Antisemitism -- Fiction; Jews -- Austria -- Fiction; Middle class -- Fiction; Vienna (Austria) -- Fiction
audacious _coiffure_ with its gigantic black feather hat, while her
white skirt fluttered and flew over her low-cut patent leather shoes
and open-work stockings. Sissy's appearance had produced so strange an
effect on a couple of strangers that they called out to her a quite
unambiguous invitation. There had then ensued a short mysterious
interview between Willy, who immediately came on the spot, and the two
somewhat embarrassed gentlemen, who first tried to save their faces by
lighting fresh cigarettes with deliberate nonchalance and then suddenly
vanished in the crowd.
Even the side-show with its "Illusions" and "Illuminated Pictures" had
special memories for George. It was here, while Daphne was turning
into a tree, that Sissy had whispered into his ear a gentle "remember"
and thus called to his memory that masked ball at Ehrenberg's at which
she had lifted up her lace veil for a fleeting kiss, though presumably
he had not been the only one. Then there was the hut where the whole
party had had themselves photographed: the three young girls, Anna,
Else and Sissy in the pose of classical goddesses and the men at their
feet with ecstatic eyes, so that the whole thing looked like the climax
of a transformation scene. And while George was thinking of these
little episodes there floated up through his memory the way in which
he and Anna had said goodbye to-day, and it seemed full of the most
pleasant promise.
A striking number of people stood in front of an open shooting gallery.
Now the drummer was hit in the heart and beat quick strokes upon his
drum, now the glass ball which was dancing to and fro upon a jet of
water broke with a slight click, now a _vivandière_ hastily put her
trumpet to her mouth and blew a menacing blast, now a little railway
thundered out of a door which had sprung open, whizzed over a flying
bridge and was swallowed up by another door.
When the crowd began to thin, George and Heinrich made their way to the
front and recognised that the good shots were Oskar Ehrenberg and his
lady friend. Oskar was just aiming his gun at an eagle which was moving
up and down near the ceiling with outstretched wings, and missed for
the first time. He laid his weapon down in indignation, gazed round
him, saw the two gentlemen behind him and saluted them.
The young lady with her cheek resting on her gun threw a fleeting
glance at the new arrivals, then aimed again with great keenness, and
pressed the trigger. The eagle drooped its hit wings and did not move
any more.
"Bravo," shouted Oskar.
The lady laid the weapon before her on the table. "That's my little
lot," she said to the boy who wanted to load again. "I've won."
"How many shots were there?" asked Oskar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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