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Back The Woman on the Stairs Save as PDF
Chapters (83)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Bernhard Schlink
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. Part Two
  33. 1
  34. 2
  35. 3
  36. 4
  37. 5
  38. 6
  39. 7
  40. 8
  41. 9
  42. 10
  43. 11
  44. 12
  45. 13
  46. 14
  47. 15
  48. 16
  49. 17
  50. 18
  51. 19
  52. 20
  53. 21
  54. 22
  55. 23
  56. 24
  57. 25
  58. Part Three
  59. 1
  60. 2
  61. 3
  62. 4
  63. 5
  64. 6
  65. 7
  66. 8
  67. 9
  68. 10
  69. 11
  70. 12
  71. 13
  72. 14
  73. 15
  74. 16
  75. 17
  76. 18
  77. 19
  78. 20
  79. 21
  80. 22
  81. Author’s Note
  82. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

They were no longer arguing. It sounded as if they were licking their wounds. Was Irene the great defeat of Schwind’s life, as she had been of Gundlach’s? Had he imagined then that he could have both – the painting, because Schwind owed it to him, and Irene, because she belonged to him? And then Irene had robbed him of both, had taken the painting from him and then left, herself?

I thought of my grandfather, who would sometimes say that he had dreamed of his finals at school again. At the time I couldn’t believe that an early experience, which had been followed by a long, full life, could remain so present. My grandfather had passed his finals without any difficulty, studied medicine, opened a practice and run it successfully. And still he dreamed about his finals? Schwind was the world’s most famous, expensive contemporary painter, idolized by students, courted by critics, desired by women – and still he suffered over some trivial setback from decades ago? And Gundlach, a man who was successful several times over, worth millions, father of two adult children, happily married, couldn’t come to terms with the fact that this defiant woman had left him so long ago?

Or is it the small defeats that we can’t get over? The first tiny scratch on a new car is more painful than a big one later on. The small splinters are harder to remove than the big ones and sometimes won’t come out however much you poke them with a needle, and they fester until they work their way out. The big early defeats change the course of our lives. The small ones don’t change us, but they stay with us and torment us, little thorns in our side.

Then there seems to be a chance to put things right; it seems so close that you reach out and try to take it, but then it’s all smoke and mirrors. I was starting to understand Gundlach and Schwind. Not that I felt a connection with them. My experience with Irene has nothing in common with theirs.

21

When I went to join them on the beach, they were talking about their children and grandchildren. How many they had, how they were getting on in life, whose children and grandchildren were more successful – for a fraction of a second I was tempted to join them and boast about my own children and grandchildren.

I asked Schwind something I had been wondering about since his arrival. “Did you really reserve the right to decide what happened to all your paintings, whom they could be sold or lent to?”

“What?” He looked at me blankly.

“You said to me then that you would never let what happened to Irene’s painting happen to another painting of yours. That all your paintings would remain under…”