your mission, and it is a worthy one, but if you do not accomplish it soon, you must return home with the knowledge that you did everything that you could. Then you must go on with your life, my friend, because you are young and it is in front of you.' She patted her lips with her napkin and rose. At the door to the hotel she silently embraced Helen and leaned forward to kiss me on each cheek. She was grave, and no tears glistened in her eyes, but I saw on her face a deep, still sorrow. The elegant car was waiting. My last glimpse of her was her sober wave from its back window.
"For a few seconds, Helen seemed unable to speak. She turned toward me, turned away. Then she rallied and looked at me decisively. 'Come, Paul. This is our final hour of freedom in Budapest. Tomorrow we will have to hurry to the airport. I want to go for a walk.'
"'A walk?' I said. 'What about the secret police and their interest in me?' "'They want to know what you know, not to stab you in a dark alley. And don't be vain,' she said, smiling. 'They are just as interested in me as in you.
We will stay in well-lit places, along the main street, but I wish you to see the city one more time.' "I was glad enough to do this, knowing it might be my last view of it in a lifetime, and we went out again into the balmy night. We wandered toward the river, staying, as Helen had promised, on the main thoroughfares. At the great bridge we paused, and then she strolled onto it, running one hand thoughtfully along the railings. Above the vast water we paused again, looking back and forth at the two sides of Budapest, and I felt again its majesty and the explosion of war that had nearly destroyed it. The lights of the city shone everywhere, quivering in the black surface of the water. Helen stood for a while at the railing, then turned, as if reluctantly, to walk back toward Pest. She had taken off her jacket, and when she turned I saw a jagged shape on the back of her blouse. Leaning closer, I suddenly realized it was an enormous spider. It had spun a web all the way across her back; I could clearly see the glinting filaments. I remembered then that I'd seen cobwebs all along the bridge railing, where she'd been running her hand. 'Helen,' I said softly. 'Don't get upset - there's something on your back.'
"'What?' She froze.
"'I'm going to brush it off,' I said gently. 'It's just a spider.'
"A shudder went through her, but she stood obediently motionless while I flicked the creature off her back. I admit that it gave me a shudder, too, because the spider was the largest I'd ever seen, almost half the width of my hand. It hit the railing next to us with an audible thwack and Helen screamed. I'd never heard her express fear before, and that little scream made me suddenly want to grab her and shake her, even hit her. 'It's all right,' I said quickly, taking her by the arm, trying to stay calm. To my surprise, she gave a sob or two before she could steady herself. It astonished me that a woman who could shoot at vampires was so shaken by a spider, but this had been a long day and a strained one. She surprised me again by turning to look at the river and saying in a low voice, 'I promised I would tell you about G篓¦za.'
"'You don't have to tell me anything.' I hoped I didn't sound irritable.
"'I don't want to lie by silence.' She walked a few feet away, as if to leave the spider completely behind, although it had vanished, probably into the Danube. 'When I was a university student, I was in love with him for a little while, or thought I was, and in return he helped my aunt to get me my fellowship and passport to leave Hungary.'
"I recoiled, staring at her.
"'Oh, it wasn't so crude,' she said. 'He did not say, "You sleep with me and then you can go to England." He is actually rather subtle. He did not get everything he wanted from me, either. But by the time I was no longer charmed with him, I had my passport in my hand. That