"Franz_Kafka_-_Diaries_1913" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kafka Franz)

Kingston, at which it was his habit to stop, had been burned almost to the ground, but the driver, who of course knew this, had nevertheless carried out his passenger's
instructions with complete indifference, and without a word had brought him to the site of the hotel which had burned down. Now he calmly got down from the box and
would even have unloaded Liman's luggage if the latter had not seized him by the shoulder and shaken him, whereupon the driver then let go of the luggage, to be sure,
but as slowly and sleepily as if not Liman but his own change of mind had diverted him from it.


Part of the ground floor of the hotel was still intact and had been made fairly habitable by being boarded over at the top and sides. A notice in Turkish and French
indicated that the hotel would be rebuilt in a short time as a more beautiful and more modern structure. Yet the only sign of this was the work of three day laborers, who
with shovels and rakes were heaping up the rubble at one side and loading it into a small handbarrow.


As it turned out, part of the hotel staff, unemployed because of the fire, was living in these ruins. A gentleman in a black frock coat and a bright red tie at once came
running out when Liman's carriage stopped, told Liman, who sulkily listened to him, the story of the fire, meanwhile twisting the ends of his long, thin beard around his
finger and interrupting this only to point out to Liman where the fire started, how it spread, and how finally everything collapsed. Limam, who had hardly raised his eyes
from the ground throughout this whole story and had not let go the handle of the carriage door, was just about to call out to the driver the name of another hotel to which
he could drive him when the man in the frock coat, with arms raised, implored him not to go to any other hotel, but to remain loyal to this hotel, where, after all, he had
always received satisfaction. Despite the fact that this was only meaningless talk and no one could remember Liman, just as Liman recognized hardly a single one of the
male and female employees he saw in the door and windows, he still asked, as a man to whom his habits were dear, how, then, at the moment, he was to remain loyal to
the burned-down hotel. Now he learnedЧand involuntarily had to smile at the ideaЧthat beautiful rooms in private homes were available for former guests of this hotel,
but only for them, Liman need but say the word and he would be taken to one at once, it was quite near, there would be no time lost and the rateЧthey wished to oblige
and the room was of course only a substituteЧwas unusually low, even though the food, Viennese cooking, was, if possible, even better and the service even more
attentive than in the former Hotel Kingston, which had really been inadequate in some respects.


УThank you,Ф said Liman, and got into the carriage. УI shall be in Constantinople only five days, I really can't set myself up in a private home for this short space of time,
no, I'm going to a hotel. Next year, however, when I return and your hotel has been rebuilt, I'll certainly stop only with you. Excuse me!Ф And Liman tried to close the
carriage door, the handle of which the representative of the hotel was now holding. УSir,Ф the latter said pleadingly, and looked up at Liman.


УLet go!Ф shouted Liman, shook the door and directed the driver: УTo the Hotel Royal.Ф But whether it was because the driver did not understand him, whether it was
because he was waiting for the door to be closed, in any event he sat on his box like a statue. In no case however, did the representative of the hotel let go of the door,
he even beckoned eagerly to a colleague to rouse himself and come to his aid. There was some girl he particularly hoped could do something, and he kept calling, УFini!
Hey, Fini! Where's Fini?Ф The people at the windows and the door had turned towards the inside of the house, they shouted in confusion, one saw them running past
the windows, everyone was looking for Fini.


The man who was keeping Liman from driving off and whom obviously only hunger gave the courage to behave like this, could have been easily pushed away from the
door. He realized this and did not dare even to look at Liman; but Liman had already had too many unfortunate experiences on his travels not to know how important it
is in a foreign country to avoid doing anything that attracts attention, no matter how very much in the right one might be. He therefore quietly got out of the carriage
again, for the time being paid no attention to the man who was holding the door in a convulsive grip, went up to the driver, repeated his instructions, expressly added that
he was to drive away from here as fast as he could, then walked up to the man at the door of the carriage, took hold of his hand with an apparently ordinary grip, but
secretly squeezed the knuckles so hard that the man almost jumped and was forced to remove his hand from the door handle, shrieking УFini!Ф which was at once a
command and an outburst of pain.


УHere she comes! Here she comes!Ф shouts now came from all the windows, and a laughing girl, her hands still held to her hair, which had just been dressed, her head
half bowed, came running out of the house towards the carriage. УQuick! Into the carriage! It's pouring,Ф she cried, grasping Liman by the shoulders and holding her
face very close to his. УI am Fini,Ф she then said softly, and let her hands move caressingly along his shoulders.