Chapter 66

I made my way from the kitchen through the dining room to the drawing room. Harry and another man were already at work boarding up the french doors until adequate repairs could be made, and several staff were at work cleaning up. The drawing room was candlelit and intact. Anne moved among the small groups of guests, while Bonnie worked on one of the staff, who had received cuts from the flying glass. The von Hofmanstals were talking together in low voices in one corner. Maw lay full-length on the couch with a compress on her head. John Senior was in conversation with the tall man. I picked out Johnny, who had parked himself out of the way, and motioned for him to follow me into the foyer. It was dark, but someone had put a candle on the table next to the bust. The ships of the line on the face of the casement clock tacked back and forth. It was raining, but the storm had lessened. The ticking was loud in comparison.

“Well?” I asked when I had closed the door behind us.

“Well, indeed. I think the whole thing went off rather well.”

I shook my head in exasperation. “That’s like saying the operation was a success but the patient died.”

“You’re being overly pessimistic and probably paranoid as well. I thought you gave that up.”

“I did. At least until tonight.”

“You must be firmer with yourself. Really, you must. Self-discipline works wonders. I could give you some pointers.”

“Johnny!”

“Fine. I just wanted to confirm you weren’t in one of your darker moods. You can get rather gloomy, and that won’t do at this point in the game. Now, the way I see it, you forced Maw to accept an alternative deal. That has happened only once or twice in her lifetime. You should be proud. Not only that, Stanley agreed that we fulfilled his little attempt at coercion, so that’s off the table, and also good. The treasures are going nowhere for now, and the news is out. All in all, that’s a fine day’s work.”

“Okay, I can see that, but…”

“I’m not finished. That being said, there’re a few points we’ll need to take up. I don’t quite see how you can go into exile from here when you own the place. There are a few other items as well, which we’ll need to go over. With that understanding, I want to make sure you’re prepared to put in the necessary effort. You know the drill. There is no rest for us wicked folk. The good news is I have some ideas, but I’ll hold off until later. Now, I noticed you disappeared for a while there.”

“Bonnie pulled me away, and then I had words with Dagmar. Bonnie told me to see her before I talk to your dad. She offered to give me some ammunition. I’ll take her up on it. Dagmar pretty much ordered me to sit down with Stanley tonight in his office and not to come out until we had settled our issues, once and for all. Alice apparently told her all this would happen, and that it would all sort out.”

“Better and better. If Alice predicted it, and Dagmar concurs, not even Stanley will be able to wiggle out of that one. Excellent news. We need as few distractions as possible before the main event: the sit-down with my dad. It’ll be a long night, but it’ll be well worth it. We’re in the home stretch, so take heart. Speaking of hearts, you might want to have a word with Bruni at some point. You were quite correct — ”

We were interrupted by the baron, who opened and shut the door to the drawing room behind him.

“We should talk,” he said, looking at me.

Johnny smiled and gave me an encouraging look before he slipped away.

“I think the library would be suitable. Bring the candle.”

We made our way down the dark hallway. I was slower than the baron since I carried the candle and didn’t want it to go out. The fire in the library was lit but had burned down to dim coals.

“Brandy?” He called out from the bar. He must have had eyes like a cat. I could barely see a thing, and I had the light.

“Please.” I set the candle down on a table and sat down in one of the chairs. He came over, handed me a snifter, and sat down as well.

He sniffed his glass and drank a sip. “It’s late, but I’m having a cigar.”

After he went through the ritual of lighting, I asked, “You wished to speak to me. What’s on your mind?”

“Several things. What’s on yours?”

I did not wish to play games, but with some people everything was a negotiation. “I can start, provided you tell me what’s on yours when I’m finished.”

“That’s acceptable.”

“I think we got off on the wrong foot when we first met, perhaps because you thought I was someone else. It’s understandable. I’ve been doing it for years. I’d like to start again, if possible.

“Second, there is the matter of the artifacts. At this time, based on the information I have, they are not for sale.

“Third, your daughter and I have decided to see each other.

“Fourth, you know my real father. I do not. I’m familiar with his reputation, but that may or may not be a true representation. I’d like to know more.

“Fifth, it has never been my intention to create discord. I dislike it, but there are times when there’s no alternative. I find myself in that position, and it’s uncomfortable.

“There are others, but those will do. And you?”

He looked at his cigar.

“Tell me about your mother.”

“I think you know more than I do.”

“Tell me what you know.”

“She had an affair with Lord Bromley while she was engaged to you. I was conceived. Anne arranged for my…the man I thought was my father and Mary to meet. There was the duel. You and my mother went your separate ways. Since I’ve been with the Dodges, I’ve seen her less and less and then only briefly. That’s it in a nutshell.”

