They Were Found Wanting (57 page)

After his return to Budapest Balint went once or twice to visit his mother at Abbazia, but he never stayed more than a few days lest the joy of seeing each other again should wear thin and the suppressed enmity between them be allowed to surface again.

One day at the end of February when he entered his hotel on returning from Abbazia, the hall porter told him that a Mr Frankel, the managing director of a timber firm that handled the produce of the Abady forests, had come twice to see him. Balint assumed that he wanted to discuss some matter relating to his own affairs and, as he was rather pressed to complete writing the speech in which he would support a new bill in Parliament
concerning
the co-operative societies, he decided for the moment to delay telling Frankel of his return.

He was sitting at his desk, surrounded by charts and tables and other statistics, when at about noon the door was quietly opened and Dinora Malhuysen slipped into the room.

‘What are you doing, Little Boy?’ she asked from the door. ‘Working hard, I suppose. My! How important we’ve become!’ She laughed as she came towards him. Then she lightly tapped his cheek and sank down into an armchair, opening as she did so the soft chinchilla collar round her throat. She leaned back.

‘Dear Dinora, what an unexpected pleasure!’

‘Unexpected? Naturally! Anyway, you can talk! You never once came to see me! It wasn’t at all nice of you. You’ve never even seen my lovely new flat in Szemelynok Street. You can’t spend all your time at that boring Parliament. Couldn’t you spare a moment to come and see me … or don’t you want to?’

Balint smiled. ‘Of course I do. I love seeing you!’

‘Well then? But, seriously, I’ve always thought of you as my best friend, perhaps the only one. That’s why I came … I have something important to ask you. Will you do it, Little Boy? Do you remember “Little Boy”?’ and Dinora’s sensuous lips framed the little phrase with special significance because it had been her special nickname for him when they had been lovers. Even so her eyes revealed how anxious she was.

‘If you tell me what it is, and if I can, then I will, of course.’

‘I knew you would! Well, it’s like this, Zsig … Zsigmond Boros, you know who I mean, well, he’s been very good to me, and I want to ask you – please don’t do anything to harm him. You won’t, will you? Please don’t! It’d be such a little thing to you, but to me it’s very important. And he’s not a bad man, not really. You won’t do anything, will you? For my sake?’

Balint frowned. He realized that it must have been Boros
himself
who had sent his mistress to plead for him, that darling foolish scatter-brained little Dinora; but as he had no intention of
pursuing
Boros anyway he promised to desist quite easily.

‘Don’t worry, darling Dinora, I won’t hurt him. You can rely on that.’

She jumped up and pressed her lips to his and kissed him repeatedly, saying each time, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’

When he was finally able to disentangle himself Balint said, ‘You know I never said anything about Boros at that meeting at Vasarhely. I didn’t even know that he was in any way involved in … in that sort of thing.’

‘Oh, you are good! Good and kind! I’m so relieved, so glad,’ and she started to twirl about the room in a little light-hearted dance of joy. Then she stopped and looked coquettishly back at Balint, ‘You know … if ever you’re bored I’m always … well, I wouldn’t hold you to anything…’ and her eyes made it clear that this was the only way she knew to express her gratitude.

‘Thank you, my sweet Dinora, but at present I am not bored,’ he said with a smile, though the truth was that indeed he was, bored and unhappy; but to share her with someone like Boros? It would be better, he decided, to avoid her for a little while.

‘That’s quite all right. I only said it so that you’d know and … Well, goodbye now, goodbye.’ And she went out as swiftly as she had come in.

That same afternoon the porter rang up to say that Mr Frankel had called. Balint, who was tired from all the work he had been doing, was only too pleased to be interrupted and so asked for him to be sent up.

Frankel had not come to discuss the affairs of the Abady forest holdings. He came for something quite different, and he brought with him a whole stack of official-looking papers. These proved to be copies of documents and correspondence between the Ministry of Trade and the State Railways concerning the
monopoly
contract signed by the Minister with the Eisler Timber Company. There was also one other paper; it was a photograph of a receipt for 100,000 crowns given to Dr Boros by Eisler and Company.

‘I am aware,’ said Frankel, ‘that your Lordship has already referred publicly to Dr Boros’s activities. That is why I have made so bold as to bring these documents for your perusal. Should your Lordship feel disposed to take up this matter, which is of the greatest possible interest both to forest owners and to the timber trade, both of which feel that a most unfair irregularity has been committed and that the contract would be sure to be cancelled if the whole truth were known.’

For a moment Balint did not answer. He looked through the documents that Frankel had brought, and as he did so he realized why it was that Dinora had so hurriedly come to see him that morning. It could only have been that Boros had somehow heard that the timber merchants had got something on him and were about to appeal to Abady for help, and that he had sent Dinora hotfoot to forestall them.

The papers that Frankel had brought were irrefutable proof of the irregularity and dishonesty of the official proceedings and Boros’s signed receipt spelt professional death at that time when to be found out was the ultimate sin.

