One Far Daughter

Bruno QQQQ Q ONE FAIR DAUGHTER TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN MANUSCRIPT BY CLAIRE TRASK NEW YORK THE VIKING PRESS THIS EDITION IS PRODUCED IN FULL COMPLIANCE WITH ALL WAR PRODUCTION BOARD CONSERVATION ORDERS Copyright 1943 fcy Bruno Frank PRINTED IN U. S. A, BY H. WOLFF First Punished fy The Viking Press in Octoler 1943 SECOND PRINTING DECEMBER 1943 PUBLISHED ON THE SAME DAY IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED CONTENTS FIRST PART SECOND PART THIRD PART FOURTH PART FIRST PART Pattay and Redw EVEN in the carefree and tolerant Vienna of 1913, - which was most indulgent to members of the aristocracy, the day came when Count Franz von Pattays affairs cards, women, duels reached the limit and could no longer be disregarded. He was transferred to one of the cavalry garri sons in the northeast of the Monarchy. The commander of the distinguished regiment where Pattay served might have given him another chance, maybe two. He had a fatherly affection for the brilliant young man. Besides, Pattays conduct had not really challenged the tra ditional army code of honor. This disciplinary transfer had not been the commanders idea it came from the very top, from the most exalted of sources. The young officers only close relative was a widowed sister of his mother, a Princess Weikersthal, an exceedingly pious old lady, but a despot. She had asked for an audience at Schonbrunn and it was she who had brought back the irrevocable verdict direct from the eighty-year-old Imperial pedant. To be the harbinger of this message gave her a rather malicious pleasure. Much to her annoyance, the culprit was neither surprised nor sorry. Nothing Id like better, dear Aunt, he quickly replied.Four years of playing around in Vienna is plenty. I do hope you will soon look me up in my desert so I can parade my platoon for you. His manner of accepting the disconcerting change in his life left nothing to be desired. To refuse and leave the army rather than drill Ukrainian peasants at a dismal border town, that thought never so much as occurred to him. His fellow officers, who hated to lose their pleasant companion, had their own explanation for it. Pattay might have defied the command of the Emperor, but the wish of his pious aunt was law. For she alone stood between him and his 4 ONE FAIR DAUGHTER family fortune. If he quarreled with her, he would in all likelihood not receive a farthing and the Church would derive the benefit. So three weeks later all the younger members of his regi ment turned out in the drafty hall of the North Station to see him off. Their humor was a little too raucous to be natural. They implored their parting friend to stay away from the flashy-eyed, tempting Jezebels that Galicia is noted for. They presented him with a beautifully bound book which turned out to be a Polish-Ukrainian-Yiddish diction ary, for without a knowledge of all those idioms a stranger would naturally be lost in that region. They handed him a bulky vessel, carefully tied up in pink satin, which was filled with insect powder. The exile accepted it all in good humor, climbed into his coach, and with a farewell glance took in his colorful escort. He himself already wore the uniform of the Lancers to which he now belonged, the light-blue tunic with the silver cartridge pouch hanging from his shoulder, the bright red breeches, and the high patent-leather boots. His lean, clean-cut facewas crowned by the jaunty tschapka with the brush. He saluted once more and slightly clicked his heels, his spurs tinkling gaily. The door closed with a bang. He disappeared from view, a flash of sky-blue and silver. During the many hours of his long journey to the east of the country, Pattay had ample leisure to adjust himself to the unforeseen change in his life. His friends were wrong he was not merely making the best of a bad bargain. Neither did the jeopardized inherit ance have much to do with his ready acceptance of this change...