He said nothing for a minute. He just smoked his cigar and looked at the coals of the fire. Finally, he said, “Consider this our first meeting. I wish to speak. You will listen. I’ll answer most, if not all, the points you mentioned. Is that acceptable?”

“By all means.”

The baron spoke with a slight accent.

“Uncertainty is what investors dislike and fear most. It implies that risks cannot be adequately quantified or identified. You’re familiar with this. Forming new friendships is similar. The outcome is uncertain.

“Will the friendship prove worthwhile and sustainable, or will it end, such that one regrets having formed it in the first place? A friendship requires a substantial input of time to make it grow. There’s also the matter of trust. How much can be revealed? Can the potential friend keep what they know to themselves, or do they tell everyone they meet? Some friendships happen spontaneously. They progress without effort and with little choice in the matter. These can be the more dangerous, and the most hurtful when they fail.

“I can tell you, it’s better to do without than to have a false friend. This applies in less senior relationships as well.”

He stopped speaking and smoked his cigar. He spoke to the fire again.

“I have a few close friends. John is one. My wife is another. I have great trust in her. She tells me you would be worth the attempt. My daughter obviously feels similarly. I’m not so sure, but I am now slightly more inclined to do so. You told me what I wanted to know, even though it might have been viewed as unfavorable. It was an honest reply. I knew about the affair. Your real father and I discussed it when we first met. He told me straight out because he didn’t want to build a relationship on falsehoods. It was a surprise at the time. Tonight, he surprised me again. That there was a child should have been revealed, but it wasn’t. It puts the relationship in question and creates uncertainty. Is the son like the father, or is the father like the son?”

He paused again.

“We met some years ago, Bromley and me. I forget how. It might’ve been at a party. We liked each other instantly and met again. Shortly thereafter, we were driving along a country road beneath the castle. I drive very fast. A horse and rider burst from the brush on one side and bolted across to the other. Bromley reached across and controlled the wheel with one hand before I could react. It was masterfully done. We avoided the horse and rider on the left and a deep ditch on the right. A couple of centimeters either way and the outcome would have been a disaster rather than a moment of fear followed by laughter. I have often wondered about that moment. I doubt he could repeat it if given the chance. I doubt anyone could.”

He looked at the tip of his cigar before continuing.

“We concentrate on those times when something has occurred, but it is when nothing happens that is often the more important. One is closest to the divine and never knows it. It is the absence of anything significant happening, you see. One rarely perceives what isn’t there, only what is.

“How close I was to divinity, I only learned that evening. It left me speechless. The rider had been my daughter. She told me that she had failed to warm up the horse sufficiently but had decided to take it into the countryside anyway. The horse spooked at a bird when it went up before her and launched itself down a steep embankment. There was no stopping, only managing the descent; then there was the ditch, the road, and a wall on the far side. She was so proud that she was able to pull the horse together for the ditch, manage the two strides across the road, and then cleanly take the wall. She said they were almost hit by a car traveling at high speed. It was so close she heard the car strike the hair of the tail but couldn’t turn to see it because the wall held all her attention.

“Life moved on. I didn’t mention I was the driver at the time. I was too shocked to say a word. Hitting anything at that velocity would have been disastrous not only for the rider and horse but for us as well. My life — everyone’s, in fact — would have been different had we collided. For a single instant in space and time, all of existence was balanced on the edge of a knife.

“That nothing happened made me question everything I knew. How often do such events occur and why? Jung wrote about coincidence but from the positive. I became aware of the negative. If it hadn’t been for your father and his quick, decisive action, nothing would have mattered. I can never repay him. Luck follows him. I know this. He has a gift. Where other men find defeat, he discovers victory. After the marriage and divorce to John’s half-sister, he prospered. She nearly killed him years later. He should have died, but he did not. Instead, he amassed even more capital through contacts he met on the journey. I once asked him the reason for his success.

“He told me that some men are smiled on kindly by the gods. He had that good fortune and made it a point to thank them. He became a collector of powerful objects for that purpose and suggested I do the same. He said I too was held in high regard but not in the way I thought. My life was defined by the things that didn’t happen to me, and he was right. He was the positive, and I was the negative. He thought it was amusing, and that it explained how we came to find each other.

“Some friends turn out to be traitors. This is the most unforgiveable sin. Still, we made the choice to befriend them, didn’t we? One only has oneself to blame, regardless of what the other did. I say this because friendship is a serious commitment.

“Your father later had an intimate affair with my daughter. She does not know I know. It was brief and torrid. Elsa put a stop to it. It would have destroyed our friendship eventually. It’s not that there was anything to forgive in the act itself. Who, even at his age, is not enchanted by a woman?”

Here he paused. I gulped my brandy to cover my shock. I understood Bruni’s reluctance to say anything about the extent of the affair. Now I had added to her burden by revealing that the man was my father. The baron never looked at me but continued speaking. Perhaps he thought I knew, but more likely he was simply answering my question. I had asked it and now had to accept the answer.

