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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18708-8.txt b/18708-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11804e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/18708-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8691 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Dr. Dumany's Wife, by Mór Jókai, Translated +by F. Steinitz + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Dr. Dumany's Wife + + +Author: Mór Jókai + + + +Release Date: June 28, 2006 [eBook #18708] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DR. DUMANY'S WIFE*** + + +E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and Project Gutenberg Distributed +Proofreaders + + + +Works of Maurus Jókai +Hungarian Edition + +DR. DUMANY'S WIFE + +Translated from the Hungarian by F. STEINITZ + + + + + + + +New York +Doubleday, Page & Company +1891 + + + + +PUBLISHERS' NOTE. + + +This, the latest story from the pen of Hungary's great man of letters, +Maurus Jókai, was translated directly from the manuscript of the author +by Mme. F. Steinitz, who resides in Buda-Pest, and was selected by him +for that purpose. + +Maurus Jókai is now sixty-six years of age, having been born at Komaróm, +in 1825. He was intended for the law, that having been his father's +profession but at twelve years of age the desire to write seized him. +Some of his stories fell into the hands of the lawyer in whose office he +was studying, who read them, and was so struck by their originality and +talent that he published them at once at his own expense. The public was +as well pleased with the book as the lawyer had been with the +manuscripts, and from that tender age to the present Jókai has devoted +himself to writing, and is the author of several hundred successful +volumes. At the age of twenty-three he laid down his pen long enough to +get married, his bride being Rosa Laborfalvi, the then leading Hungarian +actress. At the end of a year he joined the Revolutionists, and buckled +on the sword of the patriot. He was taken prisoner and sentenced to be +shot, when his bride appeared upon the scene with her pockets full of +the money she had made by the sale of her jewels, and, bribing the +guards, escaped with her husband into the birch woods, where they hid in +caves and slept on leaves, all the time in danger of their lives, until +they finally found their way to Buda-Pest and liberty. This city Jókai +has made his home; in the winter he lives in the heart of the town, in +the summer just far enough outside of it to have a house surrounded by +grounds, where he can sit out of doors in the shade of his own trees. He +is probably the best-known man in Hungary to-day, for he is not only an +author, but a financier, a statesman, and a journalist as well. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +PART I. + + I. THE DUMB CHILD + II. THE DARK GOD + III. THE ENGLISHMAN + IV. THE NABOB + V. A REPUBLICAN COUNTESS + VI. DUMANY KORNEL + VII. THE DEAD MAN'S VOTE +VIII. MY UNCLE DIOGENES + IX. A SLAVONIC KINGDOM + X. "DEAD" + XI. MY DEAR FRIEND SIEGFRIED + XII. THE DEVIL'S HOOF +XIII. THE VALKYRS + + +PART II. + + I. THE SEA-DOVE + II. "WHAT IS THE DEVIL LIKE?" + III. THE FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER + IV. THE HISTORY OF MY FRIEND + V. HOW ROSES ARE INOCULATED + VI. MR. PARASITE + VII. A BRILLIANT GAME +VIII. A BITING KISS + IX. WHO IS THE VISITOR? + X. AFTER THE WEDDING + XI. MY SCHEME + XII. SEEKING FOR DEATH +XIII. MY DISCHARGE + XIV. HOME! SWEET HOME + XV. VOX POPULI + XVI. DAME FORTUNE +XVII. LIGHT AT LAST + + + + +DR. DUMANY'S WIFE. + +Part I. + + +I. + +THE DUMB CHILD. + + +It was about the close of the year 1876 when, on my road to Paris, I +boarded the St. Gothard railway-train. Travellers coming from Italy had +already taken possession of the sleeping-car compartments, and I owed it +solely to the virtue of an extraordinarily large tip that I was at last +able to stretch my weary limbs upon the little sofa of a half-coupé. It +was not a very comfortable resting-place, inasmuch as this carriage was +the very last in an immensely long train, and one must be indeed fond of +rocking to enjoy the incessant shaking, jostling, and rattling in this +portion of the train. But still it was much preferable to the crowded +carriages, peopled with old women carrying babies, giggling maidens, +snoring or smoking men, and hilarious children; so I made the best of +it, and prepared for a doze. + +The guard came in to look at my ticket, and, pitying my lonely +condition, he opened a conversation. He told me that the son of an +immensely wealthy American nabob, with an escort well-nigh princely, +was travelling on the same train to Paris. He had with him an attendant +physician, a nursery governess, a little playfellow, a travelling +courier, and a huge negro servant to prepare his baths, besides several +inferior servants. These all occupied the parlour-car and the sleeping +compartments; but the little fellow had a parlour, a bedroom, and a +dressing-room all to himself. + +I did not pay much attention to the talk of the gossiping guard, and so +he departed, and at last I could sleep. On the road I am like a miller +in his mill. So long as the wheel turns, I sleep on; but the moment it +is stopped, I start up and am instantly wide awake. We had reached a +smaller station where the train usually stops for a few minutes only, +when, to my surprise, there was a great deal of pushing and sliding of +the cars backward and forward, and we halted for an extraordinarily long +time. I was just getting up to learn what was going on, when the guard +entered, lantern in hand. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," he said, "but there is something amiss. The +linch-pin of the parlour-car has become over-heated, and we had to +uncouple the car and leave it behind. Now we are obliged to find a +convenient place for the little American, until we reach some main +station, where another parlour-car can be attached to the train. I am +really sorry for you, sir, but this is the only suitable place we have, +and the little fellow and his governess must be your travelling +companions for a while." + +"Well, when a thing can't be helped, grumbling is unreasonable, so +good-bye sleep and quiet, and let us prepare to pay homage to the +illustrious youth and his lady attendant," said I, smiling at the +guard's earnestness. But still he hesitated. + +"And pray, sir, what is your religion?" stammered he; "I have to tell +the governess." + +"Indeed!" My good-humour was rising still, and I continued smiling. +"Tell the lady that I am a Swiss Protestant, and I hope she will not +object, as I shall not try to convert her or her charge if they are of a +different creed. Is there anything else you want to inquire into?" + +"Yes, sir. The little gentleman's physician would also like to accompany +his charge, and stay at his side." + +"But there is only room for three." + +"I know; but, sir, the doctor is a very liberal gentleman, and he told +me that if anybody would be willing to exchange places with him, he +would gladly repay his whole travelling expenses." + +"That's liberal, certainly, and I have no doubt the fireman of the +engine will thankfully accept his offer. You can tell him as much. And +now go!" + +The man went out, but right after him came the doctor--a very pleasant +and distinguished-looking young man. He apologised for the guard's +bluntness and his misinterpretation of his message. He had not meant to +offend a gentleman, and so forth. He introduced himself as Dr. Mayer, +family physician at the house of the so-called "Silver King," Mr. +Dumany, the father of the little "Silver Prince." After learning that I +did not smoke, and had no objection to children, he inquired my +nationality. My astrachan fur cap and coat-collar made him take me for a +Russian, but, thanking him for his good opinion, I stated that as yet I +was merely a Hungarian. He did not object; but asked if we were free +from small-pox, diphtheritis, croup, measles, scarlet-fever, +whooping-cough, and such like maladies in our country at present. After +I had satisfied him that even the foot-and-mouth disease had by this +time ceased, he finally quitted me, but immediately returned, assisting +a lady with both hands full of travelling necessaries to climb up into +the carriage. After the lady came a grand stately-looking negro servant, +with gold-braided cap and overcoat of white bear's fur, and on his arm, +bundled up in rich velvet and costly fur, he carried a beautiful +five-year-old boy, who looked like some waxen image or big doll. + +The lady seemed very lively and talkative, and had a host of languages +at command. With the doctor she conversed in German; to the guide she +spoke French; the negro she questioned in English, and to a maid who +brought in some rugs and air-pillows she spoke Italian. All these +languages she spoke excellently, and I am certain that if a dozen +persons of different nationalities had been present she could have +talked to them in their various dialects with the same ease and fluency. +Of her beauty I could not judge, for she wore a bonnet with a thick +veil, which covered her face to the chin. + +Taking her seat at the opposite window, she placed the child between +us. He was a pale, quiet little boy, with very red, thin, +tightly-compressed lips, and great, melancholy dark-blue eyes. As long +as the negro was occupied in arranging the rugs and pillows, he looked +wholly unconcerned, and the smiles from the great black shining face did +not impress him at all; but when the swarthy giant caught the two fair +little hands in his own great black palm and wanted to kiss them, the +boy withdrew his hands with a quick gesture and struck the ebony +forehead with his tiny fist. + +At last we were seated. The negro was gone, the guide went out and +locked the door after him. Seeing that the open window was disagreeable +to the lady, I volunteered to close it. She accepted gratefully, and at +the same time expressed her regrets that, in consequence of the accident +to the parlour-car, she had been compelled to disturb me. Of course, I +hastened to say that I was not in the least incommoded, and only +regretted that it was not in my power to make her more comfortable. She +then told me that she was an American, and pretty well used to railroad +accidents of a more or less serious character. Three times she had been +saved by a miracle in railway collisions at home, and she assured me +that in America about 30,000 persons were every year injured in railway +accidents, while some 4,000 were killed outright. + +We conversed in German, and, as the lady became more and more +communicative, talk turned upon the subject of the child between us. +She told me that Master James was deaf and dumb, and could not +understand a word of our conversation; hence restraint was unnecessary. +I asked her if he was born with this defect, and she said, "No; until +the age of three he could speak very nicely, but at that age he was +thrown out of his little goat-carriage, and in consequence of the shock +and concussion lost his power of speech." + +"Then he will possibly recover it," I said. "I knew a young man who lost +his speech in the same manner at the age of five, and could not speak up +to his tenth year; then he recovered, and now he has graduated from +college as senior wrangler." + +"Yes," she said. "But Mr. Dumany is impatient, and he has sent the boy +to all the deaf-and-dumb boarding-schools in Europe. Even now we are +coming from such an institution in Italy; but none of all these +different masters has been able to teach more than sign-talk, and that +is insufficient. Mr. Dumany wants to give the German Heinicke method a +trial. That professes to teach real conversation, based on the +observations of the movements of the lips and tongue." + +Of this method I also knew examples of success. I was acquainted with a +deaf and dumb type-setter, who had learned to talk intelligibly and +fluently, could read aloud, and take part in conversation, but in a +piping voice like that of a bird. + +"Even that would be a great success," she said. "At any rate, little +James will be taken to the Zürich Institute, and remain there until he +acquires his speech." + +During this whole conversation the little fellow had sat between us, +mute, and, to all appearance, wholly indifferent. His little pale face +was dull, and his great eyes half closed. I felt sorry for him, and with +a sigh of real compassion I muttered in my own native Hungarian tongue, +"Szegény fincska!" ("Poor little boy!") At this I saw a thrill of +surprise run through the child's little frame; the great blue eyes +opened wide in wonder and delight, and the closed cherry lips opened in +a smile of joy. + +I was struck with surprise, and did not believe my own eyes. The lady +had not noticed anything, since she still kept her bonnet on and the +thick veil tightly drawn over her face. + +I took pity on her, and offered to go out into the corridor to smoke a +cigarette, so that she might make herself a little more comfortable +until we arrived at some large station, where she would enter another +parlour-car. + +She accepted thankfully, and, to my utter astonishment, the little boy +raised his tiny hand, and caressingly stroked the fur collar of my coat. +I bent down to kiss him, and he smiled sweetly on me; and when I got up +and signed to him that he could now occupy both seats and stretch +himself upon the little sofa, he shook his head, and crept into the +corner which I had quitted. And there, as often as in my walk up and +down the corridor I threw a glance into his corner, I could see the +child's large dark-blue eyes following all my movements with an eager +curiosity; the white little face pressed to the window-pane and the tiny +hand never losing hold of the edge of the curtain, which he had +purposely lifted, for the governess had pulled the curtain down the +moment I left, possibly to take off her bonnet. + +Mine was not a very pleasant situation in that corridor. I watched the +rising and sinking of the moon, which phenomenon repeated itself about +twice every hour, according to the serpentine windings of the road. I +looked at the milky mist which surrounded the icy pinnacles of the great +mountains, and grumbled over the intense darkness in the many tunnels, +in which the roar and noise of the train is tremendously increased, +thundering as if Titans were breaking out of their prisons below Mount +Pelion. + +As if they had not broken through long, long ago! What if the old +Grecian gods should come to life? should leave their marble temples, and +gaze about on the world as it is at present? If Pallas Athene were told +of America? If Helios Apollo could listen to Wagner's operas, and Zeus +Jupiter might look into the great tube of the London Observatory, +wondering what had become of that milky way which had been formed out of +the milk spilled by Amalthea? If we could show him that we had caught +and harnessed his heavenly lightning to draw our vehicles and carry our +messages, and that, with the help of fire-eyed leviathans, we break +through the rocky womb of his great mountains? And yet, how easy it +would be for them, with a simple sneeze of their most illustrious and +omnipotent noses, to raise such a tempest that earth and sea would rise +and destroy man and his pigmy works at one fell stroke! I wonder if they +never awake? I rather think they sometimes get up and shake their mighty +fists at us. These cyclones look very suspicious to me! + +The huge iron leviathan turns and twists itself like a Gordian knot; +disappears and reappears, almost on the same spot, but higher up on the +mountain, and then glides rapidly on along the brinks of fearful +abysses, over long iron bridges looking like some fanciful filigree +work, some giant spider's web, extending across great valleys, chasms, +and precipices, over which great mountain rivers splash down, roaring +and foaming in gigantic falls. What giant power has cleft the way for +these waters--Vulcan or Neptune? Or was it laid down in Euclid's +adventurous age, when the Titans went into bankruptcy? + +The train increases its speed to regain the time lost in uncoupling the +disabled parlour-car, and this increased speed is chiefly felt at the +tail of the great iron dragon. I have to cling tightly to the brass rod +in front of the windows. We pass the central station without stopping, +the locomotive whistles, the lamps of the little watch-houses fly past +like so many jack-o'-lanterns, and all at once we are enveloped by a +thick fog rising from beneath, where it had rested above the sea, and +when the train has twice completed the circle around the valley, the +noxious, dangerous mist surrounds us entirely. + +But once more the creation of human hands conquers the spectre, and, +puffing and whistling, the locomotive breaks through the dark haze. Once +again the iron serpent disappears into the bowels of the rock, and as it +emerges it crosses another valley and is greeted by a clear heaven and a +multitude of brightly-glistening stars. + +We are on the Rossberg. A devastated tract of the globe it seems. Our +eyes rest on barren soil devoid of vegetation. Beneath a large field of +huge boulders, imbedded in snow and ice, the Alpine vegetation thrives. +The whole valley is one immense graveyard, and the great rocks are giant +tombstones, encircled by wreaths of white flowers meet for adorning +graves. At the beginning of the present century one of the ridges of the +Rossberg gave way, and in the landslide four villages were buried. This +happened at night, when the villagers were all asleep, and not a single +man, women, or child escaped. This valley is their resting-place. Was I +not right to call it a graveyard? + +Above this valley of destruction the train glides on. Upon the side of +the mountain is a little watch-house, built into the rock; a narrow +flight of steps hewn in the stone leads up to it like a ladder. The +moon, which had lately seemed fixed to the crest of the mountain, now +plays hide-and-seek among the peaks. A high barricade on the side of the +Rossberg serves to protect the railroad track against another landslide. + +On the high ridges of the mountain goats were pasturing, and not far +from them a shepherd's fire was blazing, and the shepherd himself sat +beside it. I remember all these accessories as well as if they were +still before my eyes. I can see the white goats climbing up and pulling +at the broom-plants. I can see the shepherd's black form, encircled by +the light of the fire, and the white watch-house with its black leaden +roof, the high signal-pole in front of it, above which all at once a +great flaming star arises. + + + + +II. + +THE DARK GOD. + + +I was gazing at that shining red light, when all at once I felt a +concussion, as if the train had met with some impediment. I heard the +jolting of the foremost cars, and had time to prepare for the shock +which was sure to follow; but when it did come, it was so great that it +threw me to the opposite wall of the corridor. + +Yet the train moved on as before, so that it could not have been +disabled, as I at first thought. I heard the guards run from carriage to +carriage, opening the doors, and I could see great clouds of steam arise +from the puffing and blowing engines. The friction of the wheels made a +grating noise, and I leaned out of the window to ascertain the nature of +the danger. Was another train approaching, and a collision inevitable? I +could see nothing, but suddenly I beheld the figure of the shepherd, and +saw him raise his staff aloft. I followed the motion of his hand, and +with a thrill of horror I saw a great ledge of rock sliding downward +with threatening speed, while at the same time a shower of small stones +crashed on the roof of the cars. + +I did not wait for the guards to open my door. I had it open in an +instant. From the other carriages passengers were jumping out at the +risk of life and limb, for the train was running at full speed. + +I hastily ran into the coupé to awaken my travelling companions, but +found them up. "Madam," I said, "I am afraid that we are in danger of a +serious accident. Pray come out quickly!" + +"Save the child!" she answered; and I caught the little boy, took him in +my arms, and ran out. + +The train was gliding perpetually on, and I bethought myself of the +recommendation of one who is jumping from a running vehicle, to leap +forward, because in jumping sideways or backward he invariably falls +under the wheels. So I followed the recommendation and leaped. +Fortunately, I reached the ground, although my knees doubled up under +me, and I struck the knuckles of my right hand a hard blow. The child +had fainted in my arms, but only from fright; otherwise he had received +no harm. I laid him on the ground in a safe place, and ran with all my +might after the train to help the lady out. She was standing on the +steps, already prepared for the jump. I extended my hand to her, +impatiently crying "Quick!" But instead of taking my proffered hand she +exclaimed, "Oh! I have forgotten my bonnet and veil," and back she ran +into the coupé, never again to come forth. + +At that moment I felt a tremendous shock, as if the earth had quaked and +opened beneath me, and this was followed by a deafening uproar, the +clashing of stones, the cracking of wood and glass, the grating and +crushing of iron, and the pitiful cries of men, women, and children. +The great mass of rock broke through the protecting barricade and rushed +right upon the engine. The huge, steam-vomiting leviathan was crushed in +an instant, and the copper and steel fragments scattered everywhere. +Three of the wheels were shattered, and with that the iron colossus came +to a dead stop, the suddenness of which threw the carriages crashing on +top of each other. This fearful havoc was not all. Through the breach +which the great rock had made in the barricade, an incessant avalanche +of stones, from the size of a cannon-ball to that of a wheelbarrow, +descended upon the train, crushing everything beneath into fragments, +pushing the unhappy train into the chasm below, into the valley of death +and destruction. Like a huge serpent it slid down, the great glowing +furnace with its feeding coals undermost, and then the whole wrecked +mass of carriages tumbled after, atop of each other, while cries of +despair were heard on every side. Then I saw the rear car--that in which +I had been sitting--stand up erect on top of the others, while on its +roof fell, with thunderous violence, the awful shower of stones. Mutely +I gazed on, until a large stone struck the barricade just where I stood, +and then I realised that the danger was not over, and ran for shelter. + +The stones were falling fast to left and to right, and I hastened to +gain the steps which led to the little watch-house. Then I bethought me +of the boy. I found him still insensible, but otherwise unharmed, and I +took him up, covering him with a furred coat. I ran up the steps with +him, so fast that not a thought of my asthma and heart disease +slackened my speed. + +There was nobody in the house but a woman milking a goat. In one corner +of the room stood a bed, in the middle was a table, and on one of the +walls hung a burning coal-oil lamp. + +As I opened the door the woman looked up, and said in a dull piteous +moaning-- + +"It is none of Jörge's fault. Jörge had shown the red light in good +season, and yesterday he specially warned the gentlemen, and told them +that a ridge of the Gnippe was crumbling, and would soon break down; but +they did not listen to him, and now that the accident has come, they +will surely visit their own carelessness upon him. It is always the poor +dependent that is made to suffer for the fault of his superiors. But I +will not stand it; and if Jörge is discharged and loses his bread, +then--" + +"All right, madam!" I said, "I saw the red light in time, and I shall +testify for Jörge in case of need. Only keep quiet now, and come here. +You must try to restore this child. He has fainted. Give him water or +something; you will know best what to do." + +In recalling these words to my memory and writing them down, I am not +quite certain that I really spoke them; I am not certain of a single +word or action of mine on that fearful night. But I think that I said +the words I am relating, although I was so confused that it is possible +I did not utter a word. I had come out of the house again, and saw a man +running up and down on the narrow rocky plateau, like one crazy. It was +Jörge the watchman; he was looking for the signal-post, and could not +find it. + +"Here it is, look!" I said, turning his face toward the high pole right +in front of him. He gazed up wistfully, and then all at once he +blubbered out-- + +"See! See, the red light! I gave the warning. They cannot blame me; they +dare not punish me for it. It is not my fault!" + +Of course, he thought of nothing but himself, and the misfortune of the +others touched him only in so far as he was concerned. + +"Don't blubber now!" I said. "There will be time enough to think of +ourselves. Now let us learn what has happened to the others. The whole +train has been swept down into the abyss below. What has become of the +people in it?" + +"God Almighty have mercy on their souls!" + +"Yet perhaps we could save some of them. Come along!" + +"I can't go. I dare not leave my post, else they will turn against me." + +"Well then, I shall go alone," said I, and hastened down the steps. + +I heard no screams, no cries, not a sound of human voices. The poor +victims of the catastrophe were exhausted or frightened out of their +wits, and gave no utterance to the pain they felt. Only the +never-ceasing clatter of the falling stones was heard, nothing else. +Awful is the voice of the elements, and dreadful their revenge on their +human antagonists! The thundering heavens, the roaring sea, are awful +to behold and to listen to; but most fearful of all is the voice of the +earth, when, quivering in wrath, she opens her fiery mouth or hurls her +rocky missiles at pigmy men. + +From the wrecked train a great many travellers had jumped like myself; +but not all with the same happy result. They had mostly reached the +ground more or less bruised, but at the moment of escape from the clutch +of death we do not much feel our hurts. These unhappy victims, +frightened as they were, had managed to creep and hide behind the +untouched portion of the bulwark, and happy to have escaped from +immediate death, sheltered from the tremendous cataract of stones, they +remained quiet, trembling, awaiting the end of the catastrophe and the +ultimate rescue. But what had meanwhile become of those who had stayed +in the falling carriages? + +There came a terrible answer to that question, and out of the old horror +arose a new and still more terrible spectre. A demon with a cloudy head, +rising from the darkness below, and with a swift and fearful growth, +mounting up to the sky--a demon with a thousand glistening, sparkling +eyes and tongues, a smoke-fiend! + +The great boiler of the locomotive had gone down first. There it fell, +not on the ground, but on a large fragment of rock, which pierced it +completely, so that the air had free access to the fire. Upon the top of +both boiler and tender, the coal-van had been turned upside down, and +these had pulled all the carriages one on top of the other in the same +way, so that the whole train stood upright, like some huge steeple. This +dreadful structure had become a great funeral pile, the altar of a black +pagan idol whose fiery tongues were greedily thrusting upward to devour +their prey. + +Then, as the smoke became blacker and blacker, a heart-rending, almost +maddening sound of shrieking and crying rang out from that devilish +wreck, so loud and piercing that it drowned the clatter of stones, the +crackling of the fast-kindling coals, and the crushing noise of the +metals. At the cry for aid of the doomed victims, all who had escaped +and hidden behind the bulwark came forth, creeping or running, shrieking +and gesticulating, forgetful of their own danger and pitiful condition, +thinking only of those dear lost ones there in that abode of hell, and +maddened at the impossibility of rescuing them. It was a wild +hurly-burly of voices and of tongues, of despairing yells, hysterical +sobs, heart-rending prayers; and as I stumbled over the twisted and +broken rails, that stood upright like bent wires, and stooped over the +bulwark, I beheld a spectacle so terrible that every nerve of my body, +every heart-string, revolted at it. Even now they quiver at the ghastly +recollection. + +As the fire lighted up the horrible pile I could see that the first +carriage atop of the coals was a shattered mass, the second crushed +flat, while the third stood with wheels uppermost, and so forth to the +top, and out of all of them human heads, limbs, faces, bodies, were +thrust forward. Two small gloved female hands, locked as in prayer, were +stretched out of a window, and above them two strong, muscular, +masculine arms tried with superhuman force to lift the iron weight +above, to break a way at the top, until the blood flowed from the nails, +and even these strong arms dropped down exhausted. Half-seen forms, +mutilated, bleeding, were tearing with teeth and nails at their dreadful +prison. Then for a while the smoky cloud involved everything in +darkness. A moment after, the red fiery tongues came lapping upward, and +a red, glowing halo encircles the fatal wreck. The first and second +carriages were already burned. How long would it take the flames to +reach the top? How many of the sufferers were yet alive? What power in +heaven or earth could save them, and how? + +The hollow into which the train had fallen was so deep that, in spite of +the erect position of the ill-fated pile, the topmost car--that +containing the poor foolish American governess, who had lost her life in +running back for her bonnet--was ten mčtres below us, and we had not +even a single rope or cord with which to hazard the experiment of +descending. A young man, one of those few who had come forth unharmed, +ran up and down the embankment, shouting madly for a rope, offering a +fortune for belts, shawls, and cords. His newly-married bride was in one +of those carriages, and hers were the tiny gloved hands that were +stretched out of the window. "A rope!" cried he; "give me anything to +make a rope!" But who heeded him? + +A young mother sat on the tracks, fondly hugging a plaid shawl in her +arms. Her babe was there in that burning pyre, but horror had +overpowered her reason. There she sat, caressing the woollen bundle, and +in a low voice singing her "Eia Popeia" to the child of her fantasy. + +An aged Polish Jew lay across the barricade wall. His two hands were +stretched downward, and there he muttered the prayers and invocations of +his ancient liturgy, which no one there understood but himself and his +God. The ritual prayer-bands were upon his thumbs and wrists, and +encircling his forehead. His forked beard and greasy side-locks dangled +as he chanted his hymns, while his eyes, starting almost out of their +sockets, were fixed upon one of the carriages. What did that car +contain? His wife? His children? Or his worldly goods, the fortune +hoarded up through a life-time of cunning and privation? Who knows? +Forth he chants his prayers, loudly yelling, or muttering low, as the +ghastly scene before him vanishes in smoke and darkness, or glows out +again in fearful distinctness. + +Every one shrieks, cries, prays, swears, raves. + +No; not every one! There, on the barricade, his logs doubled up +Turk-fashion, sits a young painter with Mephisto beard and grey eyes. +His sketch-book is open, and he is making a vivid sketch of the +sensational scene. The illustrated papers are grateful customers, and +will rejoice at receiving the sketch. + +But this young draughtsman is not the only sensible person in the +place. There is another, a long-legged Englishman, standing with watch +in hand, reckoning up the time lost by the accident, and eyeing the +scene complacently. + +Some noisy dispute attracts my attention, and, turning, I behold a man, +trying with all his might to overcome a woman, who attacks him with +teeth and nails, biting his hands and tearing at his flesh, as he drags +her close to him. At last he succeeds in joining both of her hands +behind her back, she foaming, writhing, and cursing. I ask indignantly, +"What do you want with the woman? Let her alone!" + +"Oh, sir!" he said, showing me a sorrowful and tear-stained face, "for +Heaven's sake, help me! I cannot bear with her any more. She wants to +leap down and kill herself. Pray help me to tie her hands, and carry her +off from here!" + +By his speech I knew him for a Pole, and the woman's exclamations were +also uttered in the Polish language. She was his wife; her children were +there in that infernal pile, and she wanted to die with them. + +"Quick! quick!" gasped the man. "Take my necktie and fasten her hands +behind her." I obeyed; and as I wound the silken strip tight around the +unhappy woman's wrist, her despairing gaze fixed itself in deadly hate +upon my face, and her foaming lips cursed me for keeping her away from +her children. As her husband carried her away, her curses pierced the +air; and although I could not understand the words, I understood that +she spoke of the "Czrny Bog," or, as the Russians say, "Cserny Boh," the +"Black God" of the Slavs--Death. + +By this time the horrible tower was burning brightly, and the night was +all aglow with the glaring light, and still those terrible shrieks from +human voices resounded to and fro. + +The young artist had a picturesque scene for his pencil, and kept making +sketch after sketch. The burning wreck, the flying cinders, the red mist +around the black pine woods on the rocky wall of the mountain, and that +small span of star-lit heaven above; all those frightened, maddened, +running, crouching, creeping men and women around, with the chanting +Jew, in his long silken _caftan_ and dangling locks, in the midst of +them, made a picture of terrible sublimity. + +But still the god of destruction was unsatisfied, and his fiery maw +opened for more victims. The unhappy young husband had succeeded in +tearing up his clothes and knotting the strips together. A compassionate +woman had given him a shawl, which he fastened to the bushes. On this he +descended into that mouth of hell. The perilous attempt succeeded so far +that, with one mad leap, he landed on the top of the uppermost car with +its pile of stones, and then, with cat-like dexterity and desperate +daring, he scrambled downward to the third carriage. Quickly he reached +the spot, and the poor little gloved hands of his darling were thrown in +ecstasy around his neck. Someone had drawn up the cord on which he had +let himself down, fastened a stout iron rod to it, and suspended it +carefully. Happily it reached him, and with its aid he made a good-sized +breach, widening the opening of the window; he worked with desperate +strength, and we gazed breathlessly on. Now we saw him drop the rod +again. The tender arms of his bride were around his neck, a fair head +was thrust out, the whole form was emerging, when with a tremendous +crash, and a hissing, spluttering, crackling noise, the whole fabric +shook and trembled, and husband and wife were united in death. + +The great boiler had burst; the explosion had changed the scene again, +and the young painter might draw still another sketch. + + + + +III. + +THE ENGLISHMAN. + + +That long-legged son of Albion whom I had previously observed, strolled +up to my side and asked-- + +"Do you understand German, sir?" + +"Yes, sir, I do." + +"Then call for that shepherd. I want him." + +I obeyed, and the shepherd, who had complacently eyed the scene as +something that was of no consequence to him, came slowly and wonderingly +up. + +He was in no hurry, and my coaxing "Dear friend" and "Good friend" did +not impress him at all; but when the Englishman showed him a handful of +gold coins he came on quickly enough. + +"Tell him," said the Englishman, "to run to the next railway station, +give notice of the accident, and return with a relief train for succour. +Tell him to be quick, and when he returns I will give him two hundred +francs." + +"Yes," said the man; "but who will take care of my goats meanwhile?" + +"How many goats have you?" + +"Six." + +"And what is the average price of a goat?" + +"Fifteen francs." + +"Well, here is the price of your goats in cash. I give you one hundred +francs--ten more than your goats are worth. Now run! How far is it?" + +"A good running distance, not very far." The man pocketed his money and +turned, when an idea struck him. "Could you not take care of my goats +anyhow, till I return?" he asked. + +Smart fellow! He kept the money for his goats, and tried to keep the +goats into the bargain. + +"All right," said the Englishman, "I will take care of them. Never fear. +Go!" + +"But you must take my stick and my horn; the goats will get astray when +they do not hear the horn." + +"Then give it to me, and I will blow it," said the Englishman, with +admirable patience, and, taking the shepherd's crook and horn, he gave +the man his red shawl to use as a signal-flag. + +As the shepherd at length trotted on and disappeared, that unique, +long-legged example of phlegm and good sense sat down by the shepherd's +fire, on exactly the same spot where the shepherd had sat, and began +watching the goats. + +I returned to the mournful scene which I had quitted when the Englishman +came up to me. It was a terrible one, and no marvel that even the +painter had closed his sketch-book to gaze upon it in silent awe. The +entire valley below showed like a giant furnace, or some flaming ocean +of hell. Huge fiery serpents came hissing and snarling up to the +barricade, and great flakes of fire were flying about everywhere, +scorching and kindling as they fell. The chill, keen, mountain air had +become heavy and warm in spite of the winter, and a loathsome, +penetrating odour arose and drove us away from the horrible place. No +one remained but the Polish Jew. He did not move away. He had risen to +his knees on the barricade wall, and his hands, with their prayer-bands, +were uplifted to heaven. Louder and louder he chanted his hymns, raising +his voice above the thundering roar of the crackling fire, the rolling +stones, and the last despairing cries of the doomed ones. The fur on his +cap, his forked beard and dangling locks were singed by the falling +cinders, and his skin scorched and blistered, yet still he chanted on. +But when at last he saw that his prayer was in vain, all at once he +sprang up, and seemed to strike at the flames with both palms; then, +spitting into the fire "pchi!" he fell down senseless. + +By this time the heat was so oppressive that it was dangerous to stand +anywhere near the barricade, and even for the sake of saving a man's +life from such a horrid fate, it was impossible to venture among the +falling cinders and rolling stones. All that the few of us who had +escaped with sound limbs and bodies could do was to carry our less +fortunate, wounded or maimed fellow-travellers up into the little +watch-house. + +This we did, and then came those seemingly endless minutes in which we +waited for the relief train. Once the Englishman blew the horn for the +goats, and we thought it was the whistling of the expected train. How +terribly that disappointment was felt! and what sinful, subtle, and +sophistical thoughts crowded into our heads, burdened our hearts, and +oppressed our spirits in those awful minutes! + +What terrible thing had these poor victims done to deserve such fearful +punishment? What heinous crime had they committed to be sentenced to +death and destruction by such a painful, torturing process? Whose sin +was visited on the guileless heads of little infants and innocent +children who had perished in those flames? Could not they have been +spared? or that loving and beautiful young couple, just on the brink of +life and happiness, and now sent to eternity together by such a fearful +road, into the mouth of hell when they had thought themselves before the +open gate of Paradise? What had that unhappy mother done? or all these +old and young men and women, in full health and spirits, enjoying life +and happiness, surrounded by happy relatives, full of happy plans and +hopes? What had they done to deserve this fate, those poor servants of +the public convenience, the guards, the engineer, and the other +officials, who could have saved their own lives easily, and in good +time, if they had abandoned their fatal posts, and had not preferred to +die in doing their duty? Why had not these been saved for the sake of +their wives and children, now widows and orphans, abandoned to the +charities of a merciless world? Who and where is that awful Deity into +whose altar-fire that conjuring Jew had spat, because He would not +listen to his invocations? What dreadful Power is it which has pushed +down that rock-colossus to destroy so many human lives? Is it the Czrny +Bog of the Samaritans, the Lord of Darkness and Doer of Mischief, whose +might is great in harm, whose joy is human despair, and who is adored +with oaths and curses? + +But if such a power exists--if there is a Czrny Bog, indeed--then his +deeds are befitting his name--dark and black. But why should I, who am +human myself, and have a heart for my brethren and a sense of their +wrongs, why should I in this fatal instant, although full of pity and +commiseration, yet inwardly rejoice that this misfortune has fallen upon +others and not upon me? Why should I feel that although others have +perished, all is well as long as I am safe? + +Is this not shameful? Is it not an everlasting stain and disgrace upon +my inner self? What right have I to think myself the chosen ward of some +guardian angel or tutelary spirit? In what am I different from those +lost ones? In what better, worthier than they? And if not, why had I +been saved and not they? Here! Here was the Czrny Bog, the dark god, in +my own breast. + +At last day was dawning, and, in the grey morning light, the horrible +picture looked ghastlier still, when, to our intense relief, the +long-expected train came, and physicians with their assistants, firemen +with their manifold implements, police, and all kinds of labourers, +arrived upon it. The train stopped at a safe distance, and then the work +of rescue began. Wounds were dressed, the insensible restored, watchmen +and travellers were interrogated by officials. Ropes and rope-ladders +were fastened and suspended, and brave men, magnanimously forgetful of +the threatening danger, went down into the flames, although the hope of +success was small. True, the two or three uppermost cars had not as yet +caught fire; but who could breathe amid that suffocating smoke, that +lurid loathsome atmosphere, and yet live? + +The labourers set to work at the breaches of the barricade and the line +of rails. The engineers discussed the best way in which a protecting +barrier ought to be built so as to shut out every possibility of such an +accident; and from the plateau before the watch-house some men were +incessantly calling for a "Monsieur d'Astrachan." + +At last one of the labourers called my attention to these repeated +shouts, and, turning in their direction, I observed that this title was +intended for me. The watchman's wife, not knowing my name, had described +me as wearing an astrachan cap and coat-collar, and accordingly I was +called "Monsieur d'Astrachan." Now for the first time I remembered the +child I had carried thither. I had completely forgotten it, and the +occurrence seemed such an age away that I should not have been surprised +to hear that the boy had grown to be a man. + +I hastened up the steps, and observed that some official personage in +showy uniform was expecting me quite impatiently. "Come up, sir," he +said; "we cannot converse with your little boy." + +"To be sure you can't!" said I, smiling, in spite of the dreadful +situation. "Neither can I, for the boy is deaf and dumb; but I have to +correct you, sir. The boy is not my own, although I took him out of the +carriage." + +"That boy deaf and dumb? About as much as we are, I judge. Why, he is +talking incessantly, only we can't make anything out of his prattle, as +we do not understand the language," said the officer. + +"Well, that's certainly a miracle!" I exclaimed, "and it bears witness +to the truth of the old proverb, 'It is an ill wind that blows nobody +any good.' Assuredly, the shock of the accident restored his power of +speech. What is he saying?" + +"I told you we can't make it out. It's a language that none of us +understand." + +"Then I hardly suppose that I shall be cleverer than all of you." + +"Whose child is it, if not yours?" + +"Some rich nabob's. I can't at the moment recall his name, although the +governess told me, poor soul! We were thrown together by chance, and the +poor woman perished in the flames. Has no one of his many attendants and +servants escaped?" + +"It seems not. But pray come in and listen to him; perhaps you will +understand him." + +I went in, and found my practical Englishman beside the child, but +incapable of arriving at a mutual understanding. The injured travellers +and the hysterical women passengers were already snugly stowed away in +the ambulance carriages and well taken care of. The goats were again +under the protection of their legitimate shepherd, and that temporary +official, the long-legged son of Albion, was addressing all kinds of +questions in English to an obstinate little boy. + +As I entered, and the child caught sight of me, the little face lit up +at once. He extended both his little arms in joy. "Please come," he +said; "I will be a good boy. I will speak!" + +It is marvellous enough when a dumb child speaks; but what was my +surprise when I recognised these words, uttered in my own native +Hungarian tongue! Just imagine the five-year-old son of a wealthy +American, whose entire _cortčge_ had been German, French, Italian, and +English, speaking Hungarian! + +I took the little fellow up in my arms, and he put both his little arms +around my neck, and, leaning his soft cheek on my bearded face, he said +again, "I will be good, very good; but please take me to my papa. I am +afraid!" + +"Who is your father, my child?" I asked. "What is his name?" + +As I uttered these questions in Hungarian, he clapped his hands in +gladness, and then, after a little meditation, he answered-- + +"My father is called the 'Silver King,' and his name is Mr. Dumany. Do +you know him?" + +"Oh!" said the Englishman, as he heard the name, "Mr. Kornel Dumany, the +Silver King; I know him very well. He is an American, and very rich. He +lives mostly in Paris. If it is more convenient for you to get rid of +the child, I can take care of him and bring him to his father." + +"No, no!" protested the little one, clinging tightly to me. "Please, do +not give me to him! I want to stay with you; I want to go with you to my +papa!" + +So he knew English well enough, since he understood every word of the +Englishman's. In this case he could not have been deaf at all, but +obstinate, hearing and refusing to talk. Was not such unheard-of +obstinacy in a child of such tender age some malady of the mind or soul? + +"I wonder how this child comes to speak Hungarian?" said I, turning to +the Englishman. "Ours is not a language generally spoken by foreigners, +least of all by the young children of American nabobs." + +"I never wonder at anything," said he, coolly. "At any rate, I should +advise you at the first station to telegraph to Mr. Dumany; I will give +you his address. So you will be expected when you arrive in Paris, and +have no further trouble. Since you are the only person able to talk to +the boy, it will be certainly the best thing for him to remain with you. +Now I think it is time for us to take our seats in the carriage, or else +the train will start and leave us behind. Come on, gentlemen!" + + + + +IV. + +THE NABOB. + + +The train from Zürich arrived at the Eastern Railway Station at seven +o'clock in the morning. In Paris the day has at that early hour not yet +begun, and but very few persons, mostly travelling foreigners and +labourers, are seen on the streets. Since it has become the fashion to +use the moving train for suicidal purposes, the perron is locked, and +only those travellers admitted whose luggage is undergoing examination +by the customs officials. + +I was lucky enough to have sent my luggage one day ahead of me to Paris, +and so it had not been lost in the accident. I had nothing with me but a +small satchel, which I had saved, but which contained nothing to +interest the custom-house officers, and so, taking my little charge in +hand, I stepped out into the hall. I had hardly gone two paces, when the +child dropped my hand, and crying, "Papa! dear, darling papa!" ran to a +gentleman who, with a lady at his side, stood by the turnstile. + +I had never before seen the lady, yet I recognised her at once as the +mother of my little charge, so striking was the resemblance between +them. She had the same large, dark-blue eyes, the same dimpled chin, +aquiline nose, and pretty, shell-shaped, little mouth as he, and she +could hardly have been more than four-and-twenty, so young and girlish +did she look. The husband was a large-made, well-shaped, and +distinguished-looking gentleman. His bronze complexion had a healthy +flush, and he wore side whiskers, but no moustache. His head was covered +with a round soft beaver, and a long, rich fur coat was thrown lightly +over his shoulder. In his scarf I saw a large solitaire. The lady at his +side was very plainly attired in black, and wore no jewellery at all. +The age of the gentleman was, according to my judgment, about forty. + +As the child ran toward him, with both his little arms stretched out, +and crying, in Hungarian, "Apám! Drágo édes apám!" ("Papa! dear darling +papa!") the gentleman hastened to meet him, caught the boy up in his +arms, and covered the little face, hands, eyes, and hair with a shower +of kisses. The father sobbed in his joy, while the child laughed, +caressed his father's cheeks, and called him "Édes jo apám!" ("My good, +sweet father!") in Hungarian, and the father called him, crying and +laughing, "My dear little fool"--in English. + +Then I saw the father whisper something to the child, and in an instant +the whole little face became rigid and dull, all child-like mirth and +sweetness had vanished. He looked around, and then clung tightly to his +father, as if in dread of something, and I saw his lips move in appeal. +The father kissed him again and carried him to the lady, who all the +while had given no sign of animation or interest, but had looked on, +cool and indifferent. + +"Look, my pet, here is your mama!" said the gentleman to the boy, +approaching the lady and holding the boy toward her. Now, according to +the law of nature, according to all human sentiment and experience, we +should expect a mother who receives back her own offspring, saved from a +fate too horrible even to contemplate, her own child who had gone from +her mute and comes back to her speaking, I say we should think it +natural in such a mother to seize this child, and, in the ecstasy of her +love and joy, half suffocate it with her kisses and caresses. Not so +here. I could see no glad tear in the lady's eye, no smile of welcome on +her face. Her hands were snugly stowed away in a costly little muff, and +she did not think it necessary to extend them to her child. She breathed +a cold, lifeless kiss upon the boy's pale forehead, and the tiny hand of +the child caressed the fur trimming on her jacket, just as he had done +with the astrachan lapel of my coat. What a strange behaviour in mother +and child after such a reunion! + +I had watched this family scene out of a strange curiosity, which was +wholly involuntary. Presently I recollected the situation, and turned to +leave the perron. Perhaps, if I had saved some honest cockney's son from +a like danger, I should not have avoided him, but, with a friendly +pressure of the hand, expressed my pleasure at having been able to be of +service to him. Then we should have parted good friends. But to +introduce myself to an American nabob as the rescuer of his child was +impossible! Why, the man was capable of offering me a remuneration! + +No, I would have nothing to do with aristocrats like these. They have +their child; it is safe; and so good-bye to them! + +However, as I turned to leave, I was surprised to hear some one +pronounce my name, and, to my astonishment, I found that it was Mr. +Dumany. He still held the child on his arm, and, coming toward me, he +said in French, "Oh, sir! you do not mean to run away from us, surely?" + +"Indeed I must!" said I, bowing. "But, pray, how is it that you know my +name? You cannot know me personally?" + +"Well, that is a question which must remain to be answered later on. At +present it is sufficient to tell you that the telegraph service has been +very full and exact, even in personal description. However, I beg you to +revoke that 'I must,' for indeed I cannot allow you to depart. To the +great favour you have done me, you must add the additional favour of +being my guest for the time of your sojourn in Paris. Promise me to +accept of my hospitality--nay, to regard my house as your own. I shall +be ever so happy! Come, pray, do not hesitate, and give me leave to +introduce you to my wife!" + +With that he took my arm, and holding it tight, as if in fear I might +break loose and run off, he led me to the turnstile, where the lady was +standing as quiet and composed as before. He introduced me to her by my +proper name and title, naming even the district which I represented in +the Hungarian Parliament; and all these he pronounced perfectly and +correctly, as I never heard them pronounced by a foreigner before. How +could he know all that? True, I had shown my passport to the frontier +officials; but were these also subject to the Silver King? + +The lady bowed politely as her husband said, "This gentleman has saved +our little James from being consumed by the flames at the Rossberg +catastrophe"; and for a moment I felt the slight pressure of a little +gloved hand in mine. It was a very slight pressure, the faintest +possible acknowledgment of a duty, and if I had saved her little pet +monkey or dog, instead of her child, she might well have afforded me a +warmer recognition. Indeed, I had seen women go into raptures on account +of such animals before this, but never before had I seen a mother value +the life of her own child so cheap. She did not hold it worthy of a +single expression of gratitude; she had not a word to spare for him or +me. Was this woman a human monstrosity and void of all natural feeling? +or else was it part of the American etiquette to suppress all outward +signs of emotion? + +What puzzled me most was the boy. He was so different from the happy, +talkative little fellow he had been with me and with his father some +minutes ago, and he looked just as dull and inanimate as when I had seen +him first on the railway. Was it because he could only speak Hungarian? +But then, how could he speak to his father? Who had taught the boy to +speak that peculiar language, dear to me and my compatriots, but wholly +unintelligible and of very little use or advantage to the world at +large? + +I observed that Mr. Dumany held a short conversation with a tall +liveried footman behind him, and I understood that he ordered him to +take out my luggage. I protested and tried to escape. I like hospitality +at home; but when I come into a foreign country, I prefer the simplest +inn or the obscurest hotel to the most magnificent apartments of a +palace of a prince of the Bourse, because independence goes with the +former, and of all slavery I fear that of etiquette the worst. + +But Mr. Dumany did not mean to give way to my polite protestations. +"Just surrender nicely, pray!" he said, smilingly. "It saves you +trouble. Look! If you insist upon going to some hotel, I promise you +that all the reporters of every paper we have, daily and weekly, will be +sure to pester you day and night with interviews, besides the reporters +of foreign papers here, of which we also have an abundance. Every word +you speak will by each reporter be turned into a different meaning, and +by to-morrow the papers will be full of your intimations, although you +do not say anything at all. And then the photographers: how will you +escape them? Don't you know that every penny paper will appear with your +picture in front to-morrow, and, wherever you go, it will be thrust +before your eyes? You will hear your name pronounced in all languages, +and in every way, and you will not know how to escape this unsought-for +and unwelcome notoriety. But if you accept my invitation, nobody will be +able to stare at you or interrogate you, and you shall live as quietly +and peacefully as if you were in some herdsman's hovel in Hortobágy at +home." + +I stared at him quite stunned. How, in the name of all that was +wonderful, could he have learned of the existence of a herdsman's hovel +in Hortobágy? How could he know that it was my favourite spot? And how +he pronounced that Hortobágy! Just as I myself! He smiled at my +astonishment, but offered no explanation. But now he had caught me in my +weak point--a writer's curiosity--and I gave in, willingly enough. + +Mr. Dumany ordered the carriages. In one magnificent landau Mrs. Dumany +was to go with little James, in the other Mr. Dumany and myself. But the +child obstinately refused to leave his father's arms, and clung to him +more tightly than ever. So the lady was obliged to go alone, and we two +men took the boy with us. + +I confess that the gentleman puzzled and interested me very much. Not +because people had given him the name of "Silver King." I do not covet, +and I do not admire wealth alone, pure and simple. I know how to +describe a vine-embowered cottage, or even a thatch-roofed hut, with a +garland of gourd blossoms around its small windows, and I can appreciate +the beauties of a picturesque church or castle. But all my descriptive +faculties desert me before the marble and gold luxury of a modern +palace, and its gorgeous splendour has no charm for me. The interest I +felt was due to the man himself, and, most of all, to the connection +existing between him and my own home. How came this American Croesus to +be acquainted with the nomenclature, customs, and topography of my own +country and language? How came the latter upon the lips of his +five-year-old boy? In my childhood I had known a five-year-old boy, the +son of a count, who could speak only Latin, and not a word except Latin. +But, then, Latin is taught throughout the world, and no education is +considered as finished without a more or less perfect knowledge of +Latin. But where in a foreign country is the professor who teaches the +Ugro-Finnish tongue, even if there were some whimsical parent who wished +that his son should learn to speak it? + +During the drive Mr. Dumany acquainted me with some particulars +regarding the customs of his house. He told me that the hour for +breakfast was nine, and that for lunch one o'clock. Dinner was +invariably served at six, and I was entirely at liberty to put in my +appearance or stay away. They would not wait for me, but my place at the +table would be kept reserved; and if I was late, I should be served +afresh. The cook should be entirely at my disposal. If the excitement +and fatigue of the journey should make me wish for a day's rest, I was +free to retire to my rooms at once, and should not be disturbed by +anybody. + +In answer to all this I said that I had no habits whatever; that I was +able to eat, drink, and sleep at will; was never fatigued, and would +with pleasure put in my appearance at his breakfast-table that very +morning. + +"That will be nice, indeed!" he said. "But I must beg your pardon in +advance for my wife. On ordinary days she is up and presides at +breakfast; but to-day she bade me apologise. She has been up all night +from excitement, and now I have told her to lie down and rest a few +hours. After that she usually spends some time in the nursery, +superintending the children's ablutions, prayers, and breakfast, and +only when all these matters are accomplished is she ready for her duties +as hostess and mistress of the household." + +"So little James is not your only child?" I ventured to ask. + +"Not by many; we have two more boys and two beautiful little +girls--quite a houseful." + +"But the lady looks almost too young to be the mother of so many +children. Little James is the eldest, of course?" + +"Yes, he is her first-born, and she is not yet twenty-four. We have been +married six years, so christening has been an annual event with us." + +Well, I was more puzzled than ever. I had met with a good many English +and American gentlemen before, but all had been rather reserved in +speech and manner, quite different from this Croesus; and, regarding the +lady, I was altogether at a loss, as all my conjectures were entirely at +fault. She was not without feeling; she was apparently a good mother, +and little James was her own child and not a stepson, as I had guessed. +Her behaviour at the station was still an enigma to me. + +At last we arrived at the Silver King's residence--a large, well-built, +and rather comfortable than brilliant mansion, filled with a host of +servants, of whom each knew and fulfilled his particular duty. A _valet +de chambre_ showed me into a very splendid and comfortable suite of +rooms, consisting of a reception-room, sitting-room, work-room, bed-, +dressing-, and bathroom, all furnished in the choicest and most +practical way, and I was delighted to see that, although all was rich +and costly, none of the offensive and pretentious pomp of the ordinary +millionaire's house met my eye. + +The valet, an Alsacian, who talked to me in German--perhaps with the +notion of paying me a compliment--informed me that he was entirely at my +own service. He showed me a beautiful escritoire in the work-room, with +everything ready for writing purposes, and told me that, in the +reading-room attached, I should find an assortment of newspapers. He +then quickly and skilfully prepared me a bath, unpacked and arranged my +things, and helped me to dress. He was altogether a wonderfully nice +fellow. + +When the valet left me, I went into the reading-room, and looked at the +newspapers. I found quite a number of them--French, English, Italian, +and one German; but still I was a little disappointed. I had half +expected to find a Hungarian paper, and there was none. + +The library contained a choice collection of books; works of science, +philosophy, history, poetry, and fiction--of the latter, only a small +and select number. Here also was no Hungarian author to be found; not +even the translation of a Hungarian book could I detect, although I +looked into every one--French, German, English, and Italian, and even +some Spanish and Danish ones. + +From the reading-room opened the billiard-room, a handsome apartment. +Its walls were covered with beautiful frescoes, betraying the French +school of art in the delicate colours, and in the Norman, Basque, +Breton, and Kabyle scenes and types represented. Of Hungary I could see +nothing. The Hortobágy herdsman's hovel, of which my host had spoken, +was not to be found. + +In another room I found a sort of ethnographical museum, full of relics +and rarities from all countries except Hungary; and yet, if that man had +ever been in my country, he would certainly have brought some token of +remembrance with him. Hungary is more rich in curiosities than a good +many of the countries represented here. + +Mr. Dumany came in to see if I was ready for breakfast, and I followed +him into the tea-room, passing a little, semi-circular, ship-cabin-like +apartment, with small, round windows, between which, in +beautifully-sculptured, round frames, of the size of the windows, hung +very handsome landscapes, apparently American. + +In the breakfast-room I recognised a tiny Meissonier, in a gold frame of +twice its size, and an Alma Tadema. Mr. Dumany, observing my interest in +the pictures, informed me that these two were there only temporarily, +pending their shipment to New York. There, in Mr. Dumany's real home, +was his picture gallery, containing works of art of the highest +standard. + +I ventured to observe that we Scythians, barbarians as we were held to +be, had also some painters worthy the interest of a Mćcenas, and not +without fame, too. + +"I should think so," he said, smiling. "And in my New York gallery you +will find Munkácsy _genres_, Zichy _aquarelles_, a Benczur, and some +other equally fine Hungarian pictures. Here I keep only French and +German pictures of lesser value." + +Our conversation turned to art in general, and Mr. Dumany surprised me +again by an allusion to the Hungarian witticism that when we speak of +Hungarian art we cannot omit Liszt (for the name of the great musician +is also the Hungarian word for _flour_); and Mr. Dumany remarked that +Americans travelling abroad have learned to appreciate both the +Hungarian specialties. The great artist, and the product of the soil and +mill converted into fine cake, are equally esteemed by them. + +We talked about commerce and exports, and he observed that although +American wheat was sure to inundate the European market, yet Hungarian +flour was unrivalled in quality, and would increase in consumption +throughout the world. Then we spoke of financial matters, and here Mr. +Dumany was completely at home. The Hungarian rente had at that time just +been introduced into the market, and Mr. Dumany predicted for it a fair +success. He prophesied the rente conversion scheme and the four per +cent. bonds, and from this topic we diverged to politics. He was a very +fair politician, and I was pleasantly impressed by the apparent interest +which he took in Hungary. He admired Andrássy, and spoke well of his +Bosnian policy. Of Tisza he entertained great hopes, and he felt sorry +for Apponyi, because he had allied his great talents with the +Opposition. He spoke of Kossuth, and said it was a pity to see the grand +old man's name misused by the extreme faction. I tried to turn the +conversation to Hungarian literature, but on this point I met with but +little interest. Still, I noticed that he knew more about us than +foreigners in general do. He did not think the Gypsies the ruling race +in Hungary, and he did not believe us to be a sort of chivalrous +brigands, as some foreigners consider us; but he did not show any +particular sympathy with either the country or the people, and certainly +used no flattery on the subject of our special virtues. + +Our conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Dumany's valet, +who handed his master two letters. "Will you give me leave to read them +at once?" he asked, turning to me. "They are of some importance, being +answers to two dinner invitations I sent out this morning." + +"Certainly," I answered; "pray do as you wish." + +He opened and read the letters, and, replacing them again on the silver +salver upon which the servant had brought them, he ordered him to hand +them over to the chambermaid so that Mrs. Dumany might receive and read +them. + +After the valet had left, Mr. Dumany said to me-- + +"I have invited these two gentlemen to meet you at dinner. One of them +is secretary of the Department of the Interior, the other an old +Catholic priest, the parson of St. Germain l'Auxerrois. It is very nice +and pleasant that both of them accepted, and so I hope you will not +object to make the acquaintance of two whole-souled and intelligent +gentlemen." + +"Quite the contrary," I hastened to say; "I shall be very happy to meet +them." + +Just then the valet returned, and, deferentially bowing, he said to me-- + +"Madame la Comtesse begs to inform monsieur that she would be grateful +if monsieur would be kind enough to see madame in her apartments." + + + + +V. + +A REPUBLICAN COUNTESS. + + +"Madame la Comtesse!" A Peruvian or Argentine countess? Or have these +plutocrats of the great republic some special distinguishing titles, +such as "Silver King," "Railway Prince," etc., and was this exotic +countess the daughter of some such lord of the money market? At any +rate, I had to obey her polite commands, so, throwing away my cigar, I +bowed to Mr. Dumany and followed the lead of the valet. + +In crossing a long suite of tastefully-furnished rooms, I noticed the +entire absence of family pictures. They had no ancestors, or did not +boast of them. No farthingaled, white-wigged ladies in hooped skirts and +trailing brocade robes; no mail-clad, chivalrous-looking gentlemen, with +marshals' staffs, keys, and like emblems of rank and high station; or +else these, too, had gone over to New York to subdue with their haughty +grandeur the eyes of less high-born mortals. + +There was something else I missed in these beautiful chambers--the usual +obtrusive, caressed and pampered pet animal of a great lady. No +paroquet, no monkey, no little, silken-haired lap-dog, no St. Bernard or +Newfoundland dog, no cat, not even a little canary bird, was to be met +with; and not a single flower, real or artificial, greeted the eye. + +At last we came to a room with beautiful heavy brocaded draperies, +evidently veiling the entrance into some other apartment. As the servant +stepped up and drew the hanging aside, I could not suppress an +exclamation of admiration and surprise; and for a moment I stood +transfixed at the lovely and exquisite scene, deeming that fairyland had +opened to me, and that Queen Mab was expecting me in her own enchanting +bower. + +The room which I now entered resembled to some extent the Blue Grotto of +Capri. It was flooded with a magic blue light. Just opposite to the +entrance was some kind of bower, with honeysuckle, woodbine, and other +blooming and fragrant vines intertwined. This bower was prolonged in the +rear into a spacious and seemingly endless tropical garden, with +wonderful blooming exotic plants and trees; and in this East Indian +paradise, gaily-plumed, sweet-voiced birds of different size and colour +were chirping, hopping, and hovering above their nests, among evergreen +bushes and glorious flowers. The whole winter-garden received its light +from above, and this light, falling through large panes of blue glass, +threw that peculiar, fairy, grotto-like hue over the little boudoir in +front. + +To prevent the luscious odour of the winter-garden from pervading the +air of the boudoir and becoming oppressive, a fine, translucent film +separated the bower from the garden. But this film was not of glass or +any other transparent but solid substance; it consisted of a beautiful, +clear waterfall, transparent as a veil, and noiseless as a fine summer +rain. At the touch of a spring, this softly-pouring waterfall might be +shut off and the entrance into the winter-garden thrown wide. + +In the little boudoir, at the opening of the bower, stood a couch, and +opposite this a little settee and two small gilded and embroidered +chairs; while two large sculptured frames, one containing a splendid +mirror, the other a life-size portrait of Mr. Dumany, completed the +appointments. + +Mrs. Dumany, or, as she was called, the countess, wore a loose +morning-dress of raw silk, with rich embroidery. Her rich, dark hair was +uncovered and wound around her head in three thick coils, like a tiara. + +Her graceful figure was as slender as that of a girl, and she looked so +young and childlike that no living man would have supposed her to be the +mother of five children. + +In the peculiar blue light of the boudoir her naturally fair face +appeared so white that I was almost startled. It was just as though some +marble or alabaster statue had moved, looked at me with those large +dark-blue eyes, spoken to me with those finely-chiselled, ruby-coloured +lips. + +"Pray pardon me for troubling you to call on me," she said, in fluent +and precise French, although with a somewhat foreign accent and manner +of speech; "I should not have done it were you not the only trustworthy +person from whom I can learn the necessary particulars of the terrible +Rossberg accident. My husband, as perhaps you already know, has invited +two gentlemen to dine with us. One is a government officer of high rank, +the other a kind and benevolent priest. My husband's intention is to +spend a considerable sum of money for distribution among those who were +injured in the Rossberg catastrophe, or their destitute relatives. They +shall at least not suffer actual want, and although I daresay that money +is a poor compensation for a lost or crippled husband and father, or son +and brother, still it is the only possible consolation we can offer +them, and in providing for their own future and that of their +dependents, we at least relieve their hearts of one burden. Of this my +husband wants to talk to the government official. The priest was invited +by me, and I want him to hold a requiem for the souls of those who +perished, and to superintend the erection of a memorial chapel at the +place of the terrible accident. Mr. Dumany is ungrudging in his charity, +and ready for any sacrifice of money; but, you see, we know really +nothing about the particulars. How many were lost, and how many died +afterward in consequence of their injuries? Who were they? Of what +nation, faith, quality, and circumstances? How many were saved, and in +what condition? Have they somebody to attend to them, to support them in +case of need? And then those belonging to ourselves, our dutiful +servants, I might call them our true and faithful friends, has not one +of them escaped? Have they all perished together? You can tell me best, +and therefore I made bold to call you to me. Do not hesitate, pray, but +tell me all that happened, and in what manner it happened, from the +dreadful beginning to the pitiful end--the whole catastrophe, with all +the particulars you can recall to memory." + +"Madam," said I, "pray do