Unknown - Isherwood, Christopher (The Berlin Stories - The Last of Mr Norris - Goodbye to Berlin) (TXT)

“But, Arthur.” I picked up the powder-puff and put it on the dressing-table. “It’s no good just being upset. This must be a warning to you. You see, he really does mean business. We must do something about it. Haven’t you any plan? Are there no steps you can take?”

Arthur roused himself with an effort.

“Yes, yes. You’re right, of course. The die is cast. Steps shall be taken. In fact, not a moment shall be lost. I wonder if you’d be so good as to get me the Fernamt on the telephone and say I wish to put through a call to Paris? I don’t think it’s too early? No… .”

I asked for the number Arthur gave me and tactfully left him alone. I didn’t see him again until the evening, when, as usual, we met by appointment at the restaurant for our supper. I noticed at once that he was brighter. He even insisted that we should drink wine, and when I demurred offered to pay my share of the bottle.

“It’s so strengthening,” he added persuasively.

I grinned. “Still worried about my health?”

“You’re very unkind,” said Arthur, smiling. But he refused to be drawn. When, a minute or two later, I asked pointblank how things were going, he replied:

“Let’s have supper first, dear boy. Be patient with me, please.”

But even when supper was over and we had both ordered coffee (an additional extravagance), Arthur seemed in no hurry to give me his news. Instead, he appeared anxious to know what I had been doing, which pupils I had had, where I had lunched, and so forth.

“You haven’t seen our friend Pregnitz lately, I think?”

“As a matter of fact, I’m going to tea with him tomorrow.”

“Are you, indeed?”

I restrained a smile. I was familiar enough by this time

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with Arthur’s methods of approach. That new intonation in his voice, though suavely concealed, hadn’t escaped me. So we were coming to the point at last.

“May I give him any message?”

Arthur’s face was a comical study. We regarded each other with the amusement of two people who, night after night, cheat each other at a card game which is not played for money. Simultaneously we began to laugh.

“What, exactly,” I asked, “do you want to get out of him?”

“William, please … you put things so very crudely.”

“It saves time.”

“Yes, yes. You’re right. Time is, alas, important just now. Very well, let’s put it that I’m anxious to do a little business with him. Or shall we say to put him in the way of doing it for himself?”

“How very kind of you!”

Arthur tittered. “I am kind, aren’t I, William? That’s what so few people seem to realize.”

“And what is this business? When is it coming off?”

“That remains to be seen, I hope.”

“I suppose you get a percentage?”

“Naturally.”

“A big percentage?”

“If it succeeds. Yes.”

“Enough for you to be able to leave Germany?”

“Oh, more than enough. Quite a nice little nest-egg, in fact.”

“Then that’s splendid, isn’t it?”

Arthur snarled nervously, regarded his finger-nails with extreme care.

“Unfortunately, there are certain technical difficulties. I need, as so often, your valuable advice.”

“Very well, let’s hear them.”

Arthur considered for some moments. I could see that he was wondering how much he need tell me.

“Chiefly,” he said at length, “that this business cannot be transacted in Germany.”

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“Why not?”

“Because it would involve too much publicity. The other party to the deal is a well-known business man. As you probably know, big-business circles are comparatively small. They all watch each other. News gets round in a moment; the least hint is enough. If this man were to come to Berlin, the business people here would know about it before he’d even arrived. And secrecy is absolutely essential.”

“It all sounds very thrilling. But I’d no idea that Kuno was in business at all.”

“Strictly speaking, he isn’t.” Arthur took some trouble to avoid my eye. “This is merely a sideline.”

“I see. And where do you propose that this meeting shall take place?”

Arthur carefully selected a toothpick from the little bowl in front of him.

“That, my dear William, is where I hope to have the benefit of your valuable advice. It must be somewhere, of course, within easy reach of the German frontier. Somewhere where people can go, at this time of the year, without attracting attention, on a holiday.”

With great deliberation, Arthur broke the toothpick into two pieces and laid them side by side on the table-cloth. Without looking up at me, he added:

“Subject to your approval, I’d rather thought of Switzerland.”

There was quite a long pause. We were both smiling.

“So that’s it?” I said at last.

Arthur redivided the toothpick into quarters; raised his eyes to mine in a glance of dishonest, smiling innocence.

“That, as you rightly observe, dear boy, is it.”

“Well, well. What a foxy old thing you are.” I laughed. “I’m beginning to see daylight at last.”

“I must confess, William, I was beginning to find you a little slow in the uptake. That isn’t like you, you know.”

“I’m sorry, Arthur. But all these riddles make me a bit

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giddy. Suppose you stop asking them and let’s have the whole yarn from the beginning?”

“I assure you, my dear boy, I’m more than ready to tell you all I know about this affair, which isn’t very much. Well, to cut a long story short, Pregnitz is interested in one of the largest glass-works in Germany. It doesn’t matter which. You wouldn’t find his name on the list of directors; nevertheless, he has a great deal of unofficial influence. Of course, I don’t pretend to understand these matters myself.”

“A glass-works? Well, that sounds harmless enough.”

“But, my dear boy,” Arthur was anxiously reassuring, “of course it’s harmless. You mustn’t allow your naturally cautious nature to upset your sense of proportion. If this proposition sounds a little odd to you at first, it’s only because you aren’t accustomed to the ways of high finance. Why, it’s the kind of thing which takes place every day. Ask anybody you like. The largest deals are almost always discussed informally.”

“All right! All right! Go on.”

“Let me see. Where was I? Ah, yes. Now, one of my most intimate friends in Paris is a certain prominent financier—”

“Who signs himself Margot?”

But this time I didn’t catch Arthur off his guard. I couldn’t even guess whether he was surprised or not. He merely smiled.

“How sharp you are, William! Well, perhaps he does. Anyhow, we’ll call him Margot for convenience. Yes … at all events, Margot is exceedingly anxious to have a chance of meeting Pregnitz. Although he doesn’t admit it in so many words, I understand that he wishes to propose some sort of combine between Pregnitz’s firm and his own. But that’s entirely unofficial; it doesn’t concern us. As for Pregnitz, he’ll have to hear Margot’s propositions for himself and decide whether they’re to the advantage of his firm or not. Quite possibly, indeed probably, they will be. If not, there’s no harm done. Margot will only have himself to blame. All

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he’s asking me to arrange is that he meets the Baron socially, on neutral ground, where they won’t be bothered by a lot of financial reporters and can talk things over quietly.”

“And as soon as you’ve brought them together, you get the cash?”

“When the meeting has taken place,” Arthur lowered his voice, “I get half. The other half will be paid only if the deal is successful. But the worst of it is, Margot insists that he must see Pregnitz at once. He’s always like that when once he gets an idea into his head. A most impatient man… .”