'The Writing on the Wall' by Erzsebet Kisjokai: English version translated by Istvan K. Karpathy and adapted by John S. Ryan

Abstract

Someone had carelessly turned the radio on much too loud so that the speaker screamed out the weather forecast, sometimes hoarsely, sometimes scarcely audibly: "The ridge of high pressure which has been moving from the British Isles to the south-west for several days is now losing its strength but is proceeding towards our coasts. The air stream with its high humidity has been transformed into thick fog..." "The devil take this fog," grumbled the banker. "Now, of course, my plane will not take off." "Neither will mine," said the professor with a serious expression, and pushed his plate nervously aside. "Waiter, will you please go and see what is going to happen to the 6.40 Constellation." "Gentlemen, gentlemen," the fashion-king said to them serenely, "what's the use of this worrying? What does it matter if we should have to stay here? Nothing at all! As for me, I should even be glad, as Amsterdam is a beautiful city full of wonderful possibilities in the way of entertainment." Attentive, absent-minded and angry glances were turned towards him. But his broad face, chubby and beaming, remained calm and undisturbed. The famous leader and ruler of the world of fashion was certain of the power which he had acquired with his enormous wealth and before which heads had inclined and backs and opinions bowed low. At this moment he was speaking in English with grammatical errors and mispronunciations, but he was not ashamed of this either, since his self-confidence was unlimited.