not wish that. These particulars are much too +dreadful to relate--much too horrible for the ear of a lady. It requires +strong nerves and an iron heart to listen to such a tale as that." + +"And what that?" she replied. "True, my nerves are not a bit less +sensitive than those of any other woman, but I have learned to suppress +them--to hold them down. Never fear me! Never spare me! If the scourge +hurts me, I shall think it a penance. Go on! You hold the +scourge--strike! Go on, I say!" + +There was an impatient, almost fierce resolution in her voice, and I +obeyed. + +If this woman regarded the act of listening to the dreadful tale I had +to tell as a penance, then, indeed, she allowed it to become a torture. +I was obliged to recount the smallest incident of the ghastly event, and +she drank in every word, shuddering as at some deadly poison. Again and +again she questioned me with the skill and zeal of a professional +cross-examiner. Nor would she let me omit a syllable. And when at the +most fearful and heartrending point, her soft, dimpled chin sunk down on +her breast, and her fair, babyish hand knocked at the tender bosom "_Mea +culpa_! Oh, _mea culpa_!" + +When she heard that the uncoupling of the parlour car had caused a +delay, she groaned. "Then all this terrible mishap is due to our own +vanity?" she cried. "A consequence of our own presumptuous pride! If our +dependents had sat with the boy in a common carriage with other decent +travellers, the train would have passed the fatal spot long before the +landslide was in motion! But, of course, the Silver King's son is far +too precious a creature to breathe the same air with other creatures of +God's making. He must needs have a separate parlour to himself! And this +sinful, detestable vanity of ours must cost the lives of so many good, +brave, happy, and useful persons. Oh, hell itself must mock at our +folly!" + +Now this commination, unexpected as it was from a lady of wealth and +position, was not altogether unwarranted, and so I went on. + +As I drew near to the catastrophe I could hear the beating of her heart, +and her breath came short and gasping. When I related how I had caught +hold of the governess's hand, she was trembling, and an almost deadly +pallor overspread her white face. "Alice! oh, Alice!" she cried; and +when I told her how the lady ran back to the coupé for her bonnet, just +at the last moment for escaping, she broke out into a painful hysterical +laugh. "Just like her! Her bonnet! Yes; ha! ha! She would have come down +to dinner in her bonnet, the foolish pride! She was so afraid to show +her bare ears to a man! Oh! oh! Alice!" + +At last the tears came to her relief, and she sobbed pitifully. "If you +had only known her goodness," she cried, "her self-sacrificing devotion, +her pure, kind heart! She was the best friend I ever had, and how she +loved that unhappy boy! She was more his mother than I, for she gave him +all a mother's love and all a mother's care and attention. Why did I let +her go with him? Why did I not keep her back from him?" + +I told her how the poor woman's first thought had been the safety of the +child. + +"And you have not seen her again? You do not know what has become of +her?" + +I denied having seen her again. I could not describe to her the horrid +spectacle of the poor woman as I had seen her last, when taken by the +brave firemen from that infernal pile; for, strong as she forced herself +to appear, this would have been more than she could bear; so I told her +that the relief train started with the rescued before we could learn +anything of the rest; but of the certainty of their death there could +not be the slightest doubt. + +"What a misfortune!" she sighed, wringing her hands. "Why, that boy had +an escort with him like a prince royal! The honest Dr. Mayer, such a +refined, generous young man; and Tom, the negro, my best servant, and +the truest! He saved me from an alligator once, and killed him with an +iron bar. He was severely wounded by the ferocious reptile, yet he +laughed at his pains." + +I remembered the grin on his broad black face in the moment of death, +as I had seen him at the carriage window. He had laughed then also. + +"And poor little Georgie?" she asked again, "James's playfellow and +foster-brother? Georgie's mother was James's nurse. How she begged of me +to take care of her darling, to bring him up well, to make a priest of +him! And how well I have kept that promise! I have made more of him than +a priest: he is a saint, and a martyr. Oh, _mea culpa_! _mea culpa_!" + +When I had explained to her the circumstances which had made all +attempts at rescue impossible for us, and afterward futile, she nodded. +"I know it," she said. "On that evening I had not said my prayers. We +dined out late, and spent the evening there. I could not come home to +pray with my children, and I could not say my prayers there. I felt the +heavy load on my heart, and once for a moment, when I was not observed +by anybody, I heaved a sigh and said, 'God bless us!' It must have been +at the moment of the catastrophe, for my heart ached with some vague and +gloomy presentiment. Oh, me! our neglected prayer, and such a fearful +chastisement! Tell me! Who is that terrible being that watches us so +relentlessly, and if he catches us napping but once, hurls down those we +love into death and destruction?" + +Her marble-white face, her large wide-open eyes, gave her the look of a +spirit. + +"Perhaps," said I, "the single blessing you asked saved the life of +your dear child. Let this thought comfort you." + +"James?" she said. "This child of sin and misfortune? Why, it was +because he was on that train that all those pure and good people had to +die! Oh, accursed was the hour of his birth! No, no; he is not accursed. +I--I, his mother, that gave birth to him, I am guilty! He is innocent; +he could not help it. Oh, _mea culpa_! _mea culpa_!" + +She was beating her breast, and rocking herself to and fro, uttering her +incessant "_Mea culpa_!" "Tell me more," she said again, presently; +"show me more dreadful sights, that I may suffer more. I yearn for it; +it will do my soul good--it is like purgatory. Go on!" + +I took good care not to feed this religious frenzy further. On the +contrary, I spoke of the practical Englishman and his performances, and +of the artist who had sat there among all the terrible havoc and had +drawn sketch after sketch. + +"That picture we must secure, at whatever cost," she said, eagerly. "It +shall be the altar-piece of the chapel which we are about to raise in +memory of the tragic event and of the souls of the slain." + +I had formed my own opinion of Mrs Dumany's state of mind. No doubt she +was mentally deranged, and her special craze was religious monomania. +From this arose the deep melancholy which held her own innocent babe +responsible for the misfortune of others. This made the child repugnant +to the mother, and, no doubt, this was at the bottom of that remarkable +mutual estrangement between mother and child. + +I tried to quiet her. I told her that in a very short period a great +many serious catastrophes, such as frequent earthquakes, great +inundations, and similar unfortunate and most terrible events, had +shocked the world and buried whole cities, destroyed the lives and +fortunes of thousands upon thousands of happy and innocent persons. Even +this Rossberg catastrophe had been preceded by another at the same spot, +about the beginning of the present century. Such catastrophes were by no +means to be considered as a punishment from God Almighty, Who is far too +magnanimous to visit the sins of the guilty upon the heads of the +innocent, but simply as the outcome of geological and meteorological +phases of our globe, depending upon natural laws. If anybody was really +to be blamed for the present misfortune, it must be the engineer who had +planned and erected that insufficient barrier instead of a strong +bastion. + +Mr. Dumany's entrance interrupted our painful conversation. He came on +the pretence that letters and newspapers had arrived for me, and with +that he handed me a copy of the _Hon_. + +"But I had them addressed to the Hôtel d'Espagne," I said. + +"They have been already informed that you are here," he answered; and +then, turning to his wife, he said-- + +"Have you drunk deep enough of the bitter cup? or do you thirst for +more of its contents?" + +His voice was soft and tender, and the wife threw both her arms around +the husband's neck, and, burying her face on his breast, she wept +bitterly. + +I took my journal, and, without making my excuses to the lady, I +silently stole out of the room. + + + + +VI. + +DUMANY KORNEL. + + +At dinner I was punctual, but nevertheless the two gentlemen of whom Mr. +Dumany and his wife had spoken were already present and discussing the +question of Mr. Dumany's munificent offer. After a hurried introduction +I was soon informed of all that had been agreed on. The Secretary of +State had received bonds for 1,000,000 francs, to be taken by the two +Governments, the French and the Swiss, for distribution among the +injured or maimed of the Rossberg catastrophe and the poor dependents of +the slain. The old railroad watchman, who had been discharged by the +company, and the canny shepherd, who both sold and kept his goats when +he ran for the relief train, each received 10,000 francs, and a +considerable sum went to the officials of the relief train as a +remuneration for their services. The rest of the million francs was set +aside for a memorial chapel on the site of the accident, and for the +celebration of masses and a grand requiem in the church of St Germain +l'Auxerrois on the following day--a ceremony which was to be repeated +annually. + +I have forgotten to mention that although the dinner was sumptuous, and +the dishes and wines were excellent, yet it was as stately, solemn, and +unsociable a meal as a funeral banquet, and Mrs. Dumany presided in +deep mourning. The only jewel she wore was a large cross studded with +dark-blue diamonds, only recognisable as such by the rays of blue, +yellow, red, and green light which darted from them. This cross was +suspended on a chain of black beads resembling a rosary, and giving to +the black-robed figure the appearance of an abbess. The Spanish lace +mantilla which she had thrown over her beautiful hair served as the +veil, and made the resemblance perfect. + +At nine o'clock the government official and the priest took their leave, +and Mrs. Dumany retired, to put her babes to bed, as she said--a duty +which she always fulfilled herself, saying her prayers with them, and +watching them until they slept. After the lady had retired, Mr. Dumany +told me that even when he and his wife dined out, or were going to the +opera, my lady invariably went home at nine o'clock to put her children +to bed--a duty which she never omitted; but on the evening of the +catastrophe she had been compelled to stay by the company present, and +this had given rise to her self-accusations. She was nowhere happy but +in the company of her children, who afforded her the greatest delight +and amusement. I sighed, and, yes--I think I was actually guilty of the +remark that Hungarian ladies of quality were equally good and dutiful +mothers. + +We went over to Mr. Dumany's bedroom for a cup of tea and a cigar. It +was a grand room, lofty and spacious as a church, and if I had been a +Chauvinist, I should have said that the rays of light in this room +composed a tricolour of the same hues as the Hungarian flag. The +beautiful hanging-lamp shed a green light, the glowing coals in the +grate threw a reddish tint over the surrounding objects, and the large, +richly-sculptured bed-canopy was all ablaze with white electric lights, +arranged like a chain of diamonds above the heavy purple velvet hangings +which encircled the couch and gave it a cosy and well-shaded effect. + +We had hardly finished our first cigar, when Mrs. Dumany, or, as I +should call her, the countess, came in. She wore a white wrapper, +covered with costly lace and leaving her beautiful arms bare below the +loose lace-trimmed sleeves. She led little James into the room, and, +turning to her husband, she said--"This boy obstinately refuses to sleep +anywhere but with his father, just as before we sent him to the +Institute." + +The little fellow was simpering, and tottered drowsily to and fro. He +was evidently very sleepy. Mr. Dumany took him up on his lap, unbuttoned +his little boots, and pulled off the tiny socks. The mother stood there, +looking on unconcerned, and presently she said, "Good-night!" and went +out of the room. + +The father undressed the child, and put him to bed; then he drew the +curtains aside; the child knelt in bed, folded his little hands, and +evidently said his prayers, for I saw his lips move; but I could not +hear a word. After he had finished, his father kissed him tenderly, +covered him up with the angora rug, and, letting down the curtains, +returned to me. + +He had hardly sat down, when the bed-curtains moved, and the cherubic +little head peeped out. "Papa! Papa!" said the child. + +"What is it, darling?" his father asked, going back to him. + +"I want you to kiss me again," he said, with a little mischievous smile. + +After the boy had had his wish, he crept below the covering, and was +soon fast asleep. Mr. Dumany observed that my cigar had expired, and +that I looked rather drowsy. "You are tired," he said; "let me lead you +to your room." + +"I have not slept for the last two nights," I replied; "but I shall not +trouble you, as I can find my room easily, or else I can ask the valet. +Pray stay and rest yourself." + +"Well then, good-night and sleep well!" + +But however sleepy I had been the moment before, these few words were +enough to drive sleep from my eyes for ten nights to come, and to raise +my curiosity to the highest pitch, for they were spoken in clear, +well-pronounced Hungarian. + +I gazed at him in utter astonishment, and he smiled. "You did not +recognise me," he said, "but I knew you at once. I knew you very well, +too--at one time: we have been colleagues once." + +"Indeed? And how is that possible? Pray where was that?" + +"In Budapest, in the Sándor Uteza Palace, the House of Commons." + +"You have been a member of the Hungarian Parliament? When? And what +name did you then bear?" + +"The name I bear now, which is my own. Only I used to write it in +Hungarian, Dumany Kornel." + +"Still I don't remember. Neither your name, nor yet your face is +familiar to me." + +"Naturally enough. I was in Parliament for only one day; the next day +they conducted me out again." + +"Ah, now I know you! You were the dead man's candidate." + +"Yes, you have hit it; I was the man." + +Well, this was indeed a surprise. All the drowsiness had entirely gone +from me, and, turning back into the room, I asked, eagerly-- + +"Sir, have I some claim on your generosity?" + +"Oh sir! my dear friend!" he cried, extending both hands to me, "I am +your most grateful and obedient servant for ever. I hand you a blank +sheet, and, whatever you may be pleased to write upon it, I shall most +willingly subscribe to." + +"Then tell me how the right honourable Dumany Kornel, a member of the +Hungarian landed gentry, and also of the medical profession, if I +rightly remember, a rather fast-living bachelor, and rejected Commoner, +has been metamorphosed into Cornelius Dumany, the Silver King, the South +American nabob, the matador of the Bourse, husband of a beautiful +countess, and father of five children, within such a short period. Tell +me this, for it is the only gratification I shall accept." + +"And let me tell you, dear friend, it is the highest I could give," was +his reply. "In fact, you have presented me such a draft that, in spite +of all my wealth, I am unable to pay it at sight. I have to ask my +wife's permission first. The story you want me to tell is but one half +my own, the other half belongs to my wife, and you must allow me to ask +her leave;" and, bowing to me, he left the room. + +I was alone. No, not alone. From behind the bed-curtains issued a heavy +groaning, as if the little sleeper were troubled with bad dreams. I went +to him and lifted the hangings. The glare of the light awakened him, and +he cried out, "Apa!" ("Papa!") + +"Papa will come presently, my little one," I said in Hungarian, and he +smiled happily. + +"Oh, the Hungarian uncle!" he said, "that's nice;" and, taking hold of +my hand, he caressingly laid his little, soft cheek on it. + +"Have you been troubled in your sleep?" I asked. + +"Yes," he said; "I was dumb again, although I wanted to speak and tried +very hard. A snake was coiled around my neck, and choked me. There is no +snake in this room? Or is there?" + +"No. Don't be afraid of anything. Try to sleep again." + +"You will stay with me?" + +"Yes, until your papa comes back." + +"Stay always. Papa would like it. He always used to say, 'Speak to me, +my boy, only to me! I have nobody but thee to speak to me in our own +Hungarian;' and now he has you also. How glad he must be of it! You will +stay?--promise!" + +I promised him to stay a long time, and, holding fast to my hand, he +fell asleep again. + +When Mr. Du Many, or rather Dumany, returned to me, I was sitting before +the grate, musing over what the child's innocent prattle had revealed to +me--the tender, loving recollection this man had of his home and the +sweet sounds of our beloved mother tongue. + +He came in with an animated face. "My wife has consented," he said. "She +told me that it was confession-time. To-morrow she will confess to +Father Augustin, and this evening I shall make you my confessor. Now +that I have made up my mind to it, I really think that, even from a +practical point of view, it would be much better if the truth should be +known about us, rather than those wild, fanciful stories reported by +gossiping American newspapers." + +With that he rang the bell for the servant, and gave his orders for the +night. Tea with mandarin liqueur at once, at twelve o'clock punch and +fruits, at two in the morning coffee _ŕ la Turque_, and at five o'clock +a cold woodcock and champagne, were to be served. + +"I hope you will be able to stand being up all night?" he asked. + +"I think so. I am chief of the campaign committee at home." + +"I beg your pardon. Then I know your quality. But it will possibly +interest you to learn that the bill of fare I have issued consists +entirely of products of my own raising. The tea comes from my own garden +in Hong Kong. The mandarin is decocted from the crop of oranges grown in +my Borneo orchard. The coffee comes from my Cuban plantation, as well as +the 'gizr' spirit, obtained from the coffee bean. The woodcock is from +my own park; and it is only the flour for the cakes that I have to buy, +for that comes from Hungary, and there I own nothing." + +"How is that? If I remember rightly, you had a handsome property there." + +"Have you not heard that it was sold to pay my debts?" + +"And you consented to that?" + +"Well, first hear my story. However, I have told you an untruth. I am +yet a landed proprietor at home; I own a cabbage-garden in the rear of +my former castle. That garden is the only bit of soil I kept, and in +this garden fine cabbages grow. Year after year the whole crop is sliced +up, put into great barrels, and converted into sauer-kraut. This they +send after me, wherever I happen to be--whether at New York, Rio de +Janeiro, Palermo, or Paris--and from this, after a sleepless night, my +wife prepares me a delicious 'Korhely-leves'" (a broth made from the +juice, and some slices of cabbage, with sour cream and fresh and smoked +ham, and sausages. This broth is in Hungary frequently served after a +night of dissipation; hence its name, "Korhely-leves," which means +"Scamp's-broth"). + +"And the countess understands how to prepare the old-fashioned Hungarian +delicacy?" I asked. + +He laughed. "Ha-ha-ha! Why, she is as good a Hungarian as you or I. If +she speaks French, she only imitates our ladies at home, who think +themselves so much more refined when they speak bad French instead of +good Hungarian." + +This was another revelation, and upset the other half of my fictitious +combination. I had imagined that my countryman had won the love of some +South American magnate's daughter, and in this way had become the +possessor of his innumerable millions. Mr. Dumany might have read my +thoughts in my face, for he smiled and said-- + +"You will presently understand that I did not rob, did not cheat, and +did not marry for money, and yet I did not acquire my present great +wealth by my own good sense and management, either. I'll show you by +what road I have reached it, as a warning to others. May no other man +ever do as I did! But I do not believe that such events are ever likely +to happen again. I do not believe that there can ever be born another +such a pair of thick-skinned, iron-nerved human beings as the heroes of +this story, or two other persons able to endure what we endured. I will +venture to say that the worldly wealth I have won is not worth the price +I paid for it; but I have gained another prize, whose value can never be +expressed in figures." + +Thereupon we sat down at the little tea-table. Mr. Dumany threw a few +logs of odorous cedar wood upon the fire and began his tale. So, from +this point, the present romance is not written by me, but by him. + + + + +MR DUMANY'S STORY. + +VII. + +THE DEAD MAN'S VOTE. + + +I do not think it necessary to particularly describe the borough for +which I was nominated as a candidate for Parliament. If you know one, +you know all. There were factions, of course, ranged into parties, one +of which drank deep, while the other drank deeper still. There are a +good many nationalities in this particular district, and they are +distinguished by the liquor they prefer. The Slavs drink whiskey; the +Suabians or Germans, beer; the Ugro-Fins or Hungarians, wine; and the +more intelligent and cultivated of all the races show their agreement in +matters of taste by drinking, alternately, wine, beer, or whiskey, with +equal relish. Jehovah's own chosen people, considering it much more +prudent and hospitable to serve the liquid to others than to drink it +themselves, furnish all parties with the wished-for fluid, according to +individual taste, and find the transaction even more satisfactory and +profitable than drinking in itself. + +If Dante had visited Hungary, and had seen my particular borough in +election-time, he would not have omitted it in his description of hell. + +Yet the highly respectable voters expect a substantial confirmation of +their patriotic convictions, and some of them are not fully persuaded +until four or five angels (golden, of course) come to enlighten their +minds. Others refuse to listen even to the sweet voices of these angels, +and wait obstinately for the mightier spirits, emblazoned on fifty and +one hundred florin bank-bills. Others, again, are to be had only _en +bloc_--that is, in company with their friends and connections, and only +just at the last moment, when the bidding is highest; and so tender is +their conscience that they listen to the persuasions of all parties with +equal earnestness, and it takes much to convince and win them over. + +It is a matter of course that the nominated candidate of each party is +far above such negotiations, and, although he owns that it has come to +his knowledge that his antagonist actually stooped to bribery in order +to defend his weak cause, yet he himself will never condescend to meet +the man on that ground. If his own moral integrity, the lofty standing +of his party, and his party's principles, will not secure the victory +for him, why, then there is no honesty and patriotism in this decayed +age, and the patriotic cause is lost! + +At every election, as you well know, are a number of kind, +disinterested, active, and zealous party members, indefatigably busy in +securing and collecting votes, or, what is more essential, trying to win +over the votes of the enemy. These very useful and highly respectable +gentlemen are leaders or drum-majors, and they have a number of +subalterns, not less useful, painstaking, and persuasive, only a little +less gentlemanlike and less scrupulous, and perhaps not wholly +disinterested as regards pecuniary gain. These are the election +drummers, plain and simple. + +Now at the election of which I am speaking there were two factions. I, +as the champion of the Clerical-National-Conservative party, stood in +opposition to the champion of the Panslavonic-Liberal-Reform party, and +you may believe that we did all that was possible to defeat the opposing +faction. My own party emblem was the red feather, that of my adversary +the green feather; the national cockade we sported in common. + +At six o'clock p.m. the green feathers were one vote ahead of us. "This +is not to be endured!" shouted my head drummers, and "This is not to be +endured!" was the war-cry of the subordinate drummers. But how could +they help it? The lists were scrutinised again, and it was found that +Tóth János, the potter, had not voted. "Where is Tóth János, the potter? +and why did he not vote?" added my chief drummer. "Beg pardon," said one +of the subalterns, "but the man was buried the other day." + +"Well, that was a calamity. Is there no other Tóth János in the village? +The name is rather a common one." + +"There is indeed, and he happens to live in the same house with the +deceased, only he is not a voter, as he does not pay taxes; he is only a +poor poultry-dealer. Still he is on the list as a carter, and the thing +could be managed." + +Tóth János, the poultry-dealer, was sent for, but his voting in his own +right was out of the question. So the drummers talked with him a long +time, and they had glib tongues, and the aid of the ever-welcome angels. +Tóth János the poultry-dealer, who could not vote in his own name, voted +as Tóth János, the potter, but he had a great sacrifice to make. The +deceased potter was nick-named the "gap-toothed," because he had lost +his front teeth in a brawl. Now the poultry-dealer's front teeth were as +sound as ivory, yet so great and effective were the persuasions of the +"angels" that, in half an hour's time, Tóth János, the poultry-dealer, +so closely resembled Tóth János, the potter, in outward appearance that +no question concerning his identity was raised, and his vote was +recorded. + +Still, this was insufficient. True, we were now even with the foe, but +we were compelled to show a majority, even if it consisted only of a +single vote. If Richard III could offer "a kingdom for a horse," why +should not we offer "1,000 florins for a vote?" + +Somebody made the discovery that on the outskirts of the village, in an +old tumble-down shanty of his own, lived a poor Jew with a lot of +half-starved, forlorn-looking children, and a half-crazed, careworn, +hard-working wife. The husband and father had been laid up with +consumption for the last few months, and was daily expected to die. This +poor wretch, who never in all his life had been the owner of an entire +suit of decent clothes--for when he had a hat, he invariably lacked +shoes, or when in possession of a coat, he was in sore want of a pair of +trousers--this poor fellow had yet a fortune at his call, for he could +bequeath to his family the 1,000 florins which we were willing to pay +for his vote. All his life he had been as honest as he was poor, earning +a miserable livelihood by setting glass panes in the village windows. +Nobody had ever thought of getting his vote, still less had he himself +thought of attaching any importance to the right he possessed as a +taxpayer. Our drummers found the poor fellow just in the act of taking +leave of this vale of care and sorrow; but they would not have been the +smart fellows they were if they had not succeeded in defeating Death +himself, and robbing him of his prey for as long as they needed. The +dying man stared vacantly into their faces when they offered him this +enormous sum of ready money, while his wife and children broke into a +howl of despair that the offer had not come earlier, for how could a +dying man leave his bed to vote? But my drummers were not to be beaten. +They caught up the bedstead with the sufferer on it, and hastened with +it to the tent where the votes were collected. The dying man had been +made to understand that the bill of 1,000 florins which he saw would be +given to his wife, if he would only pronounce my name when asked to whom +he gave his vote, and he hold tight to his wife's hand, and met her +appealing glance with something like assurance. Happily, he was still +alive when brought to the urn, and the drummers announced that "the poor +man was troubled in his conscience, and could not die unless the +opportunity of fulfilling his patriotic duty was afforded him, so that +he had begged them to bring him to the tent and allow him to vote." This +touching little piece of news was received in the spirit in which it had +been given, and just as the poor fellow in his agony was asked the name +of his chosen candidate, Death came to claim his own. With a last look +of sorrow and affection at his wife he sighed with his dying breath, "Du +mein liebel"[1] ("Thou, my love!"), and expired. + +[Footnote 1: The Jews in Hungary usually speak German among themselves.] + +"'Nelly Dumany! Dumany Nelly!' he said," cried my drummers--"Nelly" +being an abbreviation of Kornel, my Christian name--and since the "Du +meine" really sounded like "Dumany" and not at all like "Belacsek," the +candidate of the other party, and since the dead man could not be made +to repeat his vote, whereas my drummers were ready to take their oath of +the correctness of their assertion, the vote was credited to me, and I +was declared elected by a majority of one vote, my suffrages being 1,501 +in number, whereas my adversary had received only 1,500. + +The case was afterward contested, and some witnesses endeavoured to +prove that the dying man had not said, "Dumány Nelly," but "Du mein +liebe"; yet there was the sworn statement of my drummers to the +contrary, as well as the evidence of his wife and children that the man +had been a devout and religious Jew, incapable of offending Jehovah by +uttering German words with his last breath. He had simply pronounced my +name in Jewish fashion, and eased his patriotic heart by voting for me. +Itzig Maikäfer's vote was as sound as a nut and could not be rejected. + +Not quite so sound, however, was the other dead man's vote--that of Tóth +János, the potter. We had sent his substitute, the poultry-dealer, with +a cartload of odds and ends to Galicia, just to have him out of the way. +We managed to make it difficult to prove which of the two men named Tóth +János had been buried two days before election-day by providing for the +dead man's family, and sending them off to a remote place; and as the +poultry-dealer (who was a widower without any family) did not return +from Galicia for many weeks to come, everything seemed secure. But we +had reckoned without our host, and did not take into consideration a +possible treachery. The barber, a miserable wretch, whom we thought to +be a true red-feather man, and who had been more than liberally paid for +extracting the poultry-dealer's front teeth, and trimming his hair and +beard into the semblance of those of the dead potter, went and blabbed +of his work. A strict examination followed, the body of the potter was +exhumed, and his identity proved to a certainty. Of course, no one dared +to accuse me of foul play, but a new election was found necessary, and +the day after I had first taken my seat as a member of the Hungarian +Parliament, I was politely but firmly given to understand that I had no +legal right to its possession, and had better go. This is the story of +how I became to be called "the dead man's representative," and how I was +a colleague of yours for a single day. + +Yet this story I have told you cannot give anyone a fair or true +estimate of me, or my character, or ability. Anybody who heard or read +this story would suppose me to have been a vain, good-for-nothing sort +of fellow, who had missed his degree at college and lacked the ability +to fill any decent position, and therefore plunged into politics to make +his living, or perhaps to squander the inheritance he had received from +his ancestors. But, in reality, I had already, at the age of +six-and-twenty, occupied the position of a well-qualified assistant +physician, and at two-and-thirty the newspapers spoke of me as a famous +specialist and a great light of the profession. As I was established in +Vienna, where the competition is great, and Hungarians are pushed into +the rear if possible, my reputation could not have been without some +foundation at least. I was respectable and respected, very much in love +with my profession, and did not care a straw for politics. So, in order +to make you understand the change--nay, the entire revolution--which my +outward and inward man, my entire existence, had experienced, I must +acquaint you with a portion of my family troubles and domestic +relations, and I shall have to speak of my Uncle Diogenes. + + + + +VIII. + +MY UNCLE DIOGENES. + + +First of all, I must inform you that my father was a very zealous +patriot, and mingled largely in state and political affairs. Of course, +in the great insurrection of the year 1848 he took an active share, and +after the catastrophe of Világos he was seized and imprisoned at Olmütz. +At that time I was a lean, overgrown youngster of sixteen. I was +compelled to take charge of the household, and behave as head of the +family, for which dignity I had no inclination and but little talent. +Study was the great object of my life. After my father's release from +prison I was just of an age to decide as to my future career; but that, +at the time, was rather a difficult thing for a Hungarian youth, all +offices and positions being filled by Germans and Bohemians. I did not +wish to follow in my father's footsteps, for I saw that what with his +neglect of business matters, what with his liberality in furnishing all +patriotic enterprises out of his own pocket with the necessary means, +and in extending a wide hospitality to all political refugees, our own +circumstances were getting worse and worse, and we were deeply in debt. + +So one day I took courage to speak to my father upon the subject, and +told him that I thought it was time for me to select a profession. + +"Oh! you are going to hunt for some paltry office in the district +courts?" he said, with a snarl. + +"No! I am going to study as a physician," I replied. + +"What? Do you want to be a barber or a veterinary surgeon, or one of +those curs who pretend to look after the wounded so that they themselves +may keep out of danger when their betters fight? Imagine a scion of the +Dumanys, and the last one, too, wanting to be a sick nurse instead of a +man! I have a notion to shoot you on the spot!" + +"That you can't, for our present ingenious Government takes precious +good care that such dangerous persons as my father shall not be left in +possession of a rifle or any other shooting-iron; and surely you will +not butcher me? Come, father, be reasonable! You know well what I mean +to become, and that the calling I have selected is honourable and +respected." + +"It is not fit for the son of a gentleman and a Dumany. If you dare to +follow such an insane course, you may be sure of my malediction, and, +besides that, I'll discard you--disinherit you!" + +"I am very much afraid, papa, that if our present course lasts awhile +longer, there will not be much left to bequeath to your heirs. So I am +not afraid of that threat; and as to maledictions, you are much too kind +and good-natured to utter such stuff; and, besides, curses are just as +harmless and useless as blessings. The Frauenhofer lines tell us all the +secrets of hell, and so I am not at all afraid of them. But I am +terribly afraid, dear father, that the road which you have pursued will +lead us to ruin in a very short time." + +I had taken precise accounts of all that we possessed and all that we +owed. I had computed these accurately, and showed him the result, which +was rather alarming; but he waved the document away with his hands, and +said, "Don't be foolish; don't worry about these little inconveniences, +which can't be helped, and will soon cease to trouble us. Why, there is +your uncle Dion, with eighty-seven winters on his head (may God rest +him!) and not a soul to leave his large fortune to, but you, his only +nephew! Bless my soul! what a nuisance is this boy! Instead of going to +this paragon of an uncle, and trying to get into his good graces, as his +next of blood and kin, he talks of becoming an apothecary, smearing +plasters, mixing poisons, and setting sprained joints. Go to thy uncle, +I say, like a dutiful nephew, and doctor him, if doctor you must!" + +"I have been to him already, and have told him of my intentions." + +"'Pon my word! And then?" + +"He gave me the money to pay my preliminary expenses, and I hope to get +along afterward by myself." + +"Well, to think of Dion giving away anything but advice! It's a treat! +And what did he say?" + +"That I was right and sensible in providing against the future; for he +knows of your difficulties." + +"Stuff and nonsense! He can't last for ever, and then where is the need +for your troubling yourself about my difficulties or studying for a +profession?" + +"You are mistaken: he will not leave us a penny; neither do I care for +his money. All I wanted of him I have got, and there is an end of it." + +"Then don't say that I am an unnatural or unfeeling father. I'll give +you thir--no, twenty florins!" But he never said whether these twenty +florins were meant to be given monthly, or only once for good and all. +However, as I did not ask for them, I never got a penny, and soon +learned to do without my father's money by giving lessons, coaching less +diligent and capable fellow-students, and contriving to live upon almost +nothing. + +But I wanted to speak to you of my Uncle Diogenes, as he was generally +called, although his Christian name was Dion. He was my father's +brother, but by no means like him. Rather an odd sort of a fellow, and +as keen as a razor. He went even beyond the old classical types; he was +more cynical and more of a philosopher than they. Not the oldest +inhabitant remembered the time when the cloak that covered his stooping +shoulders on the street was new. Daily he went to church, never into +church. There, on the sacred threshold, among the beggars and outcasts, +he paid his homage to his Maker, and then returned to his desolate home. +There was a large public well in the village. To this he himself went +with a large pitcher for his drinking-water. This water he poured into a +large boiler, boiled and strained it, and then drank it, because then +he was sure of the bacilli. He kept no attendant or housekeeper, for +fear of being murdered; and he was so much in dread of poison that he +never ate cooked food or anything made of flour, not even bread. He +lived on baked potatoes, nuts, honey, raw fresh eggs, and all sorts of +fruits and vegetables which might be eaten raw, and which grew in his +own orchard and garden. Out of his large herd of cattle he selected a +cow for his stall. This cow he attended to with his own hand, carefully +examining each stalk or haulm she ate, in order that no poisonous weed +might be consumed by her, and thus poison the milk. Each morning and +evening his own hands milked her, and he churned all his butter, and +made all his cheese himself. He never ate anything but what I have +mentioned, and he never went out without two loaded double-barrelled +pistols in his boots. He never read any other newspaper than the +Slavonic _Narodne Novine_, which he got from the village parson; but, +before reading it, he held it over a charcoal fire, on which he had +thrown some juniper berries, to kill possible malarial germs. His land +was all farmed out, and the rent had to be paid to him in gold or +silver, which he locked away in a great old iron chest. Occasionally, +through auctioning off some poor debtor's effects, he came into +possession of bank bills, 50, 100, 1,000 florin notes. These he rolled +up separately, and pushed one by one into a hollow reed. Of those +stuffed reeds he made bundles, which he stowed away in a corner of his +room. He never lent a penny of his money; he never put a penny into any +savings-bank, for he called them all humbugs; and he never gave a penny +for charity or friendship. Such was my Uncle Diogenes or Dion; and now I +will tell you what he had given me. You remember I told my father that +my Uncle Dion had furnished me with the means of paying my preliminary +expenses. That was true, but I had earned the money, little as it was, +in ciphering, writing, and riding about to my uncle's tenants at a time +when he was ill with a cold, and would have been obliged to pay a +stranger for the work which I did for him. I said it was little he gave +me. I have not told the whole truth, for he gave me his advice, and put +his own example before me, and that made a small sum go a long way. + +Well, to make a long story short, let me tell you that I was an +established physician when my father died, and immediately after his +death his estate was seized in bankruptcy proceedings. + +I did not care. I was satisfied with my position in Vienna, and as I had +no mother nor sisters or dependent younger brothers, and had long ago +relinquished the hope of coming into possession of our family estate, I +tried to forget my former home and live only for my profession. + +After my efforts had made me a name as a clever and skilful specialist, +I was occasionally called to visit some wealthy patient in Hungary, and +then the papers gave accounts of the diagnosis I had given, and +mentioned the generous fee I had received. I did not approve of this +sort of advertisement, but I found that it could not be checked, and so +grew indifferent to it. One day I received a registered letter +containing money. It was stamped all over with the cheapest kind of +sealing-wax, and, on opening the envelope, I was surprised to find a +letter from my Uncle Dion, with an old, crumpled hundred-florin bill, of +a kind that had long gone out of circulation, and which showed every +mark of having issued from one of the hollow reeds. The letter ran about +as follows:-- + + "MY DEAR NEPHEW, DR. DUMANY,--Knowing well that physicians will not + move a step without being well paid, I send you the enclosed + bank-bill, and pray you to take the trouble to visit me for a few + days here in my house. + + "DUMANY DION." + +I took the bank-bill, put it into a fresh envelope, and wrote the +following lines:-- + + "MY DEAR UNCLE,--One hundred florins will not induce me to leave my + patients, and so I return the bill; but if you are really in need + of a physician, and want me in that capacity, then please let me + know, without enclosing money, for I should consider it my duty as + a near blood-relation to give you my professional assistance + without delay.--Yours, + + "DUMANY KORNEL." + +By return of post came the answer--"Yes, I want you immediately." + +I went at once. It was ten years since I had seen him last. He was +eighty-seven then; he must be ninety-seven now. A rare age, indeed! +When last I saw him, his long and thick white hair had reached to the +middle of his back, and his long untrimmed beard flowed down to his +girdle, and was the colour of hemp. His eyes were as sharp as those of +any young man, and he did his reading and writing without an eye-glass. +Even his grafting he did without an artificial help to his vision. I +remembered well the old custom for guests arriving at his house: coach +and servants had to be left at the inn, and dinner had to be ordered +there. Whoever came to visit the lord of the château, quite a +magnificent old-fashioned country seat, had to enter through a narrow +garden-gate, just wide enough to admit a single person. The great gate +was never opened, no vehicle of any kind was admitted to pass through +it, and a thick growth of horse-sorrel, both without and within the +great oaken wings, bore witness to the fact. There was a turnkey at the +little gate, and an old man--the only servant my uncle ever kept, who +served for porter, gardener, and all other purposes--opened the door. + +There was yet one tender spot in my uncle's heart, one sprinkle of +poetry in his nature. He adored flowers, especially roses, and he did +not even grudge money to secure rare specimens. His flower-garden was a +real fairy bower, and the old man, with the flowing snow-white hair and +beard, pruning and grafting continually, resembled some sorcerer who, +with a single touch of his withered hands, could create or destroy all +the beauty around him. + +I found him there among his roses when I came. He recognised me at +once, although the last ten years had considerably changed my +appearance. He was looking just the same as he did ten years ago; not +altered in the least. He was as dry, as wrinkled, and as white as when I +had last seen him, and his eyes appeared by no means less sharp than at +the time I speak of. + +"Happy to see you, my dear fellow!" he said. "I should have known you +wherever I met you. You look like the old boy you were." + +"So I do, because of my clean-shaven face, uncle. I do not care for the +manly beauty of a moustache and beard. But I must return your +compliment. You have not aged in the least, and I can hardly believe in +your wanting a physician at all. You do not look like it." + +He chuckled. "Well, well, I don't think you are much mistaken; but sit +down here in the bower: my room is not quite so pleasant and orderly a +place. I must call the gardener--" + +"Don't take the least trouble, uncle," I said. "I shall not stay with +you, as I ordered a room at the inn and also my dinner. I had a hearty +lunch half an hour ago, and so you need not worry about my comfort. Now +tell me what ails you, pray, and then I'll see what I can do for you." + +"Nothing in the least with regard to my health, for I am not a bit worse +than I was ten years ago, and far better than most others at my age. I +am ninety-seven, as you know, and that's no trifle. It would be foolish +to expect anything better, and you could not prevent my dying about this +time next year." + +"Oh! you are hypochondriac, I see, and give way to fancies! Come in, and +let me examine you professionally, for such fancies are always the +result of some serious disorder." + +"There you are mistaken, my boy. My heart, lungs, liver, and the rest of +it are all right, and I am not melancholy. Neither am I weak-minded or +nervous, and you need not look into my eyes or feel my pulse. I have +known these four years that I am to die at the time I mentioned, +although I am sure, when I tell you how I came to know it, you will call +me superstitious. For you fellows of the present day are so sceptical +and matter-of-fact that you refuse to believe in anything that cannot be +proved by optical inspection or by evidence. It was, as I said, just +four years ago, on my ninety-third birthday, when St. John the Nepomuc +appeared to me in a dream, and said--'Dionysius, my good fellow, make +the best of your time! There are only five more years for you in store, +and then you must die! no help for it!' Since that time he comes to me +every year regularly on the night of my birthday, and repeats his +warning, each time giving me one year less. Last week was my birthday, +and he gave me the last warning. Next time he comes I shall have to go. +So--" + +"But, my dear uncle," I said, rather vexed, "if you are so much +convinced of the certainty of your death, then it was not at all +necessary for me to come. You want the priest, and not the physician. I +can cure bodily diseases, and release you from the clutches of cholera, +or sometimes even of death; but if the saints have got hold of you, and +such a tight hold, too, then you had better go to your confessor, for it +is his business to be in close connection with all of them. I give you +up. Good-bye! I have patients in Vienna, and cannot afford to waste my +time on a pleasure trip." + +"Good God! what a hot-tempered fellow, and what admirable rudeness! +Stay, you unmannerly specimen of honesty, who don't think it worth your +while to cajole an old fool for the sake of his money! What do you think +that I summoned you for? But none of your impudence, if you please!" + +I was amazed, and must have looked so, for the old man broke into a +merry laugh, that sounded like two pieces of cracked iron rubbing +together. There was a merry twinkle in his eye even after his laugh, and +he regarded me with a humorous expression which was entirely new to me. + +"Well," he said, "I see that you are somewhat slow of apprehension; not +at all as sharp as others of the family. So I must help you out. I am +going to make my will. There!" + +"Well then, you had better consult a lawyer or a notary. I am neither of +the two, and cannot be of the least use to you." + +"That's gospel truth. But as you are the only sensible person of the +whole family, the only one who is not a prodigal, and have made shift to +live decently upon your own earnings, I rather think that I may be of +use to you. I like you, because you browbeat me and do not flatter me, +and I will tell you the truth; that bank-bill which you returned to me +strongly interested me in your favour. There was a time when I was not +the shrewd hard fellow that I am, but a true Dumany and a spendthrift. I +can show you a heap of signatures from nearly all the members of our +family--that is, the elder members--every one given me as security for +money I have lent them; but that money was never returned to me, and +although I have always believed that spirits will break their bonds and +return to their former home, I never believed in a bank-note's return +until you showed me the miracle. Therefore I have decided to make you my +heir, and I have called you to witness the will and--" + +"Not a word more," I said. "I never speculated upon anybody's death, and +do not intend to change my habit. I never took the trouble to inquire +how much of my poor father's fortune was swallowed by the lawyers, +although I know that, after paying all of his debts, there must have +been a handsome penny left, and I could have recovered that money if I +had cared to see about it. I have earned for myself a respected position +and a decent living, and I expect to do better yet. So thanks to you for +your kind intention, but I am not the man you want." + +"Yes, you are, and the more so because you do not worship the golden +calf, and do not want to hurry me into my grave as the others do. To +tell you all: I wish to settle everything on you while I live, the +estate, the house, the money, and all--no, don't run away! I am not +crazy, and you need not be afraid that I want you to live here with me +in this old hall as it is, mouldy and dirty and desolate. Neither do I +want you to share my diet of fruits and raw vegetables, eggs and milk, +and baked potatoes. On the contrary, I want you to come to me and live +like a gentleman, as a Dumany should, and let me enjoy life with you." + + + + +IX. + +A SLAVONIC KINGDOM. + + +"You see, my dear boy," continued the old man, fondly taking my hand and +pressing it, "it is a princely domain that I offer you, and a princely +income. The station I invest you with is that of a king in its way, and +not a small way, either. Now listen to me! For a great number of years I +have lived here on this spot, like one of those hermits of bygone times, +living on roots and other primitive food, and never tasting of a decent +cooked meal, because I have never ceased to fear that those who wished +to get my money would try to poison me in order to get it sooner. This +fear I know no longer. I know well that my time expires next year; but +of this one year of life I am assured, and I am resolved to make the +best of it. I want to eat nice roasts, good cakes, and other delicate +dishes, and I want to drink wine. I have not tasted wine since 1809, +when I was studying law and attached as juratus to the Personal. For +many years I did not seem to care about it; but now I long for it, and I +remember how delicious it used to taste." + +"But, my dear uncle, this would not be wise. Such a change would +absolutely kill you." + +"Tut! tut! Never fear! I am sure of the one year, and am not going to +bargain with Death for more. Give me the one year, and let me enjoy it +according to my wishes--that is all I ask for. But for a safeguard +against extravagances, should not I have a skilled and renowned +physician living with me and looking after me daily? Don't you see that +your professional attendance will prevent all evil results, so that I +shall be perfectly safe? I could not have lighted upon a better plan +than making you my heir, and letting you live with me. Of course, I +could have taken a housekeeper; but I know womankind. In less than half +a year she would have persuaded me to marry her and settle all my +belongings on her, and this would not do for a Dumany. But if you come +to live with me, everything will be different. I'll let you have the +whole mansion, and keep nothing but my old room, of which I am fond, +because I am used to it and to the old, dingy, broken furniture that's +in it. You should marry, and bring your pretty little wife into the +house, and she would sing to me and play the piano or the organ, and +would keep pretty little chambermaids that I could pat on the cheeks, +and your little wife would let me kiss her fair, soft little hands; it +would be delicious! Then I should hear a little scolding and quarrelling +in the house, and you would take care that your little lady-wife should +not spoil me by too much fondness, and you would order my dinners and +select my wearing apparel according to my health. Perhaps I might sleep +a little after meals at the open window--a luxury I always longed for, +but did not dare to indulge in. This would be life for me, and a slow +and sweet transit from the cares and troubles of this world into +heaven." + +The old man became quite excited over this ideal picture of happiness. +"I speak of heaven," he continued, "and this reminds me of the church. +Do you know why I say my prayers outside among the beggars, and never go +into the church? Not out of humility, but because at present there is +only a simple Slav minister here, and I am not over-anxious to listen to +his orations. Besides, the church is always so full of the Slav peasants +that you cannot breathe inside of it, such an infernal odour is diffused +by them. But if you would come to live here, and bring a gentle little +Hungarian lady with you, perhaps the bishop could be induced to send +some nice Hungarian priest to preach to us; and I am very fond of a good +sermon, especially if I could listen to it comfortably in my pew, as you +may wager that not one of these burly peasants would go inside the +church if the service were held in Hungarian. And then just fancy the +happiness if there should be a christening in the family, and I should +be godfather to your son! Would not that be glorious? Oh, if I could +live to see it! You must make haste and marry, or I'll put speed into +you, you may rely on that!" + +I was ready with my diagnosis by the time he had finished his last +sentence. Hallucinations born of religious frenzy; idiosyncrasies with +allotriophagical symptoms, a consequence of his ascetical mode of +living; nymphomania of old age; hypochondriacal fancies: all symptoms +that are frequently found together. To second his morbid intention of +changing his diet and habits would be sheer lunacy; nay, worse, it would +be actual murder. Yet first I must win his confidence as a physician, so +that he may trust me and take my advice. I embraced him, and thanked him +most heartily and tenderly for his kind intentions, which I should never +forget and should always feel grateful for; but I said, brilliant and +splendid as it was, I could not accept his proposition, I could not give +up the career I had entered, the profession I had embraced and which I +loved, and the independent and honoured position I was proud of. My +calling was everything to me--life, happiness, fortune, and ambition; +and to give up my profession in order to till my farm, to exchange my +study, laboratory, and dissecting-table for the petty cares and troubles +of a country squire and a county member, would be physical and mental +death to me. + +The old man smiled. "You talk so because you cannot comprehend the +importance of the position you will fill as the lord of my Slavic +kingdom, because you cannot guess the amount of the wealth I offer you. +You shall know it, and you are the only person alive to whom I have ever +spoken, or shall ever speak about it. You think this old mansion looks +as dreary and rotten inside as out; but you are mistaken. This residence +of the so-called Slav King is a princely seat, and it hides treasures +that monarchs and potentates would be proud to possess. If any one of +the family calls on me, he finds me in my dingy little hole of a room, +which, with an old rotten table, broken chairs, mutilated chest of +drawers, and coarse bed with bear-skin coverlet, looks poor and +inhospitable enough, and my visitors are generally glad to escape into +the open air again, thinking that the whole house resembles this room in +appearance; whereas, were I to throw the doors open, and show them the +splendour of the rooms and halls, they would stare in amazement. Every +one of the rooms is a perfect museum, and contains precious rarities. +One is full of carved furniture of costly woods, inlaid with ivory, +mother-of-pearl, gold and silver, and rich stones of the time of +'Ulászló.' The next contains all sorts of pottery of past +centuries--Roman and Etruscan, Chinese and Japanese, Sčvres and Dresden, +old Hungarian, and so forth. The third room is full of weapons of all +ages--panoplies, coats of mail, shields, bucklers, saddles. In the +fourth room are gowns and trains and coats of brocade, and artistic +embroidery and tapestry. The fifth room is a picture-gallery of +unlimited value; and then comes a library that has not its equal on this +continent, nor, I may say, on any other. High up to the ceiling the +large hall is filled with precious and rare old products; books with +clasps that are themselves curiosities of rare beauty. But those books! +If your medical colleagues had the privilege of entering this library +and peeping into those books, I doubt if they would be willing to part +with them ever after. Why, there is actually a book to invoke the devil +with! I did not dare to look into it, but you young fellows are such +sceptics that you will deny the existence of God and Devil presently, +and you will take the risk of reading that book. + +"All these treasures were hoarded together by my father--may God bless +and rest his soul! He was called a miser throughout his life, and he +denied himself all comfort in order to spend his income in replenishing +his collection of rarities. Shortly after the birth of his second son, +your father, our mother grew tired of his mania and the sacrifices she +had daily to make, and left him, taking us boys with her, while he +remained alone among his beloved curiosities, which became dearer to him +on account of the high price he had to pay for them. When we boys--your +father and I--grew up, your father grew daily more like our mother, +while I became strangely infatuated with the old man and his store of +curiosities. He was also fond of me, showed me all his treasures, +dwelling upon the particular beauty of each. Miser as our father was, he +occasionally gave money to his younger son, but he never gave any to me, +and I had to consider this as an especial favour, for had I not the +privilege of sharing the main interest of his life? + +"When my father died, there was hardly enough ready money in his desk to +pay his funeral expenses, and he had left a very strange will. He had +kept minute accounts of the amount he had spent each day and year for +different objects. All the money he had given to my mother and my +younger brother was reckoned up and subtracted from their share under +his will. He wrote that, as he knew that his wife was well provided for, +having a considerable fortune of her own, he left her a life-estate in +such one of his many domains as she might select. With regard to his two +sons, one had never shown him any love, and visited him only when in +want of spending-money; the other had never asked for a penny, although +he had received less from his mother than her favourite, the younger. +Yet, as a dutiful father, he did not wish to be partial; therefore his +sons were to divide his lands, goods, and chattels in the following +manner:--One was to take all his ready money, bonds, and objects of +gold, silver, and jewellery of recent workmanship (meaning the present +century), besides his horses and cattle, and the wine in the cellars; +while the other was to take possession of all the lands and the +residuary estate, on condition that he should reside in this particular +mansion and take charge of the museum therein, that he should never +marry, never accept any public office, in order that the treasures under +his care might receive the full benefit of his resources. He was +required to pledge himself to live in exactly the same secluded and +frugal way as his father, and to take his oath that during his lifetime +and stewardship he would not sell or give away one particle of the +estate, whether real or personal, which he received under the will. +Further, he must give up all claim on his mother's estate for ever, and +must relinquish all that she might give or bequeath him to his brother. + +"To say that your father was furious would hardly express his state of +mind. I have already said that the whole amount of cash left was barely +enough for the funeral expenses. The bonds which were found proved to be +so many worthless pieces of parchment. The jewellery of recent +workmanship consisted of a set of valueless shirt-studs and a watch that +would not have fetched ten florins at auction. Of silver there was a +tablespoon, a teaspoon, a ladle, and two or three pieces of tableware, +bent, crooked, and broken, hardly worth the mentioning. Of horses there +were two lean and decrepit-looking animals, and the cattle consisted of +a diminutive black cow and her calf, neither of much value, yet forming +no doubt the most valuable part of the whole bequest. This was your +father's portion, for as to his taking the other part, giving up the +prospect of our mother's goodly store of money and other property, and +living a secluded life as guardian of a museum, that was entirely out of +the question. + +"To tell that I felt pleased or glad on taking possession of the immense +wealth my father had left me would be a falsehood. I was young, and not +altogether devoid of the passions and inclinations pertaining to that +age. But I had interpreted the true spirit of my father's will, and I +knew that all this seeming spite and injustice was really a token of his +great love for me and of his great wisdom. Had he not stipulated such +hard conditions, my brother would have taken and squandered these lands +and goods as he squandered our mother's fortune, and I should not have +been able now to say to his only son, 'Stay with me, and receive at my +hands the undiminished fortune which your grandfather entrusted to my +care.' How immense that fortune is you may guess, when I tell you that +one year's income, large as it is, was not sufficient to pay the +legacy-taxes. But come, let me show you everything, and give you an idea +of the Slavic kingdom to which I invite you." + +We entered the mansion, an old château built in the time of King Albert, +under the dynasty of the Mazures. Strong walls of cut stone, like the +ramparts of a fortress; great projecting, mullioned oriel windows; +everywhere the Dumany coat-of-arms hewn in stone, wrought in iron, +carved in wood. The main entrance was walled up; the middle portion of +the building contained but one storey; the wings, too, were low, but in +the rear of the house there was a large, high turret. + +A heavy oaken door, beautifully carved, gave access to this turret, and +as this was at present the only approach to the interior of the house, +we had to cross halls and corridors until we reached the floor of the +main building. As we entered, my uncle locked the massive portal and put +the key in his pocket. When, in order to do this, he lifted the lapel of +his long zrinyi dolmány (old-fashioned Hungarian coat), I could see the +butts of his pistols, which were always loaded and ready to his hands. +He noticed the smile on my lips, and said testily, shrugging his +shoulders, "What can I do? I have to think of my personal safety at all +times. Wickedness has not died out of the world, and a poor lone old man +is rather a temptation to robbers. To keep a manservant for protection +would not do. He would be the very person to kill me, having me at his +mercy all the time; and as to keeping a dog for the purpose, I could not +think of it. A dog may bite, and there is danger in that; and, besides, +his keep costs just as much as a man's. He will eat up a fortune in +time. But when you are here, you will have servants and dogs, and all +the rest, and there will be no more need of my pistols." + +My uncle took me directly to his treasures. With all he had said to +excite my curiosity, he had not said enough. For here were treasures +indeed, and I could readily believe that in these luxurious creations of +long-forgotten ages and races a strong witchcraft was pent, and that a +man might grow to give his heart and soul to them. My uncle could give +me the date of every object. This statuette is a Praxiteles; this +picture a Guido Reni; Benvenuto Cellini was the owner of this goblet; +and this sword was that of Sultan Soliman. + +It was dusk, and the shadows of night were falling fast when I quitted +the museum. My uncle and I returned to the narrow turret-room in which +he had taken up his abode for the last seventy years and more. This room +of itself was a sight to see, and I was slightly faint and dizzy from +bewilderment at what I had already beheld. "You see, my boy," said the +old man again, "I have not lied to you; and when you are once +established here, and open these rooms to your visitors, all the barons, +and counts, and princes will stare at them with open mouth, and will +cajole you, flatter you, and bring their handsomest daughters for you to +choose a wife from; for such is the power of wealth. But do not believe +that the rarities I have shown you are all that I can give. For what +would be the good of the offer if I gave you nothing else? You would +have to lead a miserable existence like mine, for you could not soil +those things--no, not to save your life. If once you come to take +possession of them, you will find that you belong to them as much as +they to you. You will cling to them and neglect the present, only to +live in the forgotten past. The beauty of women you will admire in these +pictures only; the beauty of Nature in these stones and minerals. For +politics you will not care, and home will mean to you this mansion, +which encloses your treasure. Oh, the air of these rooms is poisonous to +youth, and mirth, and love!" + +"Yes, uncle," I said, earnestly, "and to ambition and independence, and +all good and right purposes, also; and therefore I cannot stay with you, +for I have chosen my path in life, and I will adhere to it in spite of +these powerful temptations." + +"Oh, you are afraid that they will convert you into a miser and a +hermit, as I have become! But I can give you a potent antidote, which +was never given to me; that is, ready money. Come, and I'll show you +what you have never seen, and assuredly never dreamed of. You see this +large iron chest, itself a rare piece of workmanship, and stronger and +safer than any of your new inventions? Come, let me show you how to +unlock it, for it is difficult; and one who was unacquainted with the +secret of this lock might try until Doomsday to force it open, and all +to no purpose. See, it turns this way, and at this point you must stop. +If in all three locks the keys have been turned to this point, the chest +will open. The contents will rebuild this old castle, will buy you +horses and carriages, and all the home luxuries of modern times, and +will enable you to keep up with the richest and the noblest of them all. +Keep up, I say--nay, go ahead of them; and still you will have what +money cannot buy for them--your museum. Oh, the Dumanys shall be a +powerful race once more, and I shall live to see it!" + +He lifted the heavy lid of the chest, and I saw a number of linen bags +and an equally large number of bladders. The linen bags, my uncle +explained, were full of silver coins, the bladders of gold coins. + +"You see," he continued, "there are fourteen hundred acres of ground +belonging to this estate--rather a handsome piece of property in this +part of the country. It has all been leased out to farmers for many, +many years, almost a century, and it has greatly deteriorated. But this +money will help you to improve the soil also, and it will yield you more +than the twelve thousand acres of Count Vernöczy's estate can do, for +half of that land has been turned into a deer-park, and the other half +is imperfectly cultivated. Look at the bundles of reeds there in the +corner. You have wondered at them, no doubt; and at all those pipes on +the shelf yonder. You asked me if I was a smoker. I am, but I do not +smoke out of those pipe-stems. Both they and the reeds are money-boxes, +every one of them. In them I keep the bank-notes which I have had to +take during the last seventy years. They represent a fortune in +themselves. I hardly know myself how much money they contain. You can +split them, and find out when you come to live with me. I'll settle it +all on you in legal fashion, and keep nothing but my own room. You can +do with the rest as you please; build and rebuild, buy and furnish, to +suit your fancy. Only let me live the one year that remains to me +pleasantly and in plenty, and promise me three things: Never to till +your acres after the ideas you will get from the text-books; never to do +a kindness to a great lord; and never to quarrel or get vexed with a +woman." + +"I promise you whatever you wish, dear uncle," said I; "but, since I +have listened to you for quite a while, you must now listen to me. You +have called me in the capacity of a doctor, and as such I must speak to +you." + +"Do you know a remedy for old age?" was his sarcastic inquiry. + +"I do, to grow older still. You do not look a bit older or feebler than +you did ten years ago, and there is no positive reason why you should +not live for ten years longer, or even more, provided you do not change +your course of living in the least degree. The slightest change of +habits, of diet, or of dress, may prove fatal at your age. I know that +you are not afraid of death, and that you also have taken St. John the +Nepomuc's word for the remaining year. But, my dear uncle, saints are +sometimes ambiguous, and there is something that resembles a living +death, a prospect too horrible to dwell upon, yet dreadfully near. A +single meal of some heavy, unwonted food, one glass of liquor, may bring +it on. It is called paralysis, and when it comes, St. Nepomuc may stick +to his word and give you a year, but what a year that would be!" + +He looked at me with a troubled face, and I pressed his hands and said, +"Yes, dear uncle; you have to stick to the old, long-travelled road, and +then I may hope to see you ten years hence as hearty as you are now, or +as you were ten years ago. For you are in perfect health otherwise, and +there is no need whatever of my staying with you. Only beware of +indigestion, and you will be all right. As for myself, I shall never +cease to remember your kindness and to feel grateful for it, but to +accept your offer would be moral death to me. I have to go back to my +profession, and if you, dear uncle, dislike our other relatives, and do +not want to leave them your property, then give it to such patriotic and +charitable institutions as deserve patronising, and you may be sure that +your memory will be blessed by thousands. Of me you need not think. I am +not the man to speculate on another man's death, and build my future on +a grave." + +The old man looked curiously at me; then he sighed, and embraced me. +"Thank you, my dear fellow!" he said; "I see you are a truly honest man +and no hypocrite. I won't offer you any money: on the contrary, I'll ask +a further favour. Before you leave, I'll give you a letter, which you +will personally hand to the Prefect at his residence at the county seat, +which is on your way to Vienna. I am afraid to entrust this letter to +the mail, as there are very valuable papers in it, and you will have to +take a receipt for it from the magistrate. This receipt you need not +send me, but keep it safe; and if you come to this house again, you may +bring it with you." + +With that the old man showed me out into the garden, carefully unlocking +and re-locking the door, and securing the key. "Thank you for coming to +me, my dear fellow," he said. "And since you decline to take anything of +actual value from me, let me offer you something that has only fanciful +value, yet is dearer to me than all the treasures within the house. See +these Remontan roses in their second bloom--for instance, this Sultan of +Morocco, the most perfect specimen of its kind? I gave a _Napoléon d'or_ +for the scion, and this is its first year of flowering. Here, take it!" + +With that he actually cut the blossom from the stalk, and handed it to +me. It was a magnificent flower, and almost black, with but a slight +purple tinge. It was the darkest-hued rose known at that time. Later on +the "Deuil d'Alsace" came out of Pandora's box. At the time I speak of, +that box was in Benedetti's pocket, and more is the pity that the pocket +held it so tight. + + + + +X. + +"DEAD." + + +Hardly