Berlin: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

prophesied Werneisen darkly.
Karin wasn't listening. She was leafing through a old issue of Die Dame magazine, looking at the glossy photos of beautiful, elegant people and dreaming of blonde Nadja Horn and Erik de Winter, that dishy man in evening dress.
One Friday morning in July, a coach containing the theatrical company and a truck with its scenery drew up in the yard of the inn at Weissroda. Karin was mucking out the henhouse when Barbel burst in with the news. She dropped her pitchfork. This she had to see.

Actors and stagehands got out of the coach, along with the director Theodor Alberti, a gentleman with a leonine mane of hair, a monocle and a Scotch terrier. Erik de Winter the film star got out too.
Karin recognized him at once: dark, wavy hair, soft chin and velvety brown eyes. He was wearing pale flannels and a white tennis sweater, and had a clutch of newspapers under one arm. He laughed and waved: he always laughed and waved when there was an audience in the offing. News of the actors' arrival had not yet spread, so the audience was Karin. Unabashed, she waved back.
Erik de Winter was moved by the sight of the girl's slender figure in an overall much too big for her. her regular features and expressive blue eyes. 'What a young beauty,' he said, helping his stage partner out of the bus.
'You've never fallen for rustic charm before,' Nadja Horn teased him. She bore only the most remote resemblance to the groomed blonde lady in the white fox fur. Her black hair was tied up with a red scarf, and she wore widelegged trousers in the Dietrich style. 'But as usual, your taste is impeccable.' She walked over to the startled girl with long, energetic strides, and offered her hand. 'I'm Nadja Horn.'
'But you're not blonde!' exclaimed Karin.
'Oh, we actors are whatever the public wants us to be. Black-haired, redheaded, blonde, brunette. May I introduce you to my partner? Herr Erik de Winter - this is Fraulein ... what did you say your name was?'
'Karin Rembach.' Karin wiped some chicken shit off her face.
A long look from those velvety brown eyes. 'Very pleased to meet you, Fraulein Rembach.'
'Oh, me too! I saw you in a movie. You played an airman.'
'Yes, it was Storming the Heavens.' He kept on looking at her. Are you coming to the show this evening? We'll leave you a complimentary ticket at the box office.'
Nadja Horn was watching the encounter with amusement. This little country girl seemed to have made a great impression on him. 'Come and see us after the performance,' she suggested. 'Then you can tell us what you thought of the play. Herr de Winter and I would like that.'
'I'll ask Aunt Anna if I may,' she promised, and then could have kicked herself.

By now the yard had filled with curious onlookers. Half the village watched with bated breath as de Winter bent to kiss Karin's hand. Her heart was thudding, but she didn't let it show. 'See you this evening, then,' she said loud enough for everyone to hear, and ran back to the henhouse with a spring in her step.
Later, in the kitchen, she asked her aunt's permission. 'Take them a few roses from the garden, and don't be back too late,' was Anna Werneisen's only comment. 'It won't hurt the child to meet someone new for a change.' she said later, justifying her decision to her husband.

The play was a drawing-room comedy, with witty dialogue that went right over the heads of most of the audience. But Karin instinctively understood its subtle irony and double-entendres, and she loved the actors' elegant costumes. She wanted to be like them too.
She felt ashamed of her thin summer dress with its little white collar when she went to see her new friends after the show. They had been given the two best rooms in the inn.
'Oh, how sweet of you, my dear.' Nadja Horn came towards her with outstretched arms. She was wearing a flowing house dress. She had taken off her blonde wig, and was black-haired again. 'What lovely roses! Thank you so much. Did you like the play?'
'Oh yes,