‘Why,’ asked Abady as he handed back the dossier, ‘do you come to me? There are many other Members who speak more frequently than I do and whose words carry more weight. Any one of them would handle this matter far better than I would. I … I … am really not the best man for it.’

Frankel shook his head.

‘Only your Lordship could do this properly. Dr Boros has a high position in the Independence Party and the deal was signed by Kossuth. No one in the party would handle it and there is no one who has left the party who would be taken seriously. Almost no one would be likely to come forward from the Constitution or People’s Parties because the only person capable of achieving their policies as regards the general franchise or the banking question would be Kossuth, and he is clearly as much out of the running as Justh. What we need is someone who is truly
independent
, who has no party ties and who cannot be suspected of any motive of personal gain. Your Lordship owns forests, it is true, but they do not produce timber suitable for railway sleepers. Everyone would know that Count Abady spoke only in the public interest.’

‘All the same I will not do it,’ said Abady drily. ‘Kossuth is an honourable man who certainly signed in good faith. The only thing you can accuse him of is ignorance or gullibility; and in so doing you cast a slur on him he does not deserve. No! I will not do it.’

‘Pity,’ said Frankel as he got up and replaced the dossier in his briefcase. Then he added, ‘If your Lordship should at any time change your mind and need these papers they will always be at your disposal.’ Then he said goodbye and left the room.

Balint smiled as the door closed behind his departing visitor. He knew that he would never have agreed to do as Frankel wished, but it pleased him all the same that he had been able so soon to keep his promise to Dinora.

The new tax proposals were bitterly attacked in Parliament, and in particular the concessions to the co-operatives. At that time so much importance was given to the principle of private enterprise that people even saw injustice if the state reduced the burden on organizations designed to help the under-privileged.

Most of the members looked askance at the whole co-operative movement, partly because its principal supporters were Sandor Karolyi, Gyorgy Banffy, Zselinsky and Aurel Dessewffy, all of them aristocrats. Istvan Bernath and Rubinak were country-bred members of the Agrarian Party which favoured giving voting rights to agricultural workers and in any case kept well away from everyday political issues while avoiding allegiance to any party. Others objected on obscure theoretical grounds of their own.

The principle of free enterprise, unhampered by any control of prices, was held sacrosanct, as were the traditional notions of astronomy. In 1908 people were not to know that even these last were soon to be challenged by Einstein’s theory of relativity!

In the popular view anything that deviated from what was held to be the accepted order of matters economic, anything that gave added value to state enterprises or indeed any other
concern
, however altruistic, was held to be a sin against received truth – for such was the usual view of the principle of free enterprise.

And so the new tax proposals, especially as regards the
co-operatives
, which, though presented by the Minister-President Wekerle had been worked out by Daranyi, the Minister for Agriculture, were hotly contested. No one seemed to notice that by so doing they were not only giving support to those owners of village stores and innkeepers who lent money at exorbitant
interest
, but also penalizing the peasants who actually worked the land.

There were also those who supported the Bill, and among them was Abady.

This time he spoke better than he had two years before, so much so that he was listened to with interest, especially by Daranyi, who once or twice nodded his approval. Even so it was clear to him that the majority did not take the co-operatives all that seriously. Doubtless they thought some other matters more pressing, especially as at that very moment the banking questions were being discussed in committee in another room.

Every now and then members would rush into the chamber with news of how matters were going at the committee session and how the atmosphere there was getting hotter and hotter. Finally it was heard that the government had managed to get the discussion adjourned before it had been taken to a vote.

Balint gathered up his papers and stepped out into the corridor where he found a large group of other Members all discussing the day’s affairs. On the far side stood Boros who, when he saw Abady, made a movement as if he would walk over to
congratulate
him. As it happened he only started to make such a
movement
as Balint quickened his pace and passed by swiftly. This happened so rapidly that no one noticed – but Boros knew
instinctively
that Abady had hurried away on purpose, and in this he was perfectly right, for Balint really had felt disinclined to shake hands with the lawyer in front of so many people. To do so would have been tantamount to telling the world that they were friends.

For a brief moment Boros watched Abady walk away. He frowned, then he turned once again to the group who were still deep in discussion of the banking question.

At once he dominated the argument, giving his opinion
precisely
and in the most lucid language. He defended Kossuth’s view even though it was opposed by the committee, and explained why the link with Austrian banking was so important. He found some touching phrases to describe the ailing party
leader
and indeed he served his master well for, at least as long as he was speaking, even Justh’s followers found themselves in
agreement
. And, as always, he spoke beautifully, tear-wringing phrases fell from his mouth expressed in sonorous tones as rich as any cathedral organ. He was a master of oratory, ready, no matter how hard-pressed by worries, to express the most beautiful
sentiments
, using his voice like a well-tuned instrument from which he could obtain whatever effects he desired.