White Ghosts

8. CHASING AFTER ANOTHER WOMAN’S HUSBAND

Daniel Bernard never sent Nina his visiting card and hadn’t even bothered to call. She had learned that there was to be a banquet celebrating his safe return home, but she and Jiří had not been invited.

Nina couldn’t understand what he was playing at. Had he merely been dallying with her on the train to break up the boredom of the long trip? It was as if Destiny was deliberately mocking her.

Tamara had invited her over a couple of times, but Nina had refused, pretending she had a migraine. She couldn’t stand the idea of discussing her failures with anyone. But Tamara was persistent. She mentioned Nina’s reluctance to Tony, and he went to see her directly.

“Have you and Tamara fallen out?” he asked. “I hope you understand that this sort of anxiety is not good for her in her condition.”

Reluctantly, Nina went to the Aulmans. She had expected an interrogation about Daniel Bernard immediately, but Tamara never mentioned him and gossiped instead about Shanghai’s newly-opened movie studio.

“You should invite a cameraman to your next party,” Tamara said, “and get him to film all the guests. They would love it.”

She continued to elaborate on her idea, but Nina wasn’t listening. Finally she couldn’t hold herself back anymore. “Why were you so keen for me to meet Daniel Bernard?” she asked.

Tamara raised an eyebrow. “Daniel Bernard?”

“Please don’t pretend that you weren’t. You wouldn’t stop talking about him, and I know you wanted me to go to Lincheng. Why didn’t you tell me he’s married?”

Tamara stared at Nina incredulously. “This is ridiculous—”

“You set everything up,” Nina interrupted. “You even planted his portrait on your dressing table here.” She pointed to the photo on Tamara’s bedside table and then tailed off. The photograph was a portrait of Tony, not Daniel. Nina could now see that Daniel’s presence was largely incidental.

“You seemed to be interested in Daniel, so I told you all about him,” Tamara said calmly. “The rest is purely speculation on your part.”

Nina was speechless. Was this some kind of a practical joke? Or had she really blown the whole incident out of all proportion?

“I might be able to help you,” Tamara said, “if you tell me what happened. But if you feel uncomfortable, let’s forget about it.”

Brushing over the episode with Klim, Nina told Tamara all about her trip to Lincheng, her chance meeting with Daniel, and then his refusal to continue their acquaintance.

Tamara listened, her face growing gloomier.

“I think Daniel really did like you,” she said. “But I’m also sure he made inquiries about you and found out that you and Jiří are impostors. I told you not to do anything without consulting me first. Daniel is a Czech national. He constantly visits Europe and spends a lot of time with the diplomats in Shanghai. He must be well aware that there is no official Czechoslovak Consulate here.”

“But I was so sure that you wanted me to meet him,” Nina protested.

“No, I didn’t, and you’ve been very foolish.”

Nina lowered her head. There was no point in arguing.

“You need to lay low and forget about Mr. Bernard,” Tamara said. “You’re never going to catch him anyway. He’s married to the daughter of the Police Commissioner, and he would never leave her for a Russian adventuress.”

On her way home in her recently purchased Ford, Nina was deep in thought.

“I have a license to drive in the International Settlement,” her chauffeur said, “but if you want to go to the Chinese city, we’ll need a different one.”

Nina nodded absentmindedly. She was convinced Tamara had wanted her to see Mr. Bernard again. “I think Daniel really did like you,” she had said teasingly to Nina. But again, it was impossible to be sure what she truly meant. Tamara was a master at hiding her intentions.

Nina herself was not about to give up on Daniel that easily. She didn’t want her whole future depending on the good grace of a man she barely knew. Even though he was married and a serious relationship with him was out of the question, she could nevertheless try to turn his head, and then he wouldn’t dare harm her.

Every now and then, Nina met the Bernards at mutual friends’ houses, at theaters, or at concerts. Daniel’s face had healed, but Nina had to admit that he looked much more handsome in Tamara’s photograph than he did in real life.

