Berlin: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

specially the scene where Verena van Bergen pretends not to have seen Armand for ages, even though he's waiting for her just next door.' Karin picked up a long cigarette-holder from the table and posed, her hand held at a casual angle. 'My dear, whatever are you thinking of? I'm about as interested in Armand as I am in Dr Dupont's dachshund. Or was it a Dobermann?' She'd captured Nadja Horn's tone of voice.
'Bravo!' Erik de Winter applauded. He had exchanged his evening dress for a silk dressing gown and a cravat, and looked captivating. A little champagne?' He poured some and handed Karin the glass.
It tickled her nose. Karin couldn't help sneezing. She laughed, not at all embarrassed. 'I never drank anything like this before.' She took another sip, without sneezing this time.
He raised his glass to her. 'I really like your village. Delightful people.' It sounded slightly patronizing.

And he doesn't even know the name of this dump, thought Nadja, putting the roses in a jug, since there was no vase available.
'It's not my village. I'm from Cuxhaven.'
Nadja sipped from her own glass. 'So you're visiting your family and helping out on the farm a little?'
'No, I've lived and worked here since Mutti died. But I'm soon going to Berlin.' She believed it as she said it. There was a determined set to her beautiful, full-lipped mouth.
Nadja Horn was observing the girl attentively. She heard her educated German, registered her natural, self-confident bearing. This was no naive rustic, there was more to her than that. Erik had spotted it, and he was right. She rose to her feet. 'Come with me a moment, my dear. Erik darling, top up our glasses, would you?'
Karin followed her into the next room, where Nadja opened the two halves of a large wardrobe trunk containing a dozen evening dresses. She chose one and tossed it to Karin. 'Try that on.' Karin had never undressed in front of a strange woman, and went into the bathroom, but her hostess followed. She took off her thin summer dress. 'Good heavens, how frightful!' cried Nadja, horrified at the sight of the blue jersey knickers. 'Wait a moment.' She disappeared and came back with a pair of diaphanous camiknickers and other delicious items. 'Come on, child, you want to look pretty,' she enticed her. Karin overcame her shyness and took off her dismal underclothes.
Nadja saw a fully developed young woman with long, slim thighs and beautifully shaped breasts. 'Now, sit down in front of the mirror.' She undid Karin's plaits and brushed her hair until it fell to her shoulders in golden waves. Then she carefully pencilled in the line of the girl's eyebrows and added just a touch of lipstick. That regular young face with its perfect complexion needed nothing more.
'Now stand up.' A cool, fragrant mist of perfume from Nadja's atomizer surrounded her naked body, making her nipples erect. Nadja helped her with the suspender belt and silk stockings. The long dress rustled as Karin drew it over her shoulders and hips. A few hooks and eyes completed the operation. Everything fitted, including the high-heeled silver pumps. Enchanted, Nadja clapped her hands.
'You took your time,' Erik de Winter complained in good-humoured tones. Then he said no more, so overwhelmed was he by the blonde young woman in the close-fitting black evening dress, high-necked in front and plunging right down to her waist at the back. Incredulous, Karin realized that she had bowled him right over.

Armand, where's that champagne? I'm dying of thirst,' she said, mimicking Nadja's lines from the second act, and she perched on the arm of a chair just like her model, ensuring that the slit in her skirt fell open all the way to her knee.
Erik regained his composure. Only if you'll dance with me, my love,' he quoted from his own lines, and wound up the gramophone.
Karin had seen him and Nadja dancing on stage. Now she just melted into his arms and they drifted over the creaking floorboards. She smelled his astringent eau-de-Cologne and