three months after I had taken a tender and affectionate farewell +from my Uncle Dion a newspaper item informed me of his death. My +prediction that a fit of indigestion would prove fatal to him had come +true. His confidence in St. John of Nepomuc had been greater than his +prudence, and it was a mercy that the stroke of apoplexy had killed him +outright, instead of making a living corpse of him, as is so often the +case. + +About a fortnight after I had read of the death of the celebrated Slav +King, I received a package by mail, containing an official and a private +letter. The official letter informed me that the Honourable Dionysius +Dumany had recorded a last will and testament in the county archives, in +which last will and testament he nominated me, Dr. Kornel Dumany, as his +sole heir, upon condition that I should take possession of the property +and live in Dumany Castle. But if I should stubbornly refuse to fulfil +that condition, lands, goods, and chattels should forthwith pass over to +the "Maticza" (Slavic and ecclesiastical literary fund, employed for +Panslavonic ends). + +The private letter came from the Governor of the county, and referred to +the same subject. The Governor declared that it was my unmistakable +duty, as a Dumany and a son of Hungary, to take possession of the home +of my ancestors, and not to allow such an anti-patriotic and dangerous +institution as the "Maticza" to do her a mischief on the strength of +Hungarian funds, and to turn the ancient halls of my patriotic +forefathers into a meeting-place of daring conspirators. + +I shrugged my shoulders, but had not the faintest notion of accepting. I +did not care for politics, and knew of the "Maticza" as a purely +Slavonic literary society. If this society was to hold future meetings +in my uncle's museums, I could bear it; there was very little of +Chauvinism or even patriotism left in me. I was rather cosmopolitan in +tendency; and as to giving up my profession and becoming a country +squire, that was simply ridiculous. + +This happened to be the very period when, after years of degradation and +suffering, the Hungarian national spirit was first allowed to lift its +head and show its colours. Germans and Bohemians, who for many years had +filled all the public offices in Hungary, were compelled either to learn +the Hungarian language or surrender their places to natives. In most +cases the latter was unavoidable, and these aliens, furious at being +driven from their prescriptive sinecures, went up to Vienna and did +their best to make it hot for the Hungarians. As every war has its +origin in an inkstand, students are, naturally, the greatest +Chauvinists, and I was to find that out with a vengeance. All my friends +and colleagues became more and more averse to me, and even went so far +as to take my patients from me by incensing them against me in every +possible manner. Soon they began to drag my name into professional +polemics, into professional newspapers; and when I had defeated and +silenced them in one place, they began to annoy me in another. At home, +in Hungary, the reorganisation of the counties was begun. For twenty +years constitutional life in Hungary had been extinct, and now it had to +be resuscitated. This was a hard task, and at first it was not even +known who were entitled to vote at the meetings. + +And now I received another letter from the Governor, again reminding me +of my duty, clearly describing the situation of affairs, and telling me +how much good every honest and right-minded man could effect, and how +much mischief I should be able to prevent. "But," he closed, "if you +stubbornly and positively adhere to your unpatriotic resolution, and +finally decline to accept your deceased uncle's legacy, I must trouble +you to come down in person and give a definite renunciation, with the +necessary affidavit, such being your uncle's strict demand." + +There was no help. I had to go to get rid of the annoyance. Arriving at +the county seat, I paid my respects to the Vice-Governor, the same +dignitary to whom I had given the letter which my uncle had entrusted to +my care, and which, as I now learned, proved to be the very will in +question. I announced my firm resolution to adhere to my principles, and +the magistrate replied that that was all right, but before we talked +further on the subject, I had better go to the county meeting, which +was to be held that day. + +"But what right have I to be there?" I asked. + +"Why, as the present head of the ancient Dumany family, of course," was +the reply. "There is not one of us provided with a better claim." + +So I let myself be persuaded, and went. The great Hall of Meetings was +crowded to suffocation, and among the local celebrities I recognised a +few of those compatriots who had kindly assisted my poor father to get +rid of his money by feeding them and keeping their pockets full. There +were others who were quite young men, old schoolfellows of mine; +somewhat bad students at the time, but, since Providence had furnished +them with strong voices, they had taken advantage of the gift so as to +make a noise in the world, and played the _rôle_ of leading partisans. +One of them in particular, a good-for-nothing sort of fellow who had +never come near his degree in any school, was recognised as a bright +particular star, and quite too smart for anything. If I remember +rightly, he was the head of the Radical wing. + +After much deliberation and a good deal of talk, of which I did not +comprehend anything, it was decided to read the names of the present +county members. A long list was handed to an official, who was +instructed to pronounce each name clearly; and each name, as it was +read, was followed by a loud cheer "Éljen!" All at once there came, +instead of the "Éljen!" after one of the names, the unanimous shout +"Dead!" and the person named had to rise from his seat and leave the +room, and his name was erased from the list. This was repeated a number +of times, and behind me stood a Slav nobleman, who after each of these +utterances of "Dead," added the Slavonic word "Smrt"[2]--a beautiful +word, as bony as the spectre "death" itself. + +[Footnote 2: "Dead."] + +There was a priest, with a broad red sash, who made himself especially +obnoxious to me; for, as often as the "dead" sentence was pronounced, he +laughed, and pointed conspicuously with his fat fingers at the expelled +man, who, with bent head, made his way to the door. I inquired the +reason of these demonstrations, and was told that these men were +traitors, who had filled offices under the absolutist government of the +Austrians. + +Immediately after one of these shouts of "Dead," an old gentleman who +sat just in front of me, and of whom I had up to this moment seen +nothing but his bald head, which showed an immense scar, evidently an +old sword-cut, got up from his seat at the green-covered table, and as +he turned I beheld an aged and careworn but honest face, with two big +tears slowly rolling down the furrowed cheeks. "That is for the seven +wounds I received at Nagy Sarló!" said he, with choking voice; and +raising his trembling hand to his eyes, he moved away. + +"Seven children the poor fellow has at home, and he had to earn daily +bread for them, somehow, so he served as surveyor, and that was his +treachery," said one of my neighbours in an undertone. As the banished +man passed out, I sat down on the seat he quitted. "It is ill luck to +sit in a traitor's chair," said a well-meaning man at my elbow; but I +smiled and kept my seat. + +"Who may that smooth-faced stranger be? and how comes it that he is +here?" I heard some of the bystanders ask, referring, of course, to my +clean-shaven visage. Nobody in the whole congregation knew or recognised +me, except the Vice-Governor, and the fellow-student of whom I have +spoken. But, of course, he kept at a distance. Presently my own name, +"Dumany Kornel," was pronounced, and "Dead! Dead! Smrt!" was the shout +of all around. I had caught the infection, and as the red-sashed priest +smilingly and playfully raised a threatening fat finger at me and said, +"He is turned into a German, an Austrian," down came my fist upon the +green cloth of the table. Philosophy, _sang-froid_, and political +indifference were blown to the winds, carrying forethought and +resolution with them. I jumped up, pushed the chair away from behind me, +and shouted-- + +"He is not dead! He is here! And what is more, here he shall stay! I am +a landed gentleman, as well as the best of you, and as pure a Hungarian +as any in this meeting, or in this country either. I am that Dumany +Kornel whose name has been read, and I am not dead, but alive, as you +shall soon find out!" + +There was a dead silence at these words, and some heads were nodded in +acknowledgment that I was right. Then there was a whispering and +consulting and questioning, until the honourable Vice-Governor said, +"Silence, gentlemen! the honourable Dumany Kornel has the floor upon a +personal question." + +"Hear! hear!" shouted all, some in good earnest, some in order to +embarrass me, and the red-sashed parson said, maliciously, "If you are a +Hungarian, sir, as you claim, where is your moustache?" + +"Out hunting for yours, your reverence," said I, with a grin. + +"I am a priest!" was the haughty reply; but that was just what I +expected, and looking around at the portraits upon the walls of the +room, portraits representing the most celebrated heroes of our national +history, I gave them then and there such a barbological sermon, _ex +tripode_, that they listened to me in mute astonishment. I told them +that the great national high-priests and patriots, Peter Pázmány, Prince +Cardinal Esterházy, and Thomas Bakács, there portrayed, had worn +moustaches, although they were priests; whereas Mathias Corvinus, our +glorious, never-to-be-forgotten hero-king, wore a clean-shaven face like +mine. The famous Palatinus Illésházy had pronounced Hungary free and +independent with smooth hairless lips, and Thomas Nádasdy had carried +the Hungarian tricolour to immortal triumphs although his face was as +beardless as mine, as everybody might see by his portrait there present. +I told them that I did not speak for myself, as I did not care a straw +for their opinion, and felt sufficiently strong in my own self-respect +and clear conscience, which, perhaps, was more than a good many present +could say of themselves. But I was not going to look on when patriotism +was made the monopoly of certain people, whereas decent and deserving +men were hooted at because they had dared to earn their own bread and +that of their family, instead of living upon the bounty of friends and +driving them to ruin and death. And then I told them that it was not a +time to inaugurate a policy of jealousy and persecution. We had had +enough of that under the absolutist government; what we wanted was +honest, energetic co-operation for a common purpose, the welfare of +country and nation. + +I had spoken with all the bravery of a simpleton, who has no idea that +if he throws a glowing tinder into a barrel of gunpowder he may blow the +house up and himself also. For some seconds I ran the risk of being +thrown out of doors, or of getting my hands full of private quarrels and +duels, but the concluding sentences met with such unanimous applause +that I was heartily congratulated on the success of my maiden speech, +and had the additional satisfaction of seeing the majority of those +formerly pronounced "dead" restored to the list again, and I was able to +give back the seat which I occupied to its former owner, the old +gentleman with the seven scars and as many children. + +Among those who had congratulated me was one conspicuously handsome and +distinguished-looking young man. He fairly embraced me, and said, "You +are the man we wanted! Let me welcome you, and consider me your friend; +I am Count Vernöczy. Siegfried Vernöczy is my name!" + +The Vice-Governor invited me to dinner, and just as we were pushing our +way out of the hall, I heard the red-sashed priest and the Slav +nobleman, who had always added his "Smrt" to the cry of "Dead!" speaking +together in Slav, of which language they supposed me ignorant. The +nobleman said to the priest-- + +"What folly it was of you to vex and excite this blockhead by +pronouncing him dead! Had you left him alone, he would have gone off, +and left the Maticza in possession of the old miser's fortune. Now we +may go and hunt for other fools; this one has escaped us for ever." + +"Well, how could I know that the milksop had turned into a fighting +bull?" was the reply. + +The reverend gentleman was wrong. I was not a bull, but an ox; and a +moment's excitement had made me give up fame and ambition, profession +and independence, and here I was in the kingdom of Swatopluk, taking +possession of my Uncle Diogenes's legacy. It was very foolish, but if I +had to do it again--why, I should do it. I was a Hungarian and a Dumany, +in spite of my cosmopolitan tendencies and in spite of modern equality. + + + + +XI. + +MY DEAR FRIEND SIEGFRIED. + + +So I must needs call him, for dear was his friendship to me; at least, I +have paid for it dearly. At our first meeting he told me that henceforth +we should stick to each other like the Siamese twins. And the man whom +he thought worth catching was clever indeed if he could extricate +himself from the meshes which encircled him. He was altogether a +wonderful fellow. Of athletic build, striking beauty, great agility and +versatility in all bodily exercises, an unrivalled fencer, and a perfect +marksman. What a soldier he would have made! But Mr. Schmerling knew a +good many fine tricks, and one of the prettiest was the prevention of +Hungarian youths from entering the army. He took advantage of the +prevalent Chauvinistic sentiments, and put them forward as a bait. One +thousand florins, paid down, protected a Hungarian youth from serving in +the hated army, and he was free to ride his own horses instead of the +king's. Yet what a general that Siegfried might have been! He was born +to command and direct other people. All who adhered to him and did his +bidding were his soldiers; all who declined to follow his lead, he +regarded as enemies. The former he compelled to serve him, the latter he +defeated and slew. He was sometimes high-spirited to eccentricity. At +other times he was discreetly prudent. He spoke almost every existing +language, and was a brilliant orator. His addresses were admirably +delivered, and he took an independent and imperative tone. His talk was +always fluent; and if a Hungarian or a German word failed him, he +substituted for it a French, English, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Turkish, +or other foreign phrase, never stopping for a moment to consider or even +to explain. His Hungarian speeches were rhetorical gems, yet they could +hardly be styled Hungarian, for they were delivered in a perfect +Volapük--that is, in a medley of all possible languages. He was a strong +personality, and a "grand seigneur." His purse was always open, and he +spent his money with a liberal hand. He must have been a very rich man, +for I never knew him in even a momentary embarrassment for money. When I +first felt the pressure of his iron arm, I knew at once that he would +dominate me. But such was the fascination he exercised that I submitted +at once. + +It was at the close of that memorable meeting, and after he told me to +consider him my friend. The Vice-Governor had invited me to dine with +him, and I wanted to go to my rooms for a change of attire, or at least +a white tie and a pair of light gloves. "Nonsense!" he said, "these +rustics will take you as you are, _en plein parade_. Come at once. We +will order them to lose no time, but to take up your status in your new +domain to-morrow, and have you put in possession of your rights and +privileges without delay." + +"But to-morrow I shall not be here," I remonstrated; "I have to go to +Vienna and provide for my patients." + +"What would you provide for them? _Qu'ils attendent, les pauvres bętes_; +death will not escape them. 'We can wait,' is the Austrian parole; don't +worry about them. To-morrow you will have the board of commissioners +meet on your new premises, and put you in possession of your +inheritance, so that you may be placed on the list of voters. This must +not be postponed, for if you miss that you are dead indeed--'Smrt,' as +that honest Maticza champion said." + +Siegfried lost no time, and the Vice-Governor said that he was right. +"Yes," he said, "to-morrow you shall have the keys of your castle." + +"And that of the famous iron chest," said Siegfried. + +"No, that cannot be yet," replied the officer; "the iron chest is under +an official lock as yet, for the 'Maticza' has put in a claim to the +inheritance. The Slav parish priest in Dumanyfalva, as well as his +housekeeper and his sacristan, affirm that your deceased uncle, on the +eve of his death, dined with them (in parentheses, the fat pork he +partook of and the strong wine he drank brought on the fatal stroke), +and there at the table he declared that, even in case you, his nephew, +should accept of the inheritance, the Maticza should not be left +empty-handed, but should receive all the ready money found on the +premises." + +"Franca, franca! It's all a lie!" said Siegfried. + +"So I think, too. But we have no evidence to prove it. It all depends on +the decision of the court, because the Maticza has no documentary +evidence, and so the court will decide the question." + +"And where is the chest at present?" + +"There at the castle, under guard." + +"And why did you let it remain there? It ought to be here under your own +care." + +"Yes; but it is so riveted to the wall that we could not remove it +without tearing up the wall also." + +"Then why have you not taken the money into your own custody? Some +unknown person or persons may force the lock." + +"That lock? Why, we tried it in every way, for the tax-commissioner +would have liked to examine its contents to make sure as to the amount +of taxes due. But we could not find a locksmith capable of using the +three keys belonging to the locks in the proper way." + +At this I spoke out. "If," I said, "my uncle has indeed willed away his +ready money to the Maticza, he must assuredly have instructed them how +to get at their money. To me, at least, he disclosed the secret of the +lock, and I know how to apply the keys properly." + +"Bravissimo! That settles the question. A clearer piece of evidence +cannot exist. The court cannot decide otherwise than in your favour." + +"Then try to expedite the formalities. You can do it." + +"I can't. The parties must be informed at what time the court holds its +session; they have to appear before the court, and introduce testimony. +All this takes a month at least." + +"And how is he to manage until then? Is there nothing in old Diogenes's +casket to make money out of?" + +"Oh yes, a lot of old rubbish! I daresay it would bring something at +least. We have taken an inventory of it, and taxed it; here it is." + +With that he took from the shelf an official-looking document, and +handed it to me. I was curious to know at what they had appraised my +uncle's precious treasures, and looked at the inventory. I was more than +surprised--I was amused beyond everything. The contents of the two large +halls, ante-chamber, and five chambers were valued at three hundred and +seventy-nine florins and forty-five kreutzers. The kreutzers were for an +old Gobelin hanging--a rare piece of tapestry. + +"Why, this is ludicrous!" said I laughingly. The Vice-Governor smiled +knowingly, and Siegfried took the paper out of my hand, and read the +items. A Palissy-cabinet was described as a wooden chest, worth three +florins; precious old majolica as old earthenware, the suits of armour +as old iron, and so forth. "Now this is a masterpiece!" said Siegfried; +but I was indignant. "It is hyper-barbarism!" I said. "This inventory +enumerates the contents of some dime museum--not of my uncle's valuable +collections. If you had looked for it, you might have found an exact +schedule, made by my uncle, with the name of each object, statement of +cost, etc." + +"We could not find anything of the kind," said the Vice-Governor. "But I +forgot. Attached to the will was a package, sealed; and addressed to +you--'Dr. Cornelius Dumány.' Here it is." + +I took the package, opened it, found the inventory within, and handed it +to the official. "Here it is. You see I was right! Here you can see the +actual worth of my uncle's museum." + +"I have no curiosity whatever," said the Vice-Governor; "this is a +private document addressed to you, and, therefore, I have no business to +inquire into it." + +"But--" + +"But it is time for you to go," said Siegfried, slapping me on the +shoulder; "never mind that old inventory of your uncle's." + +"But I do mind it," I insisted. "I can't have something that is actually +worth two hundred thousand florins appraised at three hundred, all in +all." + +"But can't you see that on the three hundred florins the amount of tax +would be seventeen florins, and on the two hundred thousand you will +have to pay nine thousand florins as legacy taxes?" + +"Is that the law?" + +"Of course it is, clear and distinct." + +"Then I shall pay according to law. I do not intend to cheat the +Treasury." + +The Vice-Governor broke into a laugh, and Siegfried took hold of both my +ears and gave them a hard pull. "Oh! you, you, you doctor!" He would +have said you fool, or you simpleton, but he found the "doctor" more +explanatory, and a good deal more to the purpose. Why, did I not +understand that it was the patriotic duty of a Hungarian citizen to +cheat the Treasury whenever an opportunity to do so was offered? + +"Just you let him alone," said the Vice-Governor, laughing. "He is an +innocent, honest fellow, with a tender conscience, and nothing so tough +and hardened as you. Come, friend Kornel! tell me, what do you think of +the rate at which the other things are estimated? For instance, your +uncle's private room? The whole furniture is valued at twenty-three +florins. Do you think that underestimated? No? Well, here are his +pipes--old clay pipes, stuck into cane stems. They are valued at ninety +kreutzers." + +I laughed. "The pipes are hardly worth more, but the stems would be well +worth the money, for they and the old reeds in my uncle's room were his +bank-note receptacles, and for all I know they may be full of hundred- +or even thousand-florin bills." + +"Well, if you are not the greatest ass in Christendom, then I am--and no +doubt about it," said Siegfried, vexed. "Here is this fellow actually +denouncing his own money to the police. If you are such an imbecile, and +really do not care for your own profit, then at least do not talk +without being asked." + +"Hadn't you better use more civil language?" I asked. "I really am not +used to such strong expressions." + +"Oh, of course; I beg your pardon! Only I should like to know what you +will do without ready money? Because you have compelled our friend, the +Vice-Governor here, to take all the money on the premises, that is, all +the contents of the reeds and pipe-stems, of which you blabbed, into his +own custody, whereas you might have kept your own counsel, and culled +the money out at your leisure, without anybody having an idea of its +existence." + +"Yes; but that would not be honest. If anybody finds a pocket-book full +of money he cannot keep it for himself, but must give it up to the +authorities." + +"Not if it is his own pocket-book, I should think. But, as you have done +it, it is too late to quarrel about the policy of the act." + +The Vice-Governor called in one of his office clerks, and drew up a +statement containing all I had said about the reeds and pipes, and the +actual value of the museum. I had to put my signature at the foot of the +document, and then I was allowed to go. + +Next day Siegfried took me out in his own chaise, to which four +beautiful horses were attached, to Dumanyfalva, and there, with all the +ceremony belonging to the occasion, I was inducted into my legal rights +as landlord. I was conducted into the mansion, the keys were put into my +hands, then they took me out into the field and gave me a handful of +soil of each individual plot, or meadow, or pasture. After that they +split the reeds and pipe-stems, and ten bills of one thousand florins +apiece, two hundred bills of one hundred florins, and sixty-four +fifty-florin bills were found, flattened out, made into a package, upon +which each of the persons present put a seal, with his own name. Then +the Vice-Governor wrote on its cover, "Legacy of the Late Honourable +Dionysius Dumany," and handed it over to the trustee. + +"Now you see what has come of your blabbing," said Siegfried. "How will +you manage now?" + +"Well enough. I have some money in Vienna, and I am going to fetch it. I +have to go up to Vienna, anyhow, to arrange my belongings there." + +"And I'll go with you, for, thorough Ćsculapius as you are, there is +danger of your escaping us yet." + +He kept his word, and we went by his own chaise and four to Nagy +Szombat, where we took the train for Vienna. In Vienna he never moved +from my side, hardly allowing me time for any business transactions, but +taking me to theatres, dinners, cafes, and all sorts of variety-shows +and music-halls. I had lived soberly and industriously up to this time, +rarely going to the opera or to private entertainments; but I was young +and naturally jovial, and did not object to a few days of dissipation, +enjoying the manifold diversions which the Austrian metropolis offered. + +On the last day, Siegfried helped to pack and send off my furniture to +Dumanyfalva, and, as I could not sleep in my empty rooms, he carried me +off to a hotel; but not to sleep, for we never closed our eyes that +night, and it was with a dizzy head and a confused brain that I found +myself in the railway carriage, travelling homeward. Happily, my +faithful old servant had gone with the furniture ahead of me, and, on my +arrival at home, I found that the practical old fellow had made the best +of his time. A bedroom and sitting-room had already been furnished and +the old dining-room made serviceable. He had also procured a cook, and +for the first time in my life I enjoyed the sensation of sitting at my +own table and playing the host, for that Siegfried did not leave me yet +will be readily understood. + +While at dinner, Siegfried laid down a plan of how the old mansion might +be renovated without and within, and I had to acknowledge that his taste +was perfect; but--very expensive, as I remarked. + +"How much ready money have you?" he asked. + +"Something over four thousand florins," I replied. + +"That is almost nothing--hardly sufficient to furnish a few rooms, and +what becomes of the building? Then there is the grange, the stable, +etc., and then you will want to buy two pair of horses; one for your +chaise, the other for work. You will have to buy cattle, and grain, and +hay, and a good many other necessaries, and you will have to take the +distillery away from the lessee, for what will you do with your cattle? +What you want is at least twenty thousand florins, and these you have +fooled away. It will take months to get hold of them again, and then +half of them will be gone, and the time for making all necessary +arrangements will have passed. I'll tell you what, you cannot sit here +and do nothing, and I am not going to let you waste time. I'll lend you +these twenty thousand florins." I was surprised at the offer. "Yes," he +said, "I have the money ready, for I intended to buy a piece of +property, but could not make a bargain with the owner. Now the money is +of no use to me at present, and you may have it until your money is +restored to you. Happily, I have the money with me now. Here it is!" + +With that he took out a portfolio, and handed me twenty bank-notes of +one thousand florins each. I wanted to give him a bond, but he would not +hear of it "The idea!" he said; "why, we are no Jews, but gentlemen. +Just write upon your card: 'Good for twenty thousand florins, which I +will pay upon receipt of my legacy.' Here, take my lead-pencil; that +will do." + +I was rather embarrassed, but his face showed so much sincere friendship +and regard that I did not venture to refuse the offer, and, considering +the circumstances, he was right, and he had behaved nobly. Still, I did +not like the obligation he had put me under, and should have preferred +to pay interest on the sum even to a common usurer. I had some faint +presentiment that the interest on such a loan as this would be much +higher than the usual percentage taken by the professional money-lender; +but I had done it, and could not undo it, as you might say. + +With the money in hand I attended to business. Siegfried, indefatigable +in his endeavours to be of use in me, assisted me with his practical +versatility in business matters, and with his good taste in the +domestic sphere. He purchased the horses for my carriage, he bargained +with the mason about the buildings, he made the contracts with my +tenants, and he bought my grain and other household necessaries. I could +never have got on without his help--at least, not so profitably--and I +was naturally very grateful to him. + +"You can't pay any visits to your neighbours until you have made your +own house fit to receive company; but, as it would be rather hard upon +you to live like a hermit until that time, you might drive over to the +county town and put in an appearance at the casino. I'll introduce you +to the whole set." + +The county town was two hours' drive from Dumányfalva. Siegfried drove +me over, and my own brand-new and very "pshutt"-looking cab was to wait +for me at the casino door. In the casino Siegfried introduced me to +about a dozen of young and old local celebrities, and one or two great +lights of national reputation. Party divisions there were none; all +parties agreed harmoniously, and played with each other their whist, +their games of chess or dominoes. I was very cordially received, and in +the ensuing conversation I took a very lively and active share, and +stood my ground without any of the usual bashfulness of a novice. +Siegfried seconded me in all my remarks with an occasional nod and a +"Very true, my friend," or "You have hit it exactly," or "You have +expressed my own opinion;" "My friend, you are an excellent debater," +and other observations of the kind, and soon we were unanimously called +"the Dioscuri," for we were never found apart. + +At a county banquet Siegfried spoke of me, in a brilliant toast-speech, +as of a newly risen star, or rather "a great shining planet," and there +was a universal "Éljen!" and shouts of acclamation. It was wonderful how +many friends I found, and how much I was sought after! I had a dozen +different invitations at once. One invited me to his shooting-box in the +mountains, another to inspect his model farm and dairy, a third invited +me on a fishing excursion, and so forth. + +While driving home from the casino, Siegfried said to me--"I wonder you +are not vexed at my never inviting you over to Vernöcze, but I must tell +you the truth. I am not the master of my own house and home at present. +An aunt of mine is here with my two cousins, half-grown young girls, +staying until the bathing-season begins. So the lady has control of the +house, and I live in a little pavilion in the park. My aunt will be very +much pleased to make your acquaintance--too much pleased, I should say, +for she is one of those spirited women who have an opinion of their own, +and let you know it. She is never tired of arguing, and you are the very +person for her. I verily believe that the two little girls have caught +the infection from her, and you would be surprised to hear what a flow +of nonsense issues from the aristocratic little mouths. And the number +of questions they ask is astonishing! Sometimes I give them an answer in +language such as I would not venture to use to a variety singer; but +the little innocents stare at me, and laugh without the faintest blush; +they do not understand the hidden impertinence. I'll some day introduce +you to all of them, my aunt and the two girls; but your house must first +be put in order. For I find it hard, even now, to keep them from rushing +in upon you unawares, and introducing themselves. They are positively +dying for a peep at you and your museum. Well, I have done enough to +excite that curiosity. I am incessantly talking of you." + +"Then it will be your fault if their ladyships are shocked at finding +out the deception. I am too commonplace a fellow not to disappoint them +cruelly." + +"Vederemo!" he said. "The Devil is never at rest!" + + INTERMEZZO. + + The Devil? + + "Do you believe, then, in the existence of a personal Devil?" you + ask. + + "Has not this story been terribly dull and tedious up to this + moment? You have not shown us a single Devil as yet. No, not even a + woman." + + "Well, I'll show you three of the latter species presently--a + strong-minded, argumentative aunt, and two little nieces." + + "You won't say that these two little countesses or their + aristocratic aunt, or either of them, is an incarnation of the Evil + One? Or are you speaking of your dear friend, Siegfried? Why, he is + a perfect guardian angel, the personification of goodness and + benevolence!" + + "Do you know the story of St. Anthony? How he was tempted by the + Devil in the semblance of a lovely sylph, until all at once he saw + the fiend's hoof appear from under the robe?" + +That night, as Siegfried took leave of me, to drive home to Vernöcze, he +embraced me and kissed me on the cheek. It is many years since that +night, but many a night since then I have lain sleepless in my bed and +rubbed that eternally burning and smarting spot, and felt an almost +unconquerable temptation to take the operating-knife and cut out the +part which had been contaminated by that foul kiss. + + + + +XII. + +THE DEVIL'S HOOF. + + +One morning my dear friend, Siegfried, came. "My dear Nell," he said, +"we held a party meeting yesterday, and it was decided that you should +be a candidate for Parliament. In fact, we have nominated you already." + +"You are in a jocular mood, I suppose?" said I. "I do not understand an +atom of legislation and politics." + +"Neither do I; yet I fill my place in the House of Lords, so will you +fill yours in the House of Commons. You need not stare at me, for I am +not joking. I am fully in earnest, and, now that the chalice is set to +your lips, you are bound to drain it." + +"But I can't see why," said I. "I am not in the least fit for the +position, and am not going to make a fool of myself. I am a doctor of +medicine, not a legislator." + +"And what does that matter, pray? The department of public health is +very much in need of a radical reform, and you are the very man to +advocate sanitary measures in Parliament. But this is all nonsense. +Hungary is not yet in a position to have all departments represented by +experts; what she wants at present is firmness to principle, strict +party fealty. The demagogues, the heretics, and the Panslavonians of +our country are preparing for a strong contest at the coming electoral +struggle, and we Conservatives must strain every nerve to defeat them, +and cause patriotism, religion, and aristocratic rights to triumph. Our +party believes that you are the man to represent these principles, and +you can't decline to accept such an honourable mission. Do you not love +your country? Do you want her to become a prey to infidels, or +Panslavonic conspirators, or to the mob? You would not have the +descendants of the Hussites dominate Hungary? Are you not a Catholic +Christian? You are brave; you have strong principles, and you are an +excellent orator. You are the man we want, and there is an end of +arguing." + +"Very good! But there is a practical side to the question." + +"Yes. If the other parties come off victorious, the agrarian movement +will grow too fast for us. The Socialist rabble is preaching the +assessment of all land, the abolition of the congrua taxes,[3] and the +abolition of our feudal privileges. This is the prose or practical side +of the question, my friend." + +[Footnote 3: Congrua taxes are the taxes paid by the parish members to +their curates or priests.] + +"There is another still," I persisted, "and I must speak plainly. You +know that I have no money for political enterprises. My own money is in +official custody; but, even if it were not, and I had so much money at +my disposal that I did not know what to set about in order to get rid of +it, I should not waste it in buying myself a seat in Parliament. I +remember well what politics did for my father, and how much it cost him. +But, besides this recollection, the idea of corrupting the minds of the +electors and of making drunken animals out of decent and intelligent +labourers for two or three weeks is repulsive to me. It is entirely +against my conscience." + +"Now listen to me. In the first place, no one asks for a penny of your +money, so it is no business of yours to inquire or care about it. What +is the use of party funds, I might ask? Then, what have you to do with +the details of the campaign? I am head-drummer, manager of the canvass. +You need not give a single bottle of wine to anybody, unless you want to +regale your friends here in your house; but that is quite a different +thing, and has nothing to do with the election. There is one thing you +must remember. If you offer venison and champagne to your electors, it +is called a banquet, and the papers speak admiringly of your bountiful +hospitality; but if you boil a sheep and open a barrel of sixpenny wine +or beer for them, then you are bribing voters, and corrupting the minds +of the innocent. So never trouble your head with a thought about these +things. I have made a bargain with every hotel-keeper or inn-keeper in +the whole county for that one day, and the voters may revel as they +please--at their own expense; that is, a dinner may be had for two +kreutzers, a supper for three, and the wine will be included in that +price. Who can forbid an inn-keeper to sell cheap viands? You will have +nothing to do with the whole business. Only, if some decent elector gets +his head broken in the spree, you will plaster him up, or sew him up, as +may be necessary. Up to the day of election you will not show yourself, +and only put in your appearance when they come to fetch you with music +and flags and all that flummery, and beg you to come and kindly accept +the mandate, which the chairman of the party is dying to hand over to +you. Then at the banquet you offer a toast to his Majesty the King, and +afterward you will accept of the torchlight serenade, which your voters +will give you, and perhaps speak a few gracious words; but that is not +essential, and you may hold your peace. At any rate, with that serenade +all your duties are ended." + +"I should think they began with that--at least, according to my notion. +No, I can't accept. I can't afford to loiter about in Budapest, and have +everything here go to the dogs." + +"What a greenhorn you are! You need not live in Budapest at all. If the +chief of the party telegraphs you that some great division is coming on +with respect to some important question, you go up, find the seat with +your name on it, sit down, and, when your name is called, you shout +'yes' or 'no,' according to the party's views, and then you travel home +again, and make your famous 'Lipto cheese.'" + +"I have no intention of becoming a voting machine." + +"There you are right. You are too spirited and much too talented for +that. You will deliver your maiden speech amid universal applause, and +become famous at once. You will be hated by the opposite parties, hated +and feared, and that will only stimulate your courage. You will be a +great man, and a blessing to your country. You can engage a trustworthy +man to manage your estate, and do well under such an arrangement; and +you will give your talent and your faculties to your country and your +party. It is your duty, and you are not the man to shrink from an +acknowledged duty. Besides, out of friendship for me, you cannot refuse. +I have positively staked my word on your acceptance; and then there is a +request from the party, with a hundred and twenty signatures. Look +here!" + +He showed me a sheet of writing, with a long list of badly-scrawled +names underneath a few lines of writing. I still hesitated, when +Siegfried smiled, and, taking from his pocket a little bit of a letter, +perfumed with heliotrope, handed it to me. + +"My aunt sends you this." + +I broke the rose-coloured wax, and drew out a tiny piece of +bristol-board with the signature of Countess Diodora Vernöczy. Its +contents were as follows:-- + +"Pray accept the nomination." + +That was all. But what all the persuasions, all the allusions to +country, race, patriotism, and religion had not effected, these few +Hungarian words, written in a fine, aristocratic hand, did at once. They +persuaded me, and I accepted. Yet I had never seen the lady who had +written these words, and did not even know whether she was young or old, +beautiful or ugly! She was a woman, and that sufficed. No! the Devil is +not dead; here is his hoof. + +How I triumphed and how I fell I have told you already. If I had the +gift of Virgilius Maro, and could speak or write in hexameters, in such +verses I would compose the "Ćneid" of my career as a belligerent. As it +is, you can read it all, described in somewhat unflattering language, in +the Hungarian newspapers of the period. There is a whole history of +bribery, corruption, intimidation, and similar crimes committed in my +name, related in those papers, and you may read of the horrible fraud +that was practised in offering the vote of a dead man. The epithets +"cheat," "deceiver," "liar," and so forth were freely and frequently +attached to my name; and then followed the shameful annulment of the +election, and I was sent home--a broken, disgraced, snuffed-out +wretch--a dead man, indeed! + +There is something fearful, something terribly cruel and unjust, in such +a moral cudgelling to death, for those who cast the stones are not a +whit better than their victim. A common criminal, murderer, +counterfeiter, or forger may procure a pardon, and rehabilitate himself +in time; but a man that has furnished society with amusement and been +laughed to death is never again allowed to hold up his head and show his +face. I was nearly mad with shame and disgrace. What should I do with +myself now--now that I was nothing but a broken tool--I, who might have +been a scientific celebrity, a light in the profession? I could not go +back to Vienna for very shame. A flouted, ridiculed man cannot be a +doctor. A doctor must be respected, trusted, even revered, like a +priest. For me there was nothing but to hide myself in my own house, +shut the doors against everybody, and live the life of a hermit--the +life of my Uncle Diogenes. + +I need not have shut my doors; not a soul demanded admittance. I really +think my dear friends made a circuit around my château when they had to +pass through my village. + +The first day I remained shut up in my room; the second I paced the +garden walks in a furious rage; the third I noticed that I had +shamefully neglected my uncle's dearly-cherished garden since I had +abandoned myself to the mania of politics. The carefully tended Isabella +grapes wound their tender twigs up and around an apple tree; the roses +were full of water shoots; the American lilies choked up with dead +nettles. Wasps' nests were hanging from the branches of the trees, and +giant ants had built their pyramids on the foot-path; and the hedgehogs +boldly invaded the lawn as I passed. As I strolled, my eye fell upon a +little flower which I recognised as a favourite from my dear mother's +garden; I observed a glowing alkermes, an Oriental corn-rose, then again +an artichoke, overgrown with vile weeds. All at once I found myself +working away with garden-knife, shovel, and spade, pruning, weeding, and +tying up the twigs and branches, just as Uncle Diogenes had done. + +By night I had smoked out the wasps, put the little bower to rights, +and, hardly knowing how or why, I had gone into my uncle's +turret-chamber instead of my own bedroom. And why not be as he had been? +I asked myself. Here at least I could meet with no shame, no +disappointment, and no deception. All was well. I should be a gardener +in summer and a museum-keeper in winter, and so the time would pass with +me as it passed with him. No doubt, in time, this solitary, secluded +life would not be so irksome to me as now. The social instinct would die +out; and, left to rural pleasures and occupations, the polish would be +rubbed off me, and in appearance also I should be as my Uncle Diogenes +had been. I gave up shaving, dressed shabbily, and ordered a dinner of +pork and potatoes, which disgusted me. I ceased to drink wine, because I +was no toper to enjoy drinking alone, and in the course of two or three +days I had a hearty indigestion, which at least recalled me from my +self-tormenting course so far as my inward man was concerned. In outward +appearance I had a beard of a week's growth, wore a pair of coarse +breeches and high top-boots, because in low boots I could not ramble +about in garden and field as I did. + +My valet was in despair; the good old man had known me for years, and +was very faithful to me. Of course, he dared not ask questions, but he +threw me such appealing glances that I was strongly tempted to pour out +all my burning shame and rage to him, since I had nobody else to make a +confidant of. It was a very, very miserable time, and it lasted +something more than a week--a week, I say! I thought it a century at the +least. + + + + +XIII. + +THE VALKYRS. + + +It was about ten or twelve days after my discomfiture, and a beautiful +afternoon. I was standing in my front garden, attired, as I usually had +been of late, in coarse breeches, muddy top-boots, a not very clean +linen blouse, and a broad, rough straw hat on my head. My face was rough +and adorned with bristles. I do not think that anybody coming upon me +unawares would have taken me for anything but a Slav garden labourer. + +Presently I heard the gallop of horses, and, looking through the new and +very handsome iron trellis in front of the building, I saw three Amazons +riding up to the house. I did not know them, and supposed them to be +strangers in the country, approaching in order to admire the curious old +building. They wore long black riding-habits, all three alike, with blue +veils tied around their high beavers and entirely concealing their +faces. One of them was a real Zenobia figure: tall of stature, regal in +gait, a magnificent creature! The second was tall and slender, and slow +and stately in movement. The third was a tiny little figure, but full of +nervous vitality and energy. Opposite to the verandah of my house they +checked their horses, and looked through the trellis at me as if they +expected me to run out, and give them the desired information. The +tall, slender lady rode nearer to the gate and looked haughtily in, +while the little girl-rider cried out: + +"_Tu y serais_!" Then she beckoned the groom, who was waiting behind +them, to come nearer and hand her a little wooden case with a round +glass set in at the front--a little photograph-apparatus. + +"Well," thought I, "these are amateur photographers, and Dumany Castle +has apparently pleased their eye, and they want to immortalise it in the +pages of their albums--an interesting object!" + +I was standing near the fence, by the side of a flowering rose-bush. I +held a spade in my hand, and was just in the act of putting it to its +proper use when the lady directed her camera toward me. I thought it was +rather a clever performance for a person on horseback. + +"_Ne remuez pas, mon cher_!" cried the lady, as I lifted the spade. Of +course the Slav gardener, whom I resembled, was bound to understand her +French prattle. So there I stood, with uplifted spade in hand, until the +lady had finished her picture, and then she released me with a "_Merci, +mon garçon_!" and I, hardly able to keep my composure, answered in Slav, +"_Dobri nocz, mladi panyicska_," which means "Good night, miss!" + +The ladies broke out into a merry laugh, returned the apparatus to the +groom, and rode off, laughing because the slender lady had been included +in the picture. I laughed also as I looked after them, and I said to +myself, "Now I shall not utterly die, '_non omnis moriar_.' The Valkyrs +have come to pick up the fallen hero and carry him into their Walhalla, +which in all probability is bound in morocco leather with silver +clasps." + +The same evening I had another surprise. My friend Siegfried drove up to +my house, sprang from his barouche, and, seeing me, he ran up and +embraced me tenderly. + +"So you know me still?" asked I. + +"Know you? It would be no wonder if I had not recognised you as you look +now! Do you know that with a week's growth of beard and moustache a man +looks like a gorilla?" + +"Well then, I look like the progenitor of mankind, if Darwin is to be +believed." + +"I say, it's high time I came! otherwise you would cease to be a +Christian, and become one of those detestable naturalists." With that +Siegfried ordered his coachman to walk the horses about, feed them, +water them, and prepare for the drive home after supper. So I had to +give orders for a supper, and remember that I was not yet my Uncle +Diogenes, but his nephew and a gentleman, and this friend of mine a +veritable Count, who expected me to give him a good supper. "After +supper you must come with me," said Siegfried, decidedly. + +"I! Where?" + +"To Vernöcze, to visit me! Have you not got my letter?" + +"I received a letter. I have it in my blouse-pocket yet, but--" + +"You have not opened it, nor looked at it yet?" + +"No. I thought that if anybody wrote to me now, he either wanted to +insult me or call me to some kind of a reckoning. I thought there was +time for both." + +"Oh, you stupid fellow! Where is that letter? I want you to read it at +once!" + +I took out the letter, opened it, and read:-- + + "DEAR NELL,--Our party decided at yesterday's meeting to support + your name at all odds against the ensuing new election, and carry + you through at any cost. My aunt wants to inform you of some very + serious matter, so she begs you to pay her a visit on Wednesday + next.--Yours, as ever, + + "SIGID." + +The previous day had been Wednesday, and the letter had been in my +pocket for the last four days. I confess that I felt a glow after +reading these lines. Something like joy, like exultation, filled me, +that after all I was not dead and buried there in that house, not an +utter laughing-stock, and that my name was not hooted by friend and +enemy alike. I still had noble friends. They remembered me, acted for +me, endeavoured to avenge me, and rehabilitate me. It was an intense +feeling of relief, of pride, of happiness; but I tried to hide my +sensations and play the Cincinnatus a little longer. When Siegfried +said, "We expected you all day yesterday; but as you did not come I +concluded to come over and look after you," I replied, "I had not read +the letter; but if I had, it would hardly have been otherwise. I cannot +go from home at present." + +"Why! what is the matter with you? You are not going to play Uncle +Diogenes, are you? Simple civility might have induced you to come over +to Vernöcze. You are due there for ever so long." + +"You are very kind; but, you see, the Vice-Governor does not send his +sentinels to guard the iron chest with the money, and so I have to guard +it myself; and then, you see, I am busy budding my 'Marshal Niel' and +'Sultan of Morocco' roses--it is their season." + +Siegfried broke into a merry laugh. "The dear boy is actually trying to +live after the pattern of that exemplary old uncle of his. Now, don't +make a fool of yourself, old fellow, and don't make believe that you +like baked potatoes and curds. I tell you I want a good supper, and +after that I'll take you with me. You can take your rose-scions with +you. My gardener will be thankful for them. We have a lot of +water-shoots in our garden." + +We had a good supper, and after the first glass of wine I felt the gloom +vanish from me entirely. Siegfried had brought me good news. The new +election was to take place in twenty days. Our party was firm as a rock, +and the enemy was disheartened and short of money, as the Maticza +Society, which had given up all hope of driving me away from the estate, +would not furnish them with more funds. Now they had reunited to a last +desperate method, and their candidate was about to unfold the +anti-Semitic flag, in this way driving all intelligent, Liberal +voters--or those at least who assumed the name, and all the Jews with +their money, influence, and keenness--straight into our arms, so that +our success was undoubted. In order to silence all accusations of +bribery, of feasting the voters, and so forth, Countess Diodora, +Siegfried's aunt, was ready to keep open house in Vernöcze for our +political friends, and so there would be no need of engaging any public +restaurants or wine-shops. Siegfried told me that Countess Diodora was a +very active champion of our party, and very influential, too. Besides, +she was very much interested in me personally. + +"I am sure I am very grateful to her ladyship, and shall take the +liberty of telling her so, to-morrow," I said--"the more grateful, as I +really do not know how I could have merited such an interest." + +He smiled. "Merit is not everything," he said. "But Aunt Diodora is a +little vexed at your want of politeness. You should have come and paid +your homage long ago. Her ladyship really threatened the other day that +some day she would come over with the two little ones and fetch you, if +not personally, at least in effigy. They have photographic apparatus, +and are very clever amateur photographers." + +I could not suppress an exclamation, and then I related the little +adventure of the afternoon. He laughed. "Oh, no question as to their +identity! Sure enough, it was my aunt and the girls! That queenly Amazon +is my aunt, Countess Diodora. You are surprised? I see, you supposed +that an aunt must necessarily be some aged, corpulent lady, fond of her +game of 'patience,' and secretly indulging in a sip. My aunt is but one +year my senior, and I am barely thirty. My aunt is a classical beauty, +highly intellectual, and very talented; quite a female phenomenon. That +tall, slender girl is Countess Flamma, a miracle of beauty and virtue; +and that tiny creature was the little Kobold, Puck, or whatever else you +may call her, Cousin Cenni. She is the most skilful photographer of the +three, and it was she who told you not to move, and took you with spade +in hand. That's the best joke I ever heard! How vexed Countess Cenni +will feel on discovering the mistake! She is a little vixen, and full of +mischief. If any of the young dandies tries to court her, she bids him +go bear-hunting with her and show his valour. My woods are full of +bears. I have shot three, but there are a lot of them alive still, and +they do a deal of damage. So, if Cenni invites you, which no doubt she +will, you need not be afraid of want of game." + +I was dazzled, flattered, and surprised. What a difference between these +ladies of the high aristocracy and the daughters of our country gentry! +As if they really belonged to a different world, lived on a different +planet. One of them assuming the lead in politics, another bear-hunting +and photographing. The third, that tall, slender, somewhat haughty, but +modest girl, who had approached to admire my roses, pleased me best; and +then, too, their names--"Diodora! Cenni! Flamma!" The first domineering, +imposing; the second with a touch of the Bohemian or the gipsy; the +third bewitching, enticing, a flame! Oh, what a moth I should make! + +I did not show much further resistance, but was willing enough to go +with Siegfried. I did not even take the trouble of locking the +turret-chamber, in which the precious iron chest stood, with my own +hands, but ordered my valet to perform that duty and take care of the +key. I went out into the garden, and cut all the blooming "Sultan of +Morocco" roses and carefully wrapped them up with wet moss; and all the +way I held them in my hand for fear of injuring them. + +So the Valkyrs were indeed taking away the fallen hero to Walhalla, +their own abode. + +"Where is Walhalla, and what is it like? Does anybody know? If only +somebody might return and tell us!" + +"Well, I have been there, and I have returned, and I will tell you." + + + + +Part II. + +I. + +THE SEA-DOVE. + + +From Dumanyfalva to Vernöcze the high-road makes a circuit of a two +hours' ride, but we took a short cut by a cross-road through Siegfried's +deer-park, which is about ten thousand acres in extent. The whole park +was fenced in with high iron railings, and this fence alone had cost the +neat little sum of one hundred and fifty thousand florins. Yet it was +worth its cost, for, before its erection, the Vernöczys had to pay +yearly about twenty-five thousand florins for damage done by their game +upon the crops in the neighbouring fields. At the big iron gate a ranger +with two loaded rifles was waiting for us. He handed the rifles to the +two servants, and then took his seat on the box with the coachman. + +It was a beautiful wood through which we drove--all of giant larch trees +of a century's growth, perfuming the air with ambrosial odours. The +bright rays from our lanterns attracted the deer, and they stood gazing +at us with their glittering eyes. One of the bucks bellowed at us, and +one of the little fawns came almost under the wheels. Pheasants, +startled from sleep by the noise of our wheels, soared above our heads. +From the depths of the forest mysterious voices met our ears: the +woodcock's hoarse call, the roebuck's deep bellow, the wild boar's +grunt, the squirrel's chatter, and the shrill cries which announce the +presence of the wild peacock. What a difference between this lordly +forest and my small twenty-acre park! Red squirrels, gray squirrels, +gambolling among the boughs, playing with acorns and hazelnuts; +thrushes, blackbirds, nightingales, and greenfinches, chirruping and +twittering, were all the game I had. + +In vain we endeavour to bring high nobility and plain gentry into one +class. They are divided by the game-park. We are only visitors there, +kindly invited, kindly received, but visitors still, and we can never +repay the compliment. Therefore I consider we should always think twice +before we accept the invitation. + +It was past midnight when we finally arrived at Siegfried's +shooting-box, a beautiful pavilion in the Swiss style, with a large +verandah to the east, facing the magnificent château. Between the two +buildings extended a clear, broad lake, with silvery willows on the +nearer side, and grand old lime-trees on the side toward the mansion. +Graceful white and black swans swam on the lake, and two tiny little +wherries lay ready for a boating excursion. The south side of the +shooting-box had "altdeutsch" windows of coloured glass, and wooden +shutters with heart-shaped perforations on the outside. On the nearer +side of the lodge was a beautiful green lawn and a few somewhat +neglected rose-beds. + +The shooting-box was a comfortably large and luxuriously-furnished +building, and afforded accommodation for thirty guests. The couches in +the different sleeping apartments were all covered with deerskin +spreads, and the furniture was all in harmony with the purpose and style +of the building. + +I left my window ajar for the night, so as to be up early, and my plan +succeeded. The dew still glittered upon the tender petals of the roses +when I was up and sauntering among the flowers. I had brought my +"Malmaison" and "Sultan of Morocco" roses with me, and also my +budding-knife and the sap for budding. "What a surprise for them," I +thought, "when they find these beautiful flowers instead of the wild +suckers." I had put my roses into a glass of water, and was now +preparing for the performance by cutting off the collateral shoots and +removing the inconvenient thorns. Just as I had taken one of the "Sultan +of Morocco" roses out of the water, I heard steps on the gravel, and a +musical voice cried-- + +"Gardener, do you hear?" + +I turned around, and beheld two beautiful young girls hurrying toward +me. One of them, a tiny little creature, was of the blonde type, with +long, golden curls and a face of cream and roses. One startling, +bewitching little black mole was seen on one of the dimpled cheeks. Her +eyebrows were dense, of a golden-brown, and arched over a pair of large, +glittering brown eyes. The corners of her little mouth curved upward in +a smile, and the cherry lips were always open and moving. Her little +hands were busy gesticulating, explaining, acting, and never at rest; a +picture of the entire little personage. + +The other girl was a tall, slender, willow-like figure, with raven hair +pushed high above the marble forehead. Her skin was clear and +transparent, but with hardly a tinge of colour. Her straight, black +brows and long black lashes overhung a pair of deep blue, or rather +sea-green, eyes, and her little coral mouth was so small that the idea +struck me that it must hurt her to speak, and therefore she liked to +hold her peace. + +Both were in morning dress, appropriate to the country. The blonde wore +a dress of some sort of light Japanese silk, covered with a pattern of +great painted birds and flowers. The dark girl had a Nile-blue gown of +some light material, and in style somewhat resembling the Greek. + +The verandah had prevented me from perceiving their approach. Now they +hastened toward me with the easy composure with which we meet some old +friend, or--a servant. Of course, I had no difficulty in recognising the +equestrian amateurs of the previous day, and it was easy to guess that +they repeated their mistake of that afternoon, by taking me for a +gardener. I had no intention of undeceiving them, and did not take off +my hat, but stood with the "Sultan of Morocco" between my teeth, and my +hands engaged with the budding-knife. + +"Do you hear?" said the little blonde, now coming near; "cut me a bud +of these 'Gloire de Dijons.' No! one of these 'Marshal Niels'; not this, +the other, that is just opening!" + +I was correctly dressed for the occasion, and quite in proper style for +a country visit: tanned shoes, knickerbocker jacket, Pepita waistcoat, +Madapolam shirt-collar, Bismarck _en colčre_ scarf, Panama hat. "My +darling, does not that content you?" Still these girls took me for a +servant. Well, let it pass! + +I cut off one of the roses, and began to pare off the thorns with my +knife, when she angrily stamped her little foot on the grass. "What are +you paring the thorns off for? I don't like a rose without thorns, I +want a rose with thorns; this looks stripped!" and, pulling the rose out +of my hand, she held it over to her companion. + +"_Tiens! Ca m'embęte_!" + +To her she spoke French; to me, German. The girl took the rose without a +word; for her it was good enough without the thorns. I prepared to cut +another bud for the capricious fair one, when she asked, "What rose is +that in your mouth?" + +"A Sultan of Morocco," I said, taking the rose from my lips. + +"Give me this," with an imperative gesture. + +"This is for grafting," I tried to explain. + +"But I want it!" was the haughty reply, and she impatiently held out her +bit of a hand for the rose. I handed it to her, and for a moment she +buried her little nose in it and then tried to fasten it to her dress. +Presently a thought seemed to strike her, for she lifted the rose to +her lips, and then, turning to me again, asked-- + +"Has the Count returned home?" + +"He has," I answered. + +"He did not come alone? A gentleman came with him, did he not?" + +I answered in the affirmative. + +"Are they asleep yet, do you think? Which is his window?" + +"Whose? The Count's?" + +"No, that I know! The stranger's?" + +"The one that is open," I said, wondering what she meant. She looked +around, and observed a double step-ladder standing in front of a tree. +"Bring that ladder," she said to me, "and put it in front of that +window." + +I began to perceive her intention, and, much amused, I fetched the +ladder. "Shall I hold it?" I asked, with seeming innocence. + +"No. Go back to your work!" + +I submitted, and went back to my roses, where the other girl was still +standing. The little blonde vixen, as Siegfried had called her, went up +the ladder, throwing me a haughty glance because I had the impertinence +to watch her movements. + +As I prepared for work again, I noticed that in the chalice of each +flower, two or more green cetonias were to be found. The cetonia beetle +is the deadliest foe of the rose, destroying it entirely, and since my +boyhood, when I used to practise gardening at home, and was taught to +kill a cetonia wherever I found it, I could not bear the sight of the +glittering, green beetle. I was just crushing one under my foot, when +the dark-haired girl near me cried out-- + +"Why do you kill that poor cetonia?" + +"Because it injures the roses," I said. + +"Well, let them alone! Who cares for the roses?" + +"Who cares for the roses?" Is not that strange? A young girl taking the +side of the harmful destroyer against the innocent victim! + +The blonde descended the ladder, and her face, her hands, and her walk +betrayed that she was vexed. I was very much amused. Was it not a joke +that she had climbed up to my window to present me with my own rose, the +rose she had taken out of my mouth? And was it not amusing to see her +angry, because I had had the sauciness to watch the movements of those +tiny slippered feet in pink stockings as they mounted the ladder and +revealed a bewitching little ankle? + +The black-haired girl turned to her and complained--"See, he kills our +cetonias!" Whereupon the little one, with a queenly mien, stepped in +front of me and said-- + +"I forbid you to do that! Do not dare to hurt my cetonias!" + +I could not repress a smile, as I answered, "I shall duly obey. I had no +right to interfere, as these cetonias do not belong to me." + +"I really think that fellow is laughing at us!" said the little one, +with arching brows, when the other, who had been watching me for some +moments, made some whispered remark, and then the fair head and the dark +one were put close together in earnest consultation. + +On one of my hands I wore an antique carnelian seal-ring, with my family +crest, and a large solitaire, the gift of a grateful patient. These +rings, rather unusual upon the finger of a common gardener, had caught +the eye of the dark-haired girl, and she could not but notice that my +hands and nails were not those of a labourer. For a while they looked +shyly at me, while they busied themselves in gathering into their garden +hats all the cetonias they could, as if afraid that, after their +departure, I should avenge myself by a general onslaught on their +_protégées_. Presently the blonde stepped up to me, and, touching the +carnelian on my hand with her finger, she said-- + +"Are you a nobleman?" + +I answered by an anecdote. + +"A German journalist had to translate an item on sea-turtles from an +English paper. He did not exactly understand what a turtle was; but he +know of turtle-doves, which are in German called _Turtel-tauben_, and, +as he did not want to trouble himself to look for the expression in a +dictionary, _turtle-doves_ it remained. He wrote of the bird, that it +comes out of the sea to the sand of the shore, lays its eggs in that +sand, carefully and safely scratching them in, and smoothing the surface +with its front paws. These front paws of a turtle-dove perplexed him, +and he did what he ought to have done before: he looked in the +dictionary and found that the sea-turtle was no dove at all." + +"Hem!" said the little one, looking with charming astonishment at the +other girl; and then she turned to me again, and, lifting a threatening +little finger at me, she said-- + +"Now, don't you go and betray us to anybody. Promise!" + +"You have my knightly word," I said; "_parole d'honneur_!" But, unable +to suppress my mirth any longer, I broke into a ringing laugh, and both +girls fled as fast as they could. + +On returning to my room, I found Siegfried there. "My aunt's footman has +already been here to invite us to breakfast," he said. "When in the +country she is always an early riser, and so are the children. I wonder +they have not been running about yet. They used to." + +I did not tell him that they had been running about already; but, +stepping up to the window, I found the rose which the fair girl had laid +upon the sill, and, fastening it in the button-hole of my jacket, made +ready to follow up the invitation for breakfast. + +"Wouldn't you rather shave before going down?" asked Siegfried, with a +disapproving look at my face. "My valet has an easy hand, and is very +reliable." + +"No, thank you!" I said, and with that I took his arm and we went down. + +Near the lake was a mass of beautiful dolomite rock, a forerunner of the +high mountains further on. The face of the rock was all overgrown with +birch trees, and wild roses and other flowers were peeping out of the +thick moss and bush. At the foot of the rock was a clearing, surrounded +with pines, their drooping foliage forming a shady roof above the little +circuit of ground. In the wall of the rock was a grotto, overrun with +henna leaves, hedge-plant, and other creepers. Out of one of the walls +of the grotto broke, murmuring and rippling, a clear mountain spring, +which, meeting with another and uniting with it to form a rivulet, +flowed across the flowery plain, emptying itself into the lake by a +series of cascades. + +In the centre of this space the breakfast-table was set--the shining +silver, the glittering crystal, and the creamy china forming a pleasant +contrast to the rural simplicity of the chairs and table and the green +roof and walls above and around. + +Countess Diodora was already there, expecting us. The two girls were in +the grotto, pretending to be busy with the preparations for breakfast. + +Countess Diodora was strikingly handsome. Tall of stature and fully +developed, her movements had all the elasticity of youth and all the +majesty of a goddess. Her Creole complexion was in harmony with the +great almond-shaped eyes, the Minerva forehead, Grecian nose, and +shell-shaped mouth with its coral-red lips. Her head was crowned with a +tiara of heavy black tresses, more precious and beautiful than any +artificial ornament. + +Siegfried led me to her and presented me with the following words-- + +"At last I am able to introduce my hitherto invisible friend. Do not be +amazed at his present resemblance to our common progenitors, the +Simians--that is, if we believe the evolutionists; but our friend here +has no intention of claiming that affinity. His sprouting moustache and +beard are a token of patriotic zeal, and a sacrifice upon the altar of +national idiosyncrasy. Henceforth he will be known as a Hungarian in +appearance also, and nobody will be justified in calling him an +Austrian." + +The lady smiled at the humorous introduction, and extended both her +hands, which were somewhat large, but magnificently shaped. Could I do +less than kiss both? The smile that flitted over her queenly features +gave her the appearance of a veritable goddess. + +"Is it not odd," she asked, "that we know each other so well, yet have +never met until this moment?" Her voice was a rich, deep contralto, and +very sweet. + +"I have already enjoyed the happiness of seeing your ladyship," said I, +smiling. + +"Indeed? And where?" + +"In my own garden. If I am not greatly mistaken, your ladyship and the +two young ladies, your cousins, were yesterday at the pains to +immortalise me by taking my photograph." + +"Impossible!" she cried. "It could not have been you! With the spade in +hand, and--oh, it is too odd!" And she broke into a loud laugh. + +A laughing Pallas! The two girls ran but of the grotto to see what the +staid Diodora was laughing at. "Come on, Cenni," said the lady to the +little blonde: "here is the gardener of yesterday; the one you have +photographed along with his garden." + +But by that time the little one knew me well enough; she had recognised +the rose in my button-hole, and, with pretended anger, she ran toward +me, took hold of the collar of my jacket, and gave it a hearty pull. + +"You are an artful and dangerous cheat and deceiver--that is what you +are!" she said. "Why did you deceive us this morning, and make sport of +us? Let us treat you as a gardener, and send you on errands? Why did not +you tell us who you were?" + +Siegfried came to my help. "How could he? He did not know you; maybe he +took you for your own maids. If you had told him who you were, he would +have returned the compliment." + +"But you won't betray us to anybody?" she said, holding up, as if in +prayer, her little hands, that looked like the delicate petals of the +white lily. "You won't tell anybody of our conversation at the rose +bushes? If you promise, I'll give you a kiss; I will, indeed!" + +"But, Cenni!" cried Countess Diodora, shocked, "what expression is that +again?" + +The little one looked like a scolded school-girl, who does not know what +crime she has been punished for, and said, poutingly-- + +"But I want him to keep the secret, and I must give him a reward." + +"You always forget that you are no longer a little girl of twelve +years, but a grown-up young lady, although, God knows, you do not look +like it!" said the countess, with a humorous shake of the head. + +"Now you great debater and future lawgiver, what do you say to this +offered reward? Answer _ex tripode_!" said Siegfried, laughingly. + +"I say that I am no usurer, and cannot take unlawful interest," I +replied. + +"Bravo! bravissimo! A usurer! Unlawful interest he calls a kiss! Oh, +what a moral fellow!" cried Siegfried; but Countess Diodora observed +that breakfast was waiting, and that we had time enough for ventilating +academic questions afterward. + +At the table I sat between Countess Diodora and Countess Flamma. The +latter turned to me, and said in her quiet and sober way-- + +"But I discovered soon enough that the sea-turtle was not a sea-dove, +did I not?" + +"What are you talking about sea-doves?" asked the countess; "it seems +you have secrets in common already." + +I opened my mouth to answer, when the little blonde opposite to me +sprang up and put her little shell-coloured hand to my lips. "No +betrayal, if you please! You have given your knightly word!" + +"I am mute!" I said, bowing to her with a smile. + +"I declare!" said the countess, "knightly word, turtle-dove! Why, what +mystery is this? Flamma was complaining something about the cetonias." + +"Oh, that is nothing," said Cenni, lightly, "and that may be spoken of; +but the 'step-ladder,' the 'Sultan of Morocco,' and the 'sea-dove' are +strict secrets, and never to be mentioned anywhere." + +Siegfried clapped his hands in surprise. "Riddle after riddle! and to +think that I myself have brought this boy to the house only last night +for the first time in his life, and introduced him not an hour ago, +and--talk of his being shy in the company of ladies!