“No. I have done all the waiting I intend to. Besides,” I added, aiming for lightness, “I would embarrass you horribly among your friends.”
“Speak to István,” Elisabeth recommended. So I waited.
It was an unexpectedly jolly party which István discovered upon his return. Katalin and I were kneeling on the floor with the children, playing a boisterous game of jack-straws with them while I caught up with their news and told them something of my adventurous life since January, including an edited version of my encounter with Colonel von Avenheim.
He saw me as soon as he opened the door. I glanced up, still laughing at Miklós’s antics, and slowly, the laughter died on my lips. I saw the awful guilt written clearly in his eyes, a guilt he could barely live with; and I knew instinctively that
