent of the apartment. Despite this, the Princess was devoting herself to a certain “Foxy” Leverett, while the Baron was ‘ complètement “outsider”.’ As the girlsbent together, Yakimov made off, thankful they were laughing at someone other than himself.
    His move brought him to the Baron, who, showing all his large yellow teeth, greeted him courteously. Yakimov introduced himself.
    ‘Ah, my dear Prince,’ said the Baron, ‘needless to say, I have heard of you. A great name. Was not your father equerry to the Czar?’
    ‘Not to tell a lie, dear boy, he was .’ But even as Yakimov spoke he regretted what he said. The Baron had so eagerly awaited his reply, he feared it might be a trick question. He might be denounced to the party as an impostor. But the Baron, whose handsome high-coloured face was fixed in its eager smile, merely asked: ‘Are you an old friend of the Princess?’
    ‘We met for