--he is head over +ears in conspiracy with both of the girls, when I thought he had never +seen them, and they did not know him at all!" + + + + +II. + +"WHAT IS THE DEVIL LIKE?" + + +"We not know him?" asked the little one. "Why, we have his photograph in +our album! Only he looks much nicer there. Such a Lord Byron face!" + +"Well, this is really audacious!" cried Siegfried, "with such a face to +appear before ladies! Coarse and stubby like that of a Slav +field-labourer, and yet such a young lady as that calls it a Lord Byron +face! Now I see that the old proverb is right, and a man has to be but +one shade handsomer than the Devil, for women will find him handsome +enough." + +"Only that the proverb is a paradox in itself. The Evil One is not ugly; +on the contrary, he is beautiful!" said Diodora. + +"_Quien sabe_?" answered Siegfried. "I have seen his portrait in the +Greek churches, in a large wall-painting, and there he is represented as +a bandy-legged, ox-tailed, black-faced monster, with a pair of big horns +on his forehead. Then, again, I have seen the Devil in the opera, as +Göthe and Gounod's creation of Mephistopheles in _Faust_, and there he +wore a goat's-beard and red-feathered cap, was a little lame in one leg, +and had a baritone voice. He was not in the least beautiful." + +"You ought to read Klopstock, then, and Milton," said Countess Diodora. +"Their Devils are enchantingly handsome men, with pale faces, and deep, +sorrowful eyes; and that is the real demon-type as given by the +classics: for, originally, the Devil was not known as an evil spirit, +but was an angel. Only he was haughty and ambitious, and tried to rival +and dethrone the Almighty. It was after he was defeated, and due +punishment was dealt to him, that he became the representative of Evil, +and, after the creation of man, the tempter and seducer." + +"So part of the Devil's corruption is due to man kind," said Siegfried, +ironically. + +"If you read the Cabalists and Gnostics you will learn how sinful pride +had its downfall, and the angel fell. Still, in all his humiliation and +his banishment from grace and glory, he never lost his beauty, and this +is natural; for who would listen to the temptations of an ugly monster? +A seducer must needs be handsome. In the old Jewish Scripture, from +before Moses' time, the Evil Spirit is represented by a woman, Lilith, +the ideal beauty. In the same manner Menander has painted Sybaris, and +of Socrates it is said that he lived in intimate friendship with the +demon." + +Siegfried had made a desperate onslaught on the sandwiches; now he +turned in comical vexation to me, and said-- + +"Friend, brother, help! for this learned woman is slaying me with +pandects, and, if the Devil has such a champion, what can poor I do +against him?" + +It was a difficult task. If I said that she was right, she would scorn +me as a simple, empty-headed flatterer. If, on the other hand, I tried +to contradict her, she was sure to conquer me with arguments. So I +thought I would plead scepticism. + +"Indeed, I can't," was my reply. "All I have to say is that I do not +believe in the existence of an actual Devil at all. I positively deny +the existence of evil spirits or devils." + +"Ah!" said the countess, astonished and seemingly dismayed, "do you know +that such a negation includes a denial of the fundamental truths of all +religion also? Turn wherever you will, and you will find that the Roman +Catholic faith expressly commands us to believe in the Devil. The +Protestants, with Martin Luther at the head, have in speech and writing +gone so far as to compose a whole Shamanism of the Devil's special +qualities; and so on in all positive religions. Are you an infidel, a +so-called Freethinker, and not a Christian?" + +At first I smilingly referred her to Becker's "Bewitched World," which +made all belief in an actual Devil completely ridiculous, showing to +demonstration that such a being is simply impossible. She answered me +with Spinoza. I again spoke of Thomasius, whereupon the countess +declared me a Rationalist. + +Siegfried smiled, and smoked his cigarette complacently, and the two +girls listened innocently and wonderingly to the strange dispute. + +"You see, my lady," said I at last, "I am a physician, and I know of no +bodily or mental ailment that is without some foundation or reason. I +know of miasmata, spores, bacilli, as sources of bodily diseases, of +inherited or fancied maladies, infections, contagions, and their proper +remedies: vaccination, disinfection, prophylactics; but an invisible, +immaterial spirit, which we ought to know by the title of Devil, has +nothing to do with any of these. All evil-doers, murderers, etc., are +prompted to the mischief they do by some abnormity in their brains, or +by some powerful egotistic motive, as jealousy, revenge, greed, +ambition, etc.; but the temptation is always material--a benefit they +want to secure by their crime--never a spiritual Devil. We may fairly +say that all crimes committed without a visible motive are founded upon +lunacy, a disorder of the brain. I do not believe in one being, either +corporal or spiritual, that would do mischief purely for mischief's +sake, out of evil principle, of pure malice. I do not believe that any +being exists which would inflict sorrow on others just in order to +rejoice at the despair of the victims. The so-called hellish passions +and inclinations in man are really created by that which is beneath him, +the animal part of him, the material element, and it is superfluous to +look to that which is above him, a spirit, for a motive." + +As I pronounced this conviction, the four persons present looked at each +other and then at me, in wonder and defiance, but without a word. For a +moment a chilly presentiment crept over me--a shadowy warning that the +declaration I had just made would prove the _fatum_ of my life. + +As a physician, I had given very much attention to disturbances of the +mind; nervous distractions, diseases of the brain. In lunatic asylums I +had had frequent opportunity of observing the different manifestations +of extravagances of the mind diseased. There are cases in which +simulation is identical with the symptoms of actual insanity, others in +which it is mistaken for such; but still the simulator is never quite +sane. I had speculated about the hidden motives of apparently motiveless +crimes. I had seen a gallant youth, whose noble, manly features inspired +love and confidence, and who yet had murdered many victims of his +bestial desires; had lured them on, and killed them. + +I had seen a tender, innocent, pleasant-looking young girl, with a +winning smile on her ruby lips, after she had poisoned all the members +of her family in turn; and I had known a miracle-working virgin, who had +for years and years befooled and deceived aged and experienced men. All +these and more I had seen, but all had possessed one common peculiarity +which betrayed them as belonging to that large and unhappy class we term +lunatics, and their mental disorder was revealed in a clear, glittering +glance, cold and keen as a steel blade. The moment that unlucky +assertion had escaped me, I saw my companions stare at each other and +then at me, and in the eyes of all four of them I clearly discerned and +recognised the same cold, keen, and gloomy expression. I felt a shock of +terror, and then I laughed at my own folly. A professional habit of +mentally examining and distinguishing all persons as sane and healthy, +or diseased, I thought, and I tried to joke the matter away. + +"Let us make a bargain, countess! We will leave the demon to those who +cannot spare him; for there are people who would greatly protest against +being robbed of their devils--as, for instance, some Western nations who +worship him instead of God. They say God is good, and won't hurt them, +anyhow, but the Devil must be bribed by compliments to keep him from +doing mischief. Therefore they raise altars to him, and set up his +images with many ceremonies. The Yakoots and Chuckches believe in a +double creation, and think that all good things are created by God, and +all bad things by the Devil." + +"It would not hurt you to be of the same creed," said Countess Diodora. + +"For instance, to believe that the rose was created by God and the +cetonia by the Devil," I replied, smilingly. + +"And why those?" she asked. "My niece has complained to me that you +crush these beautiful little beetles to death. In what have they +offended you?" + +"Offended me? Do you hold me capable of such petty malice? I kill the +cetonias because they are the deadliest foes of the rose; or, rather, as +they love the rose, and in loving destroy the flower, I must call the +cetonia the most dangerous friend of the rose." + +"However, the beetles are necessary to my nieces, and therefore they +must live." + +"Necessary?" I cried. "How so?" + +The blonde girl went into the grotto and, returning, brought with her a +large teak board, upon which a Chinese sun-bird was enamelled. The bird +was only half finished as yet, but it was the most artistic, tasteful, +and delightful enamel-work I had ever seen, and all of it was composed +of the delicate lids of the beetle-wings. The cetonias vary in colour: +some of them are red with a tinge of gold; others green and gold; others +again the colour of darkened copper, and still others in a metallic +blue, like steel. All these were carefully arranged and pasted upon the +teak board in a wonderful mosaic, the sun-bird's head and wings +consisting of red, its neck of blue, and its breast of green +cetonia-wings. I looked admiringly at the work. So, then, they had not +protected the cetonias out of some sentimental fancy for them, but for +industrial purposes. This changed my conception of the matter entirely; +for the better in some respects--in some for the worse. + +"So you save the life of the beetle in order to rob them of their +wings?" I asked them, reproachfully. + +"These are only their winter wings which we take off; their summer wings +they keep, and we give them their liberty again. It is summer now; they +have no need of their winter wings at present." + +Well, this was girlish logic and philosophy: I have taken what I wanted, +you must make the best of what I have left you. Rather a striking piece +of egotism! + +"Do you know that the cetonia contains poison?" asked I. + +"What kind of poison?" was the inquiring response, given with great +quickness. + +"The poison," I said, evasively, "that gives the motive to the Bánk-Bán +tragedy." + +At these words Siegfried puffed a whole cloud of tobacco-smoke full in +my face, and at any other time I should have strongly resented the +insult; but this time he was right. The explanation was, even as an +allusion, objectionable in the presence of girls. Nevertheless I could +perceive through the cloud of smoke that the pale face of Flamma had +coloured violently, and that Cenni pouted and pushed the sun-bird away. +The innocents were not so very innocent, after all. + +"Is not this beetle identical with the holy scarabćus of the Egyptians?" +asked Countess Diodora. + +"No. Because the cetonia lives on roses; and of the holy scarabćus +Herodotus tells us that he dies of the odour of roses. As soon as the +roses begin to bloom the scarabćus vanishes." + +This interested the girls, and we continued the subject. I told them of +the South American Hercules-beetle, that is as fond of liquor as any +human tippler, and I really thought that I had succeeded in turning the +conversation from the horned devil to the horned beetle, when Countess +Diodora said-- + +"You are too much of a naturalist. This won't do, and you must try to +amend. To deny God is bad enough, but He is kind and forgiving, and the +infidel may yet be saved; but to deny the Devil is sure destruction, for +the Devil knows no mercy, and he takes his revenge on the insulter." + +I looked up astonished and met her eyes. Again I detected that +bewildering cold glitter, and with an involuntary shiver I turned away. + + + + +III. + +THE FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER. + + +The same day our political friends and partisans came, and we held a +conference. From that day on I was a daily guest in Vernöcze, and when +occasionally I spent a night at home in my own house, next morning I was +sure to feel restless and uneasy, and persuaded myself that political +reasons required my presence in Vernöcze, and that I must make haste to +go there. + +A number of times the illustrious ladies of the Vernöcze castle +descended from their lofty situation to pay a visit to my lowly house, +and on these occasions I played the host, and set before them what my +cellar and buttery afforded. Then I conducted them through the chambers +in which were stored my late uncle's beloved curiosities, and I told +them of the horrors of the olden time, and the history of this ancient +seat of my family. There was the story of a walled-up wife and murdered +lovers, and we had our "Woman in White" and our "Red Templar," who, at +the stroke of midnight, duly stalked through locked rooms and corridors, +and performed all the actions that could be expected of real and +respectable ghosts. These phantoms the countess rather envied me, for +Vernöcze could boast of no such token of old nobility; yet the +Vernöczys were counts and the Dumanys only plain gentry. + +Of course, I was an ardent admirer of the three fairies, only I could +not exactly tell which of the three I admired most. Countess Diodora's +philosophical intellect impressed me as much as Countess Cenni's unruly +activity; and Countess Flamma's pensive silence affected me none the +less, and I looked at her with the reverential awe of the priest before +the Holy Virgin. + +Only one thing puzzled me. Here were three beautiful, gifted, high-born, +and wealthy young women, and not one of them had a real, earnest, and +sincere suitor. Of course, there were a number of young aristocrats +paying court to them, and very much inclined to carry on a little bit of +flirtation; but all in an easy-going, although certainly very respectful +and distant way; but of a real, true attachment I could perceive no +sign. Once I had ventured a remark to this effect in Siegfried's +presence, whereupon he explained that the two younger countesses were +mere school-girls yet, and nobody would have the audacity to think of a +serious courtship in that quarter as yet, while, as to Countess Diodora, +she would never marry at all. She repudiated the very idea of marriage, +and would no doubt, sooner or later, enter a convent as abbess. + +This explanation, to tell the truth, did not satisfy me. If the two +young ladies were such forbidden fruit at present, why bring them in +constant contact with young men? And, as to Countess Diodora's +intention to become a nun, I had my strong doubts. True, she was +religious, even to bigotry, but she was not averse to the pleasures of +the world, and I did not believe in her inclination to give them up of +her free will. I rather believed that men were afraid of her, for such +learned and strong-minded women can be only the wives of yet wiser and +more strong-minded men, or else of fools, who willingly become their +slaves. + +To me Countess Diodora was conspicuously kind, and showed me an +exceptional preference--that is, she did me the honour to select me as +her antagonist in debate. + +When she supported one paradox, I would support the opposite, and we +kept up a constant battle with intellectual weapons. She was a great +reader; so was I. She had travelled a good deal; so had I, and, as it +chanced, we had observed the same countries and scenes. On art, +architecture, literature, I gave judgment with the same startling +audacity as she, only that my opinions were in direct opposition to +hers. + +Still in matters of politics our views were harmonious. I had the same +Conservative principles as she, and I heartily agreed with all that she +uttered on that point. This was the first step to our mutual +understanding. The second step was taken when we joined each other in +defence of our principles against persons of opposing views; and the +third step, which lifted me not only to a level with my new and +beautiful ally, but even above her, was gained by me in a controversy +on professional science, with especial relation to physicians. The +countess, in a very spirited bit of banter, ridiculed the whole +profession and its science, stating that, in her belief, our entire +pathology, therapeutic, etc., was not worth the sand strewn over the +prescriptions. She declared that in the treatment of internal maladies +medical science has made no progress since Galen's time, and our most +renowned professional celebrities are no wiser than Paracelsus. Our +medicines, according to her opinion, were either baneful poisons, or of +no higher sanative power, at the best, than the waters of Lourdes. She +also was afflicted with bodily pain at times, but never yet had she +submitted to any professional treatment. No physician had ever entered +her bed-room or parted the tapestry hangings around her bed, and never +yet had she tasted of any kind of medicine. + +I listened complacently to her talk, and did not interrupt her with a +word. After she had finished, I said-- + +"Allow me to contradict, and, at the same time, convict you. You have +never spoken of your special ailment to me up to this moment. I have +never heard of it before this, and I need not put any questions either +to you or to others in regard to it. Yet, by simply looking at you, I +can tell you from what you are suffering--that you are a victim of +occasional nervous attacks of greater or less severity, and I can tell +you exactly how these paroxysms commence, what symptoms they show, and +all the particulars of your ailment." + +She stared at me, quite perplexed. "You are right!" she said at last, +and there was not a man alive who could boast that she had ever said as +much to him. She asked me how I came to know or to guess the nature of +her sufferings, and I told her that I had had great experience in the +treatment of nervous disorders, and that her case was by no means +hopeless. That although it was impossible to entirely and permanently +cure the disease and drive away its attacks, yet it might be greatly +diminished. The paroxysms might be reduced in duration and violence, and +that without administering any poisonous drugs--simply by proper +massage. + +"Then I am sorry that we have no female physicians as yet; for I would +never submit to that treatment from a male physician." + +"And do you know that this shrinking is one of the symptoms of the +malady, and at the same time its main foundation?" + +"How so?" + +"Because, if your views of propriety were not distorted, you would apply +for help in time, and not wait until you are past cure; but you grow up +with the conviction that it is a shame and a degradation to confess your +physical weaknesses to a male physician, yet you are by no means +ashamed--nay, you consider it a duty and a virtue--to confess your +mental and moral failings to a priest, although he is a man as well as +the physician, and the sins you confess are sometimes more degrading and +shameful than the sores of your body." + +She looked at me for quite a while. "Again you are right," she said, and +with that broke off the conversation. + +At that period, every day brought some political meeting or party +conference, and the leaders of the coming elections, head-drummers, and +subalterns swarmed into Vernöcze, bringing all sorts of news, asking for +all sorts of information, and Countess Diodora was at the head of +everything--presiding at the councils, assisting them all with her +advice, never tired, never slackening in spirit or courage, and never +forgetting her position as hostess--and a bountiful hostess, too. + +When the discussion approached the financial question, she said to me +with rare delicacy-- + +"This is no affair of yours; leave that to us. You can meanwhile go and +look for the girls in the park." + +And I, in spite of my professional sagacity, in spite of the knowledge +and experience I had gained, I was such a greenhorn--such a simple +fool--that I actually believed in the existence of a fund raised for the +especial purpose of sending such shining political stars, such rare +celebrities, as the Honourable Cornelius Dumany, into Parliament, there +to enlighten the minds of his compatriots, and to be a blessing to his +country; although, if any one had asked me how I had deserved to be held +in such high esteem, I could not have found an answer! Oh, vanity and +conceit! How easily you are caught in the meshes of cunning deception! + +The "girls," as they were invariably called, were on the lawn looking +for four-leaved clovers, and the little blonde declared that she was +bent on finding one, for whoever found it first was sure to be married +first. I laughed, and, looking down, I saw one little quatrefoil just at +my feet. I gathered it, and presented it to the little blonde countess, +but she refused to accept it. "No," she said, "everybody must keep his +own fortune. You have found the leaf, and you will get married first, +and within the year." + +"Ought not I to know something of the coming happiness in advance?" I +asked, smilingly. "Surely I can't get married without my own knowledge!" + +"Just you keep quiet. Mockery is not becoming to you; but tell us in +good earnest, why don't you marry? You ought to." + +"Why, then, in good faith, I do not marry because the girls that would +not reject me I do not care for, and those that I might care for would +not accept me." + +"How do you know? First tell us what qualities a girl must possess to +make you care for her." + +"Well, I suppose I must obey your ladyship's wishes. In the first place, +then, she must be young and pretty; then she must be intellectual, +prudent, and well educated; and, finally, she must have a kind heart +and a sweet disposition; if she is merry and bright also, I shall like +her the better. Yes, there is something else: I should like my future +wife to be always elegant and stylish, and I should like to give her a +splendid home and keep her in luxury; but, as my own little Slav kingdom +is not sufficient for my notion of the term, therefore she must also +have a fortune of her own. Yet, if a woman, or let me rather say a young +girl, should possess all these qualities at once, which I think +unlikely, I would not take her if I were not fully convinced that she +married me for love. So, you see, with these pretensions I am likely to +live and die a bachelor." + +"Not necessarily. I, for instance, know a lady who answers to your +description as if you had drawn her portrait." + +"Indeed? You seem bent on proving that the four-leaved clover was a true +prophet of marriage. You want to make the match?" + +"Why not? But, indeed, I am speaking in good faith. Why don't you marry +Aunt Diodora?" + +"Because I have more sense than those poor birds who shatter their heads +and beaks in flying against the reflected rays of the lighthouse." + +"I don't understand the simile." + +"Do you know the story of Turandot?" + +"No. Novels and comedies I dare not read yet; but I should like to know, +for Aunty Diodora is nicknamed 'Princess Turandot.' I have often heard +her spoken of by that name. I think that Turandot must be a fictitious +creature, who tortures all her suitors to death, for aunty is also very +unkind to them. Only that is no fault of hers; it is her misfortune to +have nobody sue for her hand except simpletons. All these sweet-spoken, +flattering, aping, thought-snatching, cajoling, empty-headed wooers my +aunt calls monkeys, and not men. A man must have the courage to oppose +her, defend his own opinion against her and all the world, to gain her +respect and her confidence. This you have done. Oh, we girls know well +enough what impression a man has made on another girl!" + +This was a startling confession. Here was a little girl, who was treated +and spoken of as quite a baby; yet, in spite of her unacquaintance with +novels and comedies, she seemed to be very well versed in all matters of +love and matrimony. + +"Yes," she continued, "I have noticed it plainly enough, and quite +frequently. Whenever you are away she is gloomy, and melancholy, and out +of spirits; but, as soon as she sees you or hears your voice, she +brightens up and is good-humoured and pleasant. When, the other day, +Flamma and I had made some remark about you--some light jest--she gave +us such a sermon! telling us that men were all so different, and that +you were, among them, like a real diamond among coloured glass. Oh, if I +could tell you all! But you are proud and disdainful, I see. Perhaps you +want to wait until Countess Diodora Vernöczy makes you a humble offer of +her hand, and then maybe you would be proud, and consider about it." + +"Perhaps I should. Give me leave, ladies, to tell you a story--the +history of a very intimate friend, and from beginning to the end true to +the letter. I shall invent nothing." + + + + +IV. + +THE HISTORY OF MY FRIEND. + + +As soon as I promised them a story, the two young girls sat down on a +low bench beneath a jasmine bush, and I sat down on the bowling-green at +their feet; or, rather, I kneeled there before them. Do not think that +we were left without a proper guard, for we could be seen from the +balcony of the house, and on the mountain-ash tree was an old +missel-thrush that kept on chirruping and twittering, "Take care, you +boy! take care!" + +The young ladies had stripped a heap of the slender Pimprinpáre stalks, +from which they began to braid chains and other ornaments, while I +related the following story:-- + +"My friend is a descendant of the noblest families of Hungary, and a +count by birth. During the Revolution of 1848 he was one of the bravest +and most heroic defenders of the national cause, and his great personal +attractions, manly beauty, athletic strength, intellectual power, and +high moral integrity, united with an iron will and the tender heart of a +woman, made him distinguished above many. Of him it was said that, even +as a man, he obeyed every command of his mother, but could never be made +to obey that of any potentate of the world." + +"Is that paragon of a man alive yet?" asked Cenni. + +"He is. Only he is an old eagle now, for our friendship dates from the +time when he gave me a ride on his knees, while I blew the whistle he +had brought me. During our national struggle for liberty in 1848 he +served as a captain of the ---- Hussars, and, after the Russian +invasion, and the final overthrow of the national cause, he made good +his escape to England. Of course, his lands and goods were seized, and +he was sentenced to death; but, as he could not be caught and hanged in +person, he was hanged in effigy--that is, his portrait was nailed to the +gallows. + +"The same high qualities which had distinguished him at home +distinguished him abroad. A great many Hungarian refugees had found a +home in England, especially in that gigantic metropolis, London; and it +is said of them, in general, that of all political emigrants they +behaved best. They never quarrelled, never grumbled, and never +conspired. Everyone hastened to find a mode of earning a decent living +for himself, and none of them were too proud or too lazy to work. Every +one of them was honestly and diligently engaged in some business. + +"My friend had some acquaintances among the English nobility, and he was +soon introduced, and speedily became at home in English high life. Among +those aristocratic families with which he had frequent intercourse was +one in which there was a young girl, an orphan and an heiress. She was +beautiful and intellectual, like Countess Diodora, and competition for +her hand was naturally high among the young and old bachelors, and +marriageable men of their set. Singularly enough, the young stranger, +who never thought of such good fortune, at last felt compelled to +believe that the open preference the lady showed him was more than +common courtesy, and more than the friendly, even sisterly regard with +which most ladies of his acquaintance honoured him. He could not but +admire her beauty, her grace, and accomplishments, and he was ready and +willing enough to fall in love with so much charm and loveliness. His +courtship, if so it must be termed, although the lady was doing the +greater part of the wooing, was short and successful, and they were +married. + +"The marriage took place on the Isle of Wight, at that time the +favourite haunt of the Hungarian refugees. Two of the latter, the one a +renowned politician, the other a famous general, were witnesses, and the +wedding breakfast was quite an event. But when, after the bridal cake +had been cut and the toasts drunk, the guests retired, and the young +couple were left alone, the fair young bride said to the happy groom:-- + +"'I beg your pardon for leaving you to your own company, but I must +retire to change my dress, for my yacht is waiting, and I shall start +for France in two hours.' + +"He gazed at her in utter amazement 'Why, dearest,' he said, 'don't you +know that Louis Napoleon denies us Hungarians even the privilege of +passing through France, and that for me to go there is equivalent to +imprisonment, possibly death?' + +"'I know it, and I do not ask you to accompany me. I shall go there +alone. I yearned for independence and liberty, and for the coming years +I could get it only as a married woman. I was in need of a husband, or +of his name, and my choice fell upon you, because I did not dare to play +this trick on one of our English Hotspurs. Of you I know that you are +too gentle and too noble withal to injure a woman. So good-bye to you, +count, for I do not think that we shall ever set eyes on each other +again!' + +"With that the fair goddess left her husband of two hours' standing, +humiliated, stunned, without money, bereft of his former occupation, to +which, as her husband, he could not return; left him for ever; and he +was such a gentle fool that he did not even for a moment think of +revenge upon the woman who had robbed him of the last and only treasure +he possessed, his spotless name and honour, and had ruined him for ever. + +"For twenty-five years the poor victim of the fair deceiver could not +with decency extricate himself from the meshes of the net which she had +thrown over him. After some years he found a good, pure, and true heart +that was full to the brim with love for the unhappy man--so much so that +she sacrificed position, family, and reputation for his sake, and +accompanied him from country to country, through danger and poverty, +sharing his cares and troubles, and consoling him with her love and +fidelity. To this woman, who was his real wife, he could not give the +legal name and position she merited, and the curse that had been laid on +his own life was heavy upon his innocent children, for he could not +carry them to the baptismal font, could not christen them as his own. In +England he could not secure a divorce, to France he could not go, and +home to Hungary he dared not come. For twenty-five years he dragged +these heavy chains on his weary limbs, until Hungary had risen from her +prostration, had become a constitutional state with a free Parliament, +and had crowned her king, and called home her banished children from the +nooks and corners of the world. Then only, when again at home and in +full possession of his ancestral castle and estates, then only a legal +divorce set him at liberty and left him free to bestow his name upon his +faithful, loving companion and their children. But when that time had at +last arrived, my friend was an old man with silvery beard and a bald +head. The fairy that was the cause of so much suffering had taken +nothing of him but his name, of which she was in need; but what is a +name? Nothing but the lid, the tender coverlet of the beetle's wing. She +did not kill the poor beetle, and she set him free; he was allowed to +live with his winter wings." + +During the recital of this story, Cenni's rosy countenance was crimsoned +through and through, while Flamma's pale face was overspread with an +almost deadly pallor, and, as I spoke the final words, the girls looked +at each other in silence. "So, you see," I continued, "if such a thing +could happen to a man like my friend, the bearer of a great name, noble, +brave, accomplished, and handsome, what would be my fate if I should +attempt to do what he did--marry a beauty and an heiress? I, that am +nothing but a runaway doctor, an expelled Member of Parliament, and a +Slav King! one who, from his appearance, is mistaken for his own +subject." + +"No! no!" said Cenni, taking hold of both my hands, "there you are +mistaken, and--and I am sure you do not know your own worth!" + +At that moment the jasmine-bush was parted, and Siegfried's voice asked, +"May I take the liberty to interrupt these tender confessions?" + +At the sound of Siegfried's voice we all sprang from our seats, and +Cenni, throwing the chain she had braided on his neck, said, "You are a +great, naughty, good-for-nothing fellow! What do you want?" + +"This noble and gallant knight of yours. He is wanted by his +executioners--that is, by the election leaders that are to be." + +The two young girls laughed, and ran to the little lake for a boating +trip, and I asked Siegfried, "What do these men want from me? What is +their business with me?" + +"Oh, nothing!" he said, coolly. "They have not come; it is I who have +business to speak of with you, and quickly, too, for I may be too late +already. My dear boy, even a friend has something that he wants to keep +for himself and does not want to share with his dearest friend--his +love! You are making love to Cenni, although you must have seen that I +am over ears in love with her myself." + +"I have seen nothing of the kind, and I give you my word that I never +thought of making love to her." + +"Possibly so; but then she makes love to you, and that renders matters +worse yet." + +"I assure you that your jealousy leads you into error." + +"Oh! Do you think we have no telescopes in the house? I have witnessed +the last interesting scene as if I were on the spot." + +"Then I can only wish that your hearing might have been as much +increased by some instrument as your vision by the telescope, so that +you might have heard our discourse, and not guessed at it by sight." + +"Did you not find a four-leaved clover, and offer it to Cenni?" + +"Yes, here it is; take it, my boy, and marry your Cenni, with my +blessing!" + +"Take care! I may take you at your word!" + +"And welcome! I'll be your best man." + +"That's a bargain. And, now that I see that you are really not going to +play the traitor with me, I'll tell you the whole truth. I am mad with +love for Cenni; and then, too, she has a million florins from her +grandfather, and this money would come in well to help me carry out my +plans. But my aunt does not consent to give the girl to me. She says I +am a libertine, a _frivol viveur_, etc., and she won't take the +responsibility of trusting me with the dear child." + +"Tell her you will reform, you will change after marriage." + +"That I have repeatedly tried, but she refuses to believe me. Then +there is that million. As long as the girl is unmarried and a minor, my +aunt takes her revenues, and, among her other accomplishments, my aunt +is a very fair accountant. She has found out that the girl cannot eat +figs and candies in a year to the amount of sixty thousand florins, so +she is not over-willing to part with her at all. But I am not going to +play the Tantalus for years, and run the risk of having the girl +snatched from me by some jackanapes or rascal or another. Pardon!" + +"Never mind! I shan't pick up the 'jackanapes' or the 'rascal.' They do +not belong to me." + +"Then help me carry out my plan. Do you promise?" + +"By all means." + +"Thank you. But let me unfold my plan. Cenni and I will be married +clandestinely behind Aunt Diodora's back. My aunt is sometimes subject +to severe neuralgic attacks, and, as she never calls a physician and +never takes any remedies for her pains, she suffers all day. During +these paroxysms of her nerves she remains all day in a darkened room, +and will not allow anybody to stay with her but Flamma. That kind soul +is with her at such times, administering to her comforts, smoothing her +pillows, etc., and in return she is allowed to read Flammarion, or one +of Verne's harmless fictions, in the adjoining sitting-room. On such +days Cenni is entirely at liberty, and not watched by anybody, because +that sleepy governess the girls have is hardly worth mentioning. Now +listen. I keep here, concealed in my shooting-box, a priest--a Capuchin +monk--Father Paphuntius. He seems to be a jolly good fellow, and he has +an open hand. In the park there is a little memorial chapel, erected by +one of my ancestors in honour of St. Vincent de Paul. In that chapel we +will exchange vows. You and Muckicza shall be my witnesses. Now you have +given me your promise, will you stick to your word?" + +"By all means! Only after the marriage is perfected give me leave to run +away as fast as possible; for I should not dare to look your aunt in the +face after such perfidy on my part." + +"_Au contraire_, you shall not run, for you must stay and help me out +further. I have chosen you in your capacity as physician to persuade +Diodora to swallow this bitter medicine. She will take much if it comes +from you, and I really believe you have magnetised her. It will be your +mission to break the fact of the accomplished marriage to her, and +persuade her to give her consent, since the matter is irreparable. You +see, we cannot afford to quarrel with her, for she has four millions, +and is not likely to marry at all." + +I hesitated, but he begged and prayed--"My dear friend," "My own Nell," +and so forth--until I gave way, and promised to do all that he wanted. + +When I had finally promised him he pressed my hands, and then turned +away and buried his face in his silk pocket-handkerchief. Was this to +hide his tears or--his laughter? _O sancta simplicitas_! + + + + +V. + +HOW ROSES ARE INOCULATED. + + +The same day, after luncheon, Countess Flamma turned to me with the +question-- + +"Would you mind teaching me the process of inoculation? I am greatly +interested in roses, and should like to see how the scion is set into +the stock." + +"With ever so much pleasure," I said, pleased that the pale, silent girl +showed an interest in my favourites, the roses, and turned to me for a +favour. Countess Diodora gave the required permission for the lesson, +which was to be given and taken while the others were playing +lawn-tennis on the adjacent grounds. Flamma was a bad player, anyhow, so +she might take to horticulture meanwhile. + +When the whole company were on the grounds, Flamma and I stepped up to +the rose-beds, and I began to explain to her how, in the first place, a +T-shaped incision has to be made on the stock, when presently she said, +in a low whisper, "Take care of yourself." + +I thought she meant that I should cut my fingers with the knife, when +she repeated her warning again, mid more explicitly, "Take care; they +mean to play a bad joke on you." + +I looked up amazed. What could she mean? + +"Who?" I asked. + +"Don't look at me, but continue the explanation and demonstration. Never +forget I am taking a lesson, for we are closely watched." + +"Thank you. So now we take a carefully chosen scion. Tell me, pray, who +wants to play that jest on me?" + +"This scion is beautifully developed, let us take it--Siegfried." + +"Siegfried? What does he intend to do?" + +"Keep your hands busy, and do not look surprised. That clandestine +marriage, of which you are to be a witness, is a comedy. The Capuchin +monk, who is to perform the ceremony, is Seestern, the famous German +actor, who is here under an assumed name, as he does not want to be +pestered to play or amuse the others." + +My hands trembled, but I kept on and said-- + +"Siegfried has sworn to me that he is madly in love with Countess Cenni, +and that he will marry her, come what may." + +"What for?" + +"What a question! For love, and--because--he wants the million florins +of her grandfather's which the countess has." + +"Hand me the knife, for you will assuredly cut your finger, and give me +that scion, so that I may try to insert it. Cenni is no countess at all, +but the niece of Leestern and daughter of an actress, who at one time +did my aunt a great service, and, when dying, made Aunt Diodora promise +to take care of her little girl. Aunt gave her at confirmation the name +of Cenerentola, which we have shortened to Cenni. Her real name is +Klara. She has no other money or dower but what Aunt Diodora will give +her, which will not be much, for in money matters she is not very +liberal, and Cenni is called 'comtesse' because it suits Aunt Diodora's +whims. That million of which Siegfried spoke exists; but it is mine, and +not Cenni's. Is this scion well inserted?" + +"No. I will show you the whole process again. What is Siegfried's object +in the deception?" + +"You show too much agitation. Show me how to cut out the germ properly. +This is the plan. After the ceremony, on the day when Diodora is +confined to her room and I am with her, a festival banquet will be +spread in the shooting-box. It will be a noisy, dissolute company that +meets there, and Siegfried will drink most, be the loudest and least +well-behaved of the set. The bride will pretend to be afraid of the +groom, and at last she will break away from his hands, and ask the +protection of the only sober, sensible, and decent man present, namely, +yourself. The bridegroom will have lost all self-control through drink. +He will swear, and use all sorts of bad language, and the bride will sob +and entreat you to take her away, protesting that she hated the sight of +the vulgar wretch she had just married, but had been forced to do his +will, although he knew well that in reality she loved you, and you +alone. At last, growing desperate, she will attempt to leap out of the +window to escape from this place, even at the risk of her life. You will +take pity on her; her tears and charms will conquer your resistance, +and you will tell her to dispose of you for ever, and take shelter in +your own castle from the ruffian who was not worthy of the treasure he +had obtained. You will order your carriage, and take Cenni with you; +but, as soon as you have left, the fellow-plotters will mount their +horses, and, by a short cross-cut, arrive there before you, discover the +intended elopement of the bride, and carry off you and her as criminals. +You will of course offer to fight every one of them, until all, the +bride included, will burst out into Olympian laughter, and you stand +stunned and bewildered. But, pray, show me how to insert the germ +properly into the T-shape?" + +My whole frame trembled with excitement. + +"What is his object in all this?" I asked. + +"To give you the usual 'jump,' as they call it in our set. If, for +instance, a member of some other class of society--in your case a simple +nobleman--is pushing his way into high aristocracy, he must be 'jumped,' +each in his own different way. One is made to drink until he makes +himself obnoxious even to his nearest friends; another is made to gamble +until he either wins or loses a fortune, generally the latter; but all +must 'jump,' and if they break their necks, well and good! It was +proposed to 'jump' you in courtship; you refused to aspire to Diodora. +In a duel you are not afraid of a fight, and so this course was decided +on. You had been 'jumped' already--at the election--but the triumph and +your downfall were not complete. Your vanity--don't start--was not yet +wounded to death, and you will have to 'jump' once more--once in private +and once at a second election. But this time you will not rise again. +Hopp! Hopp! That's the design. Don't look at me--that's all!" + +I was fairly choked with emotion. "But why do they play that trick on +me? I did not want to enter their society; in fact, never valued it at +all; but I cared for Siegfried, and he lured me on with protestations of +friendship. What was his reason for that? What have I done to him to +merit this?" + +"What have you done? You have provoked him--called him out. You said you +could not believe in the existence of a spiritual or corporal being who +would do mischief without a material motive, simply for the sake of +mischief and the pleasure he found in the despair of a fellow-being: you +did not believe that there are men who will afflict the innocent with +pain and sorrow, who will degrade, socially and morally humiliate you, +and then laugh you in the face and make game of you. Stay here, move in +our society, and you will find out your mistake! Why, what a sight it +will be to have the great debater, the candidate-elect, the sage and +learned doctor, and heir of old Diogenes caught in the act of robbing +another man of his bride! They will have a painter there to take a +sketch of the fine situation '_en plein air_.'" + +At that moment one of the lawn-tennis players throw the ball just in +front of my feet, and Siegfried came running to fetch it. + +"Well, have you profited at all by this lesson on inoculating?" he +asked the girl, and he added a remark which was so vulgar and +impertinent that he would not have dared to use the expression in a +variety theatre or any other low place of common entertainment. + +"I have," said the girl, with low emphasis, and laid down the knife. + +I was in such a state of anguish that I did not know for certain whether +the spot I was standing on belonged to this earth or was part of the +infernal kingdom, for the soil actually burned my feet. Countess Mamma +thanked me for the horticultural lesson I had given her, and I was so +much embarrassed that I repeated her own words verbally, instead of +giving her a courteous reply. Siegfried laughed. + +"What an exemplary, bashful young fellow you are! Evidently you are not +used to teach young ladies such delicate lessons. Come! come! Don't +blush. Try your hand at lawn tennis." + +And I went with him and played. + + + + +VI. + +MR. PARASITE. + + +I have never given way to paroxysms of temper; not exactly because I was +naturally cool and collected, but because my profession had taught me +presence of mind and self-control. Violent wrath, violent terror, and +violent love could not attack me. + +Countess Flamma's singular disclosure had made a twofold impression. My +first feeling was a painful regret that my most intimate friend, in whom +I had placed infinite trust and confidence, was a faithless deceiver; +and my second emotion was that of a burning curiosity as to why that +girl, a close relative of my cozening friend, had betrayed him to me--a +stranger. What reason had the one to hurt me, and what was the motive of +the other in warning me? For, as I refused to believe in evil spirits, I +also refused to believe in protecting angels. + +"My dear friend, take care!" said Siegfried, throwing the ball at me. +The ball I did not catch, but the "dear" epithet I picked up; for it +struck me that the same phrase was often attached to my name as well as +to that of other less intimate acquaintances, and sometimes with a +special, humorous playfulness. Now I caught it. Of course I was their +"dear" friend, for did not I sit there and do nothing, and let them +waste their money on my election? + +In Hungarian society, and I think in most other societies as well, +there is a certain person whom we call "Potya ur"--"Mr. Parasite." He +feeds at every board, sleeps in other men's rooms, is served by other +men's servants, uses other men's horses and carriages, and smokes other +men's cigars. When playing cards, he has invariably left his money at +home; so when he is a loser it does not matter, for he is not accustomed +to pay his losses; but, when a winner, he complacently pockets his +gains. He never pays for the flowers he sends to his hostess, never pays +anything or anybody; yet he is well lodged, well fed, well clad, and in +excellent spirits, for he needs them. His wit is his only resource, his +sole capital. + +Such a Mr. Parasite, I thought, was I to these men, and I determined +that I would be so no longer. Surely I, who was formerly a physician in +Vienna, had no right to accept a nomination for Parliament in +Hungary--at other men's expense. They were right, and I had been an ass +and a coxcomb. When Siegfried told me that the party had decided not to +take a penny of me, but to secure my election out of party funds, I +should have remembered Chinese etiquette. If two Chinamen meet on the +street, Tsang will invariably invite Tsing home to dinner, and Tsing +will invariably refuse. Tsang will use all possible persuasion, and +finally fairly drag the invited one to his house, although the man +protests and struggles as much as possible. And well he knows why; +because if he should give way to the pressing invitation and go with +Tsang, the moment he entered the house his host would call him a rude, +unmannered peasant; for he must remember well that it becomes the one to +courteously invite, and the other to respectfully refuse. This is the +law of civilisation in China; and I had forgotten that law the second +time. + +So, about Siegfried's motive I felt pretty sure; but what was that +girl's motive in betraying the whole plot? More! She had not only +betrayed Siegfried, her own cousin, to me--a stranger: she had betrayed +Cenni, her origin, her real name, and her kin; and, finally, what motive +had she in informing me that the million of florins was her money, and +not Cenni's? What was her motive in confiding to me such a secret in +such a mysterious and secret manner? Was it only kindness, generosity, +compassion, that prompted her, or--? No, I durst not go farther--as +yet--only I knew now beyond a doubt that, from the first, of all the +three fairies of the castle Flamma alone had aroused my interest and +sympathy. Her clear, transparent, pale face, her deep, sea-tinted eyes, +and her silent, cherry lips, so lovely when parted in speaking, had +attracted me from the first. + +We were called indoors to partake of some iced coffee, and strawberries +with cream; but this time I had not forgotten Tsang and Tsing. I +refused, saying that I had a letter from the Vice-Governor, and was +expected by him; so I could not return until next day in the afternoon. + +My excuse was accepted, and I took my leave. For a second the thought +flashed through my mind that I ought not to return at all, and that +this should be my last visit to the place; but, somehow, to that +rose-scion which I had taught Flamma how to inoculate I had +involuntarily and unconsciously tied that particular part of my being +which is known as the "soul." + +Next morning I drove over to the county seat, and paid a visit to the +Vice-Governor. + +Of course, he was as cordial as ever, and welcomed me as a dear friend. +"Well, what have you brought me?" he asked finally. + +"This time a sensible resolution," I said. "I have come to give in my +resignation as a candidate for Parliament." + +The Vice-Governor embraced, nay, fairly hugged me in his arms. "My dear +boy, that's a sensible thing, indeed: not from the view of the +Government party only--I don't believe that your party could have +carried the day with you--but in consideration of your own welfare. Just +sit down, and let me inform the President of the Board of Elections of +your resolution. I shall do that at once. Not for a world would I let +you reconsider this excellent idea. Perhaps you might be over-persuaded, +and 'jumped' again by your good friends." + +Again I heard the expression "jumped," and I sat down to meditate over +it. "Have you told Siegfried yet?" asked the Vice-Governor. + +"Not yet," I said; "but I think he won't greatly object." + +"Who knows? But you will pledge your word that you will stick to your +resignation against all persuasion?" + +"Certainly. I'll give you any oath you want, and--well, here is my hand +on the promise. My resignation is final." + +"Then allow me to congratulate you, and to convince you, by action, what +a sensible conclusion you have come to. I should have withheld your +property from you until after election, for I feared that generous +nature of yours, and was afraid that, if you had free access to your +uncle's iron chest, your companions would soon enough have their fists +deep in it. But, now that you convince me of your good sense, here are +the papers which make you lord of the real and personal property of your +late uncle, and here is the package with the bank-bills. Pray open and +count them over. The county sheriff will go over with you to take off +the seals from everything, and put you in legal possession." + +I thanked him, and put the money, uncounted, in my coat pocket. Then I +returned to our former theme, and asked the Vice-Governor if he really +thought that my nomination had put my party to very great expense. + +"Think so?" he exclaimed, "of course, I think so! Why, my dear friend, +you are a new man, and considered almost as a foreigner and a scholar, +not a patriotic politician! But, if you are really interested in the +question, you can find out the exact figure which your nomination has +cost your party. Just go straight to the County Savings Bank here, and +ask the amount which Siegfried has drawn on bills signed with his own +name and that of his political friends as security." + +I was stunned. "I never thought of such a thing," I said. "Siegfried +told me that he had money at home which he did not want for himself at +present, and could easily spare." + +The official laughed. "Siegfried, and spare money! Why, what an innocent +you are! If he had money at all, he would leave it on the card-table, he +is such a gambler. The fact is, he is on such a sandbank, just at +present, that it will be fortunate for him if his barque ever gets +afloat again." + +"How is that possible? I thought him very well off." + +"He is more than that; he is very rich. His domains are large and +beautiful, and his income is princely; only he is of the opinion that it +is mean to keep money, and he spends in six months the income of a year, +and in this way he runs into debt. He has practised that for a +considerable time, and it cannot go on that way much longer. His only +resource is his maiden aunt, Countess Diodora. It is said--at least, +Siegfried says--that she hates men, and will take the veil to become an +abbess. In that case her estates will revert to him as next heir." + +"H--m; and do you think Siegfried would feel insulted if I should go to +the Savings Bank and pay those bills of his? Or do you believe that his +friends would be offended if I took up all the bills, and paid all the +expenses I have caused them?" + +"No; although they would pretend to be so for a while, in reality I +think they would be only too glad. But I will tell you something: you +are just such a generous, large-hearted, noble, free-handed fool as your +father was, and, if you go on the way you have begun, old Diogenes's +hoard will go after your father's fortune. Do you know what the two Ms +in the palm of your hands signify?" + +"_Memento mori_," I said, smilingly. + +"No. Mind money. It means 'Always mind your own money.' It is the best +advice I can give you, and the one you stand most in need of." + +I thanked him, and took my leave: no more Mr. Parasite, but on the way +to earn the title he had given me--that of a fool. + + + + +VII. + +A BRILLIANT GAME. + + +If I had had a particle of good judgment or common sense, I should have +taken the bills I had paid for at the bank to the solicitor who acted +both for Siegfried and myself, should have authorised that gentleman to +pay the twenty thousand florins Siegfried had lent me when I came into +possession of my house, and I myself should have written two pleasant +letters--one to Countess Diodora, thanking her for her great and +disinterested kindness and hospitality, and the other to Siegfried, +notifying him formally of what I had done, and, at the same time, +telling him that my resolution was firm, and that no persuasion on his +part would shake it. Then I should have thanked him for his friendship, +and finally have taken myself off with all possible speed to Heligoland, +Ostend, or some other remote watering-place. After an election campaign, +or, as in my case, nearly two campaigns, such an invigorating of the +system is very commendable. + +All this I should have done as a man of good judgment, but, alas! I was +not such a man--at any rate, no longer. My judgment had left me, and it +would need a whole pathologico-psychological dissertation to explain how +the process of inserting a rose-scion into a stock can, in a period of +hardly an hour, convert a cool, sensible, and collected man into a +stark raving madman. + +For a lunatic I was--no doubt about that. Now it was I who wanted to +play the game to the end, and to show to those five companions of mine +which of us could "jump" best. An angel had come to warn me, and had +given me a weapon against my adversaries; now I was bound to show her +that I could make proper use of the weapon. There was already a sweet +secret bond between us--her warning, and I was burning to find out the +cause, the fountain-head, of that significant partiality shown to me. +Why was the angel an angel? The question was all-important to me. + +On arriving at home with the sheriff I found a letter from Siegfried, +and on the envelope the inscription, "_Ibi, ubi, cito, citissime_. N.B. +Dr. Cornelius Dumany, Esquire." + +The contents of the letter were as follows:-- + + "DEAR FRIEND,--Aunt Diodora has her nervous attack, and is + dangerously ill. Pray make haste! _Periculum, in mora_. Bring your + electro-magnetic apparatus with you, and come at once.--SIEGFRIED." + +The gamekeeper had brought the letter, and said that he had strict +orders to wait for me, if it was until midnight. So I despatched my +business with the sheriff, gave orders for refreshments for him, and, +going into my museum, I took out a watch of the Apafy period, with which +I presented him, and made him perfectly happy. Then I picked out an +antique opal bracelet, which Cenni had found exceptionally beautiful, +and put it into my pocket as a present for the bride. I would take the +ceremony _bonâ fide_, and play my part as naturally as possible. + +We drove through Siegfried's game-park, and at the cascades I was +expected by Baron Muckicza, the other witness. "You are expected like +the Messiah by the Jews," he cried, and leaped up to me without stopping +the vehicle. "Cenni and Siegfried are in the chapel already." + +On arriving in front of the chapel, an old Gothic edifice, situated in a +large clearing in the park, we alighted, and I ordered my coachman not +to unhitch the horses, but to drive about, and wait for me at the gate +in about an hour or more. + +We opened the little gate that led to a large stone crucifix in front of +the chapel, and found the vestry-clerk and a boy ministrant waiting for +us in the entry. Now they tolled the bell hurriedly and briefly, and +gave way to us. + +Siegfried and Cenni met us in the chapel. He pressed my hand in evident +excitement, assuring me of eternal friendship and gratitude for standing +by his side at this turning-point of his life, whereupon I returned his +protestations with equal feeling. The bride, in a dove-coloured +travelling-dress, with a wreath of orange flowers in her blonde locks, +and a costly lace shawl as a bridal veil, was an exquisite image of love +and modesty. On seeing me she bashfully hid her face in her hands, +exclaiming, "Oh! what will you think of me?" and to Siegfried, +imploringly, "Pray let me go back to the house! My God, what a step you +have persuaded me to! Pray let me go back; oh, pray do!" But Siegfried +tenderly held her hands, and persuaded her to go to the good Father +Paphuntius, who was awaiting her in the shriving-pew to receive the +confession of her sins; for, as a good Catholic, she could not marry +unshriven. So she simpered and blushed a good deal, and went away to +where the Father, with clean-shaven face--evidently a Ligorian, not a +Capuchin--received her with a benediction. + +It was a splendid farce, and admirably acted by almost all the parties. +There were two bridesmaids with somewhat rural complexions, and hands +which seemed to swell out of their number seven white gloves, as did +their robust waists from the tightly-laced silk bodices. Of course, we +called them "Milady," and spoke French to them, although it was easy to +guess that they were dairy and garden wenches, and the only language +they understood or spoke was the Slavonic. They blushed and giggled a +good deal, and did not feel very much at ease on our arms. + +The ceremony took place in the most solemn and decorous way. Father +Paphuntius delivered a very impressive sermon on domestic virtues and +the fear of God leading to earthly happiness and eternal bliss. Bride +and groom kneeled down before the altar and exchanged their vows, +whereupon the priest bound their hands together and gave them his +benediction. + +My hand itched, and I could hardly keep from loudly applauding the +acting priest or the preaching actor; but I did not forget that at least +the place of comedy was really sacred, although profaned by a parcel of +blasphemous roysterers, and so I held my peace and looked on. + +After the ceremony, of course, everybody congratulated the new couple, +and I added the opal bracelet to my compliments, and received in return +a sweet smile from the fair bride. "You have robbed your collection of +its most precious treasure," she said, and "It will be made more +precious by your ladyship's acceptance" was my answer. + +We wrote our names in an old register which was in the vestry. I +presented the excellent Father Paphuntius with six gold eagles, and the +vestry clerk was made happy with as many brand-new and shining silver +florins, while the boy received six glittering quarters--all in the +fashion of a real wedding. After that, the new Benedict gave his arm to +his bride. Baron Muckicza and I bowed to the red-faced damsels, with the +German phrase, "_Darf ich Ihnen meinen Arm bieten, mein Fräulein_," to +which they answered in classic Slavonian, "_Gyekujem peknye mladi-pan_," +which means, "Thank you very much, young master." Then we went, _per +pedes apostolorum_, to the shooting-box, Father Paphuntius, of course, +accompanying us, to feast at the wedding banquet. + +The table fairly groaned under the sumptuous meal. The newly-wedded +couple took the seat of honour. I was placed to the right of the bride, +and Musinka, the dairy-wench, sat next to me, as became her position as +bridesmaid. Next to the groom sat the priest, then Anyicska, the +garden-wench and second bridesmaid, and at her side, between the two +damsels (the table was round), sat Baron Muckicza. + +We were in excellent humour and rather hilarious, and the affair was a +very lively one. At all such revels I have the peculiarity of never +drinking anything but champagne. All other wine I despise and scorn to +drink. Siegfried knew this well, and had given orders that, after the +trout, champagne should be served. The cork was drawn with a loud noise, +the wine foamed and sparkled in the glasses, but, when the servant came +to help me, I took the bottle from his hands to look at the label; for +there is a difference in the fluid, and Röderer and Röderer is not +always alike. There are certain symbolical marks on the bottles, well +known to connoisseurs. On some is a bee, on others an ostrich or an +elephant. On this particular bottle was a fly, and I threw the bottle to +the wall with such force that it broke into shivers, and the foaming +contents went splashing into the faces of the company. The reverend +Father had just risen, glass in hand, to drink a toast to the happy +couple, and Siegfried said, reproachfully-- + +"My dear fellow, you begin it too early; the bottle-breaking business +comes after the drinking, not before it." + +"All right," said I, grumbling, "but if you have a physician as your +marriage witness, don't treat your wedding company with wine marked with +a fly. I know the effect of that poison." + +He smiled mischievously, and, turning, he said in Hungarian, which the +Father did not understand, "Don't spoil the game. You'll have another +mark; this is for the Capuchin. I want to 'jump' him." + +"Indeed!" I thought. "Well, I'll 'jump' you both." The mock priest was +standing with his glass in hand to begin his toast, when I turned to him +and asked-- + +"Is it not you, my dear Seestern, that plays the Capuchin in Schiller's +_Wallenteins's Camp_?" + +The man stared at me, and fell back into his chair, with the classical +quotation "_Ha, ich bin erkannt_!" The bride shrieked, and, bounding +from my side, ran out of the room. The rustic bridesmaids stared at each +other, and asked, "_Csoeto_?" ("What does that mean?") and Siegfried's +fist came down hard on the table. "_Sacré de Dieu_! This is treachery!" +and taking hold of my arm, he asked, "Who was it? Who has betrayed this +little joke?" + +I looked him innocently in the face. "Why, my dear Siegfried, it would +be unnatural if an old Vienna theatre-goer like me did not know +Seestern, the famous comic actor. I am no country cousin to be cozened +in that way." + +"Well, evidently we have made the reckoning without our host," said he, +grumblingly. "But it is a pity. Such a capital joke it would have been, +and you would have laughed most. Still, it can't be helped, so we'll +make the best of the spoiled game. I see the prima donna has thrown off +her _rôle_, so you had better go after her, Seestern, and see her safe +to the château. Your monk's cowl is a protection in itself. Don't look +disconcerted; you can come back. Our revel does not end yet; it has +hardly begun. You, Muckicza, my dear boy, go out and get in the boys. +Tell them the hunt is over; the game has broken fence." + +By this time one of the Slav girls had stuffed her pockets with French +candies and confectionery from the table, and the other drank off the +champagne from all the glasses near. Now Siegfried looked at them, and +imperatively motioned to the door. They hurried out, and "my dear +friend" Siegfried and I were face to face, alone. His face wore a gloomy +expression, and he said, in a courtly manner-- + +"Sir, I am at your service. Do you feel offended by this joke?" + +I laughed outright. "I offended? Why should I? Nothing has happened to +me." + +"But it would have happened. We intended to give you a little 'jump.'" + +"And why?" + +"Oh, for nothing! Only you look so funny with that gorilla beard you +wear on your face." + +"Indeed? And pray how should I 'jump' as your marriage witness?" + +"Has not the person who warned you betrayed the whole scheme?" + +"Never you mind. I am not offended; quite the contrary. I like such +practical jokes, and have taken my revenge beforehand. I have played you +an equal trick: I have given my resignation as a candidate this +morning." + +"You cannot mean it! Tell me, are you in earnest?" + +"Dear me, no! I am joking; I told you so! But the thing is irrevocably +done, all the same." + +"But how could you do it without consulting the party!