Anthony Powell - Temporary Kings

‘I may get in touch with you again. Nick, before you leave Venice. There might be a small package I should like you to post for me in England. The mails are very uncertain here. Ah-ha, yes. Goodbye to you then, goodbye. I’m glad we had opportunity to meet again, Mr Glober. Yes, yes. I do my poor best. Ah-ha, ah-ha. I hope I may at least have acted as a signpost away from Formalism. Yes, do let me know about the blocks, Mrs Quiggin. I quite see your position. Goodbye, goodbye.’

We left him to Widmerpool, whatever dialogues lay ahead of them. After reaching the street, nothing was said for a minute or two. Then Glober spoke.

‘That was a most interesting experience — and a superb addition to my collection of twentieth-century primitives.’

‘I adored Mr Tokenhouse,’ said Ada. ‘Those blocks could be quite a snip, if he’s prepared to consider a reasonable price. I remember JG talking of him now. I’m not sure JG didn’t know the psychiatrist — a Party member — who treated Tokenhouse for his breakdown, anyway treated some ex-publisher for a breakdown. He used to treat a friend of Howard Craggs, an old girl called Milly Andriadis, who died in Paris last year.’

‘I once went to a party given by Mrs Andriadis,’ said Glober. ‘That shows how old I am.’

Neither he nor Ada spoke of Widmerpool. There seemed something almost deliberate about their avoidance of his name. Then Glober stopped suddenly.

‘Oh, hell.’

‘What’s happened?’

‘I’d forgotten that contact man I was due to see at the Gritti.’

He looked at his watch.

‘I’m going to be late. What’s to be done in a town without taxis, and not a gondola in sight?’

Ada pointed.

‘If you run, you’ll catch the circolare. It’s coming up. You could just about make it.’

Glober, with a shout that we must meet again soon, seemed delighted to show his mettle as a short-distance sprinter. Taking Tokenhouse’s picture from under his arm, he bounded off. We saw him catch the boat, just as the rope was thrown across the rails. He turned and waved in our direction. We waved back.

‘What energy.’

‘All quite unnecessary too. He’s surrounded by secretaries and hangers-on of one kind or another, who are only there to give an impression big business is being transacted. I’m going to make for the Lido. Have a rest, before going out this evening with Emily Brightman.’

We walked on towards the vaporetto stop.

‘Who’s this American called Gwinnett that Pam’s taken a fancy to?’

‘Has she taken a fancy to him? He’s writing a book about our old friend X. Trapnel. If you don’t deflect Glober’s film interests to St John Clarke, Gwinnett might help in making a Trapnel film. Did she tell you she liked him?’

Ada laughed at such an idea.

‘I was hearing about Gwinnett from Glober. Can you keep a secret? Glober wants to marry Pam, not just have an affair with her. Don’t breathe a word to anyone. You won’t, will you? He revealed that to me when he found I was her old friend. Only in the strictest confidence.’

‘What does her husband think about that? He must have had plenty of opportunities to divorce her, if he wanted. Anyway, why should she herself decide to marry Glober?’

‘I doubt if Kenneth knows yet. He just thinks Glober’s one of her usuals. So far as Pam is concerned, the bait Glober holds out is the lead in this great film he’s going to make.’

‘Pamela? But she’s never acted in her life, has she?’

Ada thought that a naive reaction.

‘What does that matter? Besides, Pam’s no fool. If she wants a thing, she’ll force herself to do it. What Glober’s worried about is this young American turning up, who’s a Trapnel fan. He doesn’t want Gwinnett sticking round, if he does a Trapnel film. That’s why he’s begun to look about for another book to make his picture from. There’s a character just like Pam in Match Me Such Marvel . Of course, St John Clarke didn’t know anything about women, but a competent script-writer could alter all that.’

‘Why should she want to act at all?’

‘Because Pam longs for fame.’

‘You mean publicity?’

‘Anything you like to call it. Nobody’s ever heard of her. She doesn’t care for that. For one thing, she isn’t keen on nobody having heard of her, and quite a lot of people having heard of me.’

‘Where did Glober meet her?’

‘At her father’s place in Montana. Cosmo Flitton married an American, and they run a dude ranch together. Wouldn’t you adore to meet some dudes? Anyway, Pam went up there to stay, when she was in the States with Kenneth, and Louis Glober fell.’

‘So Cosmo Flitton’s still going?’

‘Not only still going, but a highly regarded figure out there, with his one arm and reputation of an old hero. Everybody’s mad about him. About Pam too, Glober says. He also described a scene that took place last night at Jacky Bragadin’s, which went rather far even for Pam. It all arose from the Tiepolo ceiling. That was why Kenneth Widmerpool winced when Tiepolo was mentioned by Mr Tokenhouse, just before we left. Do you know the subject of the picture? I was brought up on significant form, colour values, all that sort of thing, so I hadn’t particularly noticed what was being illustrated. Unlike Mr Tokenhouse, and Len Pugsley, my family always rather looked down on people who thought a picture told a story. I know about Socialist Realism, but this is an Old Master. I just saw a classical subject, and left it at that. Apparently it’s a man showing his naked wife to a friend.’

Ada spoke with clinical objectivity.

‘Perfectly right.’

‘For some reason Pam was determined to talk about that picture all through dinner. There were a lot of people there, Glober said. She was between a monsignore and a maharaja. You know how silent she is as a rule. That night she chattered incessantly. Went on and on. Nothing would stop her. She seemed to be doing this partly to get under the skin of a lady Glober knows, called Signora Clarini, the English wife of the Italian film director, but living apart. Apparently Signora Clarini was a girl-friend of Sir Magnus Donners years ago, and now wants to marry Glober. He conveyed that in his quiet way. Pam may decide not to marry him herself, she was going to make sure Signora Clarini didn’t either. She kept on talking about Donners, implying he was a voyeur.’

‘Pamela’s hardly in a position to take a high moral line, if only after some of the things being said about her at the more sensational end of the French press.’

Ada had not heard about the Ferrand-Sénéschal revelations. She brushed them aside. Borrit, a War Office colleague, who had served in Africa, once spoke of the Masai tribe holding, as a tenet of faith, that all cows in the world belong to them. Ada, in similar manner, arrogated to herself all the world’s gossip, sources other than her own a presumption.

‘Pam didn’t take a high moral line. Quite the reverse. She spoke as if she and Signora Clarini were sister whores. That, according to Glober, was what made Signora Clarini so cross.’

‘This was all in front of Widmerpool?’

‘That’s what Glober found so fascinating. Kenneth didn’t attempt to shut her up. Of course he knows by now that’s impossible, but Glober thought he was not only afraid of her — almost physically afraid — but got a kind of kick from what she was saying.’

‘How did their host enjoy this small talk at his table?’

‘Jacky Bragadin wasn’t feeling well that evening, thought he was going to have one of his attacks, so wasn’t bothering much. The monsignore was one of those worldly priests, who take anything in their stride, but the maharaja didn’t know where to look. Louis Glober, to relieve the tension, persuaded the maharaja to teach him cricket. Jacky Bragadin found a Renaissance mace that belonged to some famous condottiere, and they used that for a bat. The maharaja bowled a peach, Glober hit it so hard he caught Kenneth on the jaw. That made further trouble.’