Night Games: And Other Stories and Novellas Read Online Free PDF Page B

was their custom on Sunday
evenings.
    A mild disappointment painted itself on Willi's face, and the housemaid smiled at the two boxes that the lieutenant held in his hand. What
should he do with these? "Please give my respects and-here"-he
handed the housemaid the two packages-"the larger one is for the lady
of the house, and the other one is for the Fraulein. And give them my regrets."
    "Perhaps if the lieutenant were to take a carriage-they're probably
still at the Krainer Lodge."
    Willi looked at his watch ponderously and a little self-importantly.
    "Well, I'll see," he remarked carelessly, gave a humorously exaggerated salute, and left.
    He was now alone on the evening street. A small, merry band of
tourists, ladies and gentlemen with dirty shoes, passed by. In front of a
villa an elderly gentleman sat in a wicker chair reading the paper. A little
farther up the street an elderly lady sat crocheting on a second-story balcony while speaking with a woman who was leaning out the open window of the house opposite, her arms crossed over the windowsill. It
seemed to Willi as though these people were the only ones in the whole
town who had not gone somewhere at this hour. The Kessners might
have left word for him with the housemaid! Well, he had no intention of
forcing himself on them. He really didn't need to do that. But what to do?
Return to Vienna right away? That would perhaps be best. How would it
be just to leave the decision to fate?
    Two carriages stood in front of the casino. "How much to go to the
Helene Valley?" One driver was already engaged, and the other de manded a really outrageous price. So Willi decided instead in favor of an
evening walk in the park.

    The park was still crowded at this hour. There were married couples
and pairs of lovers, whom Willi thought he could distinguish with certainty. Many young girls and women walking alone or in twos or in
threes lightheartedly passed him by, and he returned many a smiling,
even encouraging, glance. But one could never be sure that a father,
brother, or fiance was not walking behind, and as an officer it was his
duty to be doubly, even triply, careful. For a while he followed a darkhaired, slim woman who was leading a boy by the hand. She went up the
stairs to the terrace of the casino, seemed to be looking for someone, at
first unsuccessfully, until someone beckoned to her enthusiastically from
a distant table, whereupon, giving Willi a quick, taunting look, she took
her place in the middle of a large company. Willi then also pretended to
be looking for someone, and went from the terrace into the restaurant,
which was almost empty, and from there reached an entrance hall and
then a reading room, already lit, where a retired general in uniform, the
only guest, sat at a long, green table. Willi saluted and clicked his heels,
the general nodded back crustily, and Willi hurried out again. Outside in
front of the casino one of the carriages was still there, and the driver,
unasked, now declared himself ready to take the lieutenant cheaply to the
Helene Valley.
    "Thanks, but it's too late now," Willi replied, and rapidly started
back to the Cafe Schopf.
    V
    The players were still there, in exactly the same positions as before, as if
not one minute had passed since Willi's departure. A light gleamed dimly
from under a green shade. Willi believed he saw a taunting smile play
around the mouth of the consul, who was the first to notice his arrival.
No one expressed the slightest surprise when Willi again pulled his chair,
which had remained empty, up to the table between the others. Dr. Flegmann, who was the banker at the moment, dealt him a card as though it were tacitly understood that he should do so. In his hurry, Willi bet a
larger bill than he had intended. He won, and then proceeded more carefully. But his luck had changed, and soon there came a moment when his
thousand-gulden bill seemed to be in grave danger. Well, what do I