--without telling +me! Thunder and lightning! this is no child's play, but a high game; and +there are thousands staked on it! How dare you play fast and loose with +us, after all the expenses you have caused us?" + +"Oh, if I have a hand in such a game, I generally play it in the proper +way!" I said, taking out the wallet with Siegfried's bills, and putting +them all in a row on the table. "You see, this is the way I ventured to +do as I did." + +He tried to play the offended man. "Sir, it seems you do not know--" + +"Oh, everything, my dear count!" I said, laughingly; "only don't let us +make much ado about nothing. We have both had our joke, and now allow me +to beg you for my piece of pasteboard, on which you had the kindness to +lend me twenty thousand florins. Here, pray, let me hand you your money. +I have it ready for you." + +He gave me my card, but refused the money. "It is paid already," he +said. "The amount is included in these bills." + +At that moment Countess Diodora's footman came in, and Siegfried asked +if he had come to look for Countess Cenni. "No," said the man, "Countess +Cenni is in the château"--("What a good runner she is!" I thought)--"but +her ladyship, the Countess Vernöczy--Diodora--is very ill, and begs his +honour, the Dr. Dumany, to be kind enough to come and see her. The +ranger has saddled his horse, and is waiting for the prescription to +take it to town at once." + +That was an honour indeed, and I lost no time in following the man, and +left Siegfried utterly amazed. "Why, Nell," he said, "you can work +miracles! You are a Cagliostro, and exercise some powerful, mysterious +influence! You must be congratulated on this victory. Fancy Aunt Diodora +consulting a physician! having a man enter her maiden sanctuary! It +would not be believed if I told it!" + +At the portal of the château I hesitated for a moment. I had grown +suspicious, and suddenly it occurred to me that this might be some other +little practical joke, and part of the programme; but I dismissed the +thought as base. The countess was a woman--a sick woman; deception in +that line was impossible, at least in my profession. I could not be +"jumped." + +In the château everybody went on tiptoe, as usual when Diodora had her +nervous attacks, but I did not heed that. My step was as firm as ever; +the reverberation of the physician's step is soothing to the patient, +and fills him with hope and assurance. + +The servant conducted me to the room in which Countess Flamma sat; the +adjacent room was that of the sufferer. Flamma sat reading before the +lamp when I entered. She laid down the book, got up, and extended her +hand. "Diodora expects you impatiently. She is more excited than ever, +and has just driven out Cenni because she smelt of wine." + +"So Cenni was here already, possibly for the sake of an _alibi_." + +"Don't speak of that! She told me all that has occurred. Have you drunk +wine also, or is your breath pure? Bend down a little, so. You are all +right, and I'll take you to Diodora; only wait here a little." + +She went in, but returned instantly, and beckoned me to follow her into +a boudoir lighted by a lamp with a shade of green glass. Rich tapestry +hangings divided the apartment. Flamma drew the hangings partly aside, +motioned me to go near, and left the room, softly closing the entrance. + +So I was here on that sacred spot, the first and only male being alive +who had ever been granted the privilege of seeing the sublime Diodora on +her couch. Only her head and arms were visible--such arms as might have +been lost by the Venus of Milo and found by this, her divine sister. The +thick tresses of raven hair were uncoiled and scattered in rich skeins +on the pillows and the coverlet. One of the silken coils fell down +heavily to the carpet, and another was thrown high over the sculptured +ornaments of the mahogany bedstead. It was an _embarras de richesses_ +rarely met with; and in the rich and precious braids the ivory fingers +were clutched, dishevelling them, tearing at them, in the excess of +pain. The beautiful face was pale and lustrous, the eyes bright and +glittering, surrounded by broad, dark blue circles; the lips were +parted, and the breath came short. Her hands were hot and dry, and the +pulse beat intermittently. When I laid my hand on her head and my thumb +pressed against the crown, she groaned--"Yes, there it is. Hell itself, +with all its tortures!" + +My hands went down on her neck, between the _musculus cucullaris_ and +the _sternocleido mastoideus_. "Ah, that is the way the pain goes down," +she sighed; and when I asked, "Will your ladyship give me leave to make +use of my skill?" she answered, "Don't call me 'ladyship'! I am no +countess now; I am nothing but a suffering animal, and you may call me +what you please. Give me the title of dog, so you can help me." + +"Then pray sit up first, and let me gather and secure your hair; it +hinders my movements." + +She obeyed; and, while I gathered the loose tresses and coiled them +around the head, the coverlet slipped down unnoticed, and the lace +nightgown, torn open by the restless fingers, revealed the marble bust +and shoulders; but for the physician, in the execution of his +professional duty, female charms do not exist. The warm, soft, creamy +skin is nothing to him but epidermis, _stratum mucosum Malpighii_; the +white, sculptured neck only the _regio nuchć_, and then comes the _regio +scapularis_, the _deltoidea_, and then the _sacrospinalis_. + +What a fuss they make about that ascetic who resisted the temptations +of the flesh when tried by the evil spirit in the shape of Lilith! What +would that famous saint have done, how would he have behaved, if he had +been called to rub this soft, velvety, odorous flesh, the fascinating, +peerless body, with his hands? Who knows if then the Catholic Church had +not boasted of one saint less? Indeed, indeed, we modern physicians have +more of the saint in our disposition--in general, of course. + +The effect of the treatment appeared at once in soft, voluptuous sighs +of relief, deep and long-drawn; in the magnetic showers of the body I +recognised a sure token which that mysterious disorder in the veins, +lymphs, and nerves reveals in the ganglia. A firm pressure of the biceps +with full fist, a pressure of the thumb against the _rhomboideus_, made +her exclaim, "Oh, that has done me good!" Then she began to shiver, the +body ceased to be hot and dry, and perspiration set in. She laughed +involuntarily, her teeth chattering with cold, and then she sighed +again, and said, gratefully, "I feel as if you had saved me from +drowning in an ocean of hot oil." I was at the _regio palmarum_, rubbing +her hands and fingers, cracking each of them. "Thank you," said she; +"that will do. I feel much better." + +But I told her that my work was only half done as yet and had to be +finished, or else the attack would return. The object was to gain +regular circulation of the blood throughout the whole body. This is no +witchcraft, but plain mechanical aid to the action of the live organism. + +But now that her sense had returned, her bashfulness returned also. +"Could not the remaining part of the treatment be executed by a woman?" +she asked. + +"Yes, if she has studied anatomy, visited the dissecting-room regularly, +and knows every particle in the structure of the human body; otherwise, +a quack may do just as much mischief with the pressure of her unskilled +hands on the outside of your body as with a bottle of quack medicine to +your inner system. It is hard to make you open your eyes to the fact +that the organic structure of the human body is a more wonderful, much +more admirable work of creation than the starry heaven. When, at a word, +the muscles of your face move to a smile of pleasure, or your eyes are +filled with tears of joy, sorrow, or compassion such a complicated +machinery is set in motion that no mechanical iron structure on earth +can be found half as involved or half as complete; and a person not +thoroughly acquainted with the qualities and parts of this wonderful +apparatus will prove a tormenting executioner, not a healing physician, +to the sufferer. Be patient, milady, the physician at the bed of his +patient is of the neuter gender--just as the angels are." + +"Then--be an angel!" + +I did my duty. The _musculus risorius_ was moving already. A happy smile +played on her face, the pale face regained its colour, and then the +involuntary smile gave way to involuntary tears. After this she fell +asleep; so deep, so peaceful was her sleep that the _aponeurosis +plantaris_ did not disturb her, although there are few or none who are +able to undergo the process of having the soles of their feet rubbed. + +She slept, and there she lay in all her sublime beauty, like some +wonderful marble statue, the image of a goddess. I took the coverlet, on +which the Vernöczy crest--a nymph rising out of a shell, holding apart +her long, golden hair--was embroidered, and covered up the fair sleeper, +folding the blanket well on the feet to prevent evil dreams. Then I let +down the curtains to shut out the lamplight, and left the room. + +On the thick, soft carpet, my step was noiseless, and Countess Flamma +was not aware of my presence. I entered the room in which she sat before +a little table, her palms clutched together, her pale, beautiful face +bent over a book. It seemed to be a very interesting book, for she was +entirely lost in the contents. I waited until she finished the page, but +she did not turn the leaf, but re-read the same page again and again. +"Countess!" I said, deferentially. She looked up and hastily closed the +book. The silver filigree cross on the purple velvet cover betrayed the +prayer-book. What prayer was that of which she did not tire, but read it +over and over repeatedly? + +She gazed at me in evident wonder, and her eyes sparkled like two +shining orbs. "You have returned?" she exclaimed, as if in doubt of my +bodily reality. + +"Countess Diodora is asleep," I said, "and will not wake until the +morning. Pray, take care not to disturb her." + +"And--you--you--did not remain--there?" pointing to the room I left. + +"I have done all I could, and my staying would be of no use to her. To +watch her sleep would do no good to her and be tiresome to me." + +From the shooting-box shouts of revelry reverberated up to us. "You are +going back to them?" she asked. + +"No. I have finished my business with Siegfried, and told him that I had +revoked my nomination." + +"You have really done it?" + +"Certainly. I have also paid the election expenses up to date, and +thanked Siegfried for his good intentions. Henceforth we shall be +friendly neighbours, but not friends. Now give me leave to say +good-night to you. To-morrow morning I'll drive over to pay a +professional visit to Countess Diodora." + +"Don't go home now," she said, holding my hand; "the night is dark, and +something might happen to you. I have prepared a room for you here in +the château, with auntie's permission, and you will stay. Henceforth, +whenever you come to Vernöcze, you will come straight here, not to the +shooting-box." + +The blood rushed up to my face, and then back to my heart with a +throbbing sensation. A tingling noise like the sound of bells was in my +ears, and for a moment the whole universe seemed to have but one real +fixed star--the fair, pale face before me. "Will you stay?" she asked, +with a sweet smile and a pressure of her hand; and I ask, Is there on +earth a Cicero or a Demosthenes so eloquent as the pressure of a +woman's hand when it speaks? + +I thought I knew all. I had sounded the mystery of her warning to me, +and in that moment of overwhelming bliss I do not know what I did. Had I +kissed her hand? Had I said anything? given a promise or received one? I +do not know; but that my head was dizzy, and my heart filled with a +world of joy, that I remember. + + + + +VIII. + +A BITING KISS. + + +The valet conducted me to the room assigned to me, and carried my orders +to my coachman to unhitch the horses, and send up my necessaries. "Will +it please your honour to take some tea?" asked the valet. + +"Thanks," said I, "I won't take anything. But you will greatly oblige me +if you will send me a bowl with warm water; I want to shave." + +"Certainly, sir. The chambermaid will fetch it at once." + +I had resolved to shave. Good-bye to Chauvinism and national +peculiarity! I wanted a smooth, clean face, as I had had before I had +given way to vanity and political ambition. From this day on I ceased to +be a clay figure in the hands of juggling quacks. I was Dr. Dumany +again, and would remain so for life. + +As I sat before the mirror, looking at my own face, I could not repress +a smile. That beard of a few weeks' growth lent me an appearance that +was nearly akin to that of a gorilla. I took a pair of scissors and +clipped off the hair; then I prepared the soap and razor for shaving the +bristles. A woman, whom I took to be the chambermaid, set a bowl of +water before me, and, as I am not in the habit of looking closely at +chambermaids, I said, "Thank you," prepared the lather, and commenced +shaving. + +The woman was yet standing beside me, and, as I thought she was waiting +for orders, I said, without turning-- + +"Much obliged, my dear; you need not wait. I shall not want anything +this evening." + +"May I not send you a cup of tea?" + +I started, and the razor in my hand gave a great jerk, happily not into +my face: the woman I had taken for a chambermaid was Cenni. + +"Oh," I said, "it is you!" + +She laughed, and said, with a mock obeisance, "Yes, sir." But, looking +at me in the mirror, she laughed again, and said--"Only go on. I am +waiting for the Byron face to appear again, when these stalks are swept +off. We can talk a little meanwhile." + +"Indeed? But, you see, there is one more forbidden subject between us. +There are four now: the step-ladder, the Sultan of Morocco, the +sea-dove, and now Father Paphuntius." + +"It's astonishing how sharp you are; almost as keen as your razor. Only +take care, you may cut your own skin!" + +"Not likely. My hand is skilled in using knives. Am I mistaken in +supposing that you have come to ask for secrecy on my part?" + +"Not altogether. That was a part of my motive in coming." + +"You magnanimously promised me a kiss for keeping the other secrets. +What will be my fee for this?" + +"A bite, and yet a kiss. It will hurt you, and yet it is meant as a +caress--like those biting kisses which some over-fond mothers bestow on +their little ones, and make them cry." + +"Thank you, I am ready to accept it, and shall do my best not to cry." + +"Don't be too sure of that. Take care of the blade in your hand! I half +think I ought to postpone my revelations, because as long as this +shaving process serves you as a pretext for making grimaces, I cannot +clearly detect the real impression my words are making on you. Would you +mind laying down that razor for a while, and leave off making faces and +holding the tip of your own nose?" + +"Impossible. I have heard of Janus having two different faces--one for +peace, smooth and smiling sweetly; the other for war, frowning and +threatening, and clothed with a grizzly beard. But I myself always show +an honest impartiality to friend or foe." + +"Oh, I daresay that you condemn and despise me, for, foolish and +conceited as you are, you scarcely know how to distinguish between +friend and foe. You think the misfortune that little pleasantry would +have brought upon you highly important, whereas, if carried out as +intended, it would have saved you from real harm and real degradation." + +"What? If I had played that game to the end and had caused you, the +pretended bride of another man, to elope with me, it would have been to +my advantage? Is that the quintessence of cynicism, or sublime +_naďveté_?" + +"No. It is plain truth, and you will find it out with a vengeance! Only +then it will be too late for repentance. You have been told that I lent +my aid to play a trick which would have made you the laughing-stock of +all your acquaintances. I tell you if you had only gone on, +unforewarned, you would have come out a hero and the master of them all. +Only then you would have known me as I truly am, and not as I choose to +appear. I have been slandered to you, and you think me a she-devil at +least, because I like a joke, and look everybody in the face, and not up +to heaven like a saint, or down to earth like a sinner. I also look like +a bold word, and am no more a hypocrite in words than I am in deeds; +and, first of all, I never make use of calumny to gain my own ends. I +know who has told you that I was a Satanella. Flamma, the--'angel.' Of +course, everybody who is acquainted with us will tell you that she _is_ +an _angel_, and that I am a devil at least, because I have cat's-eyes, a +sharp tongue, and a quick temper, whereas she has the face of a Madonna, +the disposition of a nun, and--she knows how to keep her own counsel. +Her mouth is only opened when necessary to her own purposes; in such a +case she does not recoil from the basest slander. Do you think I did not +watch you two at that rose-bed? That I did not notice the glitter in +your eye, the excited shaking of your hands? And do you know why she did +it? Because the day before I had boldly told you to win Diodora. That +she could not forgive me, and do you know why? You remember your answer. +It was when you told us the tragic story of your friend and the moral, +that you were wary of the caprices of aristocratic heiresses. Now--she +thought--if this is so? Here is a girl without a penny of her own, with +a mock title which does not belong to her; if he disbelieves in +heiresses, he may believe in her, and that is a state of things not to +be endured. Let us spoil that little private game of Miss Nobody, +because we have a reason for wanting the light-headed, easily-deceived +fellow for ourselves. But do you know that reason? Can you guess it?" + +The knife was at my throat literally; but she laughed a short, harsh +laugh, and continued-- + +"Ha! ha! You come from them. You have been called to the divinity to +admire her in her sublime loveliness, and you have treated her as clay, +and played the _rôle_ of the Messiah, Who drove out the demons by the +touch of His hands. How she must despise you--nay, hate you--for that +proof of your preference for Psyche over Anadyomene! How that +sweet-winged creature, Psyche, must have pressed your hand, and looked +up to you with a sweet, promissory smile as you kissed her hand and +professed yourself her most obedient slave for ever after! Although you +ought to remember your friend's story well enough! When you told it, you +said, 'I am nothing but a runaway doctor, an expelled Member of +Parliament, and a Slav king'; now you shave your face and say, 'I am a +marvellously powerful man, and endowed with magical charms. I shall be a +king of hearts!'" + +My face was smooth and clean. I poured some _eau de Cologne_ in the bowl +of water, dipped a sponge into it, and washed my face, drying it with a +soft towel. "Oh, you are quite handsome enough!" she said, mockingly; +"you can show your Byron face; 'I come, I see, I conquer,' is written on +your forehead. But now I am not jesting; and listen to me, or repent it +until your dying hour! If you succeed in winning the divinity you may be +a slave, but a cherished slave. You will not know the blessing of love, +but you will also be free of the pangs of jealousy and of shame. But +beware of the angel! I tell you, if that rose-scion which you both +inserted the other day germinates and comes to bloom, deadly despair +will be your lot, and the angel's rose will kill you with foul poison! +Beware, I say! Cut that scion while you have the opportunity, and then +go to the end of the world to be safe from the angel's revenge! +Remember, I have warned you!" + +She had gone to the door, but at the threshold she turned and said--"I +have given you the biting kiss I promised. Much good it may do you!" + +With that she went out, but her biting kiss had not hurt me. My heart +was full of hope and joy. This girl's impotent jealousy had convinced me +of the reality of my happiness. I was beloved, and I loved again; and +could the venomous tongue of a jealous woman incense me against an angel +like Flamma? True love is like pure gold, and the acid of calumny does +not destroy it, but gives new proof of its value. I loved Flamma, and +Flamma loved me. This was enough of bliss, enough to keep me all night +in a waking dream, in a transport of exquisite joy. + + + + +IX. + +WHO IS THE VISITOR? + + +I waited impatiently for the daybreak. At the first dawn I was up and +dressed, and taking long strides on the garden path. How long would it +be until the ladies were up, and willing to receive me? Even the +servants were asleep yet. I strolled on aimlessly until I found myself +unexpectedly at the dairy, which was quite a grand establishment, where +twenty milch cows of the Aargau breed were milked daily, and a delicious +cheese manufactured. Siegfried had told me some time before that, as +soon as the railway was extended to the neighbouring town--a prospect +which was expected to be realised shortly--he would have a branch laid +on, at his own expense, to his dairy. Anyicska and Masinka, the two +bridesmaids of last evening, met me at the gate, and were very officious +in showing me in, and while Anyicska brought me a cup of excellent sweet +milk, Masinka brought some spongy rye bread, fresh from the oven, upon a +salver. Of course, this was offered as a bribe for my secrecy on the +topic of last night, and I promised them not to tell Countess Diodora +how they had been employed at the mock wedding. Poor things, why should +I betray them for obeying orders? So I graciously accepted my +hush-money, which was less subtle and more substantial than that offered +by the fair bride herself; and they told me that the revelry had lasted +almost until cock-crow. They all had capital fun. The Father had sung +highly amusing songs. The girls had been called back after my departure, +and then, with the other companions who were called in, the merry-making +had reached a very high pitch. Of course, Cenni had not returned to +them. + +As I gave them my promise of silence they thanked me, and in return they +told me that, with my smooth face, I was a much handsomer-looking fellow +than last night, with that beard on my cheeks and chin; and I was +conceited enough to pocket the compliment and believe in its truth. + +Breakfast was served to me in my room. The ladies were up, but Countess +Diodora was too weak to preside as usual at the breakfast-table. I +requested the honour of paying her a professional visit, and was told +that she would be glad to see the "doctor." + +The room in which she received me was a magnificent _salon_, with a +balcony in front. When I entered, the doors and windows were wide open; +the rays of the sun darted through the filmy lace curtains; it was a +"_tableau en plein air_" that met my eye. Countess Diodora, in a +mauve-coloured silk dressing-gown, rested on a settee. Before her was a +little Venetian mosaic table, and on it a tea-tray. Diodora seemed to be +in excellent spirits, and looked beautiful; the suffering of last night +had not told on her complexion the least bit. She wore a black lace +scarf to conceal her hair, which was still in the state in which I had +coiled and pinned it, except that a great ornamental tortoise-shell +comb, of yellow hue, had been thrust into it. Opposite to the countess, +on two embroidered stools, sat the two girls, engaged in finishing the +Japanese sunbird; and in the balcony door stood Siegfried, smoking a +cigarette, and blowing the smoke--in consideration of his aunt--out of +the door. I thought it would have been more considerate still if he had +not smoked at all. As I entered, the thought seemed to occur to him that +the business of smoking would be best despatched on the balcony, so he +escaped the difficulty of looking me in the face. Cenni also found a +pretext for retiring; she took the tea-tray from the little table and +left the room with it. Countess Diodora, Flamma, and myself remained in +the room. I asked the countess how she felt, and whether she had enjoyed +a peaceful sleep, and she answered, with rapture-- + +"I slept deliciously, as I never have before since my childhood; and I +had such delightful dreams! I fancied I was a child again, and rambled +in the garden chasing butterflies. You have worked miracles, and +henceforth I shall believe in you as in an oracle. I revoke all I have +said against your profession and science, and confide myself entirely +into your hands. The first touch of your hand had a magic effect on me, +and afterward I felt as if you had taken my vile body of clay from me, +joint by joint, with the witchcraft of your fingers, and given me a new, +better, and more perfect form. I felt as if you had lent me wings, and +that now I could rise with you up above the clouds, captivated by your +mesmeric influence upon me. Moon and stars seemed to remain far below +me, and you were guiding me up to a strange world, full of unknown and +eternal bliss. Oh, why cannot this transport of exquisite pleasure last +for ever? Indeed, indeed, I do not know how to express the gratitude I +owe you!" + +Diodora said this to me in the presence of Flamma, and in the hearing of +Siegfried, who, on the balcony, could hear every word through the open +door; and, as she said it, her great Juno-like eyes rested on mine with +an expression of enthusiastic admiration. Yes! such might have been the +look which the goddess bestowed on poor, silly Ixion as she lured him on +and then--left a cloud in his arms. + +But do you know why that look failed to infect me as it had Ixion? +Because I had been inoculated against the infection by another look last +night--a look from the violet eyes of Flamma. + +I rose from my seat, and, throwing myself into an attitude befitting a +ceremonious announcement, I said-- + +"Countess, to be of service to you is a happiness to me. Pray dispose of +me. If I can convert your pains into pleasures, I shall consider the +happy result as the highest reward. Your ladyship's gracious words at +this moment inspire me with boldness; so much so that I feel encouraged +to lay the hidden secret of my heart, the cherished wish of my life, in +your hands. If you deign to accept my confession and grant my desire, +you will bind me to your service for life, in attaching me to your +family." + +I shall never in life forget that proud, repellent lifting of her head +as I spoke. Diana might have looked so at Actćon, although, poor fellow, +he had never come so near to the virgin charms of that Olympian lady as +I to those of the queenly virgin before me on the preceding night. Her +forehead seemed to gain in height, her eyes retreated behind the lashes, +her lips were pressed together, and her nostrils dilated. In looking at +me her chin doubled, and she seemed the personification of haughty +disdain. + +"My dear doctor," she said, with proud emphasis on the "doctor," "it +seems you have misinterpreted my words. I have never thought of +encouraging you in desires such as you this moment expressed." + +I bent my head deeper still. "Dear countess, allow me to say that the +misconstruction is on your side. I did not intend the bold request which +you seem to impute to me; I simply beg leave to ask for the hand of your +niece." + +Her whole disposition seemed to change on hearing this, and she broke +into a long, ringing, scornful laugh--the laugh of offended vanity, of +angered pride; such a laugh as women use to mask their disappointment +and jealousy, and the rising of their temper. + +"Ha! ha! ha! Ah! ha! ha! The little Cenni! Ha! ha! So it is true, and I +have guessed right? Ha! ha! ha! And the little fool has run out; she +guessed the object of your visit. Ha! ha! ha! It's wonderful! My niece, +the little Cenni--Countess Cenni! Oh, what a perfect match! Ha! ha! ha!" + +I did not disturb the explosion of her mirth. As a physician I knew that +it impaired the health of a nervous woman if she was interrupted in her +vagaries. At the sound of her laughter Siegfried re-entered and asked, +"What is it now?" + +Diodora explained, laughing hysterically, that their dear, common +friend, Dr. Dumany, had just now asked for the hand of little Cenni. + +"Very well," said Siegfried, "serves him right. Let him have her, by all +means!" + +"I beg both your pardons," I said, "but it seems to me as if the +misunderstanding between us is becoming chronic. I very much admire, but +have no intention of marrying--Miss Klara." + +"Ah!" Like Semiramis she stood before me. "Who has told you that there +was such a person--a Miss Klara--existing in this house?" + +Retreat was impossible. I looked at Flamma, and she answered with an +encouraging nod; so I replied to the countess's imperious inquiries-- + +"Lady Flamma." + +"Yes, it was I," said Flamma, rising from her seat, and stepping to my +side. + +"You shall pay dear to me for this!" cried Siegfried, with a threatening +look; but I took her hand, and said-- + +"Pray compose yourself. This lady stands under my protection. I have +done myself the honour to ask for her hand, and I wait for your +decision." + +"Show the Devil your finger, and he will take your hand; treat a peasant +with kindness, and he will think himself your equal," said he, with a +sneer. + +"Siegfried!" said Diodora, "I beg you not to forget that this is my +room, and that my guests are not to be insulted in my presence. This +affair does not concern you in the least." + +"But if he is impertinent?" growled he. + +"Perhaps the count might be more careful in his choice of language," +said I, proudly, "if he would consider that a Dumany fought as a knight +and a soldier under the national tricolour at Mount Thabor, while the +first Vernöczy was still serving as a humble shepherd on the Verhovina." + +I was sorry for this as soon as I said it, for I had offended Flamma +also; but the bitter pill had the desired effect, inasmuch as the whole +aristocratic family regained their usual lymphatic composure. + +"Flamma," said Diodora, coldly, "have you given this gentleman the right +to claim your hand?" + +"Yes." + +"Then--I do not object," and she motioned with her hand. I understood +the gesture, and extended my hand to Flamma. She accepted it, and I +bowed and kissed her hand. That was our betrothal. Siegfried took out a +cigarette, lighted it, and blow the smoke at the chandelier. + +"I had other intentions concerning Flamma's future," said Diodora again, +"but, since her choice has fallen on you, I am satisfied--at least, I +do not object. Only I beg of you not to delay your nuptials. Have them +celebrated as soon as possible, for I intend to go to Heligoland--to try +the baths." + +To Heligoland!--that was the place I should have gone to, if I had +listened to good sense--and to Cenni. + +"Certainly," I said; "I am only too happy in the prospect. If you will +give me leave I shall hasten to Szepes-Váralja, to the bishop, for a +dispensation, and, as soon as I am in possession of that document, I +shall return, and we can have the ceremony performed the day after my +return." + +"Then I should also wish," said Diodora again, "that the wedding might +be altogether a simple family affair, with no strangers as witnesses." + +"Your ladyship expresses my own wishes." + +"If so, we might have the ceremony performed here, in our chapel." + +I remembered Father Paphuntius. "No, I'll have nothing to do with that +chapel." + +Siegfried smiled as he guessed the reason of my embarrassed silence, and +then Flamma smiled, and Diodora also. At last, as a smile has a soothing +effect on everybody, we all laughed. "No," said Diodora, "I was not +speaking of the park hermitage. We have a chapel here in the château, +and if we do not invite too many we shall have room enough." + +"I shall invite no one but a single witness as my best man." + +"But do not ask me to fill that position," said Siegfried; "for I am +invited to go buffalo-hunting in Volhynia, and shall start to-morrow." + +"There is something else," said Diodora. "After the wedding ceremony I +shall hand you over Flamma's dowry, which she has inherited from her +grandfather. It consists of a million of florins in good bonds." + +I bowed in silence, looking at Flamma. + +"No; this is a matter which concerns you as well as her, and you must +know that her grandfather laid down the condition that if she, guided by +whatever motive, should release herself from the bonds of the Catholic +religion, she should lose everything, and surrender the inheritance to +collateral relatives." + +"I cannot think that such an event could take place at any time." + +"Time will show." + +There was a long pause, and I thought best to take my leave. I turned +first to Flamma, who laid both her hands in mine, and, looking up to me, +asked me softly to return soon. Then Diodora languidly extended her hand +to me, and I bowed over it with cool, studied politeness, and as I +looked up I saw that Siegfried thought fit to shake my hand in honour of +the new relation between us. He even went so far as to embrace me. "God +bless you, my dear--cousin," he said, laughingly; but, thank God, he did +not think it necessary to kiss me! + +A week later Flamma and I were married. Everything went on in the +regular way. No objection, no obstacle was raised. The ceremony was +held in Vernöcze in the afternoon, and the same evening I was free to +take my bride home to Dumanyfalva. From one of the great portals I drove +with Flamma; from the other, Diodora and Cenni started on a trip to +Heligoland. Siegfried had gone to Volhynia six days before. + +If you think that with this marriage my story is at an end, you are +mistaken; it has hardly begun. It is a strange story, and not pleasant +to dwell on; but you shall judge for yourself. + + + + +X. + +AFTER THE WEDDING. + + +So overwhelming was my happiness that I sometimes fancied that it was +all a dream, and that I should wake to find myself in my former +condition. In one short week I had had my old mansion refurnished in a +style worthy of the high-born and gently-reared bride who was to inhabit +it; and I thought what joy it would give me if she should walk through +the halls and chambers of her new home, and find everything arranged to +suit her own delicate and refined taste, and answering all her +requirements as to beauty and comfort. + +And then I had dreamt of the first supper we should eat at home at our +own table; each dish an inviting delicacy, deliciously prepared; and yet +we should hardly taste of it, our palates thirsting for different +feasts. + +And now this dream had become a reality, and I looked at my beloved, and +tried to catch a glance of her beautiful, downcast eyes. I had as yet +never enjoyed the privilege of a kiss from her lips, and I was longing +for one; but when I tried to draw her close to me, she whispered, +"Don't, we shall be observed by the servants!" + +At last the meal was over, and we rose from the table. + +"Pray lead me to your work-room. I have yet to hand you over my dowry." + +I laughed. "Time enough for that a week or more hence. No? Well, any day +you please; but not now." Still she persisted. + +"It has to be done this evening. I can't keep it any longer. You did not +accept of it from Diodora, so you must take it from me. It is no longer +my own--it is yours." + +"Dearest, there is no such distinction existing! Since this blessed +morning neither of us can claim possession of anything that is not +common to both alike. What is mine is all yours, and what is yours I +claim all for myself! For the marriage tie has made us one for ever!" + +"But pray come," she said again; "I have the chest with the securities +here with me, and I should like to have it all over." + +I sighed and obeyed. At the door of my study she left me for a moment, +returning instantly with a rosewood chest, richly ornamented with +silver. On one of her bracelets a tiny filigree key was dangling; with +this key she opened the chest, and then, stepping back, she said-- + +"Convince yourself. The contents must amount to exactly one million of +florins." + +"I am quite convinced," I said, "and accept it as correct." + +"That you shall not. Let us take out everything, and reckon up the +amount." With that she took the papers out herself, and I had to sit +down, take slate and pencil, while she dictated to me the value of each +bond, its title, and, looking into every one, she satisfied herself that +the coupons were attached to it. + +In the abstract it may seem rather a pleasant occupation for a married +couple to reckon up a million of money as their joint property; but, in +this concrete instance, to spend the wedding-night in a study, making +pecuniary computation, is the pinnacle of pedantry. + +At last it was done; and, as I computed it, I made the total to be one +million and twenty-five thousand florins. + +"How is that possible?" she asked. + +I had to explain to her the fluctations of the market price in relation +to the nominal value, which was the basis of our computation. + +"Then let us look for the market-price of the bonds as it is at present. +I know it is to be found in every newspaper," and with that she took one +up from the table, looked for the exchange report, and dictated again, +"Hungarian real estate bonds, 85; Lower-Austrian, 88; Transylvanian, 82, +etc." + +This time we have thirty thousand florins less than the million. + +"How is that possible?" she asked again. + +"Dearest," said I, "let that be! What does it matter if--" + +"But it does matter. My grandfather left me exactly one million; neither +more nor less. So I must find out this balance of thirty thousand, +also." + +"Maybe, at the time when he bequeathed this money to you the price of +these securities was higher than at present," I suggested. + +"That is possible. But then there ought to be some list, or something +else relating to it. Let me look it over again." + +Great heavens! she took everything out again, and searched for a last +year's exchange list. A crumbled yellow newspaper clipping was found, +and then the whole process had to be repeated again; and now thank God, +the million came out even! I drew a great sigh of relief; but I had +triumphed too soon. She asked for pen and ink, and, as I got up from the +seat before the writing-desk, she sat down and wrote on each of the +bonds, deeds, obligations, mortgages, etc., her own name--"Flamma Maria +Dumany of Dumanyfalva, _née_ Countess Vernöczy of Vranicsa," in a clear, +almost masculine hand. + +"What is the use of this, dearest?" I asked. + +"You know," she replied, "all these papers, as yet, bear the name of my +grandfather, and we could not realise upon them as they are. I must +first write my own name upon each." + +"But we do not want to realise on them." + +"That you don't know--at present." + +"But there would be time for this on some future day." + +"No. Pray compose yourself. I have to finish this now." + +And she did finish it. On two hundred different securities she wrote, in +bold, large letters, her full name, and I stood there and looked on in +helpless despair. + +At last there was an end of it. She put the papers in the chest again, +handed me the key, and begged me to lock everything up in the safe. I +obeyed, in the ardent hope that at last I had done with papers and +accounts. + +"There is something else I have to hand over to you," said Flamma, as I +stepped nearer; and, drawing from the pocket of her dress an envelope, +she handed me an official-looking document, fastened with tri-coloured +tape, with a large official seal upon it. It was a power of attorney +from Flamma Maria, Countess Vernöczy of Vranicsa, to her husband Dr. +Cornelius Dumany of Dumanyfalva, giving him full authority over her +dowry, consisting of real estate, bonds, etc., to the amount of one +million of florins, and authorising him to sell or retain or use the +aforesaid securities according to his own need or pleasure, and without +previous consultation with any person, his wife included. + +"Dearest," I said, "this is very generous of you; but there is no need +of any such document to give me proof of your confidence." + +"I did not intend it as such a proof." + +"Then what was your intention?" + +"To give you no cause to accuse me of meanness. You shall not say that I +left you on your wedding-day without a shilling in your pocket, as your +friend was left on the Isle of Wight." + +I gazed at her, at the pale face that was even paler than usual, and +cold and inanimate as a block of ice. + +"Flamma!" I cried, "what does it mean? How am I to take this?" + +"As a confession. That other man has made me--his--wife." + +"Flamma!" + +She stood there, pale, cold, statue-like, and her voice sounded like +that of an automaton. I felt like one stupefied, like one who had meant +to enter the gates of paradise and found himself in a sea of fire and +brimstone. + +"Who is the man?" I stammered. + +"Siegfried." + +"And why did he not marry you, if--" + +"Because he is married already. His wife lives in Egypt, and he cannot +get a legal divorce from her." + +"And why have you married me? For we are married. The ceremony of this +afternoon was real, not a comedy like that other?" + +"No; we are married. When that--misfortune--happened to me Siegfried +promised to marry me to some distinguished gentleman who might give me a +good name and an acceptable position, so that the marriage should need +no explanation." + +"When was that?" + +"Three months ago." + +"At the time I arrived from Vienna?" + +"Yes." + +"Was that the reason for his instantaneous proffer of friendship?" + +"Yes." + +"And for that reason I was nominated for Parliament?" + +"Yes, but that also was the cause of your first failure. It was +Siegfried who bribed the witnesses against you. He wanted to crush your +pride, draw you closer to him, bring you into close connection with and +dependence upon our homes and us." + +"So it was all a conspiracy?" + +"Yes." + +"And Cenni's mock-marriage and your betrayal of the scheme?" + +"Were meant to win your confidence." + +"So Cenni co-operated with you?" + +"She had to. At first she opposed it, and meant to win you for herself. +She is a poor girl, and dependent on Diodora's charity; and she had to +give way." + +"And Diodora?" + +"It was she who designed the whole plot. Her sickness that night was +simulated in order to bring you near me, and to encourage you to the +proposal." + +This whole discourse, so closely resembling a cross-examination, had +altogether the appearance of such an interrogatory as a magnetiser would +address to his subject; and the answers I received were given with the +plain, involuntary precision characteristic of hypnotised persons. She +stood there before me, with her hands clasped in each other; that +seraph-face of hers, that seemed the type of innocence and purity, +without a tinge of colour, although her dreadful confession was enough +to paint the cheeks of the most degraded woman with the colour of shame. +She seemed to have no bashfulness, no sense of shame, and to be wholly +incapable of realising her offence. And I had not believed in a Devil! +Here he was before me, in the shape of this fair woman, who had tempted +me with her angel's mien to sell my soul for her, and now she was +dragging me down with her to eternal damnation! And the other one had +warned me! She had told me with that "biting kiss" of hers that this +seeming angel was no angel, but a Devil to kill me body and soul. She +had told me that this fair rose was full of foul poison, and her warning +had filled me with vain conceit and enhanced my love for my executioner. +I saw it now. Cenni had meant to make that elopement real; and if I had +taken her she would have given me her love, as this one had given me her +accursed million. Money to pay for my honest name, money for my lost +life and happiness, money to bribe me to the endurance of these hellish +tortures! + +Impossible! I cannot believe that human nature can be so vile, so +miserably cunning and treacherous. This is some evil dream, some test, +perhaps, of the sincerity of my love and trust in her. + +"Flamma!" I said--"dearest! do not continue this ugly jest. I cannot +hear foul words come out of your pure mouth;" and I tried to take her +hand. But she drew back. + +"I have told you the truth," she said, with a repellent gesture. + +The truth! The truth! This shameful, horrid confession was the truth? +Like an idiot or a lunatic I stared, gazing before me, with scarcely a +thought in my stunned, aching head. A Calabrian dagger lay before me on +the table. I had taken it from the museum, and used it for +paper-cutting. Upon the steel blade was graven, in golden letters, +"_Buona notte_;" and "_Buona notte! buona notte_," I kept incoherently +murmuring. + +"Have you no other question to address to me?" she asked, in a tremulus +voice. + +I shook my head, and pointed to the door, and, like a wooden puppet, she +turned and disappeared through it. At the moment when her back was +turned something like a flame flashed through my brain and body. For an +instant I felt a mad impulse to rush after her, and with one bound bury +this two-edged knife in her heart. Yes, in her heart; but from behind, +just as they had stabbed me unawares, like assassins. My better self +kept me back. My Uncle Diogenes rose before me. "Never quarrel with, +never hurt a woman!" and my professional instinct was awakened. I should +then have destroyed two lives; with the guilty I should have slain the +innocent--a life which was in God's keeping as yet. Now the door closed +behind her, and I had let the only opportunity for a deadly revenge upon +the woman who had tricked me pass by neglected. Had I killed her at that +moment I should have washed off the stain she had brought on my name in +her own blood. "Look," I might have said, "she was led astray by another +man, and I have killed her; it was my right and my duty!" This I could +no longer do. She had escaped, and would live on safe and unharmed, and +I should be dead and buried alive. I remembered now how confused they +looked, Cenni and she, when I related to them the story of my friend, +and how I had prided myself on my own prudence and good sense! And the +trap was already laid for me, and I, who had thought myself safe from +every such danger, here was I, on my wedding night, left alone, +insulted, degraded as he was. No, not quite. He had had no money, and I +had received a million. I had been paid for my disgrace, bribed for my +infamy with money! + +Great Jehovah, Whose vengeance is mighty, lend me Thine ear! No! Thou +art too just and upright, I'll have nothing from Thee! Turn from me! I +will none of Thy advice, none of Thy heavenly patience and magnanimous +mercy! That marble-hearted woman had said to me, "If you deny God, He +will forgive you, for He is infinitely good and merciful; but if you +deny the Devil, he will be revenged on you!" and I had seen the devilish +light in their eyes. I had shuddered and shunned them, and yet I had +plunged headlong into the abyss which they had opened at my feet. + +But now they had conjured up the Devil before me, I felt that in my own +breast they had awakened a demon quite as cunning and wicked as their +hoofed and horned idol; and we would see whose teachings would prove +more destructive! Only, cool blood! Let me not betray myself; let me +consider how to act, and then keep my own counsel. Shall I go to +Volhynia after that man? Hold him to account, invite him to face the +muzzle of my pistol or the edge of my sword? He is a ruffian and a +notorious duellist. I am a bad shot and an indifferent fencer. He is +perfect in both; it is his profession. Naturally, he would kill me, and +where would be my revenge? Should I kill myself? Die the death of a +suicide, and be spoken of as a lunatic who had crazy fancies because his +fortune had turned his head? And what would be the result? Flamma would +perhaps faint away for a few seconds, have bad dreams for a week, wear +mourning for six months, and--would be none the worse for being a widow, +whereas I should be laughed at as a silly fool. Shall I sue for a legal +divorce? "_Si fuerit dolus_?" Had I not had enough of notoriety? Enough +of laughter, calumny, and ridicule? Must I drag my honest and hitherto +respected name through the mire, and become the laughing-stock of every +fop throughout the country? No, anything but that! Help me, thou worser +self, thou Devil in my own breast, help me to find some revenge worthy +of a Devil's teaching! Give me death, for it is death I crave; but such +a death as will give me peace and rest and honour in my grave, and to +those others remaining here on earth, shame, sorrow, and remorse! I am a +dead man from this accursed night forward, but I can, at least, choose +the manner of my corporal death, and woe to her who has driven me to the +choice! + +When the morning dawned my scheme was complete, and it was a scheme that +did honour to my special demon. I would die, but fame and glory should +write my epitaph; and dead, I should be remembered by this woman with +lifelong sorrow. She shall never be happy; and in remembering me, her +soul shall be filled with bitter repentance for the misfortune she +brought on me. She shall yearn for me, shed bitter tears for me, and +fret away her life in despair. This should be my revenge. + + + + +XI. + +MY SCHEME. + + +Next morning I said to my wife--"We cannot stay here. Our next year must +be spent in travelling in foreign parts, and we shall start for Paris in +three days. You had better make arrangements accordingly." + +"My arrangements are made, for I have not unpacked my things yet. So +everything is at your command," was her answer. + +I left her, and drove over to the county town to my solicitor, and told +him to borrow as much money on my property as he could possibly get from +the financial institutions. As a pretext I told him that I had the +intention of buying lands. He advised me to wait, for he had learned for +certain that in a year's time Siegfried would have to sell out. His +estates were mortgaged over and over, and matters were going very ill +with him. If, then, I should add to the million my wife had brought me, +the money I had and the money I could at any moment raise on my +property, I should be able to purchase the Vernöczy estates. + +This was a revelation that for a moment made me hold my breath. It would +be something to tear that water-nymph on the Vernöczy crest from over +the portals of the château into the mire, and erect the Dumany crest on +the front of the proud old castle. But that feeling passed, and with it +the temptation. It would be no revenge on her to let her live as +mistress on the estates of her forefathers, and, first of all, I craved +revenge on her. More than that scoundrel who had betrayed her and then +flung her to me, I hated her, Lilith, the tempting devil in the guise of +a seraph! But I said to the lawyer, "Very well"--that I would consider +about it, and not buy anything at present; but that he should raise the +money, all the same, and send it for me to Paris, as well as the funds I +had inherited. Perhaps I might have use for the money there--at any +rate, he must send it. Then I took the rosewood chest with my wife's +dowry, and sent it by mail, and under the usual guarantee, to a +well-known banking firm in Brussels as a deposit. + +Three days after, we were on our journey to Paris. I had taken the Swiss +route, for in those days it was the safest way to escape the obstacles +and annoyances which on the road through Germany were thrown in the way +of travellers to France. War was, so to speak, floating in the air, and +was each moment expected to break upon the two leading nations of the +Continent. At such a time the railroad termini are naturally the centres +of exciting scenes and noisy demonstrations; but the Swiss republic was +neutral, and the southern part of France was quiet. So we arrived in +Paris unmolested; and the great crowds in the boulevards, and the +multitude of detectives among the people, gave us the first notion that +something extraordinary was occurring. + +At first the demonstrations were all in favour of peace. Labourers in +blue blouses were marching up in compact masses on the Place de la +Concorde, carrying white flags and signs with the inscriptions "_Ŕ bas +la guerre_" and "_Vive la paix_!" Public speakers delivered long +orations on the horrors of war, and protested against the ambitious, +fame-hunting tyrants who drove their innocent, peace-loving subjects +into bloody combats to feed their own greed for glory and power. But +their speeches were all blown to the winds. Bellona is a fair woman, and +the more she is slandered to her admirers the more ardent and +impassioned is their love for her. In vain did the orators protest that +France was all for peace, and would not be dragged into the perils of +war. The soil was thirsting for blood, and the day after our arrival in +Paris the declaration of war which Napoleon had issued against Prussia +was publicly announced. + +I had been informed of these events long before they happened, and on +them my whole scheme was built. When the public enthusiasm was highest, +and the shouts "_Ŕ Berlin_!" loudest, when throngs of people crowded +through the streets, singing the "_Marseillaise_" and "_Le Départ_," I +mingled with them, bent on business. + +During our journey I had shown my wife all those polite little +attentions which are due to a bride on her wedding tour from her +husband. Now I was looking for a residence for her. I found a handsome, +palatial-looking house, exquisitely furnished, which had been hastily +abandoned by a German diplomat at the first rumour of the war, and was +now in the market, with its carriages and horses, servants, and +everything. The bargain was made, and, as I took my wife to her +temporary home, she seemed to be struck with the delicate consideration +which I showed her. I saw by her face that she wished to protest against +this excess of luxury, which was not in keeping with our means. But +perhaps something in the expression of my face warned her to be silent; +perhaps it occurred to her that as she had given me full power to do +what I pleased with her dowry, I had acquired the right to squander +it--if it suited my whims--on herself. + +When she was comfortably established I said to her--"I have offered my +services as an army physician to the French Government, and they have +been accepted. I have received my commission from the Duke of Palikao, +and shall start this evening for my destination." + +"If it is your wish, I cannot oppose it," was her answer. What a meek, +obedient wife she was! Whatever I said or did, it was, "Pray please +yourself. Whatever you think best will satisfy me." She never showed the +slightest increase of temper, never offered the least resistance to my +arrangements. She was the same quiet, pale, silent, sylph-like being as +she had been when I first knew her, and I wondered that she had not +changed. We had been married only two weeks, but to me it seemed as if +seven hard winters and seven fierce tropical summers had passed since +that time, and had taken the marrow from my bones and every spark of +hope and brightness from my soul. + +"I have left you forty thousand francs in the safe; they will last you +until the time of my return. You need not deny yourself anything you +wish," I said. + +"Thank you. I shall manage the money carefully, and shall not spend more +than is strictly necessary. I am of a saving disposition." + +These were our parting words, and we exchanged no others. I went to +H----'s banking-house to draw the money my solicitor had sent me, and +when they inquired whether I wanted checks or bills of exchange, I asked +for the latter, because, as I said, in time of war the Government might +bring in a _moratorium_.[4] "What," they laughed, "the Napoleonic +Government bring in _moratorium_? _Tęte carrée_!" The latter was meant +as a compliment for me. + +[Footnote 4: A governmental act of mercy in regard to the payment of +debts.] + +By the next express train I went to Brussels, and then straight to the +banker to whom I had sent Flamma's million. I opened the chest in his +presence, and convinced him that it actually contained good +security--bonds and deeds for the sum of one million and twenty-five +thousand florins par--and asked him for an advance. The banker put +seventy-five per cent of the nominal value at my disposal, and I handed +him the power of attorney from my wife, and a written authorisation +permitting him to sell the securities without notice in the event of my +failure to repay the loan at a certain date. + +This money, with a part of the funds which my solicitor had sent me, +amounted to two millions of francs. With this sum I went to a well-known +and trustworthy stockbroker, and instructed him to speculate with the +whole amount in French Government bonds for a fall. + +"Do you intend to throw this money in the gutter?" said the man, eyeing +me critically. + +"That is my own business, I presume," said I, calmly. + +"Have you ever speculated on the Exchange before? Are you versed in +these manipulations?" + +"No! Never!" + +"Do you know the situation of the Money Market at present?" + +"No." + +"Then grant me leave to inform you by giving you a few data. All French +securities are rising in value. Paris is enthusiastic for the war. The +money-chests of the financial ring are open to the Government. The +French military force is fully equipped, ready to begin hostilities, and +stationed at the Rhone, whereas the Prussians are caught unprepared. +Bavaria will remain neutral, and the Danes are preparing to break into +Schleswig-Holstein. The sequel of the war can be foretold with such +certainty that a Paris financier offers, to any one who will accept it, +a wager of two hundred thousand francs against one hundred thousand that +on August 15 the French will march into Berlin." + +"Well, you may take up that wager, also, for me." + +The agent shrugged his shoulders, and accepted my offer for a bear +speculation. We agreed that from time to time we should communicate with +each other in cipher. Telegrams were to be forwarded through H----'s +Bank. + +From Brussels I returned to Paris, and procured all the necessary +surgical instruments at my own expense. Next I bought three waggons with +strong Trakene horses for my own transport and that of the invalids, +furnished myself with all utensils requisite for camp hospitals, and +then, under the protecting ensign of the Geneva Cross, I joined the +regiment of the French army in which I had enlisted as volunteer +camp-surgeon. My scheme was clear now. I was a dead man. I was seeking +Death in his own realm, where he reigned supreme, and it was impossible +not to find him there, if one really sought him. So I should die, but +not the death of a suicide, despised, misjudged, forgotten, but a death +on the field of honour and glory, as a hero and a martyr of science and +philanthropy. And that accursed money which was given me as a fee for my +disgrace would be blown to naught, as my body would be by a merciful +Krupp shell. When the news of my death reaches that woman in Paris, she +will try hard to discover what I have done with her fortune--and mine! +But let her search ever so thoroughly, she would find--nothing! I had +left no trace of my operations, nothing from which she could regain one +penny. Then she would be compelled to come down from her height, return +to Hungary, and live a lonely, miserable, poverty-stricken existence on +my Slav kingdom, which I had mortgaged and ruined. She would have to +struggle against poverty and want, and, by daily care and close economy, +would have to pay from her scanty crops the heavy debts I had incurred. +All day she would pine and toil, all night she would sigh and grieve. +And in her dreams she would call me back, and ask me where I had buried +the treasures. Her priests would fail to console her, and she would +become superstitious, and resort to clairvoyants and mediums for the +solution of the torturing mystery. But no prayer or curse will reach me, +no incantation of conjurers or spirit-rappers will call me back. The +dead do not return, either for promised kisses or for promised bites. + + + + +XII. + +SEEKING FOR DEATH. + + +To tell the truth, on my arrival at the camp I felt like an apprentice +in the presence of his masters. French surgery in general occupies a +foremost place. French camp-surgeons have acquired skill and experience +in their great military expeditions; there their studies receive the +finishing-touch, whereas the little skill and practice which I had came +entirely from the clinic and the dissecting-table. + +But, nevertheless, I was very cordially received by the old, experienced +masters of the profession, to whom I stated that I had come, as a +voluntary apprentice, to aid in the work of philanthropy as best I +could. My immediate superior was old Duval, who had served as +camp-surgeon at Sebastopol, and I succeeded in acquiring his good +graces. He asked me if I had ever been on a battle-field before, and I +answered, a little ashamed, that I had never had that opportunity. In +spite of my descent from the chivalrous Hungarian nation, I know the +sound of the cannon only from hearing the salutes fired on our King's +birthday, or other occasions equally peaceful. + +"It does not matter," said the old man, encouragingly. "You will get +over your first irritation at the noise, and then you will feel as much +at home and as safe as in your own study. There is not the least danger +for us. We hoist the Geneva flag with its red cross, and every civilised +foe respects that ensign. After the battle is over, and the enemy has +fled, beaten, shattered, and in disorder, we carry our ambulances to the +gory field, and take up the wounded, friend and foe alike. The severely +injured we attend to at once, dressing their wounds on the spot, and +then we place them all on our beds, and take them to our hospital-tents +for treatment." + +This had been the old man's practice in many wars. The French had +invariably been victors and masters of the field; the enemy had +retreated, and then the French had taken up the wounded and nursed them +faithfully, whether friend or foe. That a time could come when the +French would be driven from the field, and the enemy would take up the +wounded, was deemed preposterous and out of the question. + +We were attached to Marshal Douay's corps, but, unfortunately, I did not +receive the privilege of participating in the first battle at +Saarbrücken, where old Dr. Duval's experience was confirmed; the +Prussian advance was repulsed, and the victorious French gathered up the +wounded. + +The first wounded soldiers whom we treated were foes; one an Englishman, +the other a German from Baden. Both were officers in the German army. +Three daring officers from the German camp, on horseback and in full +uniform, had galloped into the heart of the French camp in broad +daylight; there they had cut down the sentinel, ordered food and drink, +taken notes as to the camp, the position and order of the forces, the +number of the batteries, etc., until at last the French awoke from their +illusion, and recognised them as foes. They retreated firing, cutting +their way through the French lines, killing two French officers, one of +whom, as he expires, finds strength enough to return the fire, and one +of the three, the Englishman, falls shot in the abdomen. A second, the +Badener, is hewn down from his horse; but the third escapes unhurt, and +cuts his way back to the German camp. + +This incident I regarded as a bad omen. The French were so confident, so +presumptuous, that they neglected the outpost service. Next day the +Germans attacked Marshal Douay at Weissenburg with three times his +force. This was the fault of the French, who ought to have attacked the +Germans with an overwhelming force, instead of waiting to be attacked by +them. + +The French fought heroically against the crushing superiority of the +Germans, vainly hoping that the report of the cannonade would attract +assistance from a corps stationed in the neighbourhood of the +battle-field; but in this heroic fight their lines were sadly decimated. +At first they fought in the village, then they were forced out by the +Germans, and had to defend themselves among the vineyards and the +thickets. The soil was saturated with blood, and the dead and wounded +were lying about in ditches, copses, and everywhere. + +"Sir," said I to Dr. Duval, "to-day the enemy will be master of the +field, and he will gather up the wounded, unless we prevent this by +picking them up while the fight lasts. Now, while the balls are flying +about, is our chance! Give me leave to go there with the ambulance." + +"With all my heart! Try it if you have a mind to." + +"If I had a mind to?" Why, of course, I had come for that; it was the +opportunity I had craved, the chance for the immortalising cannon-ball +to send me up to heaven and glory! So, taking the twelve men who were +given me as aids, I started off with the ambulance to the scene of the +battle. + +There is not the slightest braggadocio about this. Soldiers, even in the +hottest ardour of battle, will carefully avoid firing at the life-saving +corps, which is distinguished by the sign of the red cross. But it is +impossible to prevent an exploding shell from sending its splinters +among them, and on that eventful day I had occasion to watch the course +of these splinters. + +The firing did not cease for a moment. The roar of the artillery, the +cracking of the rifles created a deafening noise; the hoarse, grating +sounds from the French mitrailleuses, in particular, made a horrible +accompaniment to the dying groans of the wounded. But the French +mitrailleuses had found their match in the Krupp cannon. These fire no +balls, but some fiendish contrivances, longitudinal, cylindrical +projectiles, which explode as they alight, and scatter their deadly +fragments far and near. + +All the injured men whom we took from the field were wounded by these +splinters. As we toiled, the hellish projectiles were flying over our +heads; but my experienced aids worked with the coolness of the harvester +when he hastens to save his crops from the threatening rain. They knew +well that these messages of death were not sent to them, but to the +French artillery, which was opposing the advance of the Germans. All +this while I felt that indescribable intoxication which is sure to +overtake every novice. I stood there in the terrible realm of death, in +the presence of the awful Moloch, Hamoves, the angel with the scythe. I +felt a chill, a shudder, and I bowed down before the omnipotent Lord of +life and death, the Almighty Ruler of the universe. + +This short-lived sensation of terror every novice has to overcome. Nor +is anyone spared the humiliation of this experience. The eye can hardly +perceive anything of the effect of the shots, for the cannon-smoke +envelopes the surrounding objects in a thick cloud of fog. The Prussian +infantry were crouching down, and, while creeping and cringing thus, +they were pressing forward. Nothing but the smoke of their rifles +betrayed the level of their faces, and the French infantry were hidden +in ditches, behind bushes and trees, and firing from these +vantage-grounds. Only the Zouaves and the Turcos might now and then be +recognised by their red caps. + +While the artillery was pealing, the bugle was sounding the commands. +All at once a strange drumbeat was heard from beside us, and the +veteran sergeant at my elbow said-- + +"Sir, we must get out of this with our beds at once. Cavalry is +advancing." + +"Cavalry of the enemy?" I asked. + +"Brother and enemy is all one in such a case. If we are in their way +they will crush us under their horses' hoofs, without observing what +body we belong to." + +So we hastily picked up our beds with the wounded, and retreated with +all speed behind the line of battle. We had hardly reached security +when, from both sides, the cavalry advanced, both friends and enemies. +The earth shook with the stamping of the hoofs, "_Quadrupedante putrem +crepitu quatit ungula campum_." + +Avoiding our right wing, a regiment of Prussian hussars was galloping +towards us; a regiment of French chasseurs on horseback, under command +of the commander-in-chief, Marshal Douay, in person, was dashing from +the hills to meet them. The strong west wind was blowing clouds of dust +in the faces of the French, the backs of the Germans. All at once the +Prussian regiment divided itself, wheeling to right and left; behind +them a whole battery of artillery appeared, and a powerful discharge +saluted the chasseurs. + +The shells made a fearful gap in the French horsemen, but still they +dashed bravely on, shouting wildly, and giving the enemy's artillery no +time for a second shot. The Prussians wheeled swiftly, and hussars, +battery and all, fled before the lines of the French chasseurs. We +thought this wild retreat meant victory for the French, but we +discovered that it was only a ruse. + +When the clouds of dust had dispersed, we saw that on the battle-field +horses, struggling in deadly convulsions, and men in the throes of +death, were strewn thickly around. We hastened thither to save whom we +could, but, oh! what an awful sight it was! Man and beast piled in +confusion and crushing each other. The neighing of the wounded horse +mingled with the last prayer, or the death-groan, of its rider. Maddened +horses, with their dead or wounded riders hanging in the saddle, were +galloping on, while the less-injured soldiers, who had been thrown from +their slain horses, or were struggling to extricate themselves from +beneath them, were cursing and swearing, and invoking God and Devil for +vengeance on the Prussians. + +Among those who were fatally injured was Marshal Douay himself. As the +old sergeant drew him out from under his horse, the blood rushed from an +awful gash on his neck. "_O, mon général_!" sobbed the old soldier, +trying to close the gash with his pocket-handkerchief. + +"Don't cry!" said the dying chief, hoarsely. "Go shout to them '_En +avant_!' in my place." + +It was a fatal command, this "_En avant_!" The French chasseurs had +pursued the German hussars to a hop plantation, which proved to be full +of concealed Prussian sharp-shooters. At this point the hussars +attacked the chasseurs in the rear, while the sharp-shooters received +them with a volley from their quick-firing rifles, and a general +onslaught was begun upon the brave corps. The chasseurs endeavoured to +break into the hop field, but such a plantation is a terrible +fortification, with its walls of vines fastened to other walls of stout +poles, and behind each a hidden foe with a quick-slaying weapon. The +whole fine corps of cavalry was destroyed then and there. + +The fall of the commander-in-chief, Marshal Douay, had decided the fate +of the battle. When finally, all too late, MacMahon arrived with his +troops, Douay's unfortunate command was shattered, and the battle of +Weissenburg lost. + + + + +XIII. + +MY DISCHARGE. + + +In spite of this terrible disaster, the retreat of the French troops was +accomplished in good order, and but few prisoners fell into the hands of +the Prussians; even those few were mostly Zouaves and Turcos, not real +French soldiers. + +That we had really been beaten was not believed by anybody. Everybody +was inspired by the conviction that the Weissenburg disaster was nothing +but an incident. A comparatively small defensive force had been attacked +by an overwhelmingly large force of Prussians, and was compelled to +retreat for the moment; but the fight had been only a trifling prologue +to the great battle to come, or else was part of a deep-laid plan which +would secure to us the final victory. So it had been at Solferino, when +Benedek had been allowed to attack and disperse the French-Italian +troops on their left wing, while at Solferino itself the Austrian army +was destroyed. So it would be here. It was supposed that this slight +victory was allowed to the Prussians, so as to divert their attention +from the movements of MacMahon and Bazaine, who were certain to crush +them all at their first encounter. + +Next day the Emperor himself and his young heir-apparent appeared among +us, presenting to each of those who had distinguished themselves at the +battle of the preceding day some badge of honour. At the recommendation +of old Dr. Duval, the Chevalier Cross of the Legion of Honour was pinned +to my breast, and the reporter of a Paris newspaper wrote a flourishing +item about the heroic and self-sacrificing Hungarian surgeon. When I +read it, I thought of that woman in Paris, and what she would think of +these reports. Perhaps she would say to herself, "So he is not +everywhere the same coward as he was here! He has some pluck, some +physical courage at least." + +But in vain did we wait for our revenge upon the Prussians. After +Weissenburg came Spicheren, then Wörth. Everywhere the German force was +stronger than the French, and it turned out that their artillery was +better than ours. MacMahon was cut off from Bazaine, and in the gigantic +battles at Bézonville and Gravelotte, Bazaine, with his force of one +hundred and fifty thousand men, was driven back into Metz. Strasburg was +besieged, and MacMahon cut off from the road to Paris. + +In every battle that was fought the Prussians remained masters of the +field, and it was always they who took charge of the wounded. Of course, +each corps was in ignorance as to the fate of the others, and if one was +beaten or repulsed, it was fully convinced that the other had meanwhile +been victorious elsewhere. The Paris newspapers and the Bourse supported +and increased that belief. One evening, after a forced march that very +much resembled a regular flight, we arrived at a certain town. I entered +a café, and being very curious to learn something of the present state +of the Money Market, I looked for a newspaper, and here it was:--"Paris. +Extraordinary Upward Movement! Rate of interest raised to 68-15, and +rising rapidly. News of great victories!" + +"Well," I thought, "my two millions are nicely exploded by this time." +Underneath I read in large letters, "The Prussians severely beaten by +MacMahon! The German Crown Prince captured and made prisoner by +MacMahon!" + +That very day we had been compelled to leave our entire baggage in the +enemy's hands and run for our lives, so to speak, and here they are +talking of the German Prince having been captured. That is how they +create upward movements on 'Change. But could this last? Surely such +lies would soon be exposed! How long was it possible to keep on in this +way? + +How long? For ever. + +After the massacre at Mars-la-Tour, MacMahon's forces were practically +scattered to the winds, running aimlessly about, and, when coming into +contact with the enemy, hardly thinking any longer of resistance. If a +Prussian Uhlan was seen far off on the road every man took to his heels. +The infantry threw down their rifles, the cuirassiers their helmets and +breastplates; the gunners cut the traces of the horses, jumped upon +their backs, and dashed on, without thinking of the fate of the rest. On +horseback, with a loaded revolver in hand, I had to keep guard at the +side of the ambulance carts, to keep the marauders away from the +wounded. Once I had a narrow escape from being captured by the +Bavarians. It was at a skirmish of artillery. A couple of French and a +couple of German pieces were in position. The French were quickly +disabled by the Germans, and even the head gunner was severely wounded. +I took him on my shoulders, and got him out of the line of fire. The +Bavarians sent another shrapnell shell after us, and, as the projectile +burst over our heads, I felt a blow on the leather rim of my képi. "A +shrapnel splinter!" I thought, scornfully: "could it not have hit me a +little more to the right, and have done with me?" + +After I had hastily placed the wounded officer on the waggon, I jumped +on horseback, and hastened after the flying troops. Upon a wooden bridge +that led over a shallow rivulet the soldiers were crowded. I did not +stop to consider, but dashed on with my waggons to the water. A +detachment of Bavarian hussars, guessing at my intention, was there to +prevent its execution. A young lieutenant of hussars was leading the +detachment, and, placing the muzzle of his revolver to my forehead, he +shouted: "_Rendez-vous: demande pardon_!" + +"At last!" I thought, "here is my opportunity for the glorious end. This +fellow is the man I want," and, turning my face full toward him, I +looked coolly into the barrel of his weapon. "Shoot, comrade!" I said. +"You'll get neither me, nor my charges, as long as I am alive." + +He gazed at me, as if scrutinising my features. "You are not French?" he +asked. + +"I am a Hungarian," I answered. + +"Kornel, and no doubt about it!" he exclaimed, taking hold of my hand +and shaking it. "Don't you know me? I am Plessen." Sure enough, he was +my favourite chum from the University; but we had not seen each other +for years, and the last three months of camp-life had done more to +change a man's outward appearance than whole years at home. "Go on, +comrade," he said, with a farewell shake of the hand, "and may our next +meeting be a pleasanter one! Good-bye!" With that he let me take my +charges safely across the water and over the fields, avoiding the open +roads, until finally, as night fell, I reached with my patients the camp +at Chalons, and found my way to the camp hospital. + +What a cursed, vile task old Duval had had all day! Nothing but sore +heels and slight shrapnel scars in the rear!