Free Inevitable by Louis Couperus Page B

on her other side the nephew, the Prince of Forte-Braccio, Duke of San Stefano, who dined regularly at Belloni. And Cornélie saw that it was like a conspiracy: the
marchesa
and the princebeleaguering the vain little American from both sides. On a later occasion Cornélie saw two
monsignori
sitting at the
marchesa
’s table in animated conversation with Urania, while the
marchesa
and the prince nodded in agreement. All the guests were talking about it, all eyes were looking in that direction, everyone spied on the manoeuvring and enjoyed the romance.
    Only Cornélie was not amused; she had wanted to warn Urania about the
marchesa
, the prince and the
monsignori
who had taken Rudyard’s place, but especially about Marriage, even to a prince-duke. And becoming excited she talked to Mrs Van der Staal and the girls, repeating the words of her pamphlet, glowing, bright red with her young hatred against society and the world and people.
    Dinner had ended; still talking animatedly she accompanied the Van der Staals—Mrs Van der Staal and the girls and Duco—to the drawing-room, sat down in a corner, continued her conversation, burst out at Mrs Van der Staal, who contradicted her, until she suddenly saw a fat lady—the girls had already nicknamed her the satin frigate—approaching and saying from a distance,
    “I beg your pardon, but I wanted to say something … Look, I’ve been coming regularly to Belloni every winter for ten years, from November to Easter, and every evening after dinner—but only after dinner—I sit in this corner, at this table, in this place. So please excuse me, but would you mind if I sat in my usual place …”
    And the ‘satin frigate’ smiled sweetly, but when the Van der Staals and Cornélie got up in speechless amazement, she flopped on to the couch with a rustle of satin, bobbed up and down on the springs fora moment, put her crochet work on the table as if planting an English flag on a colony, and said with her most charming smile:
    “Very much obliged, thank you very much.”
    Duco burst out laughing, the girls giggled, but the ‘satin frigate’ smiled benevolently at them. And still not quite aware what was happening, astonished but cheerful, they sat in another corner, the girls with irrepressible giggles. The two aesthetic ladies, in evening dress and woollens, who were sitting reading at the centre table closed their two books simultaneously, got up and left indignantly, because of all the laughter and talking in the drawing-room.
    “It’s shameful!” they said aloud, and angular, arrogant and shabby they flounced out.
    “Strange pair!” thought Duco smiling: “ghosts of people … their lines swirl through ours like arabesques. Why do they cross our lines with their petty movements, and why do those who might be most welcome to our soul never cross our path …”
    He always accompanied Cornélie back to Via dei Serpenti in the evenings. They walked slowly through the silent deserted streets. Sometimes it was late, sometimes it was immediately after dinner, and then they walked down the Corso and he usually asked her to sit for a while at Aragno’s. She agreed and they had a cup of coffee together, in the cheerful, brightly-lit café, looking out at the evening bustle in the street. They said little, distracted by the passers-by and the customers in the café, but they both enjoyed being together for a moment, and felt in tune. Duco obviously did not give a thought to their liberal behaviour, but Cornélie thought of Mrs Van der Staal, andof how she would not approve and would not let either of her daughters do it: sit alone in a café with a gentleman at night. And Cornélie thought too of The Hague and smiled at the thought of her Hague acquaintances. And she looked at Duco … He sat calmly, happy to be sitting with her, and drank his coffee, said the occasional word and pointed out a passing character or beautiful woman … One evening, after dinner, he suggested going to