It was impossible not to worship her. Everyone did indeed adore her, and the whole world waited for the countess herself to be happy at last—for her exaltedly ensconced, splendid peace and strength to find a worthy partner and purpose. At complete variance with all expectations, however, Natascha glittered alone like the Sun even after years.
Nothing characterizes Natascha Ko?nig better than that in her time the life of the Villa was one of constant ferment. Not that she kept on turning it topsy-turvy. Quite the reverse, her irresistible beauty and strength stimulated one and all to pulsating life. There was a weekly turnover of personnel, though not like there had been in the time of cantankerous Rosa Síkfo?kúti. They were not dismissed; all that happened was that one after the other they fell in love (and were put in the family way), one after the other they married, conceived other plans, acquired backers, and found long-lost siblings.
Behind this bubbling stood, first and foremost, Natascha’s odd duality. For one thing, she bewitched everything she clapped eyes on, including the pear tree in the garden. Later on, Cuno often remarked that in earlier days the ancient tree used barely to put out a shoot in spring, and it was reckoned to be a good year if two or three fruits were found on it at the end of summer, though now, of course, in the countess’s time, the crop was so abundant there was even some to spare for distilling marc! But on the other hand, Natascha’s aloofness was legendary near and far.
It was impossible not to worship her. Everyone did indeed adore her, and the whole world waited for the countess herself to be happy at last—for her exaltedly ensconced, splendid peace and strength to find a worthy partner and purpose. At complete variance with all expectations, however, Natascha glittered alone like the Sun even after years. She shone on all equally, and irresistibly, but like the Sun no-one could not get close to her; she too remained unapproachable. She would not even permit a hand to be kissed, which strict etiquette would deem grossly insulting, but she did everything in such a way that her untouchability should remain courteous and entrancing.
All this was looked on with unconscious amazement by the personnel, by guests who came from far afield, and by aristocrats of the surrounding district. There was just one person who found it entirely natural, this being none other than Cuno, the head butler. Little wonder, because he too behaved in much the same fashion. He would astonish even old employees time and again with his attentiveness, yet there was never so much as a hint, even after the friendliest of gestures, that this might signify a relaxation of the rigour or provide the slightest basis for any familiarity.
In this world, which these two people, Natascha and Cuno, without any prior arrangement, ran in complete harmony as equal parties, everything was clear and regulated yet charged with life notwithstanding. Before long, due to proposals of marriage and exchanges of wedding vows, new personnel had to be taken on at the house—more in fact than had left service, so Natascha decided. On the day that they were to be hired she asked Cuno to take the canaries up to the terrace on the first floor as that was where they were going to interview applicants. Things like that were usually left to the head butler, but Cuno has not surprised, imagining that Natascha must be so fond of the canaries that she could not even dispense with their company for even a couple of hours.
Seventeen young men and women were interviewed on hiring day. All arrived with outstanding references; the way they acquitted themselves, their demeanour, was immaculate so it seemed it would be difficult to make a choice.
“Who would you take on?” Natascha asked Cuno.
“We had some extremely highly qualified and well-mannered candidates, it’s hard to choose, but I think perhaps the valet from Vác.”
“What he had to offer was truly entrancing, and the young man’s expertise was impressive, but for me he only came out second.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, why not first?”
“It’s like this, you see, my dear Cuno. However well-mannered they may be, anyone who did not vouchsafe the canaries so much as a glance is out of the question. Anyone who does not so much as notice a bird, whatever else he may do, will also be disdainful of a guest.”
“But surely the young man from Vác went so far as to praise them!” Cuno interjected, thinking that maybe the countess had forgotten.
“Praise them he did indeed, Cuno, and what’s more he even poked a finger in though the bars of the cage. He noticed them, but he had no respect for them; he took liberties. The valet from Vác was worthless! Do you catch my drift, my dear Cuno?” Natascha asked, whereupon Cuno, for the very first time in his life, was amazed by the countess from the very bottom of his heart and finally understood the meaning of Natascha’s justly famed, exquisite aloofness. He instantly grasped that she must be guarding something more precious than anything else for a future man. And while Natascha peered at his face with the Sun’s improbably close, almost intimate radiance, Cuno squared up to the fact that he could finally see a person who was just as precise, sharp-sighted, and at the same time passionate as himself, and that person, moreover, was a woman!