“There is a German expression: Behüte mich Gott vor meinen Freunden, mit den Feinden will ich schon fertig werden. ‘God preserve me from my friends; I can deal with my enemies.’ I confronted him. He apologized and begged forgiveness. I told him I would not, but I would tolerate it, provided he never did such a thing again. He agreed, and that was the end of it. I asked myself, did I forgive him? The answer is no. To forgive is to forget. Why be blind to the faults of others? To accept someone is to accept the good and the bad. Otherwise one is fooling oneself.

“You are here. You are his son. Was his affair with my daughter a foreshadow of the future, or are you a harmonic of the past? These are the questions you should be asking yourself in relation to Brunhilde, and they are important questions. The coincidence is remarkable.

“I am not my daughter. If we are to embark on the path to friendship, it is independent of that. What happens between you two I can only watch. I will not interfere unless it affects our relationship. Any child of mine, let alone one formed from Elsa and me, will be unique. It is not an easy task you have set for yourself. I wish her happiness. In the end, that is the best a parent can hope for. I wish you both happiness, if it is possible. It may not be. I cannot say one way or the other.

“I have answered your first and third points as well as some of the fourth. John Dodge and I go way back. We really did some incredibly stupid things together. It has been a wonderful gift to have such a companion.

“John is in a precarious position right now, but I’m not the one to tell you. I’m sure he will, in detail. My offer to purchase those items of his half-sister was my way of helping. I never met her. Elsa did. I suggested that he put such items as he could up for auction among a select group of bidders. I asked that he make Bromley aware of the auction as well. His and my bidding against each other would ultimately drive the prices up. It would be a help to John. When Mrs. Leland’s daughter got together with me, I suggested she go for it all and outbid her mother. She was quite keen, because she could sell them to Mrs. Leland in exchange for control of her fortune. Her mother sleeps uneasily and has looked to unusual remedies. I doubt they’ll work for her.

“I’m not betraying any confidences here. You know most already, and the rest you’ll be told, so now is as good a time as then.

“Malcolm can be a fool, but he is not. He’s angry that he’s involved in a bidding war that I set up. He’ll get over it. Bromley couldn’t very well come himself, so he sent Ault. Ault knows he will be paying through the nose at this auction because it is set up that way. This means his benefactor’s money will go to John rather than on the things Ault had in mind, which are more lucrative for him on a commission basis.

“How you choose to deal with this information is up to you. John is under as much pressure to protect the legacy as you are. His half-sister gave him a similar speech. You pointing it out that you are under the same burden didn’t help. His options are limited, and this upsets him. He feels he has failed. John can get a bit dark, but then, so can I. It’s a commonality that we watch for in each other. I told him to lighten up — at least I think that’s the expression. You both will talk. Who knows what you will decide? I don’t know the answer to that either.

“Where there is disagreement, there is disharmony. Sometimes there’s no way to bridge the gap. We make false assumptions, which lead to wrong decisions. The discord you think you are creating may not be the discord you are making. You should consider that when you make your decision. One must often look deeper.

“You may have questions in your mind as to whether I had something to do with the failure of your partnership. I played no part in it. My daughter worked for the firm that was involved. She played no part directly. When I found out what had been done, I told her it was bad business, and I would not tolerate it. I hired her away, and that has been a benefit.

“I have answered your questions. I would like for you to answer one in return. What became of the idol and the jewel?

“It was found on Wednesday and shattered shortly thereafter, when we tried to summon a demon.”

“Did you succeed?”

“I’m not certain. Perhaps we did.”

“Then I’d advise you to sell nothing. I must take Elsa to bed. We will talk again.”

“What about my father?”

“What is there to say? I owe him my life. But is he my friend? No, he has a different status. He’s more my brother. Unlike friends, we’re wary of each other, yet we are drawn together as often brothers are. We see the good and the bad. We know each other’s thoughts.

“Bromley has betrayed me more than once. He will do so again, but I cannot change who he is. Betrayal is a strong word, but where trust is concerned, that word applies. In the end, I have accepted your father for who he is. It’s likely you will turn out similarly. He is the best and the worst. Once met, he cannot be forgotten. He has a power. Perhaps you do too. He has accepted and embraced his. I have done the same. You must as well, if you wish to succeed and survive in a good place. He once told me that the difference between powerful men and others less so is that powerful men embrace their faults. It is often these that prove decisive in the end. Those who don’t are destined to waste their time and energy fighting themselves to become someone other than who they are. Greatness takes all we have. In the end, one can only be who one is. It’s that uniqueness that makes all the difference. That’s enough for one night. Let’s return to the others. I’m tired.”

With that, the interview was over. I picked up the candle and accompanied him back to the drawing room.