Davidson - The Night of Wenceslas

T HE little swine had his head well down in the books when I went in, so it was clear Miss Vosper had forestalled me after all. I had been popping up and down half the day to peer through the frosted glass panel of his door, and she wouldnt miss a thing like that.

He kept his head down religiously usually hed have a quick blink up to see who it was and after a couple of minutes I shuffled my feet and coughed somewhat aggressively.

He looked up then, pretending his rather charming tired double-take and said, Yes, Nicolas? He kept his finger ostentatiously on the line.

Id like a word with you if youre not too busy. Id promised myself I wouldnt say the last bit, and to salve my pride added loudly, Its important.

If its important it wont wait, said the Little Swine humorously, and he carefully jotted down his last figure and pushed the ledger back an inch. What can I do for you, Nicolas?

Its about money, I said, taking the seat he hadnt offered. I used to sit in it as a little boy waiting for my father. The Little Swine had been junior partner then. I just cant manage on seven quid a week.

The Little Swine stared at me disbelievingly. A young man with no responsibilites cant make seven pounds last seven days? What are you telling me, Nicolas? A postman with a family manages on very little more.

Well, I cant. When Ive paid for my digs and fares Ive got about fifty bob left. Ive got to buy clothes and and entertainment, taking a girl out occasionally.

The Little Swine was shaking his head. What new clothes, Nicolas? You got yourself a fine rig-out when you left the army. I myself buy a new suit only once in three years. Its the car, Nicolas. At the time I told you a certain liability, unjustifiable extravagance. Do I have a car?

He waited for me to speak, smiling, knowing in his swinish little way that hed cobbled me, and when I didnt, said, Nicolas, be a good boy and try just for once to follow my advice. Youre a boy twenty-four all right, a man then! When youve learned the business thoroughly youll take up your full duties as a partner. This talk of jobs and rises is undignified in your position. Youre getting spending money a very handsome allowance while you learn the business. Do you think youre worth even seven pounds a week to the business at the moment?

He paused again with his hands outstretched and a whimsical smile on his face. I knew hed tell me all this and Maura had told me what to reply, but for the life of me I couldnt sort the answers out. The Little Swine had known me all my life. His younger sister had been my nanny. Hed come into this room one day when Id wet the chair. I even used to call him Uncle Karel it still slipped out sometimes.

I said glumly, All I know is I cant manage. Im borrowing all the time and Im in debt.

Debts? Who are you in debt to?

There was a bill for 7 16s. outstanding at the garage for the past four months.

Various poeple, I said. I even had to borrow a fiver from my mother a few weeks ago.

You should not borrow from your mother, the Little Swine said reproachfully. You know I would always lend you the money. It is too bad to worry her. How is the sweet lady?

Shes all right, Maminka lived in Bournemouth, and I knew I had really borrowed the money from old Imre, who lived in the same private hotel; she would merely ask him for a loan until I had repaid it.

It is so long since I have seen her, the Little Swine said sadly. With business so hard to find I have not had a moment for years to go and pay her a visit. Is she still so beautiful?

Yes, I said truthfully. She was.

And Mr Gabriel? His lungs? The Little Swine inquired delicately.

Imres all right. There was nothing wrong with Imres lungs. He had been in love with my mother for years and his supposed enfeeblement gave him an excuse to live in Bournemouth, too. He ran a small stamp business from the hotel.

I must go down to see them. I will try next month after the audit.

He looked as if he meant it, so I said hastily, She lives in the past a great deal, you know. She had always treated the Little Swine in a very condescending manner (his first job had been sweeping the floor in her fathers glassworks) and had got it into her head that he was merely superintending the business until I wished to take it over.

The Little Swine took the point, but he said, And what a past! You would hardly remember Prague, of course, but your mother was the uncrowned queen, I assure you. An enchanting lady. It is no wonder she prefers to think of those days.

He sat there with a rather lingering smile on his face, no doubt well satisfied at the changes in their respective fortunes, until he recollected himself and drew the ledger back. Well, Nicolas, we must not think of the past, but of the present and the future. There is a good one waiting for you as soon as you settle down and take an interest. Meanwhile, get rid of the car, my boy, and you will find you have money to spare.

He gave me a little nod, and automatically I stood up. I was outside his office before I realized Id got nothing out of him. Nothing at all. No promises. No half promises. Nothing I could tax him with, even in my own mind. I didnt know what I was going to tell Maura.

My face must have been so glum that Miss Vosper, drawing her own conclusions, tried hard to suppress her hideous delight and began sticking stamps with her enormous gargoyle tongue.

Ive stamped all yours, she said with her unique leprous smile, and checked the stamp book. It was only out ninepence this week.

Right. The single word must have sounded so bitter that she turned her head to conceal a smile. The suppression seemed to release a gust of her special odour, and a cloud of it wafted towards me. I blew my nose hard.

Is Mr Nimek free now? she asked, almost giggling.

Yes.

She stood up with her notebook and paused over my desk for a moment so that I was almost choked and had to turn my head away. Hes been a thorough tartar all the week.

The idea of the Little Swine as a tartar was so singular that when she went I stared after her. Miss Vosper had been with him seventeen years; ample time to see him as he was. This new vision of him rivalled in lunacy only her demoniac hatred of me, the interloper, the young toff, the threat from the past.

My father had started this business, an Englishman who had worked for years in Prague where he had met and married my mother. He had set up the English end as a selling outlet for the Bohemian glassworks just before I was born, and had sent Karel Nimek, the Little Swine, over to look after it. The Germans took over the glassworks in 1938 and the London importing firm became the main business.

My father had died of cancer in 1941, having made over most of his shares to the Little Swine. He had not got much for them, for the main assets of the business consisted in a claim for compensation after the war. But he had left me thirty per cent, and had come to an agreement with the Little Swine that I was to be allowed to establish parity with him in our respective shareholdings when I left university and had received a grounding in the business. He had then bought my mother an annuity, settled a sum for my education, and had died confident the agreement would be honoured.

Why he expected the Little Swine to honour so vague an undertaking I had never known. In effect he had put the Little Swine on his honour. A chancy thing to do. Since coming out of the army nearly a year before, I had been the general dogsbody of the office. My shares meant nothing, since he had never distributed any profits. Seven quid a week.