Evening star., 1936-11-01

know them since
"All of which seemed rather strange and
began to be curious about the sort of evening
we should spend. We met at eleven. at my
hotel, and it seemed to me that Bryce looked
every bit as nervous as he had sounded. He
didn't give away much except why he had
asked me- You see it's a bit awkward -
they're all Hungarians. they don't speak any
English or French and only few words of
German, and don't know any Hungarian,
of course laughed and said that social inter-
course uEder such conditions must be so try
ing that wondered he had ever attempted it.
"He said, still nervously: oh well. they're
a lively crowd. it doesn't matter so very
much But that only puzzled me more than
ever, for Bryce wasn't the kind of man who
mixed well with lively crowd. He was shy
by nature and also rather cold to intimacies -
you never felt inclined to pat him on the
back, even in those days :. and of course
now :.
Nor must we Withhold our congratulations
to the Bank Of International Settlements for
hasing 50 eoxrogeoasly and, in the main. sne-
eesJnly undertaken the management Of these
difficult negotiations -"
Yes, it was quite true; one couldn't feel
inclined to pat him on the back. Robson con-
tinued:
I'VE got to the place about midnight and
were taken back-stage into small, rather
dirty room papered with advertisement
posters. There was crowd of twenty or so.
about half were the cabaret performers. the
rest their friends Most were chattering in
Hungarian. and some had already settled
.tArree'ves for thoroughly bibulous evening.
Flagons of strong Hungarian wine, and the
flavor of paprika in everything quite palat-
able if you're used to it, but it didn't seem
the sort of thing Bryce would enjoy.
The crowd greeted US civilly. yet there
was, felt, the underlying question of what
the devil were we doing there "a question
for which had some sympathy myself. Bryce
sat next to me: next to him on the other
side was long haired and rather diHeputable
ventriloquist, already very drunk; opposite
him across the table was the soubrette,
queer-looking girl with ash-blonde hair. She
kept staring at Bryce. Bryce seemed on edge,
he obviously wasn't enjoying himself, he
couldn't eat the food. and the noisy chatter
went on all round him as if - in a sort of
way he didn't matter.
LAS the party proceeded we both became
more and more isolated. just two sober Eng
lishmen amidst mob of Magyars till at last
l said, shouting in his ear above the sur
rounding din: Look here, what's the point of
bringing me to show like this? Don't you
think we're rather de trob"
He answered: I thought you'd be inter-
ested'
"I'm only interested in why you're in
terested,' said.
He gave me queer look without answer
ing The party got noisier and noisier. Pres
entity - it must have been about two in the
morning - the less drunken guests began to
leave. Then he said, rather mysteriously:
Will you do something for me?'
II said of course would.
Twill you translate few things into
Hungarian?'
"If can. l don't speak the language
very we'll
"T only need few simple sentences
so long as they are simple
"'Oh yes. think we can leave the table
now. Let's CO. He led me through door on
to the little stage that faced the now darkened
restaurant, with all the chairs piled on top
of the tables He said. Il want yOI to tell