I Was Jack Mortimer (Pushkin Collection) by Alexander Lernet-Holenia Page A

lived there, but had moved to Chicago, where he ran his father’s bank.
    He didn’t enquire after Consuelo, and people obviously avoided mentioning her name in his presence. No one knew whether he still thought about her. Also, her name no longer appeared anywhere. He couldn’t find her on any programme or notice.
    One day he got to know George Anstruther. He was a very handsome man of about forty. They obviously didn’t talk about Consuelo. Strangely enough, though, Montemayor let slip a few words about Jack Mortimer. Anstruther smiled in a peculiar way. This was like a red rag to a bull, and Anstruther, in order not to be misinterpreted, felt obliged to justify himself why he had reacted that way: wasn’t Montemayor aware that Mortimer… “Go on!” Montemayor shouted, his heart missing a beat… that Mortimer, said Anstruther, was now more of a gangster than a banker, like so many other bankers, judges and businessmen in the States. “I see,” Montemayor mumbled, and they talked a little bit more about Mortimer’s possible connections with the underworld, and then about other things. It became clear to Montemayor that Mortimer’s bank was in financial difficulties; however, it was not uncommon even for wealthy people to get mixed up with criminals in the end.
    A few days later Montemayor learnt by chance from peoplewho knew nothing of his sad tale, that Consuelo had been suffering from tuberculosis and had died in a sanatorium in the Rocky Mountains some three years previously.
    Two months later he married Winifred Parr.

    Late that autumn Montemayor travelled with Winifred to Paris. One evening after the opera, when they were having supper at Ciro’s, Montemayor noticed Winifred nod at someone who was sitting behind him, evidently to acknowledge a greeting. He turned around; it was Jack Mortimer.
    Mortimer immediately came over to their table. He knew Winifred fleetingly from earlier times. He spoke a few inconsequential words and behaved as though nothing had ever happened between himself and Montemayor.
    Before Montemayor could stop her, Winifred had invited him to join them.
    What followed in the next few days was quite inevitable . Mortimer had never shown any particular interest in Winifred. However, when he saw that she was Montemayor’s wife, he immediately became excited.
    People who’ve already once deprived a man of his wife will feel almost compelled to do it a second time.
    Montemayor himself immediately sensed that in Mortimer’s eyes it wasn’t Winifred, but in actual fact Consuelo who was sitting next to Montemayor. The only difference was that he didn’t love Winifred half as much as he had loved Consuelo.It became at once clear that he’d be able to protect her better than his previous love.
    Winifred knew nothing of Consuelo, but she immediately sensed the tension between the two men, and she reacted as any pretty but empty-headed woman would in such a situation . Straight away she enjoyed to the full the interest that Mortimer was showing in her. Had Montemayor ignored Mortimer, she’d have done the same. However, since she noticed Montemayor’s jealousy, there was no greater pleasure for her than to fall in love with Mortimer.
    At this stage, of course, it would still have been easy for Montemayor to have dashed the hopes that the two were entertaining. He could simply have gone away somewhere with Winifred, and that would have been the end of the matter. However, after his initial aversion, it occurred to him that Mortimer’s presence was right up his street. He still had a score to settle with Mortimer. An opportunity now arose for Montemayor to make out that he couldn’t care less about Mortimer’s advances. He’d be able to play with Winifred like a puppet on a string.
    Truly, what was the struggle for Winifred compared to the struggle for Consuelo? Nothing. Pure vanity. Montemayor had no illusions about this. But the easier it appeared to him to defend Winifred, the more