Pegasus: A Novel (2 page)

Nick followed Alex into the barn, and Alex led him to an immaculately kept stall where
one of his finest Lipizzaner mares was nursing a foal she had given birth to only
days before. The coal-black foal was standing unsteadily on its legs as the mare looked
at them both with her big dark eyes. Nick knew that Lipizzaner foals were born dark
brown or black, so he wasn’t surprised by its color, as it stood in sharp contrast
to its snow-white mother. He knew it would take five or six years for its coat to
turn white, just as he knew it would
be ten years old before it was fully trained. The foal would spend four years with
Alex, and six at the school in Vienna. The training of the remarkable Lipizzaners
happened over long, careful, diligent, and meticulous years.

“He’s a beauty, isn’t he?” Alex said proudly. “One of the best I’ve seen. He was sired
by Pluto Petra”—who Nick knew was Alex’s finest stallion, whom he used to breed—“and
this little mare did very well. I’m going to have fun training him.” He looked as
proud of the newborn horse as any father, and Nick smiled at him.

“You’re a wonder,” Nick said affectionately, as the two men walked out of the barn
together. Alex would have asked Nick to join him for dinner, but he wanted to have
dinner with Marianne in her room.

“Do you want to ride with me tomorrow to the north border?” Alex asked him. “I’m thinking
of clearing some of my forests. I thought I’d take a look. I want to get an early
start, and be back at noon. We can have lunch after our ride.”

“I’d love to,” Nick said regretfully, as he stopped at the Duesenberg he had left
parked under a tree. He much preferred his Bugatti, but had decided to be more respectable
when he came to join Alex for the hunt. “I can’t, though. I have to meet my father.
There’s something he wants to talk to me about. I can’t for the life of me think what
it is. I haven’t done anything to annoy him in weeks.” They both laughed at what he
said. Nick enjoyed a close relationship with his father, although his father frequently
scolded him over rumors he had heard, of Nick’s womanizing, or his galloping around,
or driving at insane speeds. Above all, Paul von Bingen was always trying to get Nick
involved in the running of the estate. He assumed that that was what his father wanted
to discuss with him the next day. It was a recurring theme. “I think he wants me to
take over managing the farms, which sounds like dreadful work to me.”

“You’ll have to do it one day. You might as well start now,” Alex said sensibly.

They still had farmers on their land who had been indentured servants, and now rented
their farms from him for pennies. But they were a necessary part of the system, and
the traditions that had ruled them all for years. They weren’t really part of the
modern world, but living here in the countryside allowed them a tranquil life away
from the cities. Germany had been troubled for years, since the chaos and poor economy
after the Great War, and the Depression. The economy had improved under Hitler, but
the country’s problems weren’t over yet. Hitler had tried to give Germans a sense
of pride again, but his fervent speeches and rallies at fever pitch didn’t appeal
to Alex or Nick. Alex thought he was a troublemaker, and had a strong dislike for
most of his ideas, and his annexing Austria in March was a disturbing sign of his
ambitions. But whatever Hitler was doing seemed very remote to them here in their
peaceful Bavarian countryside. Nothing could touch them here, and nothing ever changed.
Their families had been in the area for centuries, and would be, doing the same things,
in another two hundred years. They were insulated from the world. And both men were
comfortable knowing that their children and great-grandchildren would still be here
one day.

Alex and Nick had been brought up to be noblemen, and very little else. They had been
blessed with enormous fortunes, which they never discussed and rarely if ever thought
about. They had tenant farmers and servants, and vast estates, which in turn would
pass on to their children, in a totally protected life and world.

“I don’t see why I should take on the farms now,” Nick said, as he slipped his long
legs into the Duesenberg and looked at his friend. “My father is going to live for
another thirty years, and he does it far
better than I ever will,” he commented with a wry smile. “Why should I screw it up
now? I’d much rather do something else. Like ride with you tomorrow morning, but my
father will be upset if I don’t at least pretend to listen to him.” Nick knew all
of his speeches by heart, chapter and verse.

