He felt another shot of jealousy as he saw Mr. Nyilas helping the young woman out of her coat and revealing that she was in a rather appealing dress that in no way detracted from her mature looks, despite her visible youthfulness.
With the thick wool layer removed, Pierson could see that her figure was indeed a lovely and slender one with a modest bust, making her, like Petra, look appropriately feminine and even delicate, but yet with a strength and resiliency that the femininity and delicacy couldn’t altogether hide, and probably served as a warning to the observant that they weren’t women to be trifled with.
Unable to understand the conversation Mr. Nyilas and the young woman were having, Pierson followed them silently to the living room, feeling somewhat sulky that he couldn’t understand what they were saying.
After a few moments, however, they both left the living room, with Mr. Nyilas departing to the kitchen, shortly after which the young woman departed to the washroom, leaving Pierson to stand alone and somewhat bemused in the living room.
Unsurprisingly, the young woman returned first and sat down. Pierson wanted to sit down beside her, but he felt like that might be a bit forward of him, so he instead sat down on a different piece of furniture in the living room, and looked at the young woman, but she didn’t look at him, so he looked down at his hands and sighed.
The kettle’s whistle told Pierson that Mr. Nyilas had been making tea, and in moments he returned with the china teapot on a tray with teacups and cookies, much like when Pierson had been first brought over.
He served tea to Pierson and the young woman before preparing his own as the young woman, between very refined and dignified sips of tea and bites of cookie, seemed to be recounting the whole tale of the afternoon.
Pierson sipped his tea and ate at a couple cookies while she talked, wishing he could understand what she was saying, instead of just hearing it, and the emotion conveyed her tone and pace, which was enhanced by the expressiveness of her face and her restrained gesticulations.
Mr. Nyilas looked quite intrigued, and listened without asking many questions to the whole tale, most of the time keeping his gaze fixed on the young woman, although he occasionally looked at Pierson, including once with his eyebrows raised with intrigue.
Finally the young woman sounded like she was wrapping up her account, and Mr. Nyilas then spoke for about a minute to her before turning to Pierson.
“That was a box clever thing you did with that ruse of being a German,” Mr. Nyilas said, sounding somewhat admiring. “Were you pretending to be anyone in particular? Was it a character you’ve played before?”
“No,” Pierson replied. “I just pretended to be a German, and I hope I came across as a wealthy one who’s maybe exempt from military service because he’s in a business that’s vital to the German war effort.”
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