Antal Szerb: Oliver VII

“And aren’t you afraid of getting tired of doing this? That the permanent insecurity might grind you down?”

“Get tired? Oh, who knows, Your Highness, perhaps I already am? But I always bear my illustrious ancestor in mind. No country’s borders could contain him. New courts kept coming, and new gullible princes, new secrets and new adventures; the whole world glittered at his feet like so much treasure trove that had to be pocketed up quickly before the rightful owners came back … until he found his rest in the crypt in that little North German town … ”

“But that was then, in the gorgeous pink and sky-blue eighteenth century, with its frilly lace and beauty spots. It’s a bit harder to pocket things up in this modern world of reinforced concrete, St Germain!”

“Your Highness, my illustrious ancestor claimed to have lived for over a thousand years, and to have known Pontius Pilate personally. And sometimes I think of myself that I too have always been here, and will live forever … Long after reinforced concrete has disappeared, the need for adventure will still be with us … But this theme has taken us rather a long way. Your Highness, give me leave to go.”

“I don’t know what to say. If you must go whatever the cost, I cannot restrain you by force. I can only say I shall miss you very, very much.”

St Germain smiled, and bowed.

“If ever your situation changes, Your Highness, and Oscar has to be resurrected and he needs my help, St Germain will give it, even from his grave.”

He bowed again, and vanished, as if he had been dropped into a magician’s hat.

A few days later Princess Ortrud and her dazzling entourage arrived from Norlandia. The capital gave her an enthusiastic welcome. The whole day was given over to the celebrations. She held a reception for the female members of Alturian aristocracy, attended a banquet in the City Hall, inspected the arrangements and fittings in the so-called Queen’s Wing of the palace, and only towards evening, before dressing for the celebratory night at the opera, did she find a few moments to be alone with her fiancé King Oliver.

“At last,” he cried, as Baron Birker went out. He went quickly over to Ortrud, embraced her, and gave her a gentle, intimate kiss.

“It’s so good to be here,” she said. “How I love this country. When I go down the street now, people shout their heads off the moment I appear. And they no longer bash Baron Birker on the nose; they write ‘Long live Birker, true friend of the country’ on the wall of his house! Isn’t that interesting?”

“It’s all down to your fiancé’s political wisdom,” the King replied. “It turned the situation around completely.”

“I always said you were a wonderful king,” said Ortrud, nuzzling closer up to him.

“Tell me, Ortrud, did you miss me?”

“Very much, my dear.”

They kissed again and sat down.

“And then you know,” she went on, “I must confess in all honesty, when you vanished like that I was afraid I would never be your wife, and I would never know the great change they told me about that is so important in a woman’s life. My mother always said how difficult it was to find a husband for a royal princess. Monarchs are getting rarer by the day.”

“What? Did you think I might go off with someone else? That’s not very nice of you.”

“Oh no! I didn’t think that; only my mother. Once you disappeared, you were impossible to trace. I don’t understand how you managed to make yourself so invisible. You really must tell me where you went, when you were on the loose. What were you doing in your shirtsleeves in Kansas City?”

“I never went there. And I wasn’t ‘on the loose’. I was gathering experience. I mixed with all sorts of people, I got involved in stormy events, I got to know life.”

“And what did it teach you?”

“Oh, so many things. Above all, that it isn’t very interesting.”

“What?”

“Well, that life … ”

“I don’t understand you.”

“You don’t need to. It’s enough that you realise that I have learnt how good it is that there are little princesses in the world like you … in a world where there are still kings.”

“Tell me, Oliver, but truly … did you miss me?”

“Of course. Very much. The fact is, I did talk to another woman … ”

“What sort of woman?” Ortrud cried out in terror. “Oliver … you betrayed me all the time, I know!”

“Of course I didn’t. It wasn’t like that at all.”

“Don’t tell me, I know what men are like. Tell me, what sort of woman was she? I’m sure she was dreadful. Who did you like best?”

“Well, you see, Ortrud, in Venice there was a girl, a dear, really interesting girl. Completely different from you … ”

“I can imagine what sort of girl she was. A common baroness, or a minister’s wife, yes?”

“Er … er … yes, more or less. Very common, actually. That was why I liked her.”

“And so?”

“So nothing.”

Ortrud became very angry.

“Since you brought this up, you’d better give me the full story. What was this woman? Did you kiss her?”

“How could you think that? We just talked. But I didn’t want to tell you. I only mentioned her because, you know, she was completely different to you, but then she also looked a great deal like you. And I turned to her, I am sure, because properly speaking, the two of us … ”

But he stopped, suddenly concerned. Princess Ortrud was really not the sort of woman you can tell everything to.

“And what about the two of us?” she asked anxiously.

Oliver dropped the earnest tone of voice he had been using and answered instead as if he were still addressing his people from the palace balcony:

“I realised I could no longer fritter my time away. I had to return to the throne as quickly as I could to marry you. Truly.”

Ortrud gazed at him with suitable awe.

“You know, Oliver, it’s wonderful how you foresee everything, and can plan for everything.”

“To be sure.”

“And that the real reason you went away was so you could return and people would really be pleased to see you.”

“Yes, my girl. History teaches us that kings have to travel abroad from time to time, like husbands. Otherwise you get bored with them.”

“Wonderful! And I thought it was the end of the world when you sent me back to Mama. Only, I don’t understand, how when … do you remember … that evening … how did you know that a few seconds later the revolution would begin?”

“I could sense it. That’s how it is. The soul of a statesman is like a Geiger counter.”

“And what a bad time it was for a revolution. Do you remember?”

“Couldn’t have been worse. You never went through that change that is so important in the life of a woman.”

“And I never have since.”

“But I was more than willing to help you make that change, believe me.”

“Truly? … But then the sea serpent came.”

“Yes, the sea serpent. The fate of Alturian kings. But then it went away again. And now it’s done what it had to, and it’ll never trouble us again.”

“Are you sure about that, Oliver? Completely sure, that there won’t be a revolution this time?”

“Quite sure. You must trust in my statesmanlike wisdom and foresight.”

At that moment a terrible clamour was heard in the distance.

“What’s that? Is someone shouting?” the King asked.

“Someone, you say?” Ortrud gazed at him with eyes full of reproach. “Shouting? Don’t be ridiculous. It isn’t ‘someone’, it’s the mob, and they’re not shouting, they’re screaming. It’s the sea serpent!”

They both ran to the window. Just as on that other evening, a huge crowd darkened the scene outside the palace.