--and he embraced me and +kissed me all over for bringing him now three cart-loads of real wounded +men, with wounds got from sword-cuts, rifle-bullets, and gun-shots. +"What an invaluable, brave fellow you are!" he said to me, handling each +of my charges with the tenderness of a loving father; "but now you shall +share the privilege of dressing their wounds, and assist me in the +necessary operations." This was a privilege indeed, and for a while we +were very busy. When we had finished, he put his hand into his pocket +and said, "Now, my boy, I will also present you with something." + +I thought he meant to give me one of his utterly wretched cigars; but +no--it was a paper, and, on handing it over to me, Duval said, "It is +your discharge, my boy; you are free." + +"My discharge?" I asked, offended, "and why, pray? Have I not done more +than my duty? And if so, how have I merited this disgrace?" + +"I am afraid that it was just your extraordinary ardour that brought it +on you; that's it, you have done more than your duty; and as you are a +foreigner, it is natural to ask, Why have you done it? Why have you +exposed your own life, contrary to custom, picking up the wounded where +the fight was the hottest and the balls flying thickest? True, you have +by this course saved the lives of many that would have bled to death, or +been otherwise lost; but it is a marvellous thing that you could do all +that and escape unhurt. The fact is, you have always come back with a +sound skin. Can you explain this miracle? Can you tell me, why you, a +foreigner, took the risk of such imminent danger for--Hecuba--that is, +for wounded French soldiers?" + +The old man was right. I could not explain it, for I could not tell him +that I had regarded their great national calamity as a means of carrying +out my petty suicidal designs and giving them a decent cloak. I never +thought of it before; but now I had to acknowledge that my conduct +looked suspicious to strangers. What will be their suspicions, I +thought, when they learn that I have talked German with a Prussian +officer, and shaken hands with him? Would this not give new matter for +their suspicions, and was it not natural in the vanquished to believe in +treachery? + +And then I thought what a self-conceited fool I had been to think I +could command God Mars to afford me a disguise for self-murder. "Why," +he said, "do you suppose these great national conflagrations are kindled +to cook your meals on? What do I care for your family quarrels? If you +are tired of life, take a rope and hang yourself on that willow, and +there is an end of you and your paltry complaints." + +As I stood there musing, old Duval turned my face around and +exclaimed--"Look! look! Your forehead is wounded." + +"A mere scratch with a shrapnel splinter," I said, bitterly, "not worth +plastering." I took from him the letter with my discharge, presented him +with my camp outfit, instruments, horses, etc., and kept nothing but one +of the waggons and a pair of horses for my journey homeward--that is, to +Paris. This was now the speediest way of travelling, for the railways +were all occupied with the transport of troops. + +Before I left Chalons, I entered a café and drank a cupful of some black +beverage that was called coffee, although I think it tasted of soot, and +read one of the Paris newspapers--the last that had arrived the same +day. + +A dazzling glare of light was visible through the windows, arising from +the valley. It was the burning camp. The Emperor had given orders to +burn all tents, since there was not time enough to strike them and carry +them off. So everything was left to be consumed by the flames, while the +men fled for their lives. + +The newspapers in the coffee-house were going from hand to hand, and +were eagerly devoured. At last I obtained one. I found the following +report in large letters-- + +"The Prussian army scattered! Two hundred Krupp guns remaining as +captures in the hands of the French! Commander Moltke a prisoner! +Bismarck fatally wounded! Price of rentes, 1 franc 25." + +If this were true, one part of my scheme had succeeded. The two millions +were annihilated. But what of the other part? I was still alive, and +death would not come to me without disgrace and ridicule. What a +position to be in! + + + + +XIV. + +HOME! SWEET HOME! + + +It was damp, disagreeable, dirty weather when I arrived in Paris. It had +rained for the last few days, for usually after great battles stormy +weather sets in. The poets will have it that heaven washes away with +tears the blood spilt by man. Scientists say that the gas freed by the +combustion of so much gunpowder, together with the detonations at the +explosions, brings on the rain. The fact is that after all great battles +rain is sure to follow. + +As I alighted from the one-horsed vehicle that had brought me to the +door of my residence, my own porter asked me whom I was looking for at +this house? I answered "Myself," but found it difficult to convince him +that I was his master. At last he let me in, and rang the bell three +times as a signal that the master of the house had arrived. + +The valet met me at the ante-chamber, and stared at me with mouth and +eyes wide open; but no wonder. I must have cut a handsome figure, with, +that torn and perforated red képi on my head, and the dirty, +blood-smeared cotton handkerchief around my forehead. My face was +blackened by exposure to the sun and wind, and had a grizzly beard of +three months' growth upon it. My uniform was dirty and torn, and above +it was a rubber cloak with a hood, while on my feet were a pair of +rough, high top-boots, with spurs. By my side I had a sabre, a revolver, +and a bag for bread and bacon--not a very gentlemanly appearance, by any +means. + +"Is madame at home?" I asked. + +"Yes, sir. Madame is in her boudoir." + +"Then tell her, monsieur has come home, and afterward see that a fire is +kindled in my room. I am cold and damp." + +The valet was a very humane and obliging fellow. He asked me to step +into the _salon_, where a fire was burning already. I was forcibly +struck by this proof of democratic condescension. Fancy his allowing a +fellow with such a robber's look, who had unexpectedly intruded into the +house, to enter the luxurious, polished, gilded _salon_ of--his own +wife! + +The fire was burning in the grate, and I went up to it to warm myself, +when the door opened, and, with quick steps, there entered--my wife. She +had entered hastily, but, on seeing me she faltered, and stood +motionless at the door. + +Well might she start at my strange appearance; but, if I looked dreadful +to her, her appearance was positively loathsome to me. I had not seen +her for three months, and she had visibly changed since then. + +To another man his wife looks charming in that condition, but to me my +wife seemed perfectly disgusting, horrid, abominable! I cannot find a +phrase to express the detestation that filled me as I looked at her. + +"You have come away from the camp?" she asked, in a low tone. + +"I have been discharged," I answered. + +"You? How could that be?" + +"They believed me to be a Prussian spy." + +"Nonsense! I have read so much of your courage and daring, of the +self-sacrifice which made you risk your own life to save that of others. +The papers were full of praise of your magnanimous conduct." + +"That's it exactly. They think a respectable surgeon has no business to +risk his hide or exhibit sentiment. So they told me to pack off." + +"But you are wounded!" she cried out, as I took off my képi. + +"A mere scratch, and already closed. It's nothing." And, throwing the +rubber cloak from my shoulders, I stepped nearer to the gate. + +"You have been decorated!" she said, pointing to the "_légion +d'honneur_" on my breast. + +"Trash!" I said, tearing it off, and with an angry gesture throwing it +almost into the fire. + +She ran up to me, and held my hand. "No! no!" she said: "I shall not let +you! Leave it on your breast!" and, snatching it out of my hand, she +pinned it in its place again. + +"Well, let it be," I thought. At least there would be one spot on my +body that was honourable. But it was time to change the subject. For a +soldier coming home from the gory field of honour might speak to his +wife of his wounds and his deserts, but I? As I was no real soldier, so +my wound was no real wound, this badge of merit not really merited, +and--my wife--was not really my wife. So I changed the subject, and, +like a conscientious family physician, I questioned her about her +health. My questions were purely professional, and she gave her answers +in confidence, as patients usually answer the questions of their +_ordinarius_. I advised her as to the best way of avoiding +inconveniences connected with her present condition, and so on. After +the consultation was over, I asked her if no letters had arrived for me +during my absence. + +"Only one--in the last day or two, and that has been opened." + +"By whom?" + +"By the police, I think. For a short time back all letters coming from +foreign parts are opened by the police." + +"Have you also read the letter?" + +"I looked into it certainly; but I have not read it. It is written in +cipher." + +"Ah!" I thought, "the communication from my agent to say that the +millions have disappeared." But I did not show any impatience to get at +the contents of the letter. I listened politely as she related to me the +events of her life in my absence. + +After a while the valet announced that my room was ready for me, and +then she asked if I would not dine with her? "No, thank you!" said I, +with an inward shudder; "I am quite unfamiliar with your civilised +customs, and will thank you if you will permit me to retire to my room." + +In my room I found the letter upon my writing-desk. As I had expected, +it came from my agent in Brussels. The key to the cipher code was in my +pocket, rolled up in a cigarette; so that in case of my death on the +battle-field some soldier or nurse might smoke the cigarette and +unwittingly destroy this last clue to the mystery which surrounded my +money transactions. The letter ran as follows:-- + + "SIR,--The two millions which you entrusted to my care have doubled + themselves, and I hold four millions of francs for you. The decline + is continuous, and will hold good for a considerable time to come. + The Paris Bourse created an enormous rise by fictitious reports of + victories; but the decline was all the sharper in consequence. The + French are beaten everywhere, and if you will consent to let me + continue in the present course, I shall double your money again on + short sales." + +Camp life had taught me to swear, and I was furious. Fate was mocking +me, tantalising me. Instead of taking from me the accursed money which I +had received in exchange for my life, my soul's salvation, and my +honour, it doubled that money, and threw it back at me. But I would see +if I could not get the better of blind fortune. I did not want that +money, and would have none of it. + +I sat down and wrote an answer on the spot I gave the agent fixed +instructions to speculate with the whole amount for a rise, and that +immediately. As soon as I had translated this into cipher, I gave it to +the valet to be posted. + +Then I took out the rough fare I had been accustomed to during my camp +life, the rye bread and bacon, and, slicing it up, I toasted it at the +grate fire. Surely a man who had thrown four millions out at the window +a few minutes before had a right to indulge in such luxuries. + +But the cognac which I had been used to drink I could not relish at +home. For three months I had drunk nothing but cognac. It is a powerful +stimulant, good for fever and ague, hunger and thirst, influenza-cold, +and, yes, the tremor before a battle. But here, at home, I wanted +something I could not get there--a glass of clear, fresh water. + +Oh, how I enjoyed it! How deliciously refreshing it was after so long a +craving! Home had still a great treasure to offer me--a glass of clear, +fresh water. + +What a precious, sweet, home it was! + + + + +XV. + +VOX POPULI. + + +The street was very noisy, and a tumult of loud voices, shouts, etc., +penetrated through the blinds, shutters, and doors into the room in +which I sat. I took that to be the normal condition of a Paris street, +for in large cities there is always some spectacle afoot to set the mob +shouting. But I was mistaken. The valet, whom I had sent to the +post-office to mail my letter to the broker at Brussels, entered +hastily, his face livid with fear. + +"Monsieur, save yourself!" he cried. "The mob is coming." + +"Coming where?" + +"To this hotel. A German diplomat lived here before you, and the people +think this is his house still. Someone has given them a hint, and they +have taken it up, and they are coming to storm and plunder the house. +The residences of two bankers have been demolished in this way, only +because their names had a German sound." + +"Let them alone," I said; "I will talk with their leaders. Now go to +madame, and tell her I beg she will retire to the winter-garden, and not +come out of it in any case or for any noise." + +The valet obeyed, and I girded on my sword again, put on my képi, and +went downstairs. + +The porter had locked the entrance, but a loud muttering and battering +noise was heard from the outside. + +"Open the door!" I said to the porter, and, sword in hand, I stepped out +What I beheld was the usual spectacle upon such occasions. A mob of all +classes; labourers in blouses, dandies in tall hats, college youths, +street boys, market women, and veiled "ladies" in flashy dresses and +with painted cheeks, all huddled pell-mell in picturesque disorder. + +The man who was battering at the door was a gigantic locksmith, with +hammer in hand, and I believe that the only object he had in his +battering operations was to make use of his hammer. As I appeared, those +who were near the door, retreated a little, and some of them called out, +"See, see! An officer of the army." + +"_Citoyens_!" said I, in a loud voice, "in this house there is a sick +woman, and whoever tries to break into this house will have his skull +split in two." + +Most of the _gommeux_ retreated at these words, but the locksmith seemed +to think resistance a provocation to an attack. "Ho, ho!" said he, +beating his breast and swinging his hammer, inviting me to try the edge +of my sword on his skull, while around him sticks and umbrellas were +upraised against me with threatening gestures of all sorts of people, +male and female. + +I had to make an end of this, and that was only possible by showing them +that I was not afraid of them, and, first of all, I had to silence that +burly smith by a smart cut on the hand that held the hammer. I had just +lifted my arm with the sword, when someone caught it from behind, +seizing tight hold of both hand and sword. + +It was Flamma. + +"What do you want here? Why did you come out?" I asked her. + +She stepped close to my side, and addressed the people. I could never +have believed that that tiny, silent, shell-mouth of hers could be +capable of such eloquence. "_Citoyens_!" she said, with a perfectly +dramatic intonation and gesture, "you are mistaken in this house and in +us. We are no Germans, no enemies, but Hungarians, and friends to the +French. Look at my husband! He has just arrived from the battlefield, +where he has served the French army. He has repeatedly risked his own +life to save that of your brethren. Look at his forehead! That wound +upon it he received in the service of your country! Look at his breast! +It is decorated with the star of the Legion of Honour! He--" + +I was furious. What business had this woman, who, in her heart of +hearts, despised me as an abject, greedy, dishonourable coward, a base +wretch, who had accepted the most degrading position on earth for a +money consideration--what business, said I, had she to speak fair of me +before this crowd? + +"Madame," I shouted, "go into the house! I do not want your speeches! +Let go my hand, I say! I want to drive this rabble away!" But she clung +tightly to me, and, seeing that I could not free myself of her, I +caught her up in my arms, and carried her to her room. There I threw her +upon her couch and said--"Don't move from this bed. You are trifling +with your life!" + +"Then stay here with me," she said, beseechingly; "don't go back among +them!" + +"Nonsense, I am able to protect and save you from a drunken mob, but +from an attack of convulsions I could not save you! This might cost you +your life." + +At this word I fancied I saw a smile of contempt on her lips, and it +occurred to me that she thought I feared for her life, because, in case +of her death, I should have to return her money. "I wish they would come +and tear me to pieces in her very presence," I thought, in the +bitterness of my heart; but, to my surprise, no one came. The next +minute or two furnished an explanation. I heard the sound of a bugle, +then the clatter of horse-hoofs; the Imperial Guard itself had cleared +the street of the mob. In a few minutes the shouts and threats were +silenced, and the crowd had moved on to other quarters. Immediately +afterward I heard voices in the _salon_, and, telling the woman to keep +quiet and not stir, I entered the _salon_. + +A police officer was talking with the valet. I thanked him for ridding +me of my unpleasant visitors, who would undoubtedly have done harm to +the furniture of the house, if not to our persons. + +"Oh, that is past," said he, "but there is something else amiss; and I +may tell you at once, sir, something that is very serious!" + +"Serious to me?" I asked. + +"Yes, the police have certain knowledge of the fact that you keep up a +cipher correspondence with somebody in Brussels. You have received a +letter a day or two ago." + +"I know it. The letter had been opened by the police." + +"Exactly. You have answered that letter, also in cipher, and the letter +was posted not quite an hour ago." + +"And the contents of this letter are already in the hands of the +police?" + +"Yes. Will you have the kindness to give me the key to the cipher?" + +"Sir," said I, "you know well that every correspondence has secrets +which cannot be disclosed to a stranger!" + +"I assure you that the Police Department is just as silent with respect +to the secrets that are entrusted to it, as the tongueless stone lions +on St. Mark's Square in Venice." + +"And what will be the consequence if I refuse to give you the key?" + +"If they offer to shoot me," I thought, "I will not tell." + +"If you refuse, you will be conducted to the Belgian frontier without a +moment's delay." + +"No, thank you," I thought; "I'll have none of that." + +So I invited him into my room, and together we solved the contents of +both letters. + +The first was that of the agent, the second was my answer, which +consisted of the following words:-- + +"The French will be victorious; invest my whole fortune, all the money +you hold of mine, in buying for a rise." + +The tears rushed down the cheeks of the police officer. That a foreigner +had so much confidence in the French cause as to stake his whole fortune +on it was completely overpowering to him. He pressed my hands in silent +acknowledgment, when I could have laughed in his face, and was silently +applauding myself on the comedy I had played. + +"It is all right, sir," said he, taking his leave; "but since you are a +true friend of the French, let me give you a bit of honest advice. Don't +stay in Paris beyond to-day at the utmost. To-day we command; to-morrow, +God knows who may fill our place. Go to-day, while you are free to go; +to-morrow it is possible that I shall follow your example." + +I thanked him heartily, and gave him my passport for revision. In an +hour the passport was returned to me in proper order, and at daybreak we +were sitting in a railway carriage. My wife confessed that she felt very +happy in being able to leave Paris; she had been very uncomfortable and +ill at ease there. + + + + +XVI. + +DAME FORTUNE. + + +It took us two whole days to reach Brussels. All the railway trains were +crowded with soldiers and refugees fleeing from Paris, and at every +station there was some delay. Special trains had to be waited for, and +at every town the passengers had to leave the carriage, show their +passports, answer all questions, and open all trunks and valises for +examination by the police. + +For me this exasperating procedure was rendered more difficult still. +The wound on my forehead betrayed me for a soldier of some sort, and a +strict command of General Trochu expressly forbade soldiers to leave the +country. Of course, I had my discharge; but, when I showed the document, +it took them always a good while to consider which command of General +Trochu should be respected--the one which bade me go, or the other which +directed me to stay. + +At the border I was detained for exactly four hours. Again my luggage +was searched; again I had to convince them that I was no runaway +soldier, no foreign spy, but a lawfully-discharged volunteer +camp-surgeon of foreign birth; and I had to give my word of honour that +the lady with me was really and legally my own wife. + +When we finally arrived at Brussels, late at night, we could hardly find +a lodging. All the hotels were crowded to the doors, and only with +difficulty, and by the aid of a very liberal tip, was I enabled to +procure a back room on the third storey. I took my wife to the elevator, +to be carried to the room, gave orders for her supper, etc., and went +down to the café to drink a glass of hot punch. + +The place was crowded to suffocation, in spite of the lateness of the +hour. Every newspaper was being read by five or six readers at once. +Something very important seemed to have happened, but the noise was so +deafening that it was utterly impossible to catch a word of the news. + +I begged the waiter to let me have one of the papers. + +"Never mind, sir," he said, smilingly; "these are all afternoon +editions. If you will wait till your punch is ready, I will manage to +get you a fresh paper moist from the press." + +I rewarded his good offices with the expected money gratification, and +some minutes later the hot punch and a moist copy of the morning +_Indépendance_ were before me. The price of the copy was five francs. + +As an experienced reader of Continental newspapers, I began my reading +on the last page, devoted to the telegrams. I found one from Arlon, +stating that MacMahon's position was very good. He was posted behind +fortifications, which were stored with provisions for three hundred +thousand men. Yesterday's engagement had ended in a triumph for the +French. + +Another telegram came from Mézičres, according to which yesterday's +battle had ended fatally for the French, who had been forced to the +Belgian frontier by the Prussians. The Emperor was with MacMahon. The +line of battle extended from Bazille to La Chapelle. Three thousand +French soldiers, with five hundred horses, had been driven across the +Belgian frontier, and had there surrendered. + +A gentleman sitting near me, evidently a Frenchman, politely begged me +to show him the telegrams. "Oh," said he, "these are old ones, brought +over from the evening papers. Let us look at the front page," and, +turning the leaves, he pointed to a few lines printed in large letters, +"Sedan, September 2, 8 p.m. MacMahon's army has surrendered and laid +down its arms. MacMahon is severely wounded, and General Wimpffen has +taken command in his place. The capitulation was signed by him. Napoleon +has personally surrendered to the Prussian King." + +The French gentleman had fallen from his chair in a swoon. He was +carried out into the fresh air to recover. This incident caused a +sensation in the room; everybody inquired for the cause of the swoon, +and I gave them the newspaper, which was eagerly devoured, until one +gentleman leaped upon a billiard-table and read the news aloud to all. + +I went up to my wife. She had thrown herself on the bed, without +undressing, for, as we had only this single apartment for both of us, +she could not undress before the stranger who was--her husband. I begged +her pardon for disturbing her, but I thought she would be interested in +the important news. Of course she was! All the sleep was gone from her +eyes in a moment. She sprang from the bed and came to me. "See how kind +Providence has been!" she said. "If you had not been dismissed, you also +would be a prisoner now. So what seemed an evil has been converted into +a benefit." + +At the first moment I felt inclined to share her views. For, indeed, it +would have been a ludicrous end to my little private tragedy if, instead +of the coveted death, I had experienced a few years of tedious inaction +at Mainz or some other German fortress. + +So that, considered from this point of view, I had indeed had a +fortunate escape, and out of the fancied evil had come a certain good. +"But if evil may change into good," I thought, "I wonder who can repair +my marred and blackened life? Is there any Providence powerful enough to +convert this evil into a benefit?" + +I gazed at Flamma, and wondered how she would look if I were to tell her +that her million had ceased to exist, that this catastrophe, which had +dragged a monarch from his throne into captivity, had also cost her her +sole fortune, the inheritance of her grandfather, and had thrown her +upon my mercy? "Good-night!" I said to her. "Try to sleep a little. I +will go and look for some private lodgings. We cannot stay in this +place." She thanked me, and, if I remember rightly, she extended her +hand to me; but I contrived to avoid taking it, and left her to her own +company. + +I descended again to the café. Nobody was there except the staff of +waiters. Everybody else had gone to the Bourse, I learned. 'Change open +at four o'clock in the morning! is not that extraordinary? Certainly, +but so are the events which are occurring. The spacious halls and +corridors of the Exchange were brilliantly lighted all night long, and +were filled with a throng of brokers and "matadores." Curiosity took me +there also; but I had literally to fight my way in. My fists had to +procure admission for me. In the large hall this lighting for room was +general; and as for the noise and uproar of voices, the blockade of +Spicheren must have been a symphony in comparison. + +I promised twenty francs to one of the servants of the establishment if +he would fetch me Mr. X., my broker, from the _coulisses_. I handed him +my card. It was an hour before the good man could emerge from the crowd. +His silk hat was crushed, his coat-collar torn off, the bow of his +necktie was dangling at the back of his neck, and his waistcoat had lost +four buttons; but he was radiant. As he caught sight of me, he ran to +meet me, shook my hands, embraced and kissed me, and fairly went into +ecstasies over me. Was this man mad? + +"Sir!" he cried. "My friend! my hero! You are a sage, a prophet! At the +news of the catastrophe of Sedan a tremendous rise has set in on +'Change!" + +"Rise!" I exclaimed, astonished. + +"Certainly, and what a rise! If the French had simply been vanquished we +should have had a tremendous fall, but at the news of the surrender +values are rising enormously. You are a wonderful man! How you have +scented it all! Let me go back to make millions! Your money is all +invested for a rise. To-day we shall take lunch at Tortoni's at twelve +o'clock sharp. I shall bring you home eight millions. Let me go, or I +shall leave the lappet of my coat in your hands." + +With that he ran back to the orgies around the golden calf. I let myself +go with a crowd that was thronging out--possibly the beaten +speculators--and was borne by the current into the street. I was +completely stunned at the results of my determined efforts to lose that +money, and felt for my head to make sure that I was not dreaming. Could +all this be true? Could ice be kindled into flames, and could flames +freeze to ice? How was I to believe that all my curses could be turned +into blessings, and that out of misfortune Fortune herself should arise? + +By this time the morning had dawned, and I went into a café to get some +tea. With the tray a newspaper was laid before me, and, sure enough, I +read--"General rise! French values mounting and greatly in demand! Money +in abundance!" + +So it was no dream. + +Until noon I sauntered about in order to kill time. At precisely twelve +o'clock I was at Tortoni's, and found my broker already expecting me. He +had ordered lunch: Four dozen oysters, woodcock, artichokes, +giardinetto. Wines: Chablis, Chateau Lafitte, Grand Vin Mumm, etc. + +"Wonderful victory!" said he, taking my hand. "_Écrasant_ defeat of the +_contremine_! Sir, Napoleon has capitulated before King William; I +capitulate before you. You know more of the psychology of the Money +Market than I!" + +I to know the psychology of the Money Market? was not that excessively +absurd? + +"It is easy to understand," he continued. "You are home from the French +camp. Evidently you have not gone there to plaster sores or set broken +bones, but to have an opportunity for watching the development of the +situation, and the movements of the forces. Oh if all 'matadores' would +only be as prudent! But this course requires pluck, courage, and perfect +coolness. You already knew that MacMahon was hemmed in, and that the +Emperor shared the same fate. It was easy to foresee the ensuing +surrender, and you made use of the means provided for your escape. You +gave me instructions; I have carried out your order, and here is the +result. Four millions are the prize of this one day." + +"But how is it possible?" asked I. + +"Pray don't try to play the simpleton before me. Of course, you had +calculated that, with the capitulation and the capture of the Emperor, +the war was at an end. The French have no organised armies left, and +are, therefore, compelled to make peace. The Stock Market anticipates +the conclusion of peace, and forces up French securities. What shall I +do with your eight millions?" + +What? I hardly knew. Throw it into the ocean; it would come back to me, +like the ring of Polycrates. Nay, not like that, for it kept hatching, +and came back like a hen with a brood of chickens--that is, millions. +This odious money sticks to me like so many burs, and I cannot get rid +of it. Fortune is called a goddess. To me she was a "She-devil;" her +gold was choking me. + +"Did you come from Paris alone?" asked the broker. + +"No; my wife is with me." + +"Have you found comfortable quarters to live in?" + +"A back room on the third storey. I am looking for private lodgings." + +"Well, I will tell you something. A banker, who was on the bear side, +offers his residence for sale, in order to pay his differences. His +house cost him four hundred thousand francs. We could get it for half +the amount, and you could move into it at once." + +"Take it, by all means." + +"But what shall I do with the balance of the money? This glass to the +new landlord!" + +We clinked glasses. What a powerful agent money was! Only last night I +could not find a room to sleep in, and now I was practically the owner +of a palatial residence in Brussels. But what should I do with the rest, +the seven million eight hundred thousand francs? + +"Speculate with the whole amount for a fall," said I to the agent, +determined that this time the hateful money should be lost for ever. Mr. +X. set down his glass and looked at me. "I beg pardon, sir, but--perhaps +you are not accustomed to spirits? The champagne was rather strong." + +"Wine does not affect me. I am quite sober." + +"Then, in all politeness, I would advise you to consult a specialist; +perhaps you are suffering from the mania of contradiction or some other +mental disease." + +"This is my own affair. You do with my money as I instruct you. Put all +the money left, after paying for the house, on a bear speculation at one +week." + +"Then, pray, give me permission to take out my percentage first; for in +this transaction I take no share. You have pulled out the devil's +forelock and shaved off his beard, but he won't give you his hoof and +tail also. Give me my percentage, and handle your money yourself." + +"Your percentage you may take when you please, but with the rest do as I +tell you; speculate for a fall at the end of a week. I have no time to +go on 'Change, as I must be off to Paris." + +"Paris? You are going back to Paris? Sir, your reason must be disturbed. +Why, revolution has broken out in Paris. Don't you know of it?" + +"That's exactly the reason for my going. My wife has left her whole +wardrobe, her silver, jewellery, pictures, and tapestry in Paris, and I +am going to take everything away before it is destroyed." + +"But, sir, this is foolish! Here are eight millions. Surely you can buy +a new wardrobe and jewellery for your wife with this money without +carrying your head to the guillotine." + +"Will you allow me to judge of my own affairs?" said I, angrily. "I must +know best what I ought to do." + +After that my man put the tip of his forefinger to his nose, and +exclaimed: "Oh, so!" + +I looked at him with tight-shut lips, giving vent to a slight "H--m, +h--m!" + +At that he raised his eyebrows, lifted his fat finger with a warning +gesture, and smiled mischievously; whereat I shrugged my shoulders, and +the mutual understanding was perfect. Of course, it was natural in the +owner of eight millions to have, besides his legal wife, another illegal +wife, or mistress; and as in case of danger an honest man's first duty +is to save his own wife, I had of course done so; but, like a real +gentleman, I was returning to the place of danger in order to save my +other wife as well. + +That was the meaning of the mysterious winking and smiling and hemming, +and I did not think it worth my while to undeceive him. Let him believe +whatever he likes; what do I care for his opinion? + +The same day I obtained possession of the house, and took my wife to it. +She was greatly astonished at its splendour, but ventured no remark. I +asked her if she had any money left out of the forty thousand francs, +and she answered that she had only spent half of it. That showed good +economy. Not to spend more than twenty thousand francs in three months +was the quintessence of thriftiness. I told her that the house was at +her disposal, and that she might arrange everything to please herself. I +was compelled to leave her on urgent business. She did not ask me what +business I had, nor where it would take me. Neither would she persuade +me to stay. + +I reached Paris much sooner than I had expected. As soon as I had passed +the frontier I had donned my uniform again, and was very wise in doing +so. All those who had hindered me when leaving the country were now +very officious in assisting me to reach Paris. The sight of my uniform, +my wounded forehead, and the _légion d'honneur_ was enough to put them +entirely at my service. In Paris I was surprised at the change of the +appearance in the public streets. Over every porch, on every house, a +large tricolour flag was displayed; the military embraced and +fraternised with the people. I saw the Imperial Guard hacking at the +imperial eagle over the barrack-gate with their swords--the same swords +which they used two days before to drive off and disperse the mob at my +door. + +My own residence had undergone a similar change. Like the caterpillar +which has developed into a gay butterfly, it had put on wings, and from +the balcony, above the porch, on all sides, great tricolours were +hanging, with the legend "_Vive la République_!" + +So it was already a Republic, and only the other day it had been an +Empire. And all this had occurred without the shedding of a single drop +of blood, without the least disorder! It was just as though a handsome +widow should remarry the day after her husband's funeral. The new +Government was already established, and the satisfaction over this +performance was enough to sweeten the pang caused by the catastrophe of +Sedan. + +In the streets no policeman, no detective could be seen. The National +Guard watched over the public order, and the foreigners, who, under +Palikao's reign, had been the victims of so many molestations, were left +in peace. Yes, large placards, in big red letters, invited all +foreigners who were true friends of liberty to enter the volunteer +corps, which was called into existence for defence against the tyrants. +It was enough to show some exotic trait of dress or appearance to be +literally embraced on the streets by fair ladies. + +So it was in vain that I had come to this place to get rid of my head. +There was no guillotine, no barricade, not the slightest opportunity for +cheap martyrdom; and as for the volunteer legion, why, that was a +veritable life insurance corps. + +I could not get myself killed. But my millions had another chance of +annihilation. The rise was lasting for days, and all Europe believed in +a restoration of peace. + +On the sixth day, the limit I had given to my broker, appeared that +manifesto of the French Republican Government which proclaimed that the +war would be continued until all resources were exhausted. France would +never rest until she had driven her enemy from her soil. + +This proclamation was a deathblow to all hopes of peace, and destroyed +all calculations and expectations. That a tremendous decline in values +was the consequence will be readily understood. + +So my Hell-born millions had hatched again, and returned to me doubled. +Dame Fortuna insulted me! She was a demon--a Devil! + + + + +XVII. + +LIGHT AT LAST. + + +At this I gave up that Quixotic fight against windmills, and said to my +own familiar spirit, my little inward devil-- + +"My dear little demon, I find you are a much more cunning little devil +than I thought you to be, and I shall begin to listen to your advice. +What the devil shall I kill myself for, when I have got sixteen million +francs of ready money? Is there any need of my final surrender to you as +yet? First, I'll see what services you'll do me still. The money I got +by following your suggestions, but the suicide speculation was a +failure. Evidently there are other devils more potent than you. Now let +me see. If I judge correctly, I can spare you altogether, dismiss you +with good references, such as, 'A fine little demon, very cunning, very +devoted and submissive.' It would be easy for you to find another +master, and I could well spare you. Why, with sixteen millions there is +no need of my being unhappy, and giving way to despair; with so much +ready money, I have Fortune at my command. She will come at my bidding. +If every husband in France who is not beloved by his wife were to enlist +against the Prussians, daring Death and Devil alike, the Prussians would +very soon find their way home again. And if she has insulted, betrayed +me with another man before she became my wife, I can revenge myself now, +and why not? When Father Adam quarrelled with Mother Eve, he found +consolation with Lilith, the dark-skinned Hashor, the almond-eyed +Anaitio, the silent Mylitta. So, my dear little demon, I can't see of +what use you can be to me any longer. I am tired of going death-hunting, +and not fool enough to play a game of shuttlecock with a lump of gold. +Then what's the use of my keeping you?" + +"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" laughed he. "Fancy your sending me off when you stand +most in need of me and my advice. My dear boy, you were never so much my +own as at this moment. You are tired of death-hunting? Very good; live +on, drink deep of the fountain of life, drain it to the dregs, and much +good may it do you! You have wealth and therefore power, and you will +become just such a dare-devil villain as the man who has caused all this +pother. You will betray innocent, confiding maidens, deceive loving +friends, ruin families, and beget unfortunate, ill-starred beings. You +will become a heartless libertine, a selfish sensualist. You will mock +at God, mock at the Devil; and when you are all alone, you will dread +and despise yourself. You will do evil for evil's sake, and rejoice at +the despair of your brethren. Oh, you can't spare me now, my boy; you +want me more than ever!" + +I did not enter the Franc-tireur legion, although its captain was a +countryman of mine, a chivalrous Hungarian: if I am not mistaken, his +name was Varjassy. I returned to Brussels, and remained there. + +My broker, Mr. X., came to me, quite submissive, doing penance in +sackcloth and ashes. Again he called me sage and prophet, and finally +asked me, "What next?" + +"Nothing," I said. "We will not go near the Bourse again. We have made +our booty; don't let us run the risk of losing it." + +"You are certainly wise!" he said, admiringly. He took his own +proportion, and bought property with it. The last time I had heard of +him he had established a great dairy and was manufacturing an excellent +cheese. + +I had become a fashionable dandy. I was a member of the Jockey Club, was +seen at the theatres and at all fashionable places of public +entertainment. I opened my palatial residence to fashionable society, +and took my wife to all social amusements fitted to her station in life. +I took pride in the elegance of her toilette, and was jealously careful +that her equipage should outshine all others. + +Still I cannot say that this constant, tender consideration and +attention to her affected her in my favour. On the contrary, I found +that of late her glance had a troubled, I may say, puzzled expression +when it rested on me; and when occasionally I entered her room +unexpectedly I saw that she hastily concealed in a drawer a small and +well-worn note-book. I supposed she was calculating what this expensive +rate of living might cost. If she only computed what I spent officially, +so to speak--that is to say, on herself and the household--she must have +made it some four hundred thousand francs. The income on her million of +florins would amount, at the utmost, to one hundred thousand francs, so +she must naturally have come to the conclusion that her securities were +scattered to the winds. + +At that time the rosewood chest with the bonds, in exactly the same +condition as when she had given them to me on our wedding night, was in +my own possession again, and locked up in my safe. It had been my first +care to take it home from the banking-house where it had been deposited. +I had repaid the amount of the loan, received the securities, and found +them all in excellent order. + +By this time the period of Flamma's confinement had arrived, and a son +was born. I had made her a proposition to postpone the christening for a +month, and only then to give our aristocratic family connections at home +information of the happy event. She consented, and by the time the +christening took place she had fully recovered her health and beauty, +or, rather, she had become more beautiful than ever; for, from a girlish +maiden, she had developed into a blooming woman. + +The little boy we christened William James. He was a well-formed, +healthy child, and I myself had conscientiously selected a nurse for +him. + +When at last no harm was to be feared from excitement, and Flamma's +health was fully established, I wrote her a line that I should like to +have some conversation with her on money matters that afternoon. She +wrote me in reply that I had anticipated her own wishes, and that she +would be ready to receive me. + +At the appointed time I carried the rosewood chest with her dowry to her +room. I found her engaged with the same worn-looking note-book that I +had already noticed, but this time she did not hide it upon my entrance. +She offered me a seat, but I set the chest on the table in front of her, +and, looking her in the face, I said-- + +"Madame, to-day it is seven months since that eventful evening on which +you made me certain confidential disclosures. At that time I did not +make any remark on the subject, because the state of your health was +such that, in my capacity as a physician, conscientious scruples +prohibited me from creating in you any excitement which might prove +fatal to yourself and to another being. You will not refuse to bear +witness that I have paid you all the care and attention which your +condition required, and that I have done everything that was possible, +under the circumstances, to save you from emotions which might be +injurious. I have nursed you conscientiously, and omitted nothing which +I thought necessary to your health and that of your child. But now your +health is fully established, your child is christened, and I have given +him an honourable name and a good nurse, which is all that he requires +for the present. Now the time has come when I may express my real +sentiments to you. I shall even now forbear to reproach you. In this +whole baneful connection between us the fault has been mine alone. It +was my boundless vanity, my absurd conceit, which led me to believe that +a beautiful, wealthy, and high-born young lady would choose me, of all +men, for her husband, without any secret motive or hidden reason to +prompt her. I ought to have known my own worthlessness better, and not +yielded to a flattering self-conceit. You see, I acknowledge my fault +fully, and I own that I have deserved my punishment. I have no +accusation against you. You were desperate; you had to save your +reputation, and you did not stop to consider what it might cost me so +long as it served your purpose. Of course, the pride and honour of +Countess Vernöczy were of much higher importance than the life, the +honour, of an insignificant fool like myself. Move over, you paid for the +services you had procured with admirable magnanimity. You placed your +whole dowry at my disposal. But now your honour and reputation are +saved; so is that of your child. There is no need of my suffering longer +for a fault for which I have bitterly atoned. Now, pray, let me restore +to you the money which you placed in my hands on that memorable night. +Let me beg you to take slate and pencil, and convince yourself of the +entire correctness of the amount." + +She looked at me as if mesmerised, and mechanically she obeyed me. I +opened the chest, took out the papers, and, as she had done on the night +of our wedding, I dictated to her the titles of the various deeds and +securities, and she wrote as I dictated. + +The amount was correct. "You see that the coupons are inside," I said; +"those of last year and those of this year also. Not one has been +touched." + +"And our household expenses?" asked she, breathlessly. + +"Were liquidated by me with my own money. Now, pray, take the property +out of my hands, for this is the last time that we shall ever speak with +or behold each other as long as we live." She gazed up at me, trembling +in every nerve. I continued-- + +"I shall leave you to-day, and you will never learn whither I have gone +or where I am. Like the criminal escaping from jail, I shall change my +name, and deny the term which I have served at your side. I shall +possess no name, no home, no family. I shall be a stranger and an +outcast, wandering to and fro for fear that the acquisition of a settled +residence might betray my abode to you. And now, there are three roads +open to you. You may return with your child to the old home of the +Dumanys, my poor Slav kingdom. There you may live, secluded from the +world, bringing up your child and teaching him virtue, honesty, and +useful employments. You may dole out alms to the poor, and in this +mournful solitude pray to God for happy oblivion or the still happier +news of my death. This is one of the roads open to you; it is the stony +path of virtue, dreary and tiresome. The second path is the flowery one. +You may throw yourself upon the waves of life, drink deep of the cup of +pleasure, not troubling yourself with scruples as to what is allowed and +what forbidden. Your youth, beauty, and wealth will carry you up to the +pinnacle of pleasure--only beware of the consequences! I, the husband, +shall be separated from you by whole oceans perhaps, and shall not be +here to legitimatise the result of a _faux pas_. There is still a third +way--a divorce; and I authorise you to commence your suit. Only, you +know, this way is tedious, and requires great sacrifices. Monetary +sacrifices also, for we cannot get a divorce without being converted to +Protestantism, and in that case, according to your grandfather's will, +you are obliged to give up your dowry--this million. But you have also +to give up the Church and the religion in which you were born and +brought up, and which has given you consolation in despair, and the +saints whom you are accustomed to invoke to your aid. Still, the road is +open to you, and I will give you four hours to make your decision. If it +should be for a divorce, I am ready to go with you to Transylvania to +procure a divorce under the Unitarian laws." + +As I finished she rose from her seat, her cheeks aglow, her eyes +burning. "I know a fourth way," she said, catching her breath. + +"And that is?" + +"I will not let you go!" she cried, taking hold of my arm with both +hands, and clinging to me with her trembling body. + +I broke out into a bitter, scornful laugh. "Countess," said I, "do you +believe that there is in the world an interest, a sentiment, a spirit of +magnanimity or of cowardice, which is powerful enough to hold me in jail +now that the time for which I have sentenced myself has expired? That +there is any power existing which could tie me to your side, if but for +another day? Well, I have read the hate, the contempt, the scorn in your +eyes, and you were justly entitled to those feelings; but you cannot +wish me to endure these daily pangs and lacerations of my wounded +self-esteem for ever. You cannot ask of me to live on at the side of a +woman who hates me, despises me, and scorns me, simply because it would +suit that woman to retain her present position. No, my lady! Even my +ample stock of weak foolish indulgence is at an end. I go, and I go for +ever! Not even in Paradise do I wish to meet you again. And if you go to +salvation, I shall go to perdition to avoid you!" + +The effect of my cruel, insulting words were marvellous. They did not +seem to hurt or offend her; she seemed to delight in them, drink them in +like some sweet, delicious nectar. Her face, her eyes, her attitude +spoke of exultant admiration, of triumphant joy, of ecstatic delight. + +"True!" she said, "it is all true that you have said. Only what I have +felt for you was never hate; it was love warring against contempt, and +contempt fighting against love. Yes, I have despised you; for I was +told, and I believed it, that money was all that you cared for, and your +own words have confirmed me in this opinion. Do you remember, after you +had told Cenni and me the story of your friend, you spoke of the +qualities of the girl whom you might marry? She must be young and +beautiful, and wealthy and luxurious. Young and beautiful--I thought--to +suit your vanity; wealthy and luxurious--because you loved wealth and +luxury; and your conduct after our marriage hourly convinced me of the +correctness of the supposition. You accepted your position without a +murmur. I was burning with shame and humiliation, ready at a word to +fall at your feet, and make you a confession which would cleanse me from +the burning stigma, remove from me the brand of shame. But you accepted +the money, and asked no questions, and I left you in despairing +contempt. Our married life was much too luxurious to undeceive me, and I +believed that you were making use of my money to feed your appetite for +pleasure. When you protected me against danger, nursed me in my odious +condition, I thought, 'All is well to him as long as he can keep the +money. He fears for my life, because, in case of my death, he would have +to restore the money.' The comfort, the splendour, the costly presents, +dresses, and jewels which you bestowed upon me were so many accusations +against yourself. And yet how I longed to be able to respect you! When +the newspapers spoke of your undaunted courage, of your disinterested +and indefatigable activity, your self-denial, generosity, and discreet +modesty, how my heart yearned for you! How my soul cried out to you, +'Why are you not the same to me as to the world? Why are you brave, +generous, disinterested, and self-denying to them, and not to me? Why am +I, of all persons alive, condemned to know you for a cowardly, +avaricious, and selfish man, when, in spite of all that, my heart burns +for love of you?' And now you have thrown off the hideous mask you wore, +have shown me your real face, shown me how much I have misjudged you, +how I have sinned against you! You give me back that money untouched. +You have not even spent the interest of it, and now I see how I have +wronged you in accusing you of greed. All your tender care, your +delicate attention, your patient indulgence were given to me out of your +magnanimous sense of duty, the heavenly generosity of your soul! And now +that I know you in all the glory of your goodness, now that I have found +my ideal in you and my love has grown into worship, now you tell me +that you are lost to me for ever, that you will not be mine, and I must +choose the paths you point out to me. No, sir; that is impossible! You +cannot cast me off, now that I love you! I have sinned against you, +caused you insufferable pains, infinite tortures; but my whole life +shall be given to atone for those sins by meek submission, dutiful +obedience, ardent love. I cannot choose between those paths you have +shown me. I do not want to be consumed by the fires of sinful love, nor +to freeze in the ice of solitude and self-abnegation. I want to be +happy, and to make you happy. I want to love, and I do love you!" + +"You have a child." + +"That child! That living stigma which was branded into my flesh by a +miserable assassin! I hate it so much that I will never kiss it, never +pray for it. Its very sight is loathsome to me! I have given birth to +it, but shall never love it as a mother!" + +After this tempest of her emotions she threw herself against the door, +barring it against me as though to say: "The way through this door, the +way that separates you from me, leads over my body." + +I looked at her, and the sight of her deep and real agitation summoned +me to a silent condemnation of my base hypocrisy. What was I but a +cunning dissembler, coming here to play a great part before her, making +believe that I had not touched her money, when I had time and again +risked it in speculations? And the very house she lived in, the comfort +and splendour that surrounded her, were the result of the profits her +money had acquired. How dared I make a parade of my generosity, when all +the time I had been scheming for her ruin and dreaming of revenge? Truth +and sincerity were all on her side; the halo of virtue around my head +was false. + +And she loved me! She confessed that love with the frank truthfulness of +her nature--confessed it in words that sent a thrill of delight through +my whole frame! And I, who am burning for love of her, I stand here like +a pagan idol, in stony indifference, looking down at the bleeding heart +which is held up as a sacrifice to me. No, I am no stone! Avaunt, +Hathor, Mylitta, Baaltis, I am none of yours! And thou too, vile, +wretched Dissimulation, I cast thee forth! Depart from the presence of +this true woman! + +I went to her and took her hands. "If your boy is not to have the love +of a mother, he shall have that of a father instead. I shall love him +dearly and be a true father to him." + +As I said this, she broke into passionate sobbing, and, crouching down +at my feet, she threw her arms around my knees and wept bitterly. + +"No," said she, "do not lift me up, for my confessions are not yet +ended. I have asked you for mercy heretofore. I now ask you for justice; +for a righteous judgment! I have never been the degraded wretch you +believed me to be, have never been the mistress of another man, never +listened to his words of love, so help me God! Siegfried was not my +betrayer, he was my assassin! He made use of Diodora's and Cenni's +absence from the house, at a time when a slight illness had prevented +me from accompanying them, to drug my wine at the table, and during the +lethargy caused by the soporific potion he slew my soul! Devil as he is, +he took a devilish revenge, because I had shown him my contempt and +abhorrence." + +Before this I was down on my knees, covering her eyes, her hair, her +face, and her mouth with my kisses; weeping in the excess of my love and +happiness. "Why did you not tell me this before? Why not on the night of +our wedding?" I asked. + +"I intended to! Do you remember that I asked you if you had no other +question to address to me? You said 'No,' and pointed to the door. For a +few moments only your eye had rested with a fiery glare on a two-edged +dagger which lay upon the table. If you had carried out the wild +promptings of your wrath, if your hand had raised the dagger against me, +if only a single word or action had given me proof that you were the man +I wished you to be, and not the wretch who accepts the money which is +offered in return for his name and honour, I should have spoken. Oh, how +I have longed to do it!" + +I pressed her to my heart and kissed her again. "You are innocent," I +said: "as innocent as that poor child himself. You have not sinned; +others have sinned against you. And now that you have confessed to me, +let me also confess to you, and, if you can, forgive me!" I told her +all--my evil designs, the monetary speculations, my suicidal purposes, +my moral cowardice. She listened, shuddering, but, when I had finished, +she nestled close to my heart and kissed me passionately. She had +forgiven. + + * * * * * + +After this we decided to leave Europe and go to the New World--to +America. My old Slav kingdom I did not care to keep; it was best to give +up everything, and wipe out all memory of myself. So I left it to be +sold in payment of the debts I had accumulated. In the New World fortune +clung to me with the same persistence. Whatever I undertook was sure to +succeed, and all my enterprises were fortunate. So, in course of time, I +became the "Silver King." We came to Europe on account of little James, +who all at once ceased speaking and became a mute. We tried American +physicians, but to no purpose, and so we came to Europe in order to +consult the best professional talent. Now you know all. You know how it +was possible for the little son of a South American nabob, after +regaining his lost speech, to speak Hungarian, and you know who taught +him to speak that language. The child has never loved anyone but me, and +no one has loved him but myself. And I love him truly and with all my +heart. For to him I am indebted for all my present happiness; not only +for my wealth, for wealth alone is not happiness. A man may be happy +without wealth, and be very unhappy with it; but I owe him this. + +He took a photograph from his pocket-book, and showed it to me--four +laughing little cherub heads, peeping out of a bath-tub, like birds from +the nest. "These my little James has brought me," he said, with tears of +joy in his eyes; "if he had not come, these would not have come either. +So, you see, my dear friend, I was thrown into Hell and fell into +Paradise." + + * * * * * + +"I beg your pardon," said I to Mr. Dumany, as he finished his story, +"but I am curious to know what became of Siegfried? Would you mind +telling me?" + +"Oh, he is a very famous man at present, and fills a very honourable +position. He is engaged as horse-tamer in the Paris Hippodrome, and they +say that he is excellent in 'jumping.' I have not seen him yet, but I +hear he has a good salary, and is a general favourite. He is very much +praised and admired by those who have seen him. I think it highly +creditable in a man when he lives honourably by means of his ability and +talent." + +By this time the dawn had greeted us. Through the chinks of the closed +shutters the rising sun was stealing, decorating the wall-tapestry with +rings of golden red, adding radiant circles to the smoke-wreaths of our +cigarettes, and sending long glittering darts into all the corners and +behind the curtains. + +Presently, breaking the monotony of our voices, which punch and cognac +had made hoarse, a sweet, silvery voice chimed in, "Apácska! Apácska!" +("Papa! Papa!") and a little unfledged cherub was peeping out from the +bed-curtains. "You may come to me," said Mr. Dumany, smilingly, and, in +an instant, little James was out of bed, and, barefooted, in his little +nightgown as he was, he ran to his father, shouting with glee, climbing +up into his lap, and throwing his little arms caressingly around his +neck, laughing mischievously the while. At the noise of this babbling +and laughter, similar sounds were heard in the next room, just as in a +bird's nest when one little fledgeling chirps all the rest join in, +lifting the little heads and trying the winglets. + +"Reveille is sounded," said my friend, with a happy smile. "I have to go +and muster my troops; this next chamber is their bedroom." + +But the muster was postponed, for the commander-in-chief arrived--the +mother. She was in a plain, dark dress, but her beautiful face bore a +soft expression of happiness which I had not seen the day before. "You +are up yet?" she asked. + +"And you are up already?" asked her husband. + +"Yes. I have been out to my confessor's. You have made a clean breast to +your friend at home; I have done the same in the confessional, and I +have come home much happier than I went, and I truly hope much better." +With that she bent down to the child, and kissed it tenderly. + +"I have been an unnatural and undutiful mother," she said, in a low, +trembling voice, "and if you, in your generous pity, in the overflowing +kindness of your nature, had not taken this poor innocent to your heart, +it would not have known the tender love, the sweet care of a parent. +Father Augustin has shown me the great, black sin in my breast. How can +I hope for mercy from Heaven if I mercilessly lock my heart against my +own innocent offspring? How can I hope for love and respect from my +other children, if I withhold a mother's love from this one? Oh, my +dearest husband! here in the presence of your friend, whom you have made +cognisant of our past sorrows and trials, I thank you from the bottom of +my heart for the love you have borne my child!" And before he could +prevent the action she had bent down and pressed her lips to his hand. + +"Flamma! dearest!" he said, overcome by his emotion, "you have been the +truest, the most considerate, most loving, and most dutiful of all wives +and mothers; but this day you have filled my cup of happiness to the +brim. This one drop, the mother's kiss to the sweet innocent, was +wanting. This day shall henceforth be kept as a high holiday, as this +little darling's real birthday, for it has given him a mother." + +He held up the boy to her, and at the sweet, inviting smile and the +opened arms the little one threw open his arms also; one of them he drew +around his mother's, the other around his father's neck, and then he +showered a volley of kisses and caresses on both. Never in all my life +have I seen a picture more lovely and beautiful than this. + +"Come, my little one," said the mother, after a while, to the child, "it +is too early yet for you to rise. Come to your little brothers and +sisters and sleep awhile longer," and, nodding sweetly to us, she +disappeared, with the child on her arm, through the tapestry _portičre_ +that led to the children's bedroom. + +The "Silver King" silently pressed my hand as I said-- + +"Sir, you are the happiest man on earth, nor can all the crowned +monarchs of the world compare to you in wealth!" + +"Yes," he said, after a while, "I am very happy. But I owe you an +explanation, before I take leave of you. You may think it singular that +a man who is the father of a family should disclose such intimate +secrets to a friend of whom he knows beforehand that he will make public +use of the disclosure, and relate to his readers the events he has +learned. But, you see, so much has already been said about my wife and +me--the fantastic imagination of one half of our fellow-creatures has +invented so much to feed the idle curiosity of the other half, that the +plain truth will serve in general as a cooling sedative. There are +different versions afloat as to how we got our money. Some say that I +was a general spy of the Prussians, and that my money was a fee for the +information furnished, or, in plain words, the betrayal of the positions +of the French forces. Others say that my wife had been the mistress of a +King, and was enriched by him, and that she still draws a life-pension +from the Civil List; while superstitious fools will have it that I have +sold myself to the Devil, and am supplied by him with infernal lore. +Against all of these the disclosure of the plain truth will be the best +defence. Human I am and have been, and human have been the temptations +and trials that have beset me. The only Devil to whom, for a time, I +sold myself, was the demon in my own breast--a poor, feeble spirit, and +long ago subdued by the more potent angel of love and peace." + + +THE END. + + + + * * * * * * * + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + The following typographical errors in the original text have + been corrected. + + In Part I, Chapter V, "religous monomania" has been changed to + "religious monomania". + + In Part I, Chapter VIII, "Yes, I wan you immediately" has been + changed to "Yes, I want you immediately". + + In Part I, Chapter XIII, "photograpers" has been changed to + "photographers". + + In Part II, Chapter IV, "siezed" has been changed to "seized". + + In Part II, Chapter X, a missing quotation mark has been added + to the sentence, + + Upon the steel blade was graven, in golden letters, "_Buona + notte_; and "_Buona notte! buona notte_," I kept incoherently + murmuring. + + In Part II, Chapter XII, "distinguised" has been changed to + "distinguished". + + In Part II, Chapter XV, an extra "are" has been deleted from + "you are are mistaken in this house". + + In Part II, Chapter XVII, "Moveover" has been changed to + "Moreover". + + In Part II, Chapter XVII, "infernal ore" has been changed to + "infernal lore". + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DR. 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Steinitz</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Dr. Dumany's Wife</p> +<p>Author: Mór Jókai</p> +<p>Release Date: June 28, 2006 [eBook #18708]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DR. DUMANY'S WIFE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Steven desJardins<br /> + and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2>WORKS OF MAURUS JÓKAI</h2> +<h3 style="color: red">HUNGARIAN EDITION</h3> + +<h1>DR. DUMANY'S WIFE</h1> + +<h3><i>Translated from the Hungarian By</i></h3> + +<h2>F. STEINITZ</h2> + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + + +<p class="center">NEW YORK</p> +<p class="center">DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY</p> +<p class="center">1891</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="PUBLISHERS_NOTE" id="PUBLISHERS_NOTE"></a>PUBLISHERS' NOTE.</h3> + + +<p>This, the latest story from the pen of Hungary's great man of letters, +Maurus Jókai, was translated directly from the manuscript of the author +by Mme. F. Steinitz, who resides in Buda-Pest, and was selected by him +for that purpose.</p> + +<p>Maurus Jókai is now sixty-six years of age, having been born at Komaróm, +in 1825. He was intended for the law, that having been his father's +profession but at twelve years of age the desire to write seized him. +Some of his stories fell into the hands of the lawyer in whose office he +was studying, who read them, and was so struck by their originality and +talent that he published them at once at his own expense. The public was +as well pleased with the book as the lawyer had been with the +manuscripts, and from that tender age to the present Jókai has devoted +himself to writing, and is the author of several hundred successful +volumes. At the age of twenty-three he laid down his pen long enough to +get married, his bride being Rosa Laborfalvi, the then leading Hungarian +actress. At the end of a year he joined the Revolutionists, and buckled +on the sword of the patriot. He was taken prisoner and sentenced to be +shot, when his bride appeared upon the scene with her pockets full of +the money she had made by the sale of her jewels, and, bribing the +guards, escaped with her husband into the birch woods, where they hid in +caves and slept on leaves, all the time in danger of their lives, until +they finally found their way to Buda-Pest and liberty. This city Jókai +has made his home; in the winter he lives in the heart of the town, in +the summer just far enough outside of it to have a house surrounded by +grounds, where he can sit out of doors in the shade of his own trees. He +is probably the best-known man in Hungary to-day, for he is not only an +author, but a financier, a statesman, and a journalist as well.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h3> + +<h3>PART I.</h3> + +<ol> +<li><a href="#PART_I_I">THE DUMB CHILD</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_II">THE DARK GOD</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_III">THE ENGLISHMAN</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_IV">THE NABOB</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_V">A REPUBLICAN COUNTESS</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_VI">DUMANY KORNEL</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_VII">THE DEAD MAN'S VOTE</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_VIII">MY UNCLE DIOGENES</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_IX">A SLAVONIC KINGDOM</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_X">"DEAD"</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_XI">MY DEAR FRIEND SIEGFRIED</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_XII">THE DEVIL'S HOOF</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_I_XIII">THE VALKYRS</a></li> +</ol> + +<h3>PART II.</h3> + +<ol> +<li><a href="#PART_II_I">THE SEA-DOVE</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_II">"WHAT IS THE DEVIL LIKE?"</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_III">THE FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_IV">THE HISTORY OF MY FRIEND</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_V">HOW ROSES ARE INOCULATED</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_VI">MR. PARASITE</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_VII">A BRILLIANT GAME</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_VIII">A BITING KISS</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_IX">WHO IS THE VISITOR?</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_X">AFTER THE WEDDING</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_XI">MY SCHEME</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_XII">SEEKING FOR DEATH</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_XIII">MY DISCHARGE</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_XIV">HOME! SWEET HOME</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_XV">VOX POPULI</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_XVI">DAME FORTUNE</a></li> +<li><a href="#PART_II_XVII">LIGHT AT LAST</a></li> +</ol> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="DR_DUMANYS_WIFE" id="DR_DUMANYS_WIFE"></a>DR. DUMANY'S WIFE.</h2> + +<h2>Part I.</h2> + + +<h2><a name="PART_I_I" id="PART_I_I"></a>I.</h2> + +<h3>THE DUMB CHILD.</h3> + + +<p>It was about the close of the year 1876 when, on my road to Paris, I +boarded the St. Gothard railway-train. Travellers coming from Italy had +already taken possession of the sleeping-car compartments, and I owed it +solely to the virtue of an extraordinarily large tip that I was at last +able to stretch my weary limbs upon the little sofa of a half-coupé. It +was not a very comfortable resting-place, inasmuch as this carriage was +the very last in an immensely long train, and one must be indeed fond of +rocking to enjoy the incessant shaking, jostling, and rattling in this +portion of the train. But still it was much preferable to the crowded +carriages, peopled with old women carrying babies, giggling maidens, +snoring or smoking men, and hilarious children; so I made the best of +it, and prepared for a doze.</p> + +<p>The guard came in to look at my ticket, and, pitying my lonely +condition, he opened a conversation. He told me that the son of an +immensely wealthy American nabob, with an escort well-nigh princely, +was travelling on the same train to Paris. He had with him an attendant +physician, a nursery governess, a little playfellow, a travelling +courier, and a huge negro servant to prepare his baths, besides several +inferior servants. These all occupied the parlour-car and the sleeping +compartments; but the little fellow had a parlour, a bedroom, and a +dressing-room all to himself.</p> + +<p>I did not pay much attention to the talk of the gossiping guard, and so +he departed, and at last I could sleep. On the road I am like a miller +in his mill. So long as the wheel turns, I sleep on; but the moment it +is stopped, I start up and am instantly wide awake. We had reached a +smaller station where the train usually stops for a few minutes only, +when, to my surprise, there was a great deal of pushing and sliding of +the cars backward and forward, and we halted for an extraordinarily long +time. I was just getting up to learn what was going on, when the guard +entered, lantern in hand.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, sir," he said, "but there is something amiss. The +linch-pin of the parlour-car has become over-heated, and we had to +uncouple the car and leave it behind. Now we are obliged to find a +convenient place for the little American, until we reach some main +station, where another parlour-car can be attached to the train. I am +really sorry for you, sir, but this is the only suitable place we have, +and the little fellow and his governess must be your travelling +companions for a while."</p> + +<p>"Well, when a thing can't be helped, grumbling is unreasonable, so +good-bye sleep and quiet, and let us prepare to pay homage to the +illustrious youth and his lady attendant," said I, smiling at the +guard's earnestness. But still he hesitated.</p> + +<p>"And pray, sir, what is your religion?" stammered he; "I have to tell +the governess."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" My good-humour was rising still, and I continued smiling. +"Tell the lady that I am a Swiss Protestant, and I hope she will not +object, as I shall not try to convert her or her charge if they are of a +different creed. Is there anything else you want to inquire into?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. The little gentleman's physician would also like to accompany +his charge, and stay at his side."</p> + +<p>"But there is only room for three."</p> + +<p>"I know; but, sir, the doctor is a very liberal gentleman, and he told +me that if anybody would be willing to exchange places with him, he +would gladly repay his whole travelling expenses."</p> + +<p>"That's liberal, certainly, and I have no doubt the fireman of the +engine will thankfully accept his offer. You can tell him as much. And +now go!"</p> + +<p>The man went out, but right after him came the doctor—a very pleasant +and distinguished-looking young man. He apologised for the guard's +bluntness and his misinterpretation of his message. He had not meant to +offend a gentleman, and so forth. He introduced himself as Dr. Mayer, +family physician at the house of the so-called "Silver King," Mr. +Dumany, the father of the little "Silver Prince." After learning that I +did not smoke, and had no objection to children, he inquired my +nationality. My astrachan fur cap and coat-collar made him take me for a +Russian, but, thanking him for his good opinion, I stated that as yet I +was merely a Hungarian. He did not object; but asked if we were free +from small-pox, diphtheritis, croup, measles, scarlet-fever, +whooping-cough, and such like maladies in our country at present. After +I had satisfied him that even the foot-and-mouth disease had by this +time ceased, he finally quitted me, but immediately returned, assisting +a lady with both hands full of travelling necessaries to climb up into +the carriage. After the lady came a grand stately-looking negro servant, +with gold-braided cap and overcoat of white bear's fur, and on his arm, +bundled up in rich velvet and costly fur, he carried a beautiful +five-year-old boy, who looked like some waxen image or big doll.