“You’re shameless,” Alex chided him, but he was also aware that Nick was more responsible
than he let on. He was wonderful with his boys, and had vastly improved the lot of
his tenant farmers, using his own funds to improve their homes. He cared about them
as people, but he just didn’t want to be responsible for their land and farms, which
he found incredibly tedious and thought his father seemed to enjoy. Nick was more
interested in the welfare of those less fortunate than he, and bringing up his boys,
with whom he spent a great deal of time, just as Alex did with Marianne. They had
in common that they were both devoted fathers and family men, steeped in the traditions
of their familiar world.

“Sorry I can’t ride with you tomorrow,” Nick said regretfully as he started the car.
“I’ll come by after lunch and watch you train that stallion of yours.” Nick had been
watching Alex work with the young Lipizzaner for months, and was as always in awe
of his skill.

“I still have so much work to do with him. I promised him to the riding school in
January. He’s the right age, but I don’t think he’s ready yet.” The four-year-old
stallion showed a lot of spirit, and Nick never got bored watching Alex take him through
his paces. The Lipizzaner stallion would have impressed anyone just as he was, except
Alex, who was a perfectionist and rarely satisfied with his results. “Come over whenever
you want,” Alex invited him, and a few minutes later, Nick drove off with a jaunty
wave and headed toward his own estate a few miles away, as Alex walked back into the
schloss, to visit his daughter and see how she was.

Marianne was lying in bed, looking bored with a book, and she still appeared feverish
but better than she had the night before. He touched her forehead with a gentle hand,
and was relieved to find her cooler, although her eyes were still dull and her nose
was red.

“How do you feel?” he asked, as he sat down next to her on the bed.

“Stupid for lying here. Did you have fun at the hunt? Did they get the fox?” Her eyes
lit up as she asked him. She had thought about everyone hunting all day.

“Of course. It wasn’t nearly as much fun without you, but I’m happy you stayed home.
It was freezing today. We’re going to have a hard winter, if it’s cold as early as
this.”

“Good. I like it when it snows.” She was happy to see him. “Toby came to see me today.”
She brightened a little, speaking of Nick’s son. He came to visit all the time and
worshipped her. He’d had a crush on her for years, and she treated him like a little
brother. Toby could hardly wait for the day when he could pursue her, and she’d take
him seriously. Marianne knew that day would never come. “Don’t tell his father he
was here. You know how Nick is when anyone is sick.” He had been nervous about illness
ever since his wife and daughter had died of influenza, and he was particularly cautious
about his sons. “We played chess. I beat him,” she said happily as her father smiled
at her.

“You should be nicer to him. He thinks the sun rises and sets on you.”

“That’s just because he doesn’t know any other girls.” She was completely unaware
of her beauty, and her effect on men. Several young men, and even their fathers, had
been looking longingly at her for the past few years, and Alex was relieved that it
never turned her head. She was much more interested in her father’s horses, and
spending time with him, than she was in men. There was a childlike innocence about
her still, which touched his heart. He couldn’t bear the thought of parting with her
one day if she got married and moved away. But even if she did, he knew she wouldn’t
go far.

Marianne attended the local school, with the children of other noble families, and
she had no interest in going to university in another city, particularly now that
there was so much unrest and disruption in the cities and towns. His own father had
insisted that he attend university in Heidelberg, and he had been happy to come home
again, to what he thought was the most beautiful place on earth. And Alex was relieved
that Marianne agreed with him about it. Sometimes he felt guilty for depriving her
of a bigger life, but with turmoil around the country, she was better off here. He
liked keeping her close to him, where he knew she was safe.

“Can I have dinner with you downstairs, Papa?” she asked, ready to get out of bed,
although she was still pale, and Alex shook his head with a stern expression.

“No, you’re not well enough yet. And it’s drafty downstairs. I asked them to bring
us trays here. Marta will be upstairs with them in a minute. I want you to get well
so you can come and see the new foal in the barn. He’s a beauty, even better looking
than his father. I took Nick to see him after the hunt. You can come and watch me
work with Pluto tomorrow if you like. He’s doing well.” Her father gave her the latest
report, and Marianne sank back into her pillows with a sigh, and he could see she
didn’t feel as well as she claimed. He was greatly relieved that she hadn’t gone out
that day. It would have been madness if she had, but she was stubborn enough to try.

