Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

signet ring with the coat of arms of his family. "Forgive me, but I had a notion of a rather wild and uncultured clan upthere in those mountains. But Vladimir assures me that Tamara is not only intelligent but also well educated. I had theidea the people in the valleys of the Caucasus were all Mohammedans."Alexandra let out a peal of laughter. "Not only did they become Christians five hundred years before the Russian Bojarsforcefully dunked their subjects in the Dnieper, but some of the oldest Georgian churches are in Svaneti. DavidDadeshkeliani is a highly cultured man with a large library of valuable incunabulae and ancient religious art, besides he isa most charming man."Uncharacteristically fidgety, Nomikoff blushed. "What do you suggest should be done to redress my son’s indiscretion?He told me that you wrote to your father to ask him for help. I find this very laudable. It alone would earn you the positionof his mother at this wedding."He bowed to her. "Would you think that a letter from me to your father would be in order?"She nodded. "I am sure it would be highly appreciated. My father is a modern, worldly man, not at all narrow-minded. Idid tell him the entire story of Vladimir and Tamara, which I advised the two not to broach to her father as yet."M. Nomikoff raised his glass to her. "May I drink to our acquaintance, you are a perfectly charming lady. I should countmyself lucky to find you at my side during the occasion. I trust your husband does not object to a temporary liaison of hisbeautiful, young wife with this old man?"She smiled at him and reassured him that Konrad fully approved of her engagement.He took the trouble of accompanying her home in his car and kissed her gloved hand most respectfully.Alexandra was immensely pleased with herself, as woman and as diplomat.Irakli wrote back immediately assuring Alexandra that he would negotiate the wedding to take place at his house in thelast week of May. David Dadeshkeliani’s reply took much longer. The letter was stamped in Tiflis. Apparently David hadgot on his horse and traveled to Tiflis to discuss the case with Irakli, who must have explained the facts to his cousin.The tone of David Dadeshkeliani’s letter was friendly and gracious, he welcomed Vladimir as his son-in-law and praisedhim as a person, but raised several reservations. One of them was the question of Vladimir’s profession. Would he beable to support Tamara and a child in time of need? Tamara was assured of a generous dowry, and he assumed thatVladimir’s inheritance would allow him to support himself and a family without any gainful occupation, but the future wasnot auspicious. His inherited support was not guaranteed to the end of their lives, as it had been for generations.Tamara raged against this admonition. father was an old-fashioned man. The uncertain future was exactly why she hadbecome a lawyer. But Vladimir was less sanguine, he felt reprimanded, asked to pull himself together and write aserious, publishable novel. "The Last Princess of Svaneti" was being printed in Paris, and the publisher had promisedhim a sizable return. But, of course, he could not publicly own up to this source of income. It was most vexing.This time, Alexandra did not spare him her biting sarcasm, and he admitted that she had some justification for herdressing him down.He sighed. "It is hard to shape up to conventional bourgeois reality as a spoiled heir to a good fortune."Tamara defended Vladimir fiercely against Alexandra’s accusations. Vladimir finally suggested he would find sometranslation work—many famous Russian writers had supported themselves with translations—while he started a new,serious novel in order to show to his future father-in-law that he could do that too. To Alexandra’s pointed question as towhat this novel would be, Vladimir was silent.56.Alexandra's journey to Munich1913Alexandra shared a second-class sleeper compartment with three others. Her upper berth afforded some privacy, but didget hot and stuffy at night. East Prussia passed cold and gray by her window. Pouring rain had transformed the land intoone vast lake. Eydtkuhnen, the memories of their long wait in the snow and the night at the Bredows, lay behind her.She spent a good amount of time sitting on her bed reading and meditating. At home she did breath-counting exercisesevery morning after she woke up. "To separate my dreams from the new day," she would tell Konrad.These exercises had become an effective way of renewing her energies and controlling the tensions of her days, to lether deep feelings and hunches surface and to prepare for her patients. She was convinced that these exercises hadreleased her healing powers.She now experimented with a less-structured method of visualizing spontaneous images float from the depth of her180