</p> + +<p>The lady seemed very lively and talkative, and had a host of languages +at command. With the doctor she conversed in German; to the guide she +spoke French; the negro she questioned in English, and to a maid who +brought in some rugs and air-pillows she spoke Italian. All these +languages she spoke excellently, and I am certain that if a dozen +persons of different nationalities had been present she could have +talked to them in their various dialects with the same ease and fluency. +Of her beauty I could not judge, for she wore a bonnet with a thick +veil, which covered her face to the chin.</p> + +<p>Taking her seat at the opposite window, she placed the child between +us. He was a pale, quiet little boy, with very red, thin, +tightly-compressed lips, and great, melancholy dark-blue eyes. As long +as the negro was occupied in arranging the rugs and pillows, he looked +wholly unconcerned, and the smiles from the great black shining face did +not impress him at all; but when the swarthy giant caught the two fair +little hands in his own great black palm and wanted to kiss them, the +boy withdrew his hands with a quick gesture and struck the ebony +forehead with his tiny fist.</p> + +<p>At last we were seated. The negro was gone, the guide went out and +locked the door after him. Seeing that the open window was disagreeable +to the lady, I volunteered to close it. She accepted gratefully, and at +the same time expressed her regrets that, in consequence of the accident +to the parlour-car, she had been compelled to disturb me. Of course, I +hastened to say that I was not in the least incommoded, and only +regretted that it was not in my power to make her more comfortable. She +then told me that she was an American, and pretty well used to railroad +accidents of a more or less serious character. Three times she had been +saved by a miracle in railway collisions at home, and she assured me +that in America about 30,000 persons were every year injured in railway +accidents, while some 4,000 were killed outright.</p> + +<p>We conversed in German, and, as the lady became more and more +communicative, talk turned upon the subject of the child between us. +She told me that Master James was deaf and dumb, and could not +understand a word of our conversation; hence restraint was unnecessary. +I asked her if he was born with this defect, and she said, "No; until +the age of three he could speak very nicely, but at that age he was +thrown out of his little goat-carriage, and in consequence of the shock +and concussion lost his power of speech."</p> + +<p>"Then he will possibly recover it," I said. "I knew a young man who lost +his speech in the same manner at the age of five, and could not speak up +to his tenth year; then he recovered, and now he has graduated from +college as senior wrangler."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said. "But Mr. Dumany is impatient, and he has sent the boy +to all the deaf-and-dumb boarding-schools in Europe. Even now we are +coming from such an institution in Italy; but none of all these +different masters has been able to teach more than sign-talk, and that +is insufficient. Mr. Dumany wants to give the German Heinicke method a +trial. That professes to teach real conversation, based on the +observations of the movements of the lips and tongue."</p> + +<p>Of this method I also knew examples of success. I was acquainted with a +deaf and dumb type-setter, who had learned to talk intelligibly and +fluently, could read aloud, and take part in conversation, but in a +piping voice like that of a bird.</p> + +<p>"Even that would be a great success," she said. "At any rate, little +James will be taken to the Zürich Institute, and remain there until he +acquires his speech."</p> + +<p>During this whole conversation the little fellow had sat between us, +mute, and, to all appearance, wholly indifferent. His little pale face +was dull, and his great eyes half closed. I felt sorry for him, and with +a sigh of real compassion I muttered in my own native Hungarian tongue, +"Szegény fincska!" ("Poor little boy!") At this I saw a thrill of +surprise run through the child's little frame; the great blue eyes +opened wide in wonder and delight, and the closed cherry lips opened in +a smile of joy.</p> + +<p>I was struck with surprise, and did not believe my own eyes. The lady +had not noticed anything, since she still kept her bonnet on and the +thick veil tightly drawn over her face.</p> + +<p>I took pity on her, and offered to go out into the corridor to smoke a +cigarette, so that she might make herself a little more comfortable +until we arrived at some large station, where she would enter another +parlour-car.</p> + +<p>She accepted thankfully, and, to my utter astonishment, the little boy +raised his tiny hand, and caressingly stroked the fur collar of my coat. +I bent down to kiss him, and he smiled sweetly on me; and when I got up +and signed to him that he could now occupy both seats and stretch +himself upon the little sofa, he shook his head, and crept into the +corner which I had quitted. And there, as often as in my walk up and +down the corridor I threw a glance into his corner, I could see the +child's large dark-blue eyes following all my movements with an eager +curiosity; the white little face pressed to the window-pane and the tiny +hand never losing hold of the edge of the curtain, which he had +purposely lifted, for the governess had pulled the curtain down the +moment I left, possibly to take off her bonnet.</p> + +<p>Mine was not a very pleasant situation in that corridor. I watched the +rising and sinking of the moon, which phenomenon repeated itself about +twice every hour, according to the serpentine windings of the road. I +looked at the milky mist which surrounded the icy pinnacles of the great +mountains, and grumbled over the intense darkness in the many tunnels, +in which the roar and noise of the train is tremendously increased, +thundering as if Titans were breaking out of their prisons below Mount +Pelion.</p> + +<p>As if they had not broken through long, long ago! What if the old +Grecian gods should come to life? should leave their marble temples, and +gaze about on the world as it is at present? If Pallas Athene were told +of America? If Helios Apollo could listen to Wagner's operas, and Zeus +Jupiter might look into the great tube of the London Observatory, +wondering what had become of that milky way which had been formed out of +the milk spilled by Amalthea? If we could show him that we had caught +and harnessed his heavenly lightning to draw our vehicles and carry our +messages, and that, with the help of fire-eyed leviathans, we break +through the rocky womb of his great mountains? And yet, how easy it +would be for them, with a simple sneeze of their most illustrious and +omnipotent noses, to raise such a tempest that earth and sea would rise +and destroy man and his pigmy works at one fell stroke! I wonder if they +never awake? I rather think they sometimes get up and shake their mighty +fists at us. These cyclones look very suspicious to me!</p> + +<p>The huge iron leviathan turns and twists itself like a Gordian knot; +disappears and reappears, almost on the same spot, but higher up on the +mountain, and then glides rapidly on along the brinks of fearful +abysses, over long iron bridges looking like some fanciful filigree +work, some giant spider's web, extending across great valleys, chasms, +and precipices, over which great mountain rivers splash down, roaring +and foaming in gigantic falls. What giant power has cleft the way for +these waters—Vulcan or Neptune? Or was it laid down in Euclid's +adventurous age, when the Titans went into bankruptcy?</p> + +<p>The train increases its speed to regain the time lost in uncoupling the +disabled parlour-car, and this increased speed is chiefly felt at the +tail of the great iron dragon. I have to cling tightly to the brass rod +in front of the windows. We pass the central station without stopping, +the locomotive whistles, the lamps of the little watch-houses fly past +like so many jack-o'-lanterns, and all at once we are enveloped by a +thick fog rising from beneath, where it had rested above the sea, and +when the train has twice completed the circle around the valley, the +noxious, dangerous mist surrounds us entirely.</p> + +<p>But once more the creation of human hands conquers the spectre, and, +puffing and whistling, the locomotive breaks through the dark haze. Once +again the iron serpent disappears into the bowels of the rock, and as it +emerges it crosses another valley and is greeted by a clear heaven and a +multitude of brightly-glistening stars.</p> + +<p>We are on the Rossberg. A devastated tract of the globe it seems. Our +eyes rest on barren soil devoid of vegetation. Beneath a large field of +huge boulders, imbedded in snow and ice, the Alpine vegetation thrives. +The whole valley is one immense graveyard, and the great rocks are giant +tombstones, encircled by wreaths of white flowers meet for adorning +graves. At the beginning of the present century one of the ridges of the +Rossberg gave way, and in the landslide four villages were buried. This +happened at night, when the villagers were all asleep, and not a single +man, women, or child escaped. This valley is their resting-place. Was I +not right to call it a graveyard?</p> + +<p>Above this valley of destruction the train glides on. Upon the side of +the mountain is a little watch-house, built into the rock; a narrow +flight of steps hewn in the stone leads up to it like a ladder. The +moon, which had lately seemed fixed to the crest of the mountain, now +plays hide-and-seek among the peaks. A high barricade on the side of the +Rossberg serves to protect the railroad track against another landslide.</p> + +<p>On the high ridges of the mountain goats were pasturing, and not far +from them a shepherd's fire was blazing, and the shepherd himself sat +beside it. I remember all these accessories as well as if they were +still before my eyes. I can see the white goats climbing up and pulling +at the broom-plants. I can see the shepherd's black form, encircled by +the light of the fire, and the white watch-house with its black leaden +roof, the high signal-pole in front of it, above which all at once a +great flaming star arises.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_II" id="PART_I_II"></a>II.</h2> + +<h3>THE DARK GOD.</h3> + + +<p>I was gazing at that shining red light, when all at once I felt a +concussion, as if the train had met with some impediment. I heard the +jolting of the foremost cars, and had time to prepare for the shock +which was sure to follow; but when it did come, it was so great that it +threw me to the opposite wall of the corridor.</p> + +<p>Yet the train moved on as before, so that it could not have been +disabled, as I at first thought. I heard the guards run from carriage to +carriage, opening the doors, and I could see great clouds of steam arise +from the puffing and blowing engines. The friction of the wheels made a +grating noise, and I leaned out of the window to ascertain the nature of +the danger. Was another train approaching, and a collision inevitable? I +could see nothing, but suddenly I beheld the figure of the shepherd, and +saw him raise his staff aloft. I followed the motion of his hand, and +with a thrill of horror I saw a great ledge of rock sliding downward +with threatening speed, while at the same time a shower of small stones +crashed on the roof of the cars.</p> + +<p>I did not wait for the guards to open my door. I had it open in an +instant. From the other carriages passengers were jumping out at the +risk of life and limb, for the train was running at full speed.</p> + +<p>I hastily ran into the coupé to awaken my travelling companions, but +found them up. "Madam," I said, "I am afraid that we are in danger of a +serious accident. Pray come out quickly!"</p> + +<p>"Save the child!" she answered; and I caught the little boy, took him in +my arms, and ran out.</p> + +<p>The train was gliding perpetually on, and I bethought myself of the +recommendation of one who is jumping from a running vehicle, to leap +forward, because in jumping sideways or backward he invariably falls +under the wheels. So I followed the recommendation and leaped. +Fortunately, I reached the ground, although my knees doubled up under +me, and I struck the knuckles of my right hand a hard blow. The child +had fainted in my arms, but only from fright; otherwise he had received +no harm. I laid him on the ground in a safe place, and ran with all my +might after the train to help the lady out. She was standing on the +steps, already prepared for the jump. I extended my hand to her, +impatiently crying "Quick!" But instead of taking my proffered hand she +exclaimed, "Oh! I have forgotten my bonnet and veil," and back she ran +into the coupé, never again to come forth.</p> + +<p>At that moment I felt a tremendous shock, as if the earth had quaked and +opened beneath me, and this was followed by a deafening uproar, the +clashing of stones, the cracking of wood and glass, the grating and +crushing of iron, and the pitiful cries of men, women, and children. +The great mass of rock broke through the protecting barricade and rushed +right upon the engine. The huge, steam-vomiting leviathan was crushed in +an instant, and the copper and steel fragments scattered everywhere. +Three of the wheels were shattered, and with that the iron colossus came +to a dead stop, the suddenness of which threw the carriages crashing on +top of each other. This fearful havoc was not all. Through the breach +which the great rock had made in the barricade, an incessant avalanche +of stones, from the size of a cannon-ball to that of a wheelbarrow, +descended upon the train, crushing everything beneath into fragments, +pushing the unhappy train into the chasm below, into the valley of death +and destruction. Like a huge serpent it slid down, the great glowing +furnace with its feeding coals undermost, and then the whole wrecked +mass of carriages tumbled after, atop of each other, while cries of +despair were heard on every side. Then I saw the rear car—that in which +I had been sitting—stand up erect on top of the others, while on its +roof fell, with thunderous violence, the awful shower of stones. Mutely +I gazed on, until a large stone struck the barricade just where I stood, +and then I realised that the danger was not over, and ran for shelter.</p> + +<p>The stones were falling fast to left and to right, and I hastened to +gain the steps which led to the little watch-house. Then I bethought me +of the boy. I found him still insensible, but otherwise unharmed, and I +took him up, covering him with a furred coat. I ran up the steps with +him, so fast that not a thought of my asthma and heart disease +slackened my speed.</p> + +<p>There was nobody in the house but a woman milking a goat. In one corner +of the room stood a bed, in the middle was a table, and on one of the +walls hung a burning coal-oil lamp.</p> + +<p>As I opened the door the woman looked up, and said in a dull piteous +moaning—</p> + +<p>"It is none of Jörge's fault. Jörge had shown the red light in good +season, and yesterday he specially warned the gentlemen, and told them +that a ridge of the Gnippe was crumbling, and would soon break down; but +they did not listen to him, and now that the accident has come, they +will surely visit their own carelessness upon him. It is always the poor +dependent that is made to suffer for the fault of his superiors. But I +will not stand it; and if Jörge is discharged and loses his bread, +then—"</p> + +<p>"All right, madam!" I said, "I saw the red light in time, and I shall +testify for Jörge in case of need. Only keep quiet now, and come here. +You must try to restore this child. He has fainted. Give him water or +something; you will know best what to do."</p> + +<p>In recalling these words to my memory and writing them down, I am not +quite certain that I really spoke them; I am not certain of a single +word or action of mine on that fearful night. But I think that I said +the words I am relating, although I was so confused that it is possible +I did not utter a word. I had come out of the house again, and saw a man +running up and down on the narrow rocky plateau, like one crazy. It was +Jörge the watchman; he was looking for the signal-post, and could not +find it.</p> + +<p>"Here it is, look!" I said, turning his face toward the high pole right +in front of him. He gazed up wistfully, and then all at once he +blubbered out—</p> + +<p>"See! See, the red light! I gave the warning. They cannot blame me; they +dare not punish me for it. It is not my fault!"</p> + +<p>Of course, he thought of nothing but himself, and the misfortune of the +others touched him only in so far as he was concerned.</p> + +<p>"Don't blubber now!" I said. "There will be time enough to think of +ourselves. Now let us learn what has happened to the others. The whole +train has been swept down into the abyss below. What has become of the +people in it?"</p> + +<p>"God Almighty have mercy on their souls!"</p> + +<p>"Yet perhaps we could save some of them. Come along!"</p> + +<p>"I can't go. I dare not leave my post, else they will turn against me."</p> + +<p>"Well then, I shall go alone," said I, and hastened down the steps.</p> + +<p>I heard no screams, no cries, not a sound of human voices. The poor +victims of the catastrophe were exhausted or frightened out of their +wits, and gave no utterance to the pain they felt. Only the +never-ceasing clatter of the falling stones was heard, nothing else. +Awful is the voice of the elements, and dreadful their revenge on their +human antagonists! The thundering heavens, the roaring sea, are awful +to behold and to listen to; but most fearful of all is the voice of the +earth, when, quivering in wrath, she opens her fiery mouth or hurls her +rocky missiles at pigmy men.</p> + +<p>From the wrecked train a great many travellers had jumped like myself; +but not all with the same happy result. They had mostly reached the +ground more or less bruised, but at the moment of escape from the clutch +of death we do not much feel our hurts. These unhappy victims, +frightened as they were, had managed to creep and hide behind the +untouched portion of the bulwark, and happy to have escaped from +immediate death, sheltered from the tremendous cataract of stones, they +remained quiet, trembling, awaiting the end of the catastrophe and the +ultimate rescue. But what had meanwhile become of those who had stayed +in the falling carriages?</p> + +<p>There came a terrible answer to that question, and out of the old horror +arose a new and still more terrible spectre. A demon with a cloudy head, +rising from the darkness below, and with a swift and fearful growth, +mounting up to the sky—a demon with a thousand glistening, sparkling +eyes and tongues, a smoke-fiend!</p> + +<p>The great boiler of the locomotive had gone down first. There it fell, +not on the ground, but on a large fragment of rock, which pierced it +completely, so that the air had free access to the fire. Upon the top of +both boiler and tender, the coal-van had been turned upside down, and +these had pulled all the carriages one on top of the other in the same +way, so that the whole train stood upright, like some huge steeple. This +dreadful structure had become a great funeral pile, the altar of a black +pagan idol whose fiery tongues were greedily thrusting upward to devour +their prey.</p> + +<p>Then, as the smoke became blacker and blacker, a heart-rending, almost +maddening sound of shrieking and crying rang out from that devilish +wreck, so loud and piercing that it drowned the clatter of stones, the +crackling of the fast-kindling coals, and the crushing noise of the +metals. At the cry for aid of the doomed victims, all who had escaped +and hidden behind the bulwark came forth, creeping or running, shrieking +and gesticulating, forgetful of their own danger and pitiful condition, +thinking only of those dear lost ones there in that abode of hell, and +maddened at the impossibility of rescuing them. It was a wild +hurly-burly of voices and of tongues, of despairing yells, hysterical +sobs, heart-rending prayers; and as I stumbled over the twisted and +broken rails, that stood upright like bent wires, and stooped over the +bulwark, I beheld a spectacle so terrible that every nerve of my body, +every heart-string, revolted at it. Even now they quiver at the ghastly +recollection.</p> + +<p>As the fire lighted up the horrible pile I could see that the first +carriage atop of the coals was a shattered mass, the second crushed +flat, while the third stood with wheels uppermost, and so forth to the +top, and out of all of them human heads, limbs, faces, bodies, were +thrust forward. Two small gloved female hands, locked as in prayer, were +stretched out of a window, and above them two strong, muscular, +masculine arms tried with superhuman force to lift the iron weight +above, to break a way at the top, until the blood flowed from the nails, +and even these strong arms dropped down exhausted. Half-seen forms, +mutilated, bleeding, were tearing with teeth and nails at their dreadful +prison. Then for a while the smoky cloud involved everything in +darkness. A moment after, the red fiery tongues came lapping upward, and +a red, glowing halo encircles the fatal wreck. The first and second +carriages were already burned. How long would it take the flames to +reach the top? How many of the sufferers were yet alive? What power in +heaven or earth could save them, and how?</p> + +<p>The hollow into which the train had fallen was so deep that, in spite of +the erect position of the ill-fated pile, the topmost car—that +containing the poor foolish American governess, who had lost her life in +running back for her bonnet—was ten mètres below us, and we had not +even a single rope or cord with which to hazard the experiment of +descending. A young man, one of those few who had come forth unharmed, +ran up and down the embankment, shouting madly for a rope, offering a +fortune for belts, shawls, and cords. His newly-married bride was in one +of those carriages, and hers were the tiny gloved hands that were +stretched out of the window. "A rope!" cried he; "give me anything to +make a rope!" But who heeded him?</p> + +<p>A young mother sat on the tracks, fondly hugging a plaid shawl in her +arms. Her babe was there in that burning pyre, but horror had +overpowered her reason. There she sat, caressing the woollen bundle, and +in a low voice singing her "Eia Popeia" to the child of her fantasy.</p> + +<p>An aged Polish Jew lay across the barricade wall. His two hands were +stretched downward, and there he muttered the prayers and invocations of +his ancient liturgy, which no one there understood but himself and his +God. The ritual prayer-bands were upon his thumbs and wrists, and +encircling his forehead. His forked beard and greasy side-locks dangled +as he chanted his hymns, while his eyes, starting almost out of their +sockets, were fixed upon one of the carriages. What did that car +contain? His wife? His children? Or his worldly goods, the fortune +hoarded up through a life-time of cunning and privation? Who knows? +Forth he chants his prayers, loudly yelling, or muttering low, as the +ghastly scene before him vanishes in smoke and darkness, or glows out +again in fearful distinctness.</p> + +<p>Every one shrieks, cries, prays, swears, raves.</p> + +<p>No; not every one! There, on the barricade, his logs doubled up +Turk-fashion, sits a young painter with Mephisto beard and grey eyes. +His sketch-book is open, and he is making a vivid sketch of the +sensational scene. The illustrated papers are grateful customers, and +will rejoice at receiving the sketch.</p> + +<p>But this young draughtsman is not the only sensible person in the +place. There is another, a long-legged Englishman, standing with watch +in hand, reckoning up the time lost by the accident, and eyeing the +scene complacently.</p> + +<p>Some noisy dispute attracts my attention, and, turning, I behold a man, +trying with all his might to overcome a woman, who attacks him with +teeth and nails, biting his hands and tearing at his flesh, as he drags +her close to him. At last he succeeds in joining both of her hands +behind her back, she foaming, writhing, and cursing. I ask indignantly, +"What do you want with the woman? Let her alone!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir!" he said, showing me a sorrowful and tear-stained face, "for +Heaven's sake, help me! I cannot bear with her any more. She wants to +leap down and kill herself. Pray help me to tie her hands, and carry her +off from here!"</p> + +<p>By his speech I knew him for a Pole, and the woman's exclamations were +also uttered in the Polish language. She was his wife; her children were +there in that infernal pile, and she wanted to die with them.</p> + +<p>"Quick! quick!" gasped the man. "Take my necktie and fasten her hands +behind her." I obeyed; and as I wound the silken strip tight around the +unhappy woman's wrist, her despairing gaze fixed itself in deadly hate +upon my face, and her foaming lips cursed me for keeping her away from +her children. As her husband carried her away, her curses pierced the +air; and although I could not understand the words, I understood that +she spoke of the "Czrny Bog," or, as the Russians say, "Cserny Boh," the +"Black God" of the Slavs—Death.</p> + +<p>By this time the horrible tower was burning brightly, and the night was +all aglow with the glaring light, and still those terrible shrieks from +human voices resounded to and fro.</p> + +<p>The young artist had a picturesque scene for his pencil, and kept making +sketch after sketch. The burning wreck, the flying cinders, the red mist +around the black pine woods on the rocky wall of the mountain, and that +small span of star-lit heaven above; all those frightened, maddened, +running, crouching, creeping men and women around, with the chanting +Jew, in his long silken <i>caftan</i> and dangling locks, in the midst of +them, made a picture of terrible sublimity.</p> + +<p>But still the god of destruction was unsatisfied, and his fiery maw +opened for more victims. The unhappy young husband had succeeded in +tearing up his clothes and knotting the strips together. A compassionate +woman had given him a shawl, which he fastened to the bushes. On this he +descended into that mouth of hell. The perilous attempt succeeded so far +that, with one mad leap, he landed on the top of the uppermost car with +its pile of stones, and then, with cat-like dexterity and desperate +daring, he scrambled downward to the third carriage. Quickly he reached +the spot, and the poor little gloved hands of his darling were thrown in +ecstasy around his neck. Someone had drawn up the cord on which he had +let himself down, fastened a stout iron rod to it, and suspended it +carefully. Happily it reached him, and with its aid he made a good-sized +breach, widening the opening of the window; he worked with desperate +strength, and we gazed breathlessly on. Now we saw him drop the rod +again. The tender arms of his bride were around his neck, a fair head +was thrust out, the whole form was emerging, when with a tremendous +crash, and a hissing, spluttering, crackling noise, the whole fabric +shook and trembled, and husband and wife were united in death.</p> + +<p>The great boiler had burst; the explosion had changed the scene again, +and the young painter might draw still another sketch.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_III" id="PART_I_III"></a>III.</h2> + +<h3>THE ENGLISHMAN.</h3> + + +<p>That long-legged son of Albion whom I had previously observed, strolled +up to my side and asked—</p> + +<p>"Do you understand German, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, I do."</p> + +<p>"Then call for that shepherd. I want him."</p> + +<p>I obeyed, and the shepherd, who had complacently eyed the scene as +something that was of no consequence to him, came slowly and wonderingly +up.</p> + +<p>He was in no hurry, and my coaxing "Dear friend" and "Good friend" did +not impress him at all; but when the Englishman showed him a handful of +gold coins he came on quickly enough.</p> + +<p>"Tell him," said the Englishman, "to run to the next railway station, +give notice of the accident, and return with a relief train for succour. +Tell him to be quick, and when he returns I will give him two hundred +francs."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the man; "but who will take care of my goats meanwhile?"</p> + +<p>"How many goats have you?"</p> + +<p>"Six."</p> + +<p>"And what is the average price of a goat?"</p> + +<p>"Fifteen francs."</p> + +<p>"Well, here is the price of your goats in cash. I give you one hundred +francs—ten more than your goats are worth. Now run! How far is it?"</p> + +<p>"A good running distance, not very far." The man pocketed his money and +turned, when an idea struck him. "Could you not take care of my goats +anyhow, till I return?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Smart fellow! He kept the money for his goats, and tried to keep the +goats into the bargain.</p> + +<p>"All right," said the Englishman, "I will take care of them. Never fear. +Go!"</p> + +<p>"But you must take my stick and my horn; the goats will get astray when +they do not hear the horn."</p> + +<p>"Then give it to me, and I will blow it," said the Englishman, with +admirable patience, and, taking the shepherd's crook and horn, he gave +the man his red shawl to use as a signal-flag.</p> + +<p>As the shepherd at length trotted on and disappeared, that unique, +long-legged example of phlegm and good sense sat down by the shepherd's +fire, on exactly the same spot where the shepherd had sat, and began +watching the goats.</p> + +<p>I returned to the mournful scene which I had quitted when the Englishman +came up to me. It was a terrible one, and no marvel that even the +painter had closed his sketch-book to gaze upon it in silent awe. The +entire valley below showed like a giant furnace, or some flaming ocean +of hell. Huge fiery serpents came hissing and snarling up to the +barricade, and great flakes of fire were flying about everywhere, +scorching and kindling as they fell. The chill, keen, mountain air had +become heavy and warm in spite of the winter, and a loathsome, +penetrating odour arose and drove us away from the horrible place. No +one remained but the Polish Jew. He did not move away. He had risen to +his knees on the barricade wall, and his hands, with their prayer-bands, +were uplifted to heaven. Louder and louder he chanted his hymns, raising +his voice above the thundering roar of the crackling fire, the rolling +stones, and the last despairing cries of the doomed ones. The fur on his +cap, his forked beard and dangling locks were singed by the falling +cinders, and his skin scorched and blistered, yet still he chanted on. +But when at last he saw that his prayer was in vain, all at once he +sprang up, and seemed to strike at the flames with both palms; then, +spitting into the fire "pchi!" he fell down senseless.</p> + +<p>By this time the heat was so oppressive that it was dangerous to stand +anywhere near the barricade, and even for the sake of saving a man's +life from such a horrid fate, it was impossible to venture among the +falling cinders and rolling stones. All that the few of us who had +escaped with sound limbs and bodies could do was to carry our less +fortunate, wounded or maimed fellow-travellers up into the little +watch-house.</p> + +<p>This we did, and then came those seemingly endless minutes in which we +waited for the relief train. Once the Englishman blew the horn for the +goats, and we thought it was the whistling of the expected train. How +terribly that disappointment was felt! and what sinful, subtle, and +sophistical thoughts crowded into our heads, burdened our hearts, and +oppressed our spirits in those awful minutes!</p> + +<p>What terrible thing had these poor victims done to deserve such fearful +punishment? What heinous crime had they committed to be sentenced to +death and destruction by such a painful, torturing process? Whose sin +was visited on the guileless heads of little infants and innocent +children who had perished in those flames? Could not they have been +spared? or that loving and beautiful young couple, just on the brink of +life and happiness, and now sent to eternity together by such a fearful +road, into the mouth of hell when they had thought themselves before the +open gate of Paradise? What had that unhappy mother done? or all these +old and young men and women, in full health and spirits, enjoying life +and happiness, surrounded by happy relatives, full of happy plans and +hopes? What had they done to deserve this fate, those poor servants of +the public convenience, the guards, the engineer, and the other +officials, who could have saved their own lives easily, and in good +time, if they had abandoned their fatal posts, and had not preferred to +die in doing their duty? Why had not these been saved for the sake of +their wives and children, now widows and orphans, abandoned to the +charities of a merciless world? Who and where is that awful Deity into +whose altar-fire that conjuring Jew had spat, because He would not +listen to his invocations? What dreadful Power is it which has pushed +down that rock-colossus to destroy so many human lives? Is it the Czrny +Bog of the Samaritans, the Lord of Darkness and Doer of Mischief, whose +might is great in harm, whose joy is human despair, and who is adored +with oaths and curses?</p> + +<p>But if such a power exists—if there is a Czrny Bog, indeed—then his +deeds are befitting his name—dark and black. But why should I, who am +human myself, and have a heart for my brethren and a sense of their +wrongs, why should I in this fatal instant, although full of pity and +commiseration, yet inwardly rejoice that this misfortune has fallen upon +others and not upon me? Why should I feel that although others have +perished, all is well as long as I am safe?</p> + +<p>Is this not shameful? Is it not an everlasting stain and disgrace upon +my inner self? What right have I to think myself the chosen ward of some +guardian angel or tutelary spirit? In what am I different from those +lost ones? In what better, worthier than they? And if not, why had I +been saved and not they? Here! Here was the Czrny Bog, the dark god, in +my own breast.</p> + +<p>At last day was dawning, and, in the grey morning light, the horrible +picture looked ghastlier still, when, to our intense relief, the +long-expected train came, and physicians with their assistants, firemen +with their manifold implements, police, and all kinds of labourers, +arrived upon it. The train stopped at a safe distance, and then the work +of rescue began. Wounds were dressed, the insensible restored, watchmen +and travellers were interrogated by officials. Ropes and rope-ladders +were fastened and suspended, and brave men, magnanimously forgetful of +the threatening danger, went down into the flames, although the hope of +success was small. True, the two or three uppermost cars had not as yet +caught fire; but who could breathe amid that suffocating smoke, that +lurid loathsome atmosphere, and yet live?</p> + +<p>The labourers set to work at the breaches of the barricade and the line +of rails. The engineers discussed the best way in which a protecting +barrier ought to be built so as to shut out every possibility of such an +accident; and from the plateau before the watch-house some men were +incessantly calling for a "Monsieur d'Astrachan."</p> + +<p>At last one of the labourers called my attention to these repeated +shouts, and, turning in their direction, I observed that this title was +intended for me. The watchman's wife, not knowing my name, had described +me as wearing an astrachan cap and coat-collar, and accordingly I was +called "Monsieur d'Astrachan." Now for the first time I remembered the +child I had carried thither. I had completely forgotten it, and the +occurrence seemed such an age away that I should not have been surprised +to hear that the boy had grown to be a man.</p> + +<p>I hastened up the steps, and observed that some official personage in +showy uniform was expecting me quite impatiently. "Come up, sir," he +said; "we cannot converse with your little boy."</p> + +<p>"To be sure you can't!" said I, smiling, in spite of the dreadful +situation. "Neither can I, for the boy is deaf and dumb; but I have to +correct you, sir. The boy is not my own, although I took him out of the +carriage."</p> + +<p>"That boy deaf and dumb? About as much as we are, I judge. Why, he is +talking incessantly, only we can't make anything out of his prattle, as +we do not understand the language," said the officer.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's certainly a miracle!" I exclaimed, "and it bears witness +to the truth of the old proverb, 'It is an ill wind that blows nobody +any good.' Assuredly, the shock of the accident restored his power of +speech. What is he saying?"</p> + +<p>"I told you we can't make it out. It's a language that none of us +understand."</p> + +<p>"Then I hardly suppose that I shall be cleverer than all of you."</p> + +<p>"Whose child is it, if not yours?"</p> + +<p>"Some rich nabob's. I can't at the moment recall his name, although the +governess told me, poor soul! We were thrown together by chance, and the +poor woman perished in the flames. Has no one of his many attendants and +servants escaped?"</p> + +<p>"It seems not. But pray come in and listen to him; perhaps you will +understand him."</p> + +<p>I went in, and found my practical Englishman beside the child, but +incapable of arriving at a mutual understanding. The injured travellers +and the hysterical women passengers were already snugly stowed away in +the ambulance carriages and well taken care of. The goats were again +under the protection of their legitimate shepherd, and that temporary +official, the long-legged son of Albion, was addressing all kinds of +questions in English to an obstinate little boy.</p> + +<p>As I entered, and the child caught sight of me, the little face lit up +at once. He extended both his little arms in joy. "Please come," he +said; "I will be a good boy. I will speak!"</p> + +<p>It is marvellous enough when a dumb child speaks; but what was my +surprise when I recognised these words, uttered in my own native +Hungarian tongue! Just imagine the five-year-old son of a wealthy +American, whose entire <i>cortège</i> had been German, French, Italian, and +English, speaking Hungarian!</p> + +<p>I took the little fellow up in my arms, and he put both his little arms +around my neck, and, leaning his soft cheek on my bearded face, he said +again, "I will be good, very good; but please take me to my papa. I am +afraid!"</p> + +<p>"Who is your father, my child?" I asked. "What is his name?"</p> + +<p>As I uttered these questions in Hungarian, he clapped his hands in +gladness, and then, after a little meditation, he answered—</p> + +<p>"My father is called the 'Silver King,' and his name is Mr. Dumany. Do +you know him?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said the Englishman, as he heard the name, "Mr. Kornel Dumany, the +Silver King; I know him very well. He is an American, and very rich. He +lives mostly in Paris. If it is more convenient for you to get rid of +the child, I can take care of him and bring him to his father."</p> + +<p>"No, no!" protested the little one, clinging tightly to me. "Please, do +not give me to him! I want to stay with you; I want to go with you to my +papa!"</p> + +<p>So he knew English well enough, since he understood every word of the +Englishman's. In this case he could not have been deaf at all, but +obstinate, hearing and refusing to talk. Was not such unheard-of +obstinacy in a child of such tender age some malady of the mind or soul?</p> + +<p>"I wonder how this child comes to speak Hungarian?" said I, turning to +the Englishman. "Ours is not a language generally spoken by foreigners, +least of all by the young children of American nabobs."</p> + +<p>"I never wonder at anything," said he, coolly. "At any rate, I should +advise you at the first station to telegraph to Mr. Dumany; I will give +you his address. So you will be expected when you arrive in Paris, and +have no further trouble. Since you are the only person able to talk to +the boy, it will be certainly the best thing for him to remain with you. +Now I think it is time for us to take our seats in the carriage, or else +the train will start and leave us behind. Come on, gentlemen!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_IV" id="PART_I_IV"></a>IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE NABOB.</h3> + + +<p>The train from Zürich arrived at the Eastern Railway Station at seven +o'clock in the morning. In Paris the day has at that early hour not yet +begun, and but very few persons, mostly travelling foreigners and +labourers, are seen on the streets. Since it has become the fashion to +use the moving train for suicidal purposes, the perron is locked, and +only those travellers admitted whose luggage is undergoing examination +by the customs officials.</p> + +<p>I was lucky enough to have sent my luggage one day ahead of me to Paris, +and so it had not been lost in the accident. I had nothing with me but a +small satchel, which I had saved, but which contained nothing to +interest the custom-house officers, and so, taking my little charge in +hand, I stepped out into the hall. I had hardly gone two paces, when the +child dropped my hand, and crying, "Papa! dear, darling papa!" ran to a +gentleman who, with a lady at his side, stood by the turnstile.</p> + +<p>I had never before seen the lady, yet I recognised her at once as the +mother of my little charge, so striking was the resemblance between +them. She had the same large, dark-blue eyes, the same dimpled chin, +aquiline nose, and pretty, shell-shaped, little mouth as he, and she +could hardly have been more than four-and-twenty, so young and girlish +did she look. The husband was a large-made, well-shaped, and +distinguished-looking gentleman. His bronze complexion had a healthy +flush, and he wore side whiskers, but no moustache. His head was covered +with a round soft beaver, and a long, rich fur coat was thrown lightly +over his shoulder. In his scarf I saw a large solitaire. The lady at his +side was very plainly attired in black, and wore no jewellery at all. +The age of the gentleman was, according to my judgment, about forty.</p> + +<p>As the child ran toward him, with both his little arms stretched out, +and crying, in Hungarian, "Apám! Drágo édes apám!" ("Papa! dear darling +papa!") the gentleman hastened to meet him, caught the boy up in his +arms, and covered the little face, hands, eyes, and hair with a shower +of kisses. The father sobbed in his joy, while the child laughed, +caressed his father's cheeks, and called him "Édes jo apám!" ("My good, +sweet father!") in Hungarian, and the father called him, crying and +laughing, "My dear little fool"—in English.</p> + +<p>Then I saw the father whisper something to the child, and in an instant +the whole little face became rigid and dull, all child-like mirth and +sweetness had vanished. He looked around, and then clung tightly to his +father, as if in dread of something, and I saw his lips move in appeal. +The father kissed him again and carried him to the lady, who all the +while had given no sign of animation or interest, but had looked on, +cool and indifferent.</p> + +<p>"Look, my pet, here is your mama!" said the gentleman to the boy, +approaching the lady and holding the boy toward her. Now, according to +the law of nature, according to all human sentiment and experience, we +should expect a mother who receives back her own offspring, saved from a +fate too horrible even to contemplate, her own child who had gone from +her mute and comes back to her speaking, I say we should think it +natural in such a mother to seize this child, and, in the ecstasy of her +love and joy, half suffocate it with her kisses and caresses. Not so +here. I could see no glad tear in the lady's eye, no smile of welcome on +her face. Her hands were snugly stowed away in a costly little muff, and +she did not think it necessary to extend them to her child. She breathed +a cold, lifeless kiss upon the boy's pale forehead, and the tiny hand of +the child caressed the fur trimming on her jacket, just as he had done +with the astrachan lapel of my coat. What a strange behaviour in mother +and child after such a reunion!</p> + +<p>I had watched this family scene out of a strange curiosity, which was +wholly involuntary. Presently I recollected the situation, and turned to +leave the perron. Perhaps, if I had saved some honest cockney's son from +a like danger, I should not have avoided him, but, with a friendly +pressure of the hand, expressed my pleasure at having been able to be of +service to him. Then we should have parted good friends. But to +introduce myself to an American nabob as the rescuer of his child was +impossible! Why, the man was capable of offering me a remuneration!</p> + +<p>No, I would have nothing to do with aristocrats like these. They have +their child; it is safe; and so good-bye to them!</p> + +<p>However, as I turned to leave, I was surprised to hear some one +pronounce my name, and, to my astonishment, I found that it was Mr. +Dumany. He still held the child on his arm, and, coming toward me, he +said in French, "Oh, sir! you do not mean to run away from us, surely?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed I must!" said I, bowing. "But, pray, how is it that you know my +name? You cannot know me personally?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that is a question which must remain to be answered later on. At +present it is sufficient to tell you that the telegraph service has been +very full and exact, even in personal description. However, I beg you to +revoke that 'I must,' for indeed I cannot allow you to depart. To the +great favour you have done me, you must add the additional favour of +being my guest for the time of your sojourn in Paris. Promise me to +accept of my hospitality—nay, to regard my house as your own. I shall +be ever so happy! Come, pray, do not hesitate, and give me leave to +introduce you to my wife!"</p> + +<p>With that he took my arm, and holding it tight, as if in fear I might +break loose and run off, he led me to the turnstile, where the lady was +standing as quiet and composed as before. He introduced me to her by my +proper name and title, naming even the district which I represented in +the Hungarian Parliament; and all these he pronounced perfectly and +correctly, as I never heard them pronounced by a foreigner before. How +could he know all that? True, I had shown my passport to the frontier +officials; but were these also subject to the Silver King?</p> + +<p>The lady bowed politely as her husband said, "This gentleman has saved +our little James from being consumed by the flames at the Rossberg +catastrophe"; and for a moment I felt the slight pressure of a little +gloved hand in mine. It was a very slight pressure, the faintest +possible acknowledgment of a duty, and if I had saved her little pet +monkey or dog, instead of her child, she might well have afforded me a +warmer recognition. Indeed, I had seen women go into raptures on account +of such animals before this, but never before had I seen a mother value +the life of her own child so cheap. She did not hold it worthy of a +single expression of gratitude; she had not a word to spare for him or +me. Was this woman a human monstrosity and void of all natural feeling? +or else was it part of the American etiquette to suppress all outward +signs of emotion?</p> + +<p>What puzzled me most was the boy. He was so different from the happy, +talkative little fellow he had been with me and with his father some +minutes ago, and he looked just as dull and inanimate as when I had seen +him first on the railway. Was it because he could only speak Hungarian? +But then, how could he speak to his father? Who had taught the boy to +speak that peculiar language, dear to me and my compatriots, but wholly +unintelligible and of very little use or advantage to the world at +large?</p> + +<p>I observed that Mr. Dumany held a short conversation with a tall +liveried footman behind him, and I understood that he ordered him to +take out my luggage. I protested and tried to escape. I like hospitality +at home; but when I come into a foreign country, I prefer the simplest +inn or the obscurest hotel to the most magnificent apartments of a +palace of a prince of the Bourse, because independence goes with the +former, and of all slavery I fear that of etiquette the worst.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Dumany did not mean to give way to my polite protestations. +"Just surrender nicely, pray!" he said, smilingly. "It saves you +trouble. Look! If you insist upon going to some hotel, I promise you +that all the reporters of every paper we have, daily and weekly, will be +sure to pester you day and night with interviews, besides the reporters +of foreign papers here, of which we also have an abundance. Every word +you speak will by each reporter be turned into a different meaning, and +by to-morrow the papers will be full of your intimations, although you +do not say anything at all. And then the photographers: how will you +escape them? Don't you know that every penny paper will appear with your +picture in front to-morrow, and, wherever you go, it will be thrust +before your eyes? You will hear your name pronounced in all languages, +and in every way, and you will not know how to escape this unsought-for +and unwelcome notoriety. But if you accept my invitation, nobody will be +able to stare at you or interrogate you, and you shall live as quietly +and peacefully as if you were in some herdsman's hovel in Hortobágy at +home."</p> + +<p>I stared at him quite stunned. How, in the name of all that was +wonderful, could he have learned of the existence of a herdsman's hovel +in Hortobágy? How could he know that it was my favourite spot? And how +he pronounced that Hortobágy! Just as I myself! He smiled at my +astonishment, but offered no explanation. But now he had caught me in my +weak point—a writer's curiosity—and I gave in, willingly enough.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dumany ordered the carriages. In one magnificent landau Mrs. Dumany +was to go with little James, in the other Mr. Dumany and myself. But the +child obstinately refused to leave his father's arms, and clung to him +more tightly than ever. So the lady was obliged to go alone, and we two +men took the boy with us.</p> + +<p>I confess that the gentleman puzzled and interested me very much. Not +because people had given him the name of "Silver King." I do not covet, +and I do not admire wealth alone, pure and simple. I know how to +describe a vine-embowered cottage, or even a thatch-roofed hut, with a +garland of gourd blossoms around its small windows, and I can appreciate +the beauties of a picturesque church or castle. But all my descriptive +faculties desert me before the marble and gold luxury of a modern +palace, and its gorgeous splendour has no charm for me. The interest I +felt was due to the man himself, and, most of all, to the connection +existing between him and my own home. How came this American Croesus to +be acquainted with the nomenclature, customs, and topography of my own +country and language? How came the latter upon the lips of his +five-year-old boy? In my childhood I had known a five-year-old boy, the +son of a count, who could speak only Latin, and not a word except Latin. +But, then, Latin is taught throughout the world, and no education is +considered as finished without a more or less perfect knowledge of +Latin. But where in a foreign country is the professor who teaches the +Ugro-Finnish tongue, even if there were some whimsical parent who wished +that his son should learn to speak it?</p> + +<p>During the drive Mr. Dumany acquainted me with some particulars +regarding the customs of his house. He told me that the hour for +breakfast was nine, and that for lunch one o'clock. Dinner was +invariably served at six, and I was entirely at liberty to put in my +appearance or stay away. They would not wait for me, but my place at the +table would be kept reserved; and if I was late, I should be served +afresh. The cook should be entirely at my disposal. If the excitement +and fatigue of the journey should make me wish for a day's rest, I was +free to retire to my rooms at once, and should not be disturbed by +anybody.</p> + +<p>In answer to all this I said that I had no habits whatever; that I was +able to eat, drink, and sleep at will; was never fatigued, and would +with pleasure put in my appearance at his breakfast-table that very +morning.</p> + +<p>"That will be nice, indeed!" he said. "But I must beg your pardon in +advance for my wife. On ordinary days she is up and presides at +breakfast; but to-day she bade me apologise. She has been up all night +from excitement, and now I have told her to lie down and rest a few +hours. After that she usually spends some time in the nursery, +superintending the children's ablutions, prayers, and breakfast, and +only when all these matters are accomplished is she ready for her duties +as hostess and mistress of the household."</p> + +<p>"So little James is not your only child?" I ventured to ask.</p> + +<p>"Not by many; we have two more boys and two beautiful little +girls—quite a houseful."</p> + +<p>"But the lady looks almost too young to be the mother of so many +children. Little James is the eldest, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is her first-born, and she is not yet twenty-four. We have been +married six years, so christening has been an annual event with us."</p> + +<p>Well, I was more puzzled than ever. I had met with a good many English +and American gentlemen before, but all had been rather reserved in +speech and manner, quite different from this Croesus; and, regarding the +lady, I was altogether at a loss, as all my conjectures were entirely at +fault. She was not without feeling; she was apparently a good mother, +and little James was her own child and not a stepson, as I had guessed. +Her behaviour at the station was still an enigma to me.</p> + +<p>At last we arrived at the Silver King's residence—a large, well-built, +and rather comfortable than brilliant mansion, filled with a host of +servants, of whom each knew and fulfilled his particular duty. A <i>valet +de chambre</i> showed me into a very splendid and comfortable suite of +rooms, consisting of a reception-room, sitting-room, work-room, bed-, +dressing-, and bathroom, all furnished in the choicest and most +practical way, and I was delighted to see that, although all was rich +and costly, none of the offensive and pretentious pomp of the ordinary +millionaire's house met my eye.</p> + +<p>The valet, an Alsacian, who talked to me in German—perhaps with the +notion of paying me a compliment—informed me that he was entirely at my +own service. He showed me a beautiful escritoire in the work-room, with +everything ready for writing purposes, and told me that, in the +reading-room attached, I should find an assortment of newspapers. He +then quickly and skilfully prepared me a bath, unpacked and arranged my +things, and helped me to dress. He was altogether a wonderfully nice +fellow.</p> + +<p>When the valet left me, I went into the reading-room, and looked at the +newspapers. I found quite a number of them—French, English, Italian, +and one German; but still I was a little disappointed. I had half +expected to find a Hungarian paper, and there was none.</p> + +<p>The library contained a choice collection of books; works of science, +philosophy, history, poetry, and fiction—of the latter, only a small +and select number. Here also was no Hungarian author to be found; not +even the translation of a Hungarian book could I detect, although I +looked into every one—French, German, English, and Italian, and even +some Spanish and Danish ones.</p> + +<p>From the reading-room opened the billiard-room, a handsome apartment. +Its walls were covered with beautiful frescoes, betraying the French +school of art in the delicate colours, and in the Norman, Basque, +Breton, and Kabyle scenes and types represented. Of Hungary I could see +nothing. The Hortobágy herdsman's hovel, of which my host had spoken, +was not to be found.</p> + +<p>In another room I found a sort of ethnographical museum, full of relics +and rarities from all countries except Hungary; and yet, if that man had +ever been in my country, he would certainly have brought some token of +remembrance with him. Hungary is more rich in curiosities than a good +many of the countries represented here.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dumany came in to see if I was ready for breakfast, and I followed +him into the tea-room, passing a little, semi-circular, ship-cabin-like +apartment, with small, round windows, between which, in +beautifully-sculptured, round frames, of the size of the windows, hung +very handsome landscapes, apparently American.</p> + +<p>In the breakfast-room I recognised a tiny Meissonier, in a gold frame of +twice its size, and an Alma Tadema. Mr. Dumany, observing my interest in +the pictures, informed me that these two were there only temporarily, +pending their shipment to New York. There, in Mr. Dumany's real home, +was his picture gallery, containing works of art of the highest +standard.</p> + +<p>I ventured to observe that we Scythians, barbarians as we were held to +be, had also some painters worthy the interest of a Mæcenas, and not +without fame, too.</p> + +<p>"I should think so," he said, smiling. "And in my New York gallery you +will find Munkácsy <i>genres</i>, Zichy <i>aquarelles</i>, a Benczur, and some +other equally fine Hungarian pictures. Here I keep only French and +German pictures of lesser value."</p> + +<p>Our conversation turned to art in general, and Mr. Dumany surprised me +again by an allusion to the Hungarian witticism that when we speak of +Hungarian art we cannot omit Liszt (for the name of the great musician +is also the Hungarian word for <i>flour</i>); and Mr. Dumany remarked that +Americans travelling abroad have learned to appreciate both the +Hungarian specialties. The great artist, and the product of the soil and +mill converted into fine cake, are equally esteemed by them.</p> + +<p>We talked about commerce and exports, and he observed that although +American wheat was sure to inundate the European market, yet Hungarian +flour was unrivalled in quality, and would increase in consumption +throughout the world. Then we spoke of financial matters, and here Mr. +Dumany was completely at home. The Hungarian rente had at that time just +been introduced into the market, and Mr. Dumany predicted for it a fair +success. He prophesied the rente conversion scheme and the four per +cent. bonds, and from this topic we diverged to politics. He was a very +fair politician, and I was pleasantly impressed by the apparent interest +which he took in Hungary. He admired Andrássy, and spoke well of his +Bosnian policy. Of Tisza he entertained great hopes, and he felt sorry +for Apponyi, because he had allied his great talents with the +Opposition. He spoke of Kossuth, and said it was a pity to see the grand +old man's name misused by the extreme faction. I tried to turn the +conversation to Hungarian literature, but on this point I met with but +little interest. Still, I noticed that he knew more about us than +foreigners in general do. He did not think the Gypsies the ruling race +in Hungary, and he did not believe us to be a sort of chivalrous +brigands, as some foreigners consider us; but he did not show any +particular sympathy with either the country or the people, and certainly +used no flattery on the subject of our special virtues.</p> + +<p>Our conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Dumany's valet, +who handed his master two letters. "Will you give me leave to read them +at once?" he asked, turning to me. "They are of some importance, being +answers to two dinner invitations I sent out this morning."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," I answered; "pray do as you wish."</p> + +<p>He opened and read the letters, and, replacing them again on the silver +salver upon which the servant had brought them, he ordered him to hand +them over to the chambermaid so that Mrs. Dumany might receive and read +them.</p> + +<p>After the valet had left, Mr. Dumany said to me—</p> + +<p>"I have invited these two gentlemen to meet you at dinner. One of them +is secretary of the Department of the Interior, the other an old +Catholic priest, the parson of St. Germain l'Auxerrois. It is very nice +and pleasant that both of them accepted, and so I hope you will not +object to make the acquaintance of two whole-souled and intelligent +gentlemen."</p> + +<p>"Quite the contrary," I hastened to say; "I shall be very happy to meet +them."</p> + +<p>Just then the valet returned, and, deferentially bowing, he said to me—</p> + +<p>"Madame la Comtesse begs to inform monsieur that she would be grateful +if monsieur would be kind enough to see madame in her apartments."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_V" id="PART_I_V"></a>V.</h2> + +<h3>A REPUBLICAN COUNTESS.</h3> + + +<p>"Madame la Comtesse!" A Peruvian or Argentine countess? Or have these +plutocrats of the great republic some special distinguishing titles, +such as "Silver King," "Railway Prince," etc., and was this exotic +countess the daughter of some such lord of the money market? At any +rate, I had to obey her polite commands, so, throwing away my cigar, I +bowed to Mr. Dumany and followed the lead of the valet.</p> + +<p>In crossing a long suite of tastefully-furnished rooms, I noticed the +entire absence of family pictures. They had no ancestors, or did not +boast of them. No farthingaled, white-wigged ladies in hooped skirts and +trailing brocade robes; no mail-clad, chivalrous-looking gentlemen, with +marshals' staffs, keys, and like emblems of rank and high station; or +else these, too, had gone over to New York to subdue with their haughty +grandeur the eyes of less high-born mortals.</p> + +<p>There was something else I missed in these beautiful chambers—the usual +obtrusive, caressed and pampered pet animal of a great lady. No +paroquet, no monkey, no little, silken-haired lap-dog, no St. Bernard or +Newfoundland dog, no cat, not even a little canary bird, was to be met +with; and not a single flower, real or artificial, greeted the eye.</p> + +<p>At last we came to a room with beautiful heavy brocaded draperies, +evidently veiling the entrance into some other apartment. As the servant +stepped up and drew the hanging aside, I could not suppress an +exclamation of admiration and surprise; and for a moment I stood +transfixed at the lovely and exquisite scene, deeming that fairyland had +opened to me, and that Queen Mab was expecting me in her own enchanting +bower.</p> + +<p>The room which I now entered resembled to some extent the Blue Grotto of +Capri. It was flooded with a magic blue light. Just opposite to the +entrance was some kind of bower, with honeysuckle, woodbine, and other +blooming and fragrant vines intertwined. This bower was prolonged in the +rear into a spacious and seemingly endless tropical garden, with +wonderful blooming exotic plants and trees; and in this East Indian +paradise, gaily-plumed, sweet-voiced birds of different size and colour +were chirping, hopping, and hovering above their nests, among evergreen +bushes and glorious flowers. The whole winter-garden received its light +from above, and this light, falling through large panes of blue glass, +threw that peculiar, fairy, grotto-like hue over the little boudoir in +front.</p> + +<p>To prevent the luscious odour of the winter-garden from pervading the +air of the boudoir and becoming oppressive, a fine, translucent film +separated the bower from the garden. But this film was not of glass or +any other transparent but solid substance; it consisted of a beautiful, +clear waterfall, transparent as a veil, and noiseless as a fine summer +rain. At the touch of a spring, this softly-pouring waterfall might be +shut off and the entrance into the winter-garden thrown wide.</p> + +<p>In the little boudoir, at the opening of the bower, stood a couch, and +opposite this a little settee and two small gilded and embroidered +chairs; while two large sculptured frames, one containing a splendid +mirror, the other a life-size portrait of Mr. Dumany, completed the +appointments.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Dumany, or, as she was called, the countess, wore a loose +morning-dress of raw silk, with rich embroidery. Her rich, dark hair was +uncovered and wound around her head in three thick coils, like a tiara.</p> + +<p>Her graceful figure was as slender as that of a girl, and she looked so +young and childlike that no living man would have supposed her to be the +mother of five children.</p> + +<p>In the peculiar blue light of the boudoir her naturally fair face +appeared so white that I was almost startled. It was just as though some +marble or alabaster statue had moved, looked at me with those large +dark-blue eyes, spoken to me with those finely-chiselled, ruby-coloured +lips.</p> + +<p>"Pray pardon me for troubling you to call on me," she said, in fluent +and precise French, although with a somewhat foreign accent and manner +of speech; "I should not have done it were you not the only trustworthy +person from whom I can learn the necessary particulars of the terrible +Rossberg accident. My husband, as perhaps you already know, has invited +two gentlemen to dine with us. One is a government officer of high rank, +the other a kind and benevolent priest. My husband's intention is to +spend a considerable sum of money for distribution among those who were +injured in the Rossberg catastrophe, or their destitute relatives. They +shall at least not suffer actual want, and although I daresay that money +is a poor compensation for a lost or crippled husband and father, or son +and brother, still it is the only possible consolation we can offer +them, and in providing for their own future and that of their +dependents, we at least relieve their hearts of one burden. Of this my +husband wants to talk to the government official. The priest was invited +by me, and I want him to hold a requiem for the souls of those who +perished, and to superintend the erection of a memorial chapel at the +place of the terrible accident. Mr. Dumany is ungrudging in his charity, +and ready for any sacrifice of money; but, you see, we know really +nothing about the particulars. How many were lost, and how many died +afterward in consequence of their injuries? Who were they? Of what +nation, faith, quality, and circumstances? How many were saved, and in +what condition? Have they somebody to attend to them, to support them in +case of need? And then those belonging to ourselves, our dutiful +servants, I might call them our true and faithful friends, has not one +of them escaped? Have they all perished together? You can tell me best, +and therefore I made bold to call you to me. Do not hesitate, pray, but +tell me all that happened, and in what manner it happened, from the +dreadful beginning to the pitiful end—the whole catastrophe, with all +the particulars you can recall to memory."</p> + +<p>"Madam," said I, "pray do not wish that. These particulars are much too +dreadful to relate—much too horrible for the ear of a lady. It requires +strong nerves and an iron heart to listen to such a tale as that."</p> + +<p>"And what that?" she replied. "True, my nerves are not a bit less +sensitive than those of any other woman, but I have learned to suppress +them—to hold them down. Never fear me! Never spare me! If the scourge +hurts me, I shall think it a penance. Go on! You hold the +scourge—strike! Go on, I say!"</p> + +<p>There was an impatient, almost fierce resolution in her voice, and I +obeyed.</p> + +<p>If this woman regarded the act of listening to the dreadful tale I had +to tell as a penance, then, indeed, she allowed it to become a torture. +I was obliged to recount the smallest incident of the ghastly event, and +she drank in every word, shuddering as at some deadly poison. Again and +again she questioned me with the skill and zeal of a professional +cross-examiner. Nor would she let me omit a syllable. And when at the +most fearful and heartrending point, her soft, dimpled chin sunk down on +her breast, and her fair, babyish hand knocked at the tender bosom "<i>Mea +culpa!</i> Oh, <i>mea culpa!</i>"</p> + +<p>When she heard that the uncoupling of the parlour car had caused a +delay, she groaned. "Then all this terrible mishap is due to our own +vanity?" she cried. "A consequence of our own presumptuous pride! If our +dependents had sat with the boy in a common carriage with other decent +travellers, the train would have passed the fatal spot long before the +landslide was in motion! But, of course, the Silver King's son is far +too precious a creature to breathe the same air with other creatures of +God's making. He must needs have a separate parlour to himself! And this +sinful, detestable vanity of ours must cost the lives of so many good, +brave, happy, and useful persons. Oh, hell itself must mock at our +folly!"</p> + +<p>Now this commination, unexpected as it was from a lady of wealth and +position, was not altogether unwarranted, and so I went on.</p> + +<p>As I drew near to the catastrophe I could hear the beating of her heart, +and her breath came short and gasping. When I related how I had caught +hold of the governess's hand, she was trembling, and an almost deadly +pallor overspread her white face. "Alice! oh, Alice!" she cried; and +when I told her how the lady ran back to the coupé for her bonnet, just +at the last moment for escaping, she broke out into a painful hysterical +laugh. "Just like her! Her bonnet! Yes; ha! ha! She would have come down +to dinner in her bonnet, the foolish pride! She was so afraid to show +her bare ears to a man! Oh! oh! Alice!"</p> + +<p>At last the tears came to her relief, and she sobbed pitifully. "If you +had only known her goodness," she cried, "her self-sacrificing devotion, +her pure, kind heart! She was the best friend I ever had, and how she +loved that unhappy boy! She was more his mother than I, for she gave him +all a mother's love and all a mother's care and attention. Why did I let +her go with him? Why did I not keep her back from him?"</p> + +<p>I told her how the poor woman's first thought had been the safety of the +child.</p> + +<p>"And you have not seen her again? You do not know what has become of +her?"</p> + +<p>I denied having seen her again. I could not describe to her the horrid +spectacle of the poor woman as I had seen her last, when taken by the +brave firemen from that infernal pile; for, strong as she forced herself +to appear, this would have been more than she could bear; so I told her +that the relief train started with the rescued before we could learn +anything of the rest; but of the certainty of their death there could +not be the slightest doubt.</p> + +<p>"What a misfortune!" she sighed, wringing her hands. "Why, that boy had +an escort with him like a prince royal! The honest Dr. Mayer, such a +refined, generous young man; and Tom, the negro, my best servant, and +the truest! He saved me from an alligator once, and killed him with an +iron bar. He was severely wounded by the ferocious reptile, yet he +laughed at his pains."</p> + +<p>I remembered the grin on his broad black face in the moment of death, +as I had seen him at the carriage window. He had laughed then also.</p> + +<p>"And poor little Georgie?" she asked again, "James's playfellow and +foster-brother? Georgie's mother was James's nurse. How she begged of me +to take care of her darling, to bring him up well, to make a priest of +him! And how well I have kept that promise! I have made more of him than +a priest: he is a saint, and a martyr. Oh, <i>mea culpa!</i> <i>mea culpa!</i>"</p> + +<p>When I had explained to her the circumstances which had made all +attempts at rescue impossible for us, and afterward futile, she nodded. +"I know it," she said. "On that evening I had not said my prayers. We +dined out late, and spent the evening there. I could not come home to +pray with my children, and I could not say my prayers there. I felt the +heavy load on my heart, and once for a moment, when I was not observed +by anybody, I heaved a sigh and said, 'God bless us!' It must have been +at the moment of the catastrophe, for my heart ached with some vague and +gloomy presentiment. Oh, me! our neglected prayer, and such a fearful +chastisement! Tell me! Who is that terrible being that watches us so +relentlessly, and if he catches us napping but once, hurls down those we +love into death and destruction?"</p> + +<p>Her marble-white face, her large wide-open eyes, gave her the look of a +spirit.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said I, "the single blessing you asked saved the life of +your dear child. Let this thought comfort you."</p> + +<p>"James?" she said. "This child of sin and misfortune? Why, it was +because he was on that train that all those pure and good people had to +die! Oh, accursed was the hour of his birth! No, no; he is not accursed. +I—I, his mother, that gave birth to him, I am guilty! He is innocent; +he could not help it. Oh, <i>mea culpa!</i> <i>mea culpa!