Daniel would greet Nina and then do his utmost to avoid getting into conversation with her. Nevertheless, she would catch him giving her the occasional furtive glance, and that was encouraging.

In order to gauge her chances of success, Nina gathered various bits of information about Edna and soon discovered that she was educated, fearless, and smart.

Mrs. Bernard couldn’t stand anyone belittling women and questioning their intelligence. At one dinner party Nina heard Daniel saying that it was all very well allowing women into the work place but they were totally incapable of creating anything truly great.

“Yes, your mother is ample evidence of that,” Edna said.

Many at the table were outraged at her boldness, but Nina was secretly delighted that Edna had so publicly taken her know-it-all husband down a peg or two. After all, he had been the first to cast aspersions at their sex.

Feminine wiles, with their secret, soft power and a woman’s ability to play on men’s weaknesses were an alien concept to Edna. She preferred a relationship based on reason and rational agreement rather than tumultuous passion and unpredictable emotional turmoil.

“Let the man think,” Nina’s mother had always told her, “that he’s the head of the family and in charge of everything. But you must be the ‘neck’ turning the ‘head’ in the direction that suits you.” And this was exactly what Nina was planning to do.

She persuaded Jiří to invite Daniel out to lunch and to steer the conversation towards the events in Lincheng and particularly the journey back to Shanghai.

“Find out what Mr. Bernard really thinks of me,” she instructed Jiří. It provided him with a perfect opportunity to make fun of her, but he still agreed to meet Mr. Bernard. To Nina’s great relief, Daniel accepted the invitation, and on the appointed day, she restlessly waited for Jiří to return with the news.

One way or another, I’m going to land Daniel, Nina thought excitedly. And then we’ll see what that arrogant Mr. Rogov has to say.

Jiří arrived back late, drunk and mellow.

“What took you so long?” Nina asked.

“I do beg your pardon, Madam Excellency, but we were busy reminiscing about Prague.”

“Did Daniel say anything about me?”

“Yes. He told you to go and find the ninth son of the dragon.”

“What on earth does he mean by that?” Nina frowned.

“I have no idea. Perhaps it’s some kind of Chinese riddle.”

Nina went to see a recent acquaintance, an old antique dealer by the name of Gu Ya-min, and asked him about the ninth son of the dragon.

“He’s referring to Jiaotu,” the old man replied, pointing at a bronze door handle cast in the shape of an animal snout with a ring in its mouth. “Jiaotu doesn’t like to be disturbed and keeps uninvited guests out of the house.”

Nina was furious. Albeit politely, Daniel had just told her to go to hell.

In response, she sent him a traditional Chinese watercolor of a fish jumping out of the water against the background of a distant gate standing in the middle of a river. She was sure that Daniel knew the legend of the silver carp that had overcome a great waterfall called the “Dragon’s Gate” and thus turned into a dragon itself.

Every 4^th of July, Shanghai’s American expatriates would celebrate U.S. Independence Day. In the Public Garden long rows of tables were laid out with perfectly starched white tablecloths under striped awnings. Next to them stood souvenir stalls and barbecues selling food, merry-go-rounds for the children, and a huge stage with a podium for the U.S. Consul General and the Chairman of the Municipal Council, who were due to address the gathering.

The heat was so intense that the air seemed to tremble overhead. The enticing aroma of vanilla ice-cream and grilled meat mixed with the bitter smell of the gunpowder smoke that hovered over the well-dressed crowd. The sound of gun shots and cheers could be heard over the booming music of the brass band.

In the shooting range, Nina was aiming at a paper target. After she had hit the bull’s eye five times in a row, the owner of the shooting arcade doffed his hat. “I’ve never seen anything like it, ma’am.”

Nina handed him back his rifle and headed for the door. She knew that Daniel Bernard had been watching her, but she hadn’t so much as glanced at him. He would have to make the first move.

“Nina, wait!” Daniel called when she was out in the street.

She pretended to be pleasantly surprised.

“How nice to see you again. How are you?”

“Very well, thanks.”

