Diana Finley - Beyond the Storm

One day in the early summer, as the children scamper ahead, Karin tells Anna they will be going on holiday to Lugano in three weeks’ time.

‘How long will you be away?’

‘How long will we be away, you mean! Of course you will have to come with us, Anna. We usually stay a month or so.’

‘But surely you want time as a family? Time with Otto?’

‘Yes, sometimes we may ask you to be with the children so he and I can have some time together. But, Anna, you must enjoy yourself too. It’s so beautiful there. The hotel is right on the lakeside. We all love it and you will too – I know it. You will have your own room, and can spend plenty of time doing as you please. You might even meet some attractive young men!’

* * *

It is now around two years since Jakob Wiener started to call at the Feldmans’ apartment. His mother and grandmother are old friends of Artur and Matilde. Anna and her sisters have known Jakob and his twin brother Paul since they were all small children. Their father has been dead since the boys were young. When Jakob and Paul approach their twenty-first birthdays, their mother and grandmother decide to give a party.

Anna loves clothes. She and Esther help one another plan their dresses. They spend hours making sketches of their plans for dress designs, which they show to Matilde. She has such an eye, her ideas and her suggestions always right, always tasteful. Soon they have made their choices. Esther, with her auburn hair and green eyes, looks striking in cream muslin. Anna decides on a pale turquoise material to set off her dark curls.

Margaret is uninterested in clothes. She is happy for her mother to select a dress for her. She has her straight brown hair cut short in the modern style. She joins the Communist Party. Despite her plainness, Margaret is popular with young men. She shows genuine interest in their views on any topic, although she does not always agree. She gazes up at them, absorbed in their arguments, transfixed by their opinions.

On the evening of the party, Jakob welcomes them all, his eyes on Anna. She is flattered by his interest. He is four years older than she is, and handsome. They dance most of the evening. He keeps returning to her. There is something proprietorial about his hand at her back as he leads her onto the dance floor. She feels secure in his hands. Month after month, they spend every spare moment together, going walking, to the sports club and to coffee houses. Anna is excited to be introduced to concerts, the opera and the theatre. Artur is not a cultured man, and circumstances have not allowed his daughters access to such experiences. Anna enjoys the attention lavished on her.

One day her father calls her into his study.

‘Anna, did you know Jakob came to speak to me this afternoon?’

‘Oh?’

‘Has he not talked to you of his plans?’

‘What plans, Papa?’

‘Jakob asked me for your hand today.’

‘My hand? I think he might have asked me first!’

Artur frowns. ‘He behaved very properly. Perhaps he wanted permission from your parents before he spoke to you. I believe he regards you as more of a challenge.’

‘Why a challenge?’

‘You are having a good time with Jakob, yes?’

Anna nods.

‘But I don’t get the impression that you are madly in love with him.’

‘I’m … very fond of him.’

‘But?’

‘It is when we go swimming together. Jakob has a good figure … but he has hair on his shoulders.’

‘What? Hair on his shoulders? You would reject a good man for such a reason? Then you are right not to marry – you are just a silly, immature girl, and not worthy of Jakob.’

Anna’s lip trembles. ‘Papa! I haven’t said I’m rejecting him. I just … need to be sure.’

‘You certainly do. I am disappointed in you. Don’t judge people by appearance alone, Anna. You’ll find it’s an unreliable way to assess a man’s worth – much less important than you think. Jakob is a fine young man, steady and reliable, as his father was too. Talk to your mamma. You need to think seriously about this – and Jakob deserves an honest answer.’

Two months later Jakob solemnly presents Anna with an engagement ring: an emerald set in a star of small diamonds.

The marriage of Julia Kassel and Rudolf Wiener took place in Vienna in September 1895.

It was a grand affair; Rudolf’s mother Paulina considered that nothing less would be appropriate for her only son. She regarded her prospective daughter-in-law as pleasingly compliant, but a trifle ordinary. Rudolf could surely have chosen a bride from one of Vienna’s many wealthier families. He had, after all, attracted the attention of Count Bessendorf’s beautiful youngest daughter Adele in the past, as well showing interest in Mitzi von Kahldorf, whose father had accumulated fabulous riches through international dealing in gold and diamonds.

The Kassel family was decent enough it was true – Julia’s father an esteemed lawyer – but nevertheless, Paulina couldn’t help feeling a lingering sense of disappointment. She was concerned that in their reduced circumstances after the untimely death of Rudolf’s father, her son needed to take advantage of the best opportunities and connections available. It was hardly a time to marry for love! How helpful a clever businessman like Herr von Kahldorf could have been to a son-in-law’s career.

But Rudolf, who had himself trained as a lawyer, wanted nothing more than to join Jakob Kassel’s practice. He had no sense that this might have been beneath his capabilities. He even talked of wanting to represent the legal needs of the poor. Paulina realised it was time to have a serious talk with her son.

‘Rudolf, you are a young man with strong principles, and of course that is very admirable. But a social conscience is a luxury you really cannot afford, my darling. No, I wish you would think more of ambition, of what you can achieve – especially with a little help.’

Rudolf, always closely attuned to his mother’s feelings, was aware of her lack of enthusiasm for his marriage to Julia and it saddened him. He hoped in time she would discover Julia’s virtues – that she was sensitive and gentle, thoughtful and clever. He would not be talked out of his marriage plans.

The newly-weds settled into a fine, spacious apartment in the centre of Vienna, only five minutes’ walk from Paulina’s home. Of course, it was not a distance Paulina ever considered walking herself: there were carriages for that. The tall windows of their apartment looked out over the green expanse of the Stadtpark, where Rudolf and Julia often strolled on fine Sundays.

Rudolf worried that his mother would be lonely following their marriage, but Julia was adamant about the importance of living independently. She understood Rudolf’s concern – as the only son – for his mother’s welfare, but she also knew that her mother-in-law was a forceful personality, who could quite easily dominate their lives. She visited Paulina regularly for coffee, and Paulina came for dinner with the young couple twice a week. Rudolf was pleased to observe a growing friendship between the two women.

Paulina prided herself on her good taste. She enjoyed discussing her ideas for colour schemes and soft furnishings for the apartment with Julia. Julia, who was secretly indifferent to her domestic environment, preferring to read or play the piano, was happy to allow Paulina a free hand with such decisions. Sometimes Paulina asked Julia to accompany her to one or other of her friends’ homes. Sometimes, on warm days, they went for a carriage ride in the Ring Boulevard. Paulina encouraged her daughter-in-law to wear the outfits she had chosen for her on these expeditions. After all, one never knew who one might encounter.