only comradely dialectic. You will see tomorrow. It is really quite a little utopia.'
"'Helen,' I groaned. 'Would you be serious, for once? I'm simply worried about your reputation here - your political reputation. After all, you must come back here someday and face all these people.'
"'Must I?' She took my arm again, and we walked on. I made no move to pull away; there was little I could have valued more at that moment than the brush of her black jacket against my elbow. 'Anyway, it was worth it. I did it only to make G篓¦za gnash his teeth. His fangs, that is.'
"'Well, thank you,' I muttered, but I didn't trust myself to say anything more. If she had intended to make anyone jealous, it had certainly worked with me. I suddenly saw her in G篓¦za's strong arms. Had they been involved before Helen had left Budapest? They would have been a striking match, I thought - both were so handsomely confident, so tall and graceful, so dark haired and broad shouldered. I felt, suddenly, puny and Anglo, no match for the horsemen of the steppe. Helen's face prohibited further questions, however, and I had to content myself with the silent weight of her arm.
"All too soon, we turned in at the gilded doors of the hotel and were in the hushed lobby. As soon as we entered, a lone figure stood up among the black upholstered chairs and potted palms, waiting quietly for us to approach. Helen gave a little cry and ran forward, her hands outstretched. '?va!'"
Part Two Chapter 39
"Since my meeting with her - I saw her only three times - I have often thought of Helen's aunt ?va. There are people who stick in one's memory much more clearly after a brief acquaintance than others whom one sees day after day over a long period. Aunt ?va was certainly one of those vivid people, someone my memory and imagination have conspired to preserve in living color for twenty years. I have sometimes used Aunt ?va to fill the shoes of characters in books, or figures in history; for example, she stepped in automatically when I encountered Madame Merle, the personable schemer in Henry James's Portrait of a Lady.
"In fact, Aunt ?va has stood in for such a number of formidable, fine, subtle women, in my musings, that it is a little difficult for me to reach back now to her real self as I encountered her on an early summer evening in Budapest in 1954. I do remember that Helen flew into her arms with uncharacteristic affection, and that Aunt ?va herself did not fly, but stood calm and dignified, embracing her niece and kissing her soundly on each cheek. When Helen turned, flushed, to introduce us, I saw tears shining in the eyes of both women. '?va, this is my American colleague, whom I told you about. Paul, this is my aunt, ?va Orb谩n.'
"I shook hands, trying not to stare. Mrs. Orb谩n was a tall, handsome woman of perhaps fifty-five. What hypnotized me about her was her stunning resemblance to Helen. They might have been an older and much younger sister, or twins, one of whom had aged through hard experience while the other had stayed magically young and fresh. In fact, Aunt ?va was only a shade shorter than Helen and had Helen's strong, graceful posture. Her face might once have been even lovelier than Helen's, and it was still very beautiful, with the same straight, rather long nose, pronounced cheekbones, and brooding dark eyes. Her hair color puzzled me until I realized that it could never have had its origins in nature; it was a weird purplish red, with some white growing out at the roots. During our subsequent days in Budapest, I saw this dyed hair on many women, but that first glimpse of it startled me. She wore small gold earrings and a dark suit that was the sister of Helen's, with a red blouse underneath.
"As we shook hands, Aunt ?va looked into my face very seriously, almost earnestly. Maybe she was scanning me for any weakness of character to warn her niece about, I thought, and then chided myself; why should she even consider me a potential suitor? I could see a web of fine lines around her eyes and at the corners of her lips, the record of a transcendent smile. That smile appeared after a moment, as if she could not suppress it for long. No wonder this