</i>"</p> + +<p>She was beating her breast, and rocking herself to and fro, uttering her +incessant "<i>Mea culpa!</i>" "Tell me more," she said again, presently; +"show me more dreadful sights, that I may suffer more. I yearn for it; +it will do my soul good—it is like purgatory. Go on!"</p> + +<p>I took good care not to feed this religious frenzy further. On the +contrary, I spoke of the practical Englishman and his performances, and +of the artist who had sat there among all the terrible havoc and had +drawn sketch after sketch.</p> + +<p>"That picture we must secure, at whatever cost," she said, eagerly. "It +shall be the altar-piece of the chapel which we are about to raise in +memory of the tragic event and of the souls of the slain."</p> + +<p>I had formed my own opinion of Mrs Dumany's state of mind. No doubt she +was mentally deranged, and her special craze was religious monomania. +From this arose the deep melancholy which held her own innocent babe +responsible for the misfortune of others. This made the child repugnant +to the mother, and, no doubt, this was at the bottom of that remarkable +mutual estrangement between mother and child.</p> + +<p>I tried to quiet her. I told her that in a very short period a great +many serious catastrophes, such as frequent earthquakes, great +inundations, and similar unfortunate and most terrible events, had +shocked the world and buried whole cities, destroyed the lives and +fortunes of thousands upon thousands of happy and innocent persons. Even +this Rossberg catastrophe had been preceded by another at the same spot, +about the beginning of the present century. Such catastrophes were by no +means to be considered as a punishment from God Almighty, Who is far too +magnanimous to visit the sins of the guilty upon the heads of the +innocent, but simply as the outcome of geological and meteorological +phases of our globe, depending upon natural laws. If anybody was really +to be blamed for the present misfortune, it must be the engineer who had +planned and erected that insufficient barrier instead of a strong +bastion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dumany's entrance interrupted our painful conversation. He came on +the pretence that letters and newspapers had arrived for me, and with +that he handed me a copy of the <i>Hon</i>.</p> + +<p>"But I had them addressed to the Hôtel d'Espagne," I said.</p> + +<p>"They have been already informed that you are here," he answered; and +then, turning to his wife, he said—</p> + +<p>"Have you drunk deep enough of the bitter cup? or do you thirst for +more of its contents?"</p> + +<p>His voice was soft and tender, and the wife threw both her arms around +the husband's neck, and, burying her face on his breast, she wept +bitterly.</p> + +<p>I took my journal, and, without making my excuses to the lady, I +silently stole out of the room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_VI" id="PART_I_VI"></a>VI.</h2> + +<h3>DUMANY KORNEL.</h3> + + +<p>At dinner I was punctual, but nevertheless the two gentlemen of whom Mr. +Dumany and his wife had spoken were already present and discussing the +question of Mr. Dumany's munificent offer. After a hurried introduction +I was soon informed of all that had been agreed on. The Secretary of +State had received bonds for 1,000,000 francs, to be taken by the two +Governments, the French and the Swiss, for distribution among the +injured or maimed of the Rossberg catastrophe and the poor dependents of +the slain. The old railroad watchman, who had been discharged by the +company, and the canny shepherd, who both sold and kept his goats when +he ran for the relief train, each received 10,000 francs, and a +considerable sum went to the officials of the relief train as a +remuneration for their services. The rest of the million francs was set +aside for a memorial chapel on the site of the accident, and for the +celebration of masses and a grand requiem in the church of St Germain +l'Auxerrois on the following day—a ceremony which was to be repeated +annually.</p> + +<p>I have forgotten to mention that although the dinner was sumptuous, and +the dishes and wines were excellent, yet it was as stately, solemn, and +unsociable a meal as a funeral banquet, and Mrs. Dumany presided in +deep mourning. The only jewel she wore was a large cross studded with +dark-blue diamonds, only recognisable as such by the rays of blue, +yellow, red, and green light which darted from them. This cross was +suspended on a chain of black beads resembling a rosary, and giving to +the black-robed figure the appearance of an abbess. The Spanish lace +mantilla which she had thrown over her beautiful hair served as the +veil, and made the resemblance perfect.</p> + +<p>At nine o'clock the government official and the priest took their leave, +and Mrs. Dumany retired, to put her babes to bed, as she said—a duty +which she always fulfilled herself, saying her prayers with them, and +watching them until they slept. After the lady had retired, Mr. Dumany +told me that even when he and his wife dined out, or were going to the +opera, my lady invariably went home at nine o'clock to put her children +to bed—a duty which she never omitted; but on the evening of the +catastrophe she had been compelled to stay by the company present, and +this had given rise to her self-accusations. She was nowhere happy but +in the company of her children, who afforded her the greatest delight +and amusement. I sighed, and, yes—I think I was actually guilty of the +remark that Hungarian ladies of quality were equally good and dutiful +mothers.</p> + +<p>We went over to Mr. Dumany's bedroom for a cup of tea and a cigar. It +was a grand room, lofty and spacious as a church, and if I had been a +Chauvinist, I should have said that the rays of light in this room +composed a tricolour of the same hues as the Hungarian flag. The +beautiful hanging-lamp shed a green light, the glowing coals in the +grate threw a reddish tint over the surrounding objects, and the large, +richly-sculptured bed-canopy was all ablaze with white electric lights, +arranged like a chain of diamonds above the heavy purple velvet hangings +which encircled the couch and gave it a cosy and well-shaded effect.</p> + +<p>We had hardly finished our first cigar, when Mrs. Dumany, or, as I +should call her, the countess, came in. She wore a white wrapper, +covered with costly lace and leaving her beautiful arms bare below the +loose lace-trimmed sleeves. She led little James into the room, and, +turning to her husband, she said—"This boy obstinately refuses to sleep +anywhere but with his father, just as before we sent him to the +Institute."</p> + +<p>The little fellow was simpering, and tottered drowsily to and fro. He +was evidently very sleepy. Mr. Dumany took him up on his lap, unbuttoned +his little boots, and pulled off the tiny socks. The mother stood there, +looking on unconcerned, and presently she said, "Good-night!" and went +out of the room.</p> + +<p>The father undressed the child, and put him to bed; then he drew the +curtains aside; the child knelt in bed, folded his little hands, and +evidently said his prayers, for I saw his lips move; but I could not +hear a word. After he had finished, his father kissed him tenderly, +covered him up with the angora rug, and, letting down the curtains, +returned to me.</p> + +<p>He had hardly sat down, when the bed-curtains moved, and the cherubic +little head peeped out. "Papa! Papa!" said the child.</p> + +<p>"What is it, darling?" his father asked, going back to him.</p> + +<p>"I want you to kiss me again," he said, with a little mischievous smile.</p> + +<p>After the boy had had his wish, he crept below the covering, and was +soon fast asleep. Mr. Dumany observed that my cigar had expired, and +that I looked rather drowsy. "You are tired," he said; "let me lead you +to your room."</p> + +<p>"I have not slept for the last two nights," I replied; "but I shall not +trouble you, as I can find my room easily, or else I can ask the valet. +Pray stay and rest yourself."</p> + +<p>"Well then, good-night and sleep well!"</p> + +<p>But however sleepy I had been the moment before, these few words were +enough to drive sleep from my eyes for ten nights to come, and to raise +my curiosity to the highest pitch, for they were spoken in clear, +well-pronounced Hungarian.</p> + +<p>I gazed at him in utter astonishment, and he smiled. "You did not +recognise me," he said, "but I knew you at once. I knew you very well, +too—at one time: we have been colleagues once."</p> + +<p>"Indeed? And how is that possible? Pray where was that?"</p> + +<p>"In Budapest, in the Sándor Uteza Palace, the House of Commons."</p> + +<p>"You have been a member of the Hungarian Parliament? When? And what +name did you then bear?"</p> + +<p>"The name I bear now, which is my own. Only I used to write it in +Hungarian, Dumany Kornel."</p> + +<p>"Still I don't remember. Neither your name, nor yet your face is +familiar to me."</p> + +<p>"Naturally enough. I was in Parliament for only one day; the next day +they conducted me out again."</p> + +<p>"Ah, now I know you! You were the dead man's candidate."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you have hit it; I was the man."</p> + +<p>Well, this was indeed a surprise. All the drowsiness had entirely gone +from me, and, turning back into the room, I asked, eagerly—</p> + +<p>"Sir, have I some claim on your generosity?"</p> + +<p>"Oh sir! my dear friend!" he cried, extending both hands to me, "I am +your most grateful and obedient servant for ever. I hand you a blank +sheet, and, whatever you may be pleased to write upon it, I shall most +willingly subscribe to."</p> + +<p>"Then tell me how the right honourable Dumany Kornel, a member of the +Hungarian landed gentry, and also of the medical profession, if I +rightly remember, a rather fast-living bachelor, and rejected Commoner, +has been metamorphosed into Cornelius Dumany, the Silver King, the South +American nabob, the matador of the Bourse, husband of a beautiful +countess, and father of five children, within such a short period. Tell +me this, for it is the only gratification I shall accept."</p> + +<p>"And let me tell you, dear friend, it is the highest I could give," was +his reply. "In fact, you have presented me such a draft that, in spite +of all my wealth, I am unable to pay it at sight. I have to ask my +wife's permission first. The story you want me to tell is but one half +my own, the other half belongs to my wife, and you must allow me to ask +her leave;" and, bowing to me, he left the room.</p> + +<p>I was alone. No, not alone. From behind the bed-curtains issued a heavy +groaning, as if the little sleeper were troubled with bad dreams. I went +to him and lifted the hangings. The glare of the light awakened him, and +he cried out, "Apa!" ("Papa!")</p> + +<p>"Papa will come presently, my little one," I said in Hungarian, and he +smiled happily.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the Hungarian uncle!" he said, "that's nice;" and, taking hold of +my hand, he caressingly laid his little, soft cheek on it.</p> + +<p>"Have you been troubled in your sleep?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said; "I was dumb again, although I wanted to speak and tried +very hard. A snake was coiled around my neck, and choked me. There is no +snake in this room? Or is there?"</p> + +<p>"No. Don't be afraid of anything. Try to sleep again."</p> + +<p>"You will stay with me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, until your papa comes back."</p> + +<p>"Stay always. Papa would like it. He always used to say, 'Speak to me, +my boy, only to me! I have nobody but thee to speak to me in our own +Hungarian;' and now he has you also. How glad he must be of it! You will +stay?—promise!"</p> + +<p>I promised him to stay a long time, and, holding fast to my hand, he +fell asleep again.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Du Many, or rather Dumany, returned to me, I was sitting before +the grate, musing over what the child's innocent prattle had revealed to +me—the tender, loving recollection this man had of his home and the +sweet sounds of our beloved mother tongue.</p> + +<p>He came in with an animated face. "My wife has consented," he said. "She +told me that it was confession-time. To-morrow she will confess to +Father Augustin, and this evening I shall make you my confessor. Now +that I have made up my mind to it, I really think that, even from a +practical point of view, it would be much better if the truth should be +known about us, rather than those wild, fanciful stories reported by +gossiping American newspapers."</p> + +<p>With that he rang the bell for the servant, and gave his orders for the +night. Tea with mandarin liqueur at once, at twelve o'clock punch and +fruits, at two in the morning coffee <i>à la Turque</i>, and at five o'clock +a cold woodcock and champagne, were to be served.</p> + +<p>"I hope you will be able to stand being up all night?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I think so. I am chief of the campaign committee at home."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon. Then I know your quality. But it will possibly +interest you to learn that the bill of fare I have issued consists +entirely of products of my own raising. The tea comes from my own garden +in Hong Kong. The mandarin is decocted from the crop of oranges grown in +my Borneo orchard. The coffee comes from my Cuban plantation, as well as +the 'gizr' spirit, obtained from the coffee bean. The woodcock is from +my own park; and it is only the flour for the cakes that I have to buy, +for that comes from Hungary, and there I own nothing."</p> + +<p>"How is that? If I remember rightly, you had a handsome property there."</p> + +<p>"Have you not heard that it was sold to pay my debts?"</p> + +<p>"And you consented to that?"</p> + +<p>"Well, first hear my story. However, I have told you an untruth. I am +yet a landed proprietor at home; I own a cabbage-garden in the rear of +my former castle. That garden is the only bit of soil I kept, and in +this garden fine cabbages grow. Year after year the whole crop is sliced +up, put into great barrels, and converted into sauer-kraut. This they +send after me, wherever I happen to be—whether at New York, Rio de +Janeiro, Palermo, or Paris—and from this, after a sleepless night, my +wife prepares me a delicious 'Korhely-leves'" (a broth made from the +juice, and some slices of cabbage, with sour cream and fresh and smoked +ham, and sausages. This broth is in Hungary frequently served after a +night of dissipation; hence its name, "Korhely-leves," which means +"Scamp's-broth").</p> + +<p>"And the countess understands how to prepare the old-fashioned Hungarian +delicacy?" I asked.</p> + +<p>He laughed. "Ha-ha-ha! Why, she is as good a Hungarian as you or I. If +she speaks French, she only imitates our ladies at home, who think +themselves so much more refined when they speak bad French instead of +good Hungarian."</p> + +<p>This was another revelation, and upset the other half of my fictitious +combination. I had imagined that my countryman had won the love of some +South American magnate's daughter, and in this way had become the +possessor of his innumerable millions. Mr. Dumany might have read my +thoughts in my face, for he smiled and said—</p> + +<p>"You will presently understand that I did not rob, did not cheat, and +did not marry for money, and yet I did not acquire my present great +wealth by my own good sense and management, either. I'll show you by +what road I have reached it, as a warning to others. May no other man +ever do as I did! But I do not believe that such events are ever likely +to happen again. I do not believe that there can ever be born another +such a pair of thick-skinned, iron-nerved human beings as the heroes of +this story, or two other persons able to endure what we endured. I will +venture to say that the worldly wealth I have won is not worth the price +I paid for it; but I have gained another prize, whose value can never be +expressed in figures."</p> + +<p>Thereupon we sat down at the little tea-table. Mr. Dumany threw a few +logs of odorous cedar wood upon the fire and began his tale. So, from +this point, the present romance is not written by me, but by him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MR_DUMANYS_STORY" id="MR_DUMANYS_STORY"></a>MR DUMANY'S STORY.</h2> + +<h2><a name="PART_I_VII" id="PART_I_VII"></a>VII.</h2> + +<h3>THE DEAD MAN'S VOTE.</h3> + + +<p>I do not think it necessary to particularly describe the borough for +which I was nominated as a candidate for Parliament. If you know one, +you know all. There were factions, of course, ranged into parties, one +of which drank deep, while the other drank deeper still. There are a +good many nationalities in this particular district, and they are +distinguished by the liquor they prefer. The Slavs drink whiskey; the +Suabians or Germans, beer; the Ugro-Fins or Hungarians, wine; and the +more intelligent and cultivated of all the races show their agreement in +matters of taste by drinking, alternately, wine, beer, or whiskey, with +equal relish. Jehovah's own chosen people, considering it much more +prudent and hospitable to serve the liquid to others than to drink it +themselves, furnish all parties with the wished-for fluid, according to +individual taste, and find the transaction even more satisfactory and +profitable than drinking in itself.</p> + +<p>If Dante had visited Hungary, and had seen my particular borough in +election-time, he would not have omitted it in his description of hell.</p> + +<p>Yet the highly respectable voters expect a substantial confirmation of +their patriotic convictions, and some of them are not fully persuaded +until four or five angels (golden, of course) come to enlighten their +minds. Others refuse to listen even to the sweet voices of these angels, +and wait obstinately for the mightier spirits, emblazoned on fifty and +one hundred florin bank-bills. Others, again, are to be had only <i>en +bloc</i>—that is, in company with their friends and connections, and only +just at the last moment, when the bidding is highest; and so tender is +their conscience that they listen to the persuasions of all parties with +equal earnestness, and it takes much to convince and win them over.</p> + +<p>It is a matter of course that the nominated candidate of each party is +far above such negotiations, and, although he owns that it has come to +his knowledge that his antagonist actually stooped to bribery in order +to defend his weak cause, yet he himself will never condescend to meet +the man on that ground. If his own moral integrity, the lofty standing +of his party, and his party's principles, will not secure the victory +for him, why, then there is no honesty and patriotism in this decayed +age, and the patriotic cause is lost!</p> + +<p>At every election, as you well know, are a number of kind, +disinterested, active, and zealous party members, indefatigably busy in +securing and collecting votes, or, what is more essential, trying to win +over the votes of the enemy. These very useful and highly respectable +gentlemen are leaders or drum-majors, and they have a number of +subalterns, not less useful, painstaking, and persuasive, only a little +less gentlemanlike and less scrupulous, and perhaps not wholly +disinterested as regards pecuniary gain. These are the election +drummers, plain and simple.</p> + +<p>Now at the election of which I am speaking there were two factions. I, +as the champion of the Clerical-National-Conservative party, stood in +opposition to the champion of the Panslavonic-Liberal-Reform party, and +you may believe that we did all that was possible to defeat the opposing +faction. My own party emblem was the red feather, that of my adversary +the green feather; the national cockade we sported in common.</p> + +<p>At six o'clock p.m. the green feathers were one vote ahead of us. "This +is not to be endured!" shouted my head drummers, and "This is not to be +endured!" was the war-cry of the subordinate drummers. But how could +they help it? The lists were scrutinised again, and it was found that +Tóth János, the potter, had not voted. "Where is Tóth János, the potter? +and why did he not vote?" added my chief drummer. "Beg pardon," said one +of the subalterns, "but the man was buried the other day."</p> + +<p>"Well, that was a calamity. Is there no other Tóth János in the village? +The name is rather a common one."</p> + +<p>"There is indeed, and he happens to live in the same house with the +deceased, only he is not a voter, as he does not pay taxes; he is only a +poor poultry-dealer. Still he is on the list as a carter, and the thing +could be managed."</p> + +<p>Tóth János, the poultry-dealer, was sent for, but his voting in his own +right was out of the question. So the drummers talked with him a long +time, and they had glib tongues, and the aid of the ever-welcome angels. +Tóth János the poultry-dealer, who could not vote in his own name, voted +as Tóth János, the potter, but he had a great sacrifice to make. The +deceased potter was nick-named the "gap-toothed," because he had lost +his front teeth in a brawl. Now the poultry-dealer's front teeth were as +sound as ivory, yet so great and effective were the persuasions of the +"angels" that, in half an hour's time, Tóth János, the poultry-dealer, +so closely resembled Tóth János, the potter, in outward appearance that +no question concerning his identity was raised, and his vote was +recorded.</p> + +<p>Still, this was insufficient. True, we were now even with the foe, but +we were compelled to show a majority, even if it consisted only of a +single vote. If Richard III could offer "a kingdom for a horse," why +should not we offer "1,000 florins for a vote?"</p> + +<p>Somebody made the discovery that on the outskirts of the village, in an +old tumble-down shanty of his own, lived a poor Jew with a lot of +half-starved, forlorn-looking children, and a half-crazed, careworn, +hard-working wife. The husband and father had been laid up with +consumption for the last few months, and was daily expected to die. This +poor wretch, who never in all his life had been the owner of an entire +suit of decent clothes—for when he had a hat, he invariably lacked +shoes, or when in possession of a coat, he was in sore want of a pair of +trousers—this poor fellow had yet a fortune at his call, for he could +bequeath to his family the 1,000 florins which we were willing to pay +for his vote. All his life he had been as honest as he was poor, earning +a miserable livelihood by setting glass panes in the village windows. +Nobody had ever thought of getting his vote, still less had he himself +thought of attaching any importance to the right he possessed as a +taxpayer. Our drummers found the poor fellow just in the act of taking +leave of this vale of care and sorrow; but they would not have been the +smart fellows they were if they had not succeeded in defeating Death +himself, and robbing him of his prey for as long as they needed. The +dying man stared vacantly into their faces when they offered him this +enormous sum of ready money, while his wife and children broke into a +howl of despair that the offer had not come earlier, for how could a +dying man leave his bed to vote? But my drummers were not to be beaten. +They caught up the bedstead with the sufferer on it, and hastened with +it to the tent where the votes were collected. The dying man had been +made to understand that the bill of 1,000 florins which he saw would be +given to his wife, if he would only pronounce my name when asked to whom +he gave his vote, and he hold tight to his wife's hand, and met her +appealing glance with something like assurance. Happily, he was still +alive when brought to the urn, and the drummers announced that "the poor +man was troubled in his conscience, and could not die unless the +opportunity of fulfilling his patriotic duty was afforded him, so that +he had begged them to bring him to the tent and allow him to vote." This +touching little piece of news was received in the spirit in which it had +been given, and just as the poor fellow in his agony was asked the name +of his chosen candidate, Death came to claim his own. With a last look +of sorrow and affection at his wife he sighed with his dying breath, "Du +mein liebel"<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> ("Thou, my love!"), and expired.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The Jews in Hungary usually speak German among themselves.</p></div> + +<p>"'Nelly Dumany! Dumany Nelly!' he said," cried my drummers—"Nelly" +being an abbreviation of Kornel, my Christian name—and since the "Du +meine" really sounded like "Dumany" and not at all like "Belacsek," the +candidate of the other party, and since the dead man could not be made +to repeat his vote, whereas my drummers were ready to take their oath of +the correctness of their assertion, the vote was credited to me, and I +was declared elected by a majority of one vote, my suffrages being 1,501 +in number, whereas my adversary had received only 1,500.</p> + +<p>The case was afterward contested, and some witnesses endeavoured to +prove that the dying man had not said, "Dumány Nelly," but "Du mein +liebe"; yet there was the sworn statement of my drummers to the +contrary, as well as the evidence of his wife and children that the man +had been a devout and religious Jew, incapable of offending Jehovah by +uttering German words with his last breath. He had simply pronounced my +name in Jewish fashion, and eased his patriotic heart by voting for me. +Itzig Maikäfer's vote was as sound as a nut and could not be rejected.</p> + +<p>Not quite so sound, however, was the other dead man's vote—that of Tóth +János, the potter. We had sent his substitute, the poultry-dealer, with +a cartload of odds and ends to Galicia, just to have him out of the way. +We managed to make it difficult to prove which of the two men named Tóth +János had been buried two days before election-day by providing for the +dead man's family, and sending them off to a remote place; and as the +poultry-dealer (who was a widower without any family) did not return +from Galicia for many weeks to come, everything seemed secure. But we +had reckoned without our host, and did not take into consideration a +possible treachery. The barber, a miserable wretch, whom we thought to +be a true red-feather man, and who had been more than liberally paid for +extracting the poultry-dealer's front teeth, and trimming his hair and +beard into the semblance of those of the dead potter, went and blabbed +of his work. A strict examination followed, the body of the potter was +exhumed, and his identity proved to a certainty. Of course, no one dared +to accuse me of foul play, but a new election was found necessary, and +the day after I had first taken my seat as a member of the Hungarian +Parliament, I was politely but firmly given to understand that I had no +legal right to its possession, and had better go. This is the story of +how I became to be called "the dead man's representative," and how I was +a colleague of yours for a single day.</p> + +<p>Yet this story I have told you cannot give anyone a fair or true +estimate of me, or my character, or ability. Anybody who heard or read +this story would suppose me to have been a vain, good-for-nothing sort +of fellow, who had missed his degree at college and lacked the ability +to fill any decent position, and therefore plunged into politics to make +his living, or perhaps to squander the inheritance he had received from +his ancestors. But, in reality, I had already, at the age of +six-and-twenty, occupied the position of a well-qualified assistant +physician, and at two-and-thirty the newspapers spoke of me as a famous +specialist and a great light of the profession. As I was established in +Vienna, where the competition is great, and Hungarians are pushed into +the rear if possible, my reputation could not have been without some +foundation at least. I was respectable and respected, very much in love +with my profession, and did not care a straw for politics. So, in order +to make you understand the change—nay, the entire revolution—which my +outward and inward man, my entire existence, had experienced, I must +acquaint you with a portion of my family troubles and domestic +relations, and I shall have to speak of my Uncle Diogenes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_VIII" id="PART_I_VIII"></a>VIII.</h2> + +<h3>MY UNCLE DIOGENES.</h3> + + +<p>First of all, I must inform you that my father was a very zealous +patriot, and mingled largely in state and political affairs. Of course, +in the great insurrection of the year 1848 he took an active share, and +after the catastrophe of Világos he was seized and imprisoned at Olmütz. +At that time I was a lean, overgrown youngster of sixteen. I was +compelled to take charge of the household, and behave as head of the +family, for which dignity I had no inclination and but little talent. +Study was the great object of my life. After my father's release from +prison I was just of an age to decide as to my future career; but that, +at the time, was rather a difficult thing for a Hungarian youth, all +offices and positions being filled by Germans and Bohemians. I did not +wish to follow in my father's footsteps, for I saw that what with his +neglect of business matters, what with his liberality in furnishing all +patriotic enterprises out of his own pocket with the necessary means, +and in extending a wide hospitality to all political refugees, our own +circumstances were getting worse and worse, and we were deeply in debt.</p> + +<p>So one day I took courage to speak to my father upon the subject, and +told him that I thought it was time for me to select a profession.</p> + +<p>"Oh! you are going to hunt for some paltry office in the district +courts?" he said, with a snarl.</p> + +<p>"No! I am going to study as a physician," I replied.</p> + +<p>"What? Do you want to be a barber or a veterinary surgeon, or one of +those curs who pretend to look after the wounded so that they themselves +may keep out of danger when their betters fight? Imagine a scion of the +Dumanys, and the last one, too, wanting to be a sick nurse instead of a +man! I have a notion to shoot you on the spot!"</p> + +<p>"That you can't, for our present ingenious Government takes precious +good care that such dangerous persons as my father shall not be left in +possession of a rifle or any other shooting-iron; and surely you will +not butcher me? Come, father, be reasonable! You know well what I mean +to become, and that the calling I have selected is honourable and +respected."</p> + +<p>"It is not fit for the son of a gentleman and a Dumany. If you dare to +follow such an insane course, you may be sure of my malediction, and, +besides that, I'll discard you—disinherit you!"</p> + +<p>"I am very much afraid, papa, that if our present course lasts awhile +longer, there will not be much left to bequeath to your heirs. So I am +not afraid of that threat; and as to maledictions, you are much too kind +and good-natured to utter such stuff; and, besides, curses are just as +harmless and useless as blessings. The Frauenhofer lines tell us all the +secrets of hell, and so I am not at all afraid of them. But I am +terribly afraid, dear father, that the road which you have pursued will +lead us to ruin in a very short time."</p> + +<p>I had taken precise accounts of all that we possessed and all that we +owed. I had computed these accurately, and showed him the result, which +was rather alarming; but he waved the document away with his hands, and +said, "Don't be foolish; don't worry about these little inconveniences, +which can't be helped, and will soon cease to trouble us. Why, there is +your uncle Dion, with eighty-seven winters on his head (may God rest +him!) and not a soul to leave his large fortune to, but you, his only +nephew! Bless my soul! what a nuisance is this boy! Instead of going to +this paragon of an uncle, and trying to get into his good graces, as his +next of blood and kin, he talks of becoming an apothecary, smearing +plasters, mixing poisons, and setting sprained joints. Go to thy uncle, +I say, like a dutiful nephew, and doctor him, if doctor you must!"</p> + +<p>"I have been to him already, and have told him of my intentions."</p> + +<p>"'Pon my word! And then?"</p> + +<p>"He gave me the money to pay my preliminary expenses, and I hope to get +along afterward by myself."</p> + +<p>"Well, to think of Dion giving away anything but advice! It's a treat! +And what did he say?"</p> + +<p>"That I was right and sensible in providing against the future; for he +knows of your difficulties."</p> + +<p>"Stuff and nonsense! He can't last for ever, and then where is the need +for your troubling yourself about my difficulties or studying for a +profession?"</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken: he will not leave us a penny; neither do I care for +his money. All I wanted of him I have got, and there is an end of it."</p> + +<p>"Then don't say that I am an unnatural or unfeeling father. I'll give +you thir—no, twenty florins!" But he never said whether these twenty +florins were meant to be given monthly, or only once for good and all. +However, as I did not ask for them, I never got a penny, and soon +learned to do without my father's money by giving lessons, coaching less +diligent and capable fellow-students, and contriving to live upon almost +nothing.</p> + +<p>But I wanted to speak to you of my Uncle Diogenes, as he was generally +called, although his Christian name was Dion. He was my father's +brother, but by no means like him. Rather an odd sort of a fellow, and +as keen as a razor. He went even beyond the old classical types; he was +more cynical and more of a philosopher than they. Not the oldest +inhabitant remembered the time when the cloak that covered his stooping +shoulders on the street was new. Daily he went to church, never into +church. There, on the sacred threshold, among the beggars and outcasts, +he paid his homage to his Maker, and then returned to his desolate home. +There was a large public well in the village. To this he himself went +with a large pitcher for his drinking-water. This water he poured into a +large boiler, boiled and strained it, and then drank it, because then +he was sure of the bacilli. He kept no attendant or housekeeper, for +fear of being murdered; and he was so much in dread of poison that he +never ate cooked food or anything made of flour, not even bread. He +lived on baked potatoes, nuts, honey, raw fresh eggs, and all sorts of +fruits and vegetables which might be eaten raw, and which grew in his +own orchard and garden. Out of his large herd of cattle he selected a +cow for his stall. This cow he attended to with his own hand, carefully +examining each stalk or haulm she ate, in order that no poisonous weed +might be consumed by her, and thus poison the milk. Each morning and +evening his own hands milked her, and he churned all his butter, and +made all his cheese himself. He never ate anything but what I have +mentioned, and he never went out without two loaded double-barrelled +pistols in his boots. He never read any other newspaper than the +Slavonic <i>Narodne Novine</i>, which he got from the village parson; but, +before reading it, he held it over a charcoal fire, on which he had +thrown some juniper berries, to kill possible malarial germs. His land +was all farmed out, and the rent had to be paid to him in gold or +silver, which he locked away in a great old iron chest. Occasionally, +through auctioning off some poor debtor's effects, he came into +possession of bank bills, 50, 100, 1,000 florin notes. These he rolled +up separately, and pushed one by one into a hollow reed. Of those +stuffed reeds he made bundles, which he stowed away in a corner of his +room. He never lent a penny of his money; he never put a penny into any +savings-bank, for he called them all humbugs; and he never gave a penny +for charity or friendship. Such was my Uncle Diogenes or Dion; and now I +will tell you what he had given me. You remember I told my father that +my Uncle Dion had furnished me with the means of paying my preliminary +expenses. That was true, but I had earned the money, little as it was, +in ciphering, writing, and riding about to my uncle's tenants at a time +when he was ill with a cold, and would have been obliged to pay a +stranger for the work which I did for him. I said it was little he gave +me. I have not told the whole truth, for he gave me his advice, and put +his own example before me, and that made a small sum go a long way.</p> + +<p>Well, to make a long story short, let me tell you that I was an +established physician when my father died, and immediately after his +death his estate was seized in bankruptcy proceedings.</p> + +<p>I did not care. I was satisfied with my position in Vienna, and as I had +no mother nor sisters or dependent younger brothers, and had long ago +relinquished the hope of coming into possession of our family estate, I +tried to forget my former home and live only for my profession.</p> + +<p>After my efforts had made me a name as a clever and skilful specialist, +I was occasionally called to visit some wealthy patient in Hungary, and +then the papers gave accounts of the diagnosis I had given, and +mentioned the generous fee I had received. I did not approve of this +sort of advertisement, but I found that it could not be checked, and so +grew indifferent to it. One day I received a registered letter +containing money. It was stamped all over with the cheapest kind of +sealing-wax, and, on opening the envelope, I was surprised to find a +letter from my Uncle Dion, with an old, crumpled hundred-florin bill, of +a kind that had long gone out of circulation, and which showed every +mark of having issued from one of the hollow reeds. The letter ran about +as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"MY DEAR NEPHEW, DR. DUMANY,—Knowing well that physicians will not +move a step without being well paid, I send you the enclosed +bank-bill, and pray you to take the trouble to visit me for a few +days here in my house.</p> + +<p class="right">"DUMANY DION."</p></blockquote> + +<p>I took the bank-bill, put it into a fresh envelope, and wrote the +following lines:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"MY DEAR UNCLE,—One hundred florins will not induce me to leave my +patients, and so I return the bill; but if you are really in need +of a physician, and want me in that capacity, then please let me +know, without enclosing money, for I should consider it my duty as +a near blood-relation to give you my professional assistance +without delay.—Yours,</p> + +<p class="right">"DUMANY KORNEL."</p></blockquote> + +<p>By return of post came the answer—"Yes, I want you immediately."</p> + +<p>I went at once. It was ten years since I had seen him last. He was +eighty-seven then; he must be ninety-seven now. A rare age, indeed! +When last I saw him, his long and thick white hair had reached to the +middle of his back, and his long untrimmed beard flowed down to his +girdle, and was the colour of hemp. His eyes were as sharp as those of +any young man, and he did his reading and writing without an eye-glass. +Even his grafting he did without an artificial help to his vision. I +remembered well the old custom for guests arriving at his house: coach +and servants had to be left at the inn, and dinner had to be ordered +there. Whoever came to visit the lord of the château, quite a +magnificent old-fashioned country seat, had to enter through a narrow +garden-gate, just wide enough to admit a single person. The great gate +was never opened, no vehicle of any kind was admitted to pass through +it, and a thick growth of horse-sorrel, both without and within the +great oaken wings, bore witness to the fact. There was a turnkey at the +little gate, and an old man—the only servant my uncle ever kept, who +served for porter, gardener, and all other purposes—opened the door.</p> + +<p>There was yet one tender spot in my uncle's heart, one sprinkle of +poetry in his nature. He adored flowers, especially roses, and he did +not even grudge money to secure rare specimens. His flower-garden was a +real fairy bower, and the old man, with the flowing snow-white hair and +beard, pruning and grafting continually, resembled some sorcerer who, +with a single touch of his withered hands, could create or destroy all +the beauty around him.</p> + +<p>I found him there among his roses when I came. He recognised me at +once, although the last ten years had considerably changed my +appearance. He was looking just the same as he did ten years ago; not +altered in the least. He was as dry, as wrinkled, and as white as when I +had last seen him, and his eyes appeared by no means less sharp than at +the time I speak of.</p> + +<p>"Happy to see you, my dear fellow!" he said. "I should have known you +wherever I met you. You look like the old boy you were."</p> + +<p>"So I do, because of my clean-shaven face, uncle. I do not care for the +manly beauty of a moustache and beard. But I must return your +compliment. You have not aged in the least, and I can hardly believe in +your wanting a physician at all. You do not look like it."</p> + +<p>He chuckled. "Well, well, I don't think you are much mistaken; but sit +down here in the bower: my room is not quite so pleasant and orderly a +place. I must call the gardener—"</p> + +<p>"Don't take the least trouble, uncle," I said. "I shall not stay with +you, as I ordered a room at the inn and also my dinner. I had a hearty +lunch half an hour ago, and so you need not worry about my comfort. Now +tell me what ails you, pray, and then I'll see what I can do for you."</p> + +<p>"Nothing in the least with regard to my health, for I am not a bit worse +than I was ten years ago, and far better than most others at my age. I +am ninety-seven, as you know, and that's no trifle. It would be foolish +to expect anything better, and you could not prevent my dying about this +time next year."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you are hypochondriac, I see, and give way to fancies! Come in, and +let me examine you professionally, for such fancies are always the +result of some serious disorder."</p> + +<p>"There you are mistaken, my boy. My heart, lungs, liver, and the rest of +it are all right, and I am not melancholy. Neither am I weak-minded or +nervous, and you need not look into my eyes or feel my pulse. I have +known these four years that I am to die at the time I mentioned, +although I am sure, when I tell you how I came to know it, you will call +me superstitious. For you fellows of the present day are so sceptical +and matter-of-fact that you refuse to believe in anything that cannot be +proved by optical inspection or by evidence. It was, as I said, just +four years ago, on my ninety-third birthday, when St. John the Nepomuc +appeared to me in a dream, and said—'Dionysius, my good fellow, make +the best of your time! There are only five more years for you in store, +and then you must die! no help for it!' Since that time he comes to me +every year regularly on the night of my birthday, and repeats his +warning, each time giving me one year less. Last week was my birthday, +and he gave me the last warning. Next time he comes I shall have to go. +So—"</p> + +<p>"But, my dear uncle," I said, rather vexed, "if you are so much +convinced of the certainty of your death, then it was not at all +necessary for me to come. You want the priest, and not the physician. I +can cure bodily diseases, and release you from the clutches of cholera, +or sometimes even of death; but if the saints have got hold of you, and +such a tight hold, too, then you had better go to your confessor, for it +is his business to be in close connection with all of them. I give you +up. Good-bye! I have patients in Vienna, and cannot afford to waste my +time on a pleasure trip."</p> + +<p>"Good God! what a hot-tempered fellow, and what admirable rudeness! +Stay, you unmannerly specimen of honesty, who don't think it worth your +while to cajole an old fool for the sake of his money! What do you think +that I summoned you for? But none of your impudence, if you please!"</p> + +<p>I was amazed, and must have looked so, for the old man broke into a +merry laugh, that sounded like two pieces of cracked iron rubbing +together. There was a merry twinkle in his eye even after his laugh, and +he regarded me with a humorous expression which was entirely new to me.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I see that you are somewhat slow of apprehension; not +at all as sharp as others of the family. So I must help you out. I am +going to make my will. There!"</p> + +<p>"Well then, you had better consult a lawyer or a notary. I am neither of +the two, and cannot be of the least use to you."</p> + +<p>"That's gospel truth. But as you are the only sensible person of the +whole family, the only one who is not a prodigal, and have made shift to +live decently upon your own earnings, I rather think that I may be of +use to you. I like you, because you browbeat me and do not flatter me, +and I will tell you the truth; that bank-bill which you returned to me +strongly interested me in your favour. There was a time when I was not +the shrewd hard fellow that I am, but a true Dumany and a spendthrift. I +can show you a heap of signatures from nearly all the members of our +family—that is, the elder members—every one given me as security for +money I have lent them; but that money was never returned to me, and +although I have always believed that spirits will break their bonds and +return to their former home, I never believed in a bank-note's return +until you showed me the miracle. Therefore I have decided to make you my +heir, and I have called you to witness the will and—"</p> + +<p>"Not a word more," I said. "I never speculated upon anybody's death, and +do not intend to change my habit. I never took the trouble to inquire +how much of my poor father's fortune was swallowed by the lawyers, +although I know that, after paying all of his debts, there must have +been a handsome penny left, and I could have recovered that money if I +had cared to see about it. I have earned for myself a respected position +and a decent living, and I expect to do better yet. So thanks to you for +your kind intention, but I am not the man you want."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are, and the more so because you do not worship the golden +calf, and do not want to hurry me into my grave as the others do. To +tell you all: I wish to settle everything on you while I live, the +estate, the house, the money, and all—no, don't run away! I am not +crazy, and you need not be afraid that I want you to live here with me +in this old hall as it is, mouldy and dirty and desolate. Neither do I +want you to share my diet of fruits and raw vegetables, eggs and milk, +and baked potatoes. On the contrary, I want you to come to me and live +like a gentleman, as a Dumany should, and let me enjoy life with you."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_IX" id="PART_I_IX"></a>IX.</h2> + +<h3>A SLAVONIC KINGDOM.</h3> + + +<p>"You see, my dear boy," continued the old man, fondly taking my hand and +pressing it, "it is a princely domain that I offer you, and a princely +income. The station I invest you with is that of a king in its way, and +not a small way, either. Now listen to me! For a great number of years I +have lived here on this spot, like one of those hermits of bygone times, +living on roots and other primitive food, and never tasting of a decent +cooked meal, because I have never ceased to fear that those who wished +to get my money would try to poison me in order to get it sooner. This +fear I know no longer. I know well that my time expires next year; but +of this one year of life I am assured, and I am resolved to make the +best of it. I want to eat nice roasts, good cakes, and other delicate +dishes, and I want to drink wine. I have not tasted wine since 1809, +when I was studying law and attached as juratus to the Personal. For +many years I did not seem to care about it; but now I long for it, and I +remember how delicious it used to taste."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear uncle, this would not be wise. Such a change would +absolutely kill you."</p> + +<p>"Tut! tut! Never fear! I am sure of the one year, and am not going to +bargain with Death for more. Give me the one year, and let me enjoy it +according to my wishes—that is all I ask for. But for a safeguard +against extravagances, should not I have a skilled and renowned +physician living with me and looking after me daily? Don't you see that +your professional attendance will prevent all evil results, so that I +shall be perfectly safe? I could not have lighted upon a better plan +than making you my heir, and letting you live with me. Of course, I +could have taken a housekeeper; but I know womankind. In less than half +a year she would have persuaded me to marry her and settle all my +belongings on her, and this would not do for a Dumany. But if you come +to live with me, everything will be different. I'll let you have the +whole mansion, and keep nothing but my old room, of which I am fond, +because I am used to it and to the old, dingy, broken furniture that's +in it. You should marry, and bring your pretty little wife into the +house, and she would sing to me and play the piano or the organ, and +would keep pretty little chambermaids that I could pat on the cheeks, +and your little wife would let me kiss her fair, soft little hands; it +would be delicious! Then I should hear a little scolding and quarrelling +in the house, and you would take care that your little lady-wife should +not spoil me by too much fondness, and you would order my dinners and +select my wearing apparel according to my health. Perhaps I might sleep +a little after meals at the open window—a luxury I always longed for, +but did not dare to indulge in. This would be life for me, and a slow +and sweet transit from the cares and troubles of this world into +heaven."</p> + +<p>The old man became quite excited over this ideal picture of happiness. +"I speak of heaven," he continued, "and this reminds me of the church. +Do you know why I say my prayers outside among the beggars, and never go +into the church? Not out of humility, but because at present there is +only a simple Slav minister here, and I am not over-anxious to listen to +his orations. Besides, the church is always so full of the Slav peasants +that you cannot breathe inside of it, such an infernal odour is diffused +by them. But if you would come to live here, and bring a gentle little +Hungarian lady with you, perhaps the bishop could be induced to send +some nice Hungarian priest to preach to us; and I am very fond of a good +sermon, especially if I could listen to it comfortably in my pew, as you +may wager that not one of these burly peasants would go inside the +church if the service were held in Hungarian. And then just fancy the +happiness if there should be a christening in the family, and I should +be godfather to your son! Would not that be glorious? Oh, if I could +live to see it! You must make haste and marry, or I'll put speed into +you, you may rely on that!"</p> + +<p>I was ready with my diagnosis by the time he had finished his last +sentence. Hallucinations born of religious frenzy; idiosyncrasies with +allotriophagical symptoms, a consequence of his ascetical mode of +living; nymphomania of old age; hypochondriacal fancies: all symptoms +that are frequently found together. To second his morbid intention of +changing his diet and habits would be sheer lunacy; nay, worse, it would +be actual murder. Yet first I must win his confidence as a physician, so +that he may trust me and take my advice. I embraced him, and thanked him +most heartily and tenderly for his kind intentions, which I should never +forget and should always feel grateful for; but I said, brilliant and +splendid as it was, I could not accept his proposition, I could not give +up the career I had entered, the profession I had embraced and which I +loved, and the independent and honoured position I was proud of. My +calling was everything to me—life, happiness, fortune, and ambition; +and to give up my profession in order to till my farm, to exchange my +study, laboratory, and dissecting-table for the petty cares and troubles +of a country squire and a county member, would be physical and mental +death to me.</p> + +<p>The old man smiled. "You talk so because you cannot comprehend the +importance of the position you will fill as the lord of my Slavic +kingdom, because you cannot guess the amount of the wealth I offer you. +You shall know it, and you are the only person alive to whom I have ever +spoken, or shall ever speak about it. You think this old mansion looks +as dreary and rotten inside as out; but you are mistaken. This residence +of the so-called Slav King is a princely seat, and it hides treasures +that monarchs and potentates would be proud to possess. If any one of +the family calls on me, he finds me in my dingy little hole of a room, +which, with an old rotten table, broken chairs, mutilated chest of +drawers, and coarse bed with bear-skin coverlet, looks poor and +inhospitable enough, and my visitors are generally glad to escape into +the open air again, thinking that the whole house resembles this room in +appearance; whereas, were I to throw the doors open, and show them the +splendour of the rooms and halls, they would stare in amazement. Every +one of the rooms is a perfect museum, and contains precious rarities. +One is full of carved furniture of costly woods, inlaid with ivory, +mother-of-pearl, gold and silver, and rich stones of the time of +'Ulászló.' The next contains all sorts of pottery of past +centuries—Roman and Etruscan, Chinese and Japanese, Sèvres and Dresden, +old Hungarian, and so forth. The third room is full of weapons of all +ages—panoplies, coats of mail, shields, bucklers, saddles. In the +fourth room are gowns and trains and coats of brocade, and artistic +embroidery and tapestry. The fifth room is a picture-gallery of +unlimited value; and then comes a library that has not its equal on this +continent, nor, I may say, on any other. High up to the ceiling the +large hall is filled with precious and rare old products; books with +clasps that are themselves curiosities of rare beauty. But those books! +If your medical colleagues had the privilege of entering this library +and peeping into those books, I doubt if they would be willing to part +with them ever after. Why, there is actually a book to invoke the devil +with! I did not dare to look into it, but you young fellows are such +sceptics that you will deny the existence of God and Devil presently, +and you will take the risk of reading that book.</p> + +<p>"All these treasures were hoarded together by my father—may God bless +and rest his soul! He was called a miser throughout his life, and he +denied himself all comfort in order to spend his income in replenishing +his collection of rarities. Shortly after the birth of his second son, +your father, our mother grew tired of his mania and the sacrifices she +had daily to make, and left him, taking us boys with her, while he +remained alone among his beloved curiosities, which became dearer to him +on account of the high price he had to pay for them. When we boys—your +father and I—grew up, your father grew daily more like our mother, +while I became strangely infatuated with the old man and his store of +curiosities. He was also fond of me, showed me all his treasures, +dwelling upon the particular beauty of each. Miser as our father was, he +occasionally gave money to his younger son, but he never gave any to me, +and I had to consider this as an especial favour, for had I not the +privilege of sharing the main interest of his life?</p> + +<p>"When my father died, there was hardly enough ready money in his desk to +pay his funeral expenses, and he had left a very strange will. He had +kept minute accounts of the amount he had spent each day and year for +different objects. All the money he had given to my mother and my +younger brother was reckoned up and subtracted from their share under +his will. He wrote that, as he knew that his wife was well provided for, +having a considerable fortune of her own, he left her a life-estate in +such one of his many domains as she might select. With regard to his two +sons, one had never shown him any love, and visited him only when in +want of spending-money; the other had never asked for a penny, although +he had received less from his mother than her favourite, the younger. +Yet, as a dutiful father, he did not wish to be partial; therefore his +sons were to divide his lands, goods, and chattels in the following +manner:—One was to take all his ready money, bonds, and objects of +gold, silver, and jewellery of recent workmanship (meaning the present +century), besides his horses and cattle, and the wine in the cellars; +while the other was to take possession of all the lands and the +residuary estate, on condition that he should reside in this particular +mansion and take charge of the museum therein, that he should never +marry, never accept any public office, in order that the treasures under +his care might receive the full benefit of his resources. He was +required to pledge himself to live in exactly the same secluded and +frugal way as his father, and to take his oath that during his lifetime +and stewardship he would not sell or give away one particle of the +estate, whether real or personal, which he received under the will. +Further, he must give up all claim on his mother's estate for ever, and +must relinquish all that she might give or bequeath him to his brother.</p> + +<p>"To say that your father was furious would hardly express his state of +mind. I have already said that the whole amount of cash left was barely +enough for the funeral expenses. The bonds which were found proved to be +so many worthless pieces of parchment. The jewellery of recent +workmanship consisted of a set of valueless shirt-studs and a watch that +would not have fetched ten florins at auction. Of silver there was a +tablespoon, a teaspoon, a ladle, and two or three pieces of tableware, +bent, crooked, and broken, hardly worth the mentioning. Of horses there +were two lean and decrepit-looking animals, and the cattle consisted of +a diminutive black cow and her calf, neither of much value, yet forming +no doubt the most valuable part of the whole bequest. This was your +father's portion, for as to his taking the other part, giving up the +prospect of our mother's goodly store of money and other property, and +living a secluded life as guardian of a museum, that was entirely out of +the question.</p> + +<p>"To tell that I felt pleased or glad on taking possession of the immense +wealth my father had left me would be a falsehood. I was young, and not +altogether devoid of the passions and inclinations pertaining to that +age. But I had interpreted the true spirit of my father's will, and I +knew that all this seeming spite and injustice was really a token of his +great love for me and of his great wisdom. Had he not stipulated such +hard conditions, my brother would have taken and squandered these lands +and goods as he squandered our mother's fortune, and I should not have +been able now to say to his only son, 'Stay with me, and receive at my +hands the undiminished fortune which your grandfather entrusted to my +care.' How immense that fortune is you may guess, when I tell you that +one year's income, large as it is, was not sufficient to pay the +legacy-taxes. But come, let me show you everything, and give you an idea +of the Slavic kingdom to which I invite you."</p> + +<p>We entered the mansion, an old château built in the time of King Albert, +under the dynasty of the Mazures. Strong walls of cut stone, like the +ramparts of a fortress; great projecting, mullioned oriel windows; +everywhere the Dumany coat-of-arms hewn in stone, wrought in iron, +carved in wood. The main entrance was walled up; the middle portion of +the building contained but one storey; the wings, too, were low, but in +the rear of the house there was a large, high turret.</p> + +<p>A heavy oaken door, beautifully carved, gave access to this turret, and +as this was at present the only approach to the interior of the house, +we had to cross halls and corridors until we reached the floor of the +main building. As we entered, my uncle locked the massive portal and put +the key in his pocket. When, in order to do this, he lifted the lapel of +his long zrinyi dolmány (old-fashioned Hungarian coat), I could see the +butts of his pistols, which were always loaded and ready to his hands. +He noticed the smile on my lips, and said testily, shrugging his +shoulders, "What can I do? I have to think of my personal safety at all +times. Wickedness has not died out of the world, and a poor lone old man +is rather a temptation to robbers. To keep a manservant for protection +would not do. He would be the very person to kill me, having me at his +mercy all the time; and as to keeping a dog for the purpose, I could not +think of it. A dog may bite, and there is danger in that; and, besides, +his keep costs just as much as a man's. He will eat up a fortune in +time. But when you are here, you will have servants and dogs, and all +the rest, and there will be no more need of my pistols."</p> + +<p>My uncle took me directly to his treasures. With all he had said to +excite my curiosity, he had not said enough. For here were treasures +indeed, and I could readily believe that in these luxurious creations of +long-forgotten ages and races a strong witchcraft was pent, and that a +man might grow to give his heart and soul to them. My uncle could give +me the date of every object. This statuette is a Praxiteles; this +picture a Guido Reni; Benvenuto Cellini was the owner of this goblet; +and this sword was that of Sultan Soliman.</p> + +<p>It was dusk, and the shadows of night were falling fast when I quitted +the museum. My uncle and I returned to the narrow turret-room in which +he had taken up his abode for the last seventy years and more. This room +of itself was a sight to see, and I was slightly faint and dizzy from +bewilderment at what I had already beheld. "You see, my boy," said the +old man again, "I have not lied to you; and when you are once +established here, and open these rooms to your visitors, all the barons, +and counts, and princes will stare at them with open mouth, and will +cajole you, flatter you, and bring their handsomest daughters for you to +choose a wife from; for such is the power of wealth. But do not believe +that the rarities I have shown you are all that I can give. For what +would be the good of the offer if I gave you nothing else? You would +have to lead a miserable existence like mine, for you could not soil +those things—no, not to save your life. If once you come to take +possession of them, you will find that you belong to them as much as +they to you. You will cling to them and neglect the present, only to +live in the forgotten past. The beauty of women you will admire in these +pictures only; the beauty of Nature in these stones and minerals. For +politics you will not care, and home will mean to you this mansion, +which encloses your treasure. Oh, the air of these rooms is poisonous to +youth, and mirth, and love!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, uncle," I said, earnestly, "and to ambition and independence, and +all good and right purposes, also; and therefore I cannot stay with you, +for I have chosen my path in life, and I will adhere to it in spite of +these powerful temptations."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are afraid that they will convert you into a miser and a +hermit, as I have become! But I can give you a potent antidote, which +was never given to me; that is, ready money. Come, and I'll show you +what you have never seen, and assuredly never dreamed of. You see this +large iron chest, itself a rare piece of workmanship, and stronger and +safer than any of your new inventions? Come, let me show you how to +unlock it, for it is difficult; and one who was unacquainted with the +secret of this lock might try until Doomsday to force it open, and all +to no purpose. See, it turns this way, and at this point you must stop. +If in all three locks the keys have been turned to this point, the chest +will open. The contents will rebuild this old castle, will buy you +horses and carriages, and all the home luxuries of modern times, and +will enable you to keep up with the richest and the noblest of them all. +Keep up, I say—nay, go ahead of them; and still you will have what +money cannot buy for them—your museum. Oh, the Dumanys shall be a +powerful race once more, and I shall live to see it!"</p> + +<p>He lifted the heavy lid of the chest, and I saw a number of linen bags +and an equally large number of bladders. The linen bags, my uncle +explained, were full of silver coins, the bladders of gold coins.</p> + +<p>"You see," he continued, "there are fourteen hundred acres of ground +belonging to this estate—rather a handsome piece of property in this +part of the country. It has all been leased out to farmers for many, +many years, almost a century, and it has greatly deteriorated. But this +money will help you to improve the soil also, and it will yield you more +than the twelve thousand acres of Count Vernöczy's estate can do, for +half of that land has been turned into a deer-park, and the other half +is imperfectly cultivated. Look at the bundles of reeds there in the +corner. You have wondered at them, no doubt; and at all those pipes on +the shelf yonder. You asked me if I was a smoker. I am, but I do not +smoke out of those pipe-stems. Both they and the reeds are money-boxes, +every one of them. In them I keep the bank-notes which I have had to +take during the last seventy years. They represent a fortune in +themselves. I hardly know myself how much money they contain. You can +split them, and find out when you come to live with me. I'll settle it +all on you in legal fashion, and keep nothing but my own room. You can +do with the rest as you please; build and rebuild, buy and furnish, to +suit your fancy. Only let me live the one year that remains to me +pleasantly and in plenty, and promise me three things: Never to till +your acres after the ideas you will get from the text-books; never to do +a kindness to a great lord; and never to quarrel or get vexed with a +woman."</p> + +<p>"I promise you whatever you wish, dear uncle," said I; "but, since I +have listened to you for quite a while, you must now listen to me. You +have called me in the capacity of a doctor, and as such I must speak to +you."</p> + +<p>"Do you know a remedy for old age?" was his sarcastic inquiry.</p> + +<p>"I do, to grow older still. You do not look a bit older or feebler than +you did ten years ago, and there is no positive reason why you should +not live for ten years longer, or even more, provided you do not change +your course of living in the least degree. The slightest change of +habits, of diet, or of dress, may prove fatal at your age. I know that +you are not afraid of death, and that you also have taken St. John the +Nepomuc's word for the remaining year. But, my dear uncle, saints are +sometimes ambiguous, and there is something that resembles a living +death, a prospect too horrible to dwell upon, yet dreadfully near. A +single meal of some heavy, unwonted food, one glass of liquor, may bring +it on. It is called paralysis, and when it comes, St. Nepomuc may stick +to his word and give you a year, but what a year that would be!"</p> + +<p>He looked at me with a troubled face, and I pressed his hands and said, +"Yes, dear uncle; you have to stick to the old, long-travelled road, and +then I may hope to see you ten years hence as hearty as you are now, or +as you were ten years ago. For you are in perfect health otherwise, and +there is no need whatever of my staying with you. Only beware of +indigestion, and you will be all right. As for myself, I shall never +cease to remember your kindness and to feel grateful for it, but to +accept your offer would be moral death to me. I have to go back to my +profession, and if you, dear uncle, dislike our other relatives, and do +not want to leave them your property, then give it to such patriotic and +charitable institutions as deserve patronising, and you may be sure that +your memory will be blessed by thousands. Of me you need not think. I am +not the man to speculate on another man's death, and build my future on +a grave."</p> + +<p>The old man looked curiously at me; then he sighed, and embraced me. +"Thank you, my dear fellow!" he said; "I see you are a truly honest man +and no hypocrite. I won't offer you any money: on the contrary, I'll ask +a further favour. Before you leave, I'll give you a letter, which you +will personally hand to the Prefect at his residence at the county seat, +which is on your way to Vienna. I am afraid to entrust this letter to +the mail, as there are very valuable papers in it, and you will have to +take a receipt for it from the magistrate. This receipt you need not +send me, but keep it safe; and if you come to this house again, you may +bring it with you."</p> + +<p>With that the old man showed me out into the garden, carefully unlocking +and re-locking the door, and securing the key. "Thank you for coming to +me, my dear fellow," he said. "And since you decline to take anything of +actual value from me, let me offer you something that has only fanciful +value, yet is dearer to me than all the treasures within the house. See +these Remontan roses in their second bloom—for instance, this Sultan of +Morocco, the most perfect specimen of its kind? I gave a <i>Napoléon d'or</i> +for the scion, and this is its first year of flowering. Here, take it!"</p> + +<p>With that he actually cut the blossom from the stalk, and handed it to +me. It was a magnificent flower, and almost black, with but a slight +purple tinge. It was the darkest-hued rose known at that time. Later on +the "Deuil d'Alsace" came out of Pandora's box. At the time I speak of, +that box was in Benedetti's pocket, and more is the pity that the pocket +held it so tight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_X" id="PART_I_X"></a>X.</h2> + +<h3>"DEAD."</h3> + + +<p>Hardly three months after I had taken a tender and affectionate farewell +from my Uncle Dion a newspaper item informed me of his death. My +prediction that a fit of indigestion would prove fatal to him had come +true. His confidence in St. John of Nepomuc had been greater than his +prudence, and it was a mercy that the stroke of apoplexy had killed him +outright, instead of making a living corpse of him, as is so often the +case.</p> + +<p>About a fortnight after I had read of the death of the celebrated Slav +King, I received a package by mail, containing an official and a private +letter. The official letter informed me that the Honourable Dionysius +Dumany had recorded a last will and testament in the county archives, in +which last will and testament he nominated me, Dr. Kornel Dumany, as his +sole heir, upon condition that I should take possession of the property +and live in Dumany Castle. But if I should stubbornly refuse to fulfil +that condition, lands, goods, and chattels should forthwith pass over to +the "Maticza" (Slavic and ecclesiastical literary fund, employed for +Panslavonic ends).</p> + +<p>The private letter came from the Governor of the county, and referred to +the same subject. The Governor declared that it was my unmistakable +duty, as a Dumany and a son of Hungary, to take possession of the home +of my ancestors, and not to allow such an anti-patriotic and dangerous +institution as the "Maticza" to do her a mischief on the strength of +Hungarian funds, and to turn the ancient halls of my patriotic +forefathers into a meeting-place of daring conspirators.</p> + +<p>I shrugged my shoulders, but had not the faintest notion of accepting. I +did not care for politics, and knew of the "Maticza" as a purely +Slavonic literary society. If this society was to hold future meetings +in my uncle's museums, I could bear it; there was very little of +Chauvinism or even patriotism left in me. I was rather cosmopolitan in +tendency; and as to giving up my profession and becoming a country +squire, that was simply ridiculous.</p> + +<p>This happened to be the very period when, after years of degradation and +suffering, the Hungarian national spirit was first allowed to lift its +head and show its colours. Germans and Bohemians, who for many years had +filled all the public offices in Hungary, were compelled either to learn +the Hungarian language or surrender their places to natives. In most +cases the latter was unavoidable, and these aliens, furious at being +driven from their prescriptive sinecures, went up to Vienna and did +their best to make it hot for the Hungarians. As every war has its +origin in an inkstand, students are, naturally, the greatest +Chauvinists, and I was to find that out with a vengeance. All my friends +and colleagues became more and more averse to me, and even went so far +as to take my patients from me by incensing them against me in every +possible manner. Soon they began to drag my name into professional +polemics, into professional newspapers; and when I had defeated and +silenced them in one place, they began to annoy me in another. At home, +in Hungary, the reorganisation of the counties was begun. For twenty +years constitutional life in Hungary had been extinct, and now it had to +be resuscitated. This was a hard task, and at first it was not even +known who were entitled to vote at the meetings.</p> + +<p>And now I received another letter from the Governor, again reminding me +of my duty, clearly describing the situation of affairs, and telling me +how much good every honest and right-minded man could effect, and how +much mischief I should be able to prevent. "But," he closed, "if you +stubbornly and positively adhere to your unpatriotic resolution, and +finally decline to accept your