towards the bed, ‘and let me see the whole effect. Hmmm.’
Lisa was wearing one of her gathered skirts and a white lawn blouse. Her face certainly now looked both more alert and better defined.
‘You have so slim a figure,’ said Magda. ‘I envy you this so much. You might as well make the most of it and wear always a belt. I have so many—fat as I am—I may have something there you could wear. Have a look inside the door of that wardrobe. Go on, open it, there is no skeleton inside.’
Lisa opened the door and saw hanging from a rail a dozen or so belts. Magda watched her.
‘Try that tan leather,’ she said, ‘it will match your sandals.’
Lisa took the belt and put it on.
‘Tighter,’ said Magda, ‘use the last hole.’
‘I have,’ said Lisa.
‘We will make another then,’ said Magda. ‘Come here.’
She fished around and found a pair of nail scissors, and made another hole.
‘Now then,’ she said.
The belt, which was of course of superior quality, made the whole difference to Lisa’s appearance.
‘Ça va , ’ said Magda, ‘ très bien. I do not wear this belt often—you might as well keep it. It looks much better on you in any case. How wonderful, to have a twenty-two inch waist. And keep the lipstick also: it is the right colour for you. Throw away the other, nothing is more demoralising than a wrong colour. You look charming, with a bit more experience you will look enchanting; one needs all the weapons at one’s command to deal with the Rudis of this world, I can assure you, and you will have them thick and fast in the coming years.’
Lisa, delighted as she secretly felt at the alteration in her appearance, was in an agony of self-consciousness; she searched wildly in her mind for a new topic of conversation to deflect Magda’s attention from herself.
‘I thought,’ she said diffidently, ‘that you were Hungarian, but you speak about Hungarians as if you were not.’
‘I!’ exclaimed Magda. ‘I am Slovene.
’ She enunciated this word with dramatic emphasis, opening her eyes very wide the while. ‘But I suppose you do not know what is Slovene. ’ She began to comb her hair.
‘Oh yes,’ said Lisa, ‘I do . Slovenia is part of Yugoslavia.’
‘My God!’ cried Magda, ‘you are indeed a genius, to know this. I have not before met an Australian who has heard of the place.’
‘Oh, but we did the Balkans at school,’ said Lisa; ‘in the causes of the First World War, you know, in Modern History. Lots of us know about Slovenia, lots. There was a question in the exam paper, I did it.’
‘You amaze me utterly,’ said Magda. ‘I was right to give you my belt. So you know of Slovenia. Well, some time I may tell you more of it, but not now. We must have our walk, it is pretty around here, it will please you. We will just show ourselves to the Hungarians as we leave.’
The two women made their adieux and Lisa was gratified by Rudi’s reiterated invitation to her: ‘I will see you at the party which Magda and Stefan have so wisely decided to give in my honour,’ said he, ‘and we shall arrange our visit to the Art Gallery then, shall we not? I look forward to it. It is never too soon to begin to cultivate one’s sense of humour. If I can introduce you to the Art Gallery of New South Wales as it properly deserves, I shall not have lived in vain.’
23
Patty had not taken note of Lisa’s extraordinary conference with Magda, although this was the sort of incident which normally elicited a sarcasm, and Fay couldn’t help noticing that generally speaking Patty wasn’t quite her usual self this Saturday morning. She had nothing whatever to say about Frank or about what they might mean to do this weekend, and that was all right, because Fay had after all had no reciprocal information to divulge about her own weekend plans, and the two women went about their work in an atmosphere of abnormal self-containment, Patty never caring what Fay might be concealing, and
Lisa was wearing one of her gathered skirts and a white lawn blouse. Her face certainly now looked both more alert and better defined.
‘You have so slim a figure,’ said Magda. ‘I envy you this so much. You might as well make the most of it and wear always a belt. I have so many—fat as I am—I may have something there you could wear. Have a look inside the door of that wardrobe. Go on, open it, there is no skeleton inside.’
Lisa opened the door and saw hanging from a rail a dozen or so belts. Magda watched her.
‘Try that tan leather,’ she said, ‘it will match your sandals.’
Lisa took the belt and put it on.
‘Tighter,’ said Magda, ‘use the last hole.’
‘I have,’ said Lisa.
‘We will make another then,’ said Magda. ‘Come here.’
She fished around and found a pair of nail scissors, and made another hole.
‘Now then,’ she said.
The belt, which was of course of superior quality, made the whole difference to Lisa’s appearance.
‘Ça va , ’ said Magda, ‘ très bien. I do not wear this belt often—you might as well keep it. It looks much better on you in any case. How wonderful, to have a twenty-two inch waist. And keep the lipstick also: it is the right colour for you. Throw away the other, nothing is more demoralising than a wrong colour. You look charming, with a bit more experience you will look enchanting; one needs all the weapons at one’s command to deal with the Rudis of this world, I can assure you, and you will have them thick and fast in the coming years.’
Lisa, delighted as she secretly felt at the alteration in her appearance, was in an agony of self-consciousness; she searched wildly in her mind for a new topic of conversation to deflect Magda’s attention from herself.
‘I thought,’ she said diffidently, ‘that you were Hungarian, but you speak about Hungarians as if you were not.’
‘I!’ exclaimed Magda. ‘I am Slovene.
’ She enunciated this word with dramatic emphasis, opening her eyes very wide the while. ‘But I suppose you do not know what is Slovene. ’ She began to comb her hair.
‘Oh yes,’ said Lisa, ‘I do . Slovenia is part of Yugoslavia.’
‘My God!’ cried Magda, ‘you are indeed a genius, to know this. I have not before met an Australian who has heard of the place.’
‘Oh, but we did the Balkans at school,’ said Lisa; ‘in the causes of the First World War, you know, in Modern History. Lots of us know about Slovenia, lots. There was a question in the exam paper, I did it.’
‘You amaze me utterly,’ said Magda. ‘I was right to give you my belt. So you know of Slovenia. Well, some time I may tell you more of it, but not now. We must have our walk, it is pretty around here, it will please you. We will just show ourselves to the Hungarians as we leave.’
The two women made their adieux and Lisa was gratified by Rudi’s reiterated invitation to her: ‘I will see you at the party which Magda and Stefan have so wisely decided to give in my honour,’ said he, ‘and we shall arrange our visit to the Art Gallery then, shall we not? I look forward to it. It is never too soon to begin to cultivate one’s sense of humour. If I can introduce you to the Art Gallery of New South Wales as it properly deserves, I shall not have lived in vain.’
23
Patty had not taken note of Lisa’s extraordinary conference with Magda, although this was the sort of incident which normally elicited a sarcasm, and Fay couldn’t help noticing that generally speaking Patty wasn’t quite her usual self this Saturday morning. She had nothing whatever to say about Frank or about what they might mean to do this weekend, and that was all right, because Fay had after all had no reciprocal information to divulge about her own weekend plans, and the two women went about their work in an atmosphere of abnormal self-containment, Patty never caring what Fay might be concealing, and
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