They stood in the middle of the crowd looking into each other’s eyes.

“Do you always find your target?” Daniel asked.

“If I thought I was going to miss, I wouldn’t bother going hunting,” Nina said.

He clasped both her hands in an intimate, sensual, almost imploring gesture. “You’ve had your sights on me in the last couple of months. What do you want of me?”

Nina freed her hands and gave Daniel a reproachful stare, as if he had suggested something indecent.

“I’m just looking for some advice on Chinese art,” she said. “A friend of mine has an unusual collection of antiques. He’s an old man now and wants to sell it but has no idea how to go about it.”

Daniel had such a distraught look on his face that it was all Nina could do to stop herself laughing.

“Well, you must let me see the collection,” he said. “Name a time and a place and we must meet.”

Suddenly Edna rushed up to them, hot and bothered.

“Have you completely lost track of the time?” she said to Daniel. “Everyone is waiting for us in the Administration Booth.”

“I’m terribly sorry,” Daniel said to Nina and tipped his hat. “You’ll have to excuse me.”

Nina clenched her fists. Edna had come at just the wrong moment. But on the plus side, it was clear that Daniel had succumbed to the inevitable and that the idea of another woman entering his life had taken root in his mind. The rest would be a matter of time.

He called Nina two days later, and it was a while before she managed to locate the receiver of the telephone standing on her bedside table.

“Hello!”

“Good morning,” Daniel said. “Do you still want to show me those antiques?”

Nina pressed her hand to her forehead. The previous day, she had held a Spanish masquerade at her house and had been dancing flamenco until the small hours. Now her head was still buzzing from the excesses of gathering.

“Let’s meet up in couple of hours,” she said.

“Agreed.”

She pulled herself out of bed and looked at her triptych vanity mirror. Goodness gracious! Remnants of make-up were smudged under her eyes, and her hair was a total mess. But worst of all she had a horrendous hangover.

“Qin!” Nina called to her amah, the Chinese maid. “Could you bring me a glass of seltzer water and ice, please?”

Daniel met Nina at the entrance of the antique market. It was packed with tourists, sightseers, and art collectors, all wandering around the numerous tents and stalls. The air was thick with the scent of old wood and incense sticks smoking in front of small shrines and altars. Inscrutable dealers sat deep in the cave-like interior of their stalls, surrounded by mountains of colorful bric-a-brac and nonchalantly cooling themselves with fans. Every now and then a heated dispute would break out over the provenance or price of an item. The vendors would invoke the gods and ancestral spirits as their witness, a deal would eventually be agreed on, and a couple of old chairs or a temple bell would pass from one hand to another.

Nina led Daniel along a line of stalls that seemed to have every imaginable item for sale: pots, statues, palanquins, lanterns, vintage embroidered clothes, implements of torture, fortunetelling bones with century-old predictions, and even images of Zigu, the goddess of the privy, to whom people would pray for good luck in their family matters.

Gu Ya-min’s antique shop took up two-floors of a creaky old house, rickety ladders leaned against the shelves on its walls, and light shone in through its colored-glass windows. The owner, who appeared at least a hundred years old, had become so shrunken and dark with age that he looked more like one of his own ancient teak carvings than a living human being. Even in the height of summer he felt the cold and would wander around his shop in a quilted coat and felt slippers.

Gu Ya-min gave Daniel a long searching look and asked Nina who he was and what he wanted. After introductions were made, he agreed to show Daniel his collection.

“A lewd and licentious man lost these items to me at cards,” the old man said, heading for the back room. “He told me they were worth at least three thousand taels of silver, but I can’t even get a yuan for them. It’s against the law for me to sell them.”

The dark, hot, and stuffy back room was cluttered with boxes that reached right up to the ceiling. Nina pushed aside a carved screen and opened the window. She had been hoping that Gu Ya-min would leave her on her own with Daniel, but instead the old man sat down on a stool, resting his hands on the intricately carved head of his stick. “Be my guests,” he said.