Marta and one of the housemen came in a few minutes later, with their dinner on trays,
and her father let her get up and sit next to the fire, wrapped in a blanket, while
he told her all about the hunt. She
looked tired afterward when she went back to bed, but she was cool when he felt her
cheek and kissed her.

“Goodnight, my angel,” he said, smiling at her, as she looked at him with gentle eyes.

“I’m the luckiest girl in the world, to have a father like you,” she said softly,
and he melted at her words. He felt the same way about her. And then she thought of
something she had forgotten to tell him at dinner. “I listened to the radio today,
and there was some kind of rally in Berlin. You could hear the soldiers marching in
precision, and they sang a lot of songs that sounded like there was a war on. The
Fuehrer made a speech asking everyone to pledge loyalty to him. It scared me.… Do
you think there will ever be a war, Papa?” She looked young and innocent as she asked.
Hitler had convinced everyone that occupying Austria would avoid a war, and that “lebensraum,”
annexing Austria, would be enough.

“No, I don’t,” he said reassuringly, although Hitler had mobilized the military two
months before. “I don’t think it’s as dangerous as it sounds. And nothing will touch
us here. Sleep tight, my darling … sweet dreams. I hope you feel better in the morning.
But I still want you to stay home from school for a few days. You can keep me company
in the barn.”

She smiled as he left the room and she felt better after what he’d said. As she listened
to the Fuehrer’s speech that afternoon, she had felt a chill of fear, as though the
whole world were about to change. Hitler had said it would, on the radio. But she
was sure her father was right. Their leader was just speaking to the masses to excite
and inspire them. It had nothing to do with them here at home. She fell asleep thinking
about their Christmas ball, and how much fun it was going to be. She had to start
planning for it, it was only two months away. And Nick had said that Toby could come
this year for the first
time. He had told her that day that he was going to get his first tailcoat and top
hat, and she had laughed at him. He was a handsome boy, but he still seemed like a
child to her. She felt like one herself, as she drifted off to sleep. She could hardly
wait to see the inky black Lipizzaner foal in the barn. She remembered the first time
she had seen one and had been so shocked it wasn’t white. And then it had grown up
to be a beautiful snowy creature like the others that seemed to dance in midair. She
was dreaming about her father’s Lipizzaners as she fell asleep. They were magical
beings in a perfect world. A world where she knew that nothing bad could ever touch
her, and just as her father said, she would always be safe.

In the morning, Nick drove his bright blue Bugatti to the large manor house where
his father lived on their estate. He had moved there when Nick married, and he had
given Nick and his wife the use of the schloss, as he thought was fitting for his
son and his bride. He’d been urging Nick to run the estate then, and he was still
trying to get him to do so, without success. Nick was perfectly content to visit their
tenants, spend time with his friends, and tend to his sons, which he claimed was full-time
work, since they had no mother to take care of them now. Paul von Bingen was pleased
that his son was so attentive to his children, but he would have liked to see him
more interested in their land, and learning how to manage it himself one day. At forty-three,
Nick was convinced that that time was so far off that he had years to learn what he
needed to know. Nick still felt like a young man. His father was sixty-five and always
seemed younger than he was as well. Paul von Bingen was still a handsome, vital man,
but Nick noticed that his father didn’t look well today. He appeared tired and pale
and was frowning when Nick strode into the library, greeted his father and sat down
in a chair near his desk.

“Are you well, Father?” Nick asked with concern.

“I am,” Paul said, sitting at his desk, and gazing at his son with a somber expression,
and then he got up and closed the door. Nick could tell it was going to be a serious
discussion, possibly even a lecture, from the look on his father’s face. He was sorry
he hadn’t gone riding with Alex instead. This wasn’t going to be fun, but periodically
he had to subject himself to his father’s speeches about responsibility and obligation
and what duty and their heritage required of them. Nick knew the main themes of the
sermon by heart, and braced himself for what was about to come. His father sat down
at his desk again and seemed to be weighing his words, which was unusual for him.
Ordinarily, he launched right into a well-rehearsed list of what Nick should be doing
and wasn’t. Nick had been hearing it for twenty years, and waited patiently for him
to start.