The Pendragon Legend

The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb Read Free Book Online
Authors: Antal Szerb
these beautiful and touching things—which of course I had heard before from Irish patriots—in such a remote and ethereal way it was like a lesson being repeated. I found myself wondering, to my surprise: was there any aspect of life on earth she wouldn’t take as a source of instruction, or a call to duty?
    We took a light lunch at Birmingham, then continued on our way. We had by now exhausted our fund of general topics without establishing any real personal contact. This saddened me, I must admit. I felt it would all be in vain: I would never succeed in penetrating her hinterland.
    We were not far from Chester when she turned to me:
    “I would like to ask you a favour. You’re going to Llanvygan, to the Earl of Gwynedd. The Earl was once a very good friend of mine—perhaps the best I ever had. Later, we became estranged, irrevocably estranged, as the result of a misunderstanding. But I am still very fond of him, and wish him well: from a distance, of course. And now I feel the need to remind him of my existence, after all these years.”
    So! A lyrical confession! But the manner, the tone in which it was delivered, was such as she might have used to tell me her new butler was proving satisfactory. When this woman opened her heart she became even more enigmatic than when she remained silent.
    “I wonder if you would give him this ring? Perhaps you’ll think it odd that I should ask you rather than Maloney, whom I have known all these years … but you know Maloney. He’s a thoroughly nice boy, from an excellent family, but somehow not a person you would trust with a florin. That’s why I’m asking you. I hope you don’t mind.”
    “I should be delighted to be of service.”
    “And I must also ask you not to tell the Earl from whom you received it. Tell him it was sent to you in an anonymous letter requesting you to pass it on to him.”
    “Excuse me, but surely you want the ring to remind him of you?”
    “Oh yes, but I would like him to work out for himself who sent it.If he can’t manage that, then he doesn’t deserve to be so much in my thoughts. And you will give me your word of honour that you will never, in any circumstances, tell him that you got it from me.”
    This was not a request, or even a command. It was a simple statement of fact, delivered in the same colourless tone as her previous speech, a simple assumption that I would now give her my word. She spoke as if the possibility never occurred to her that one might not accede to her wish.
    I gave her my word.
    Yet something inside me protested fiercely. Quite apart from the malign aura that clung to her from the association with Cristofoli, I could not forget that Eileen St Claire was Maloney’s friend. All this might well have been arranged in advance, a conspiracy. Every suspicious circumstance seemed to be aimed at Llanvygan, entangled ever deeper in this unfathomable mystery. Her personal secret was part of the greater secret surrounding the Earl, the one that my intuition warned me so strongly against, the one that attracted and repelled me so intensely. And yet, I had given my word. Why? Because Eileen St Claire was so extremely beautiful , and I am so helpless.
    I put the ring away.
    And thus we arrived at Chester. Maloney and I got out at the station and took our leave.
    “So you will do what I asked you,” she said. “When you get back to London, tell me what the Earl said. Goodbye.”
    She looked at me, smiled, and took off her glove.
    “Yes, you may kiss my hand.”
     
    We were sitting on the train, continuing our journey. At one point Maloney asked if I would put a package in my suitcase, as it was too large for his. Nothing else of note occurred on the way.
    Soon we were winding in and out among the mountains of North Wales. There was a change of train, after which the landscape became even more picturesque, and by the time we reached Corwen it was distinctly rugged. Osborne was waiting for us, and after a brief exchange of

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