Nina had hatched her plan to lure Daniel to this room a long time ago, but now her hangover and nerves had thrown these well laid schemes into complete disarray. To make things worse, Gu Ya-min followed her movements with a disapproving look, as if fathoming what was on her mind.

Daniel opened a cardboard box and pulled out a smaller one covered with silk. Inside was a jade disc depicting a beautiful smiling girl lying on nine chrysanthemum petals, her naked body gleaming and her eyes closed in ecstatic abandon.

Daniel glanced at Nina but said nothing. He took a porcelain bracelet out of a different box. It was decorated with a painted garden along with a pagoda and humpbacked bridge. On the other side of the bracelet was a playful looking woman with a high coiffure. Her gown had slipped open revealing her breasts, and its red belt slid over her stomach disappearing between her thighs.

In the next box there was a fragment of a mammoth tusk covered with carvings of nude figures enjoying every possible sensory delight.

“Do you know how much this thing is worth?” Daniel asked Nina.

“No idea,” she mumbled, rubbing her aching temples.

“This collection could be sold for a very large sum of money. Not here but in Europe.”

Gu Ya-min suddenly dropped his head on his chest and began to snore, his gray mustache quivering in time with his breathing like a pennant in a light wind.

“If Gu Ya-min tries to send these things abroad,” Nina whispered in Daniel’s ear, “he could be accused of selling pornography and end up in jail. That’s why I turned to you: the old man needs advice on what to do with this stuff.”

“What if you were to send the collection under the protection of one of your diplomatic bags?” Daniel said. “You could avoid customs by sending it through your Czechoslovak Consulate. You know there’s a lot more money in illicit antiques than in illicit champagne.”

Nina went cold. Daniel had twigged her little scheme after all.

“You’re a dangerous man,” she said hesitantly.

Daniel laughed. “If I was so dangerous, would you have invited me here on your own?”

“I can explain—”

“Don’t bother. You’d be better off helping me to make an inventory of these treasures.”

They sorted through the remaining boxes together. There were albums with brass corners and prints that smelled of spices, sets of painted fans depicting the most unimaginably debauched scenes, porcelain figurines, and laced puppet figures for the shadow theater. Daniel looked at them in the light while recounting the plots of the famous Chinese medieval stories in an excited whisper. But all Nina could manage to do was to nod and smile stiffly.

Daniel showed her a scroll yellowed with age, depicting a samurai writing thin columns of characters on the thigh of a naked Japanese lady.

“Do you want me to translate it for you?” Daniel asked.

Gu Ya-min woke up suddenly and looked reproachfully at Nina and Daniel.

“Forget about these footprints,” he grunted and pointed at a big box with his stick. “You’d be better off having a look in there.”

Daniel opened the box and pulled out a saddle with a sharp peg sticking out of the middle of it.

“What is it?” he asked in surprise.

“A very useful thing,” Gu Yamin said with a smile. “It’s a donkey saddle for adulterous wives. The philandering hussy is placed on top of the peg by her cuckolded husband, and then the donkey is goaded into a gallop.”

Nina pulled Daniel’s sleeve. “Let’s get out of here. I need some fresh air.”

He accompanied her out into the street. “I didn’t know you were so impressionable. Did you not realize the old man was just teasing you?”

Nina nodded, fanning herself briskly. Hot and cold flushes coursed up and down her body, and the thick pall of sweet-smelling incense that hung over the street was making her feel nauseous.

“If you agree to bring the collection to Europe,” Daniel said, “I can make enquiries to see if any of my clients would be interested in buying it.”

“Thank you,” said Nina. “But I’m afraid I really have to go now.”

“Have I done something wrong?”

“No. Bye.”

Nina disappeared around the corner. If she had stayed with Daniel a minute longer she might have been sick right in front of him.

Even on her return home, it was a while before Nina managed to get over her nausea.

What on earth was it? she pondered. From the very first moment of their meeting, it was as if her body had felt a physical revulsion for him.

However, when Daniel called her again, Nina agreed to meet up. The only omens she ever chose to believe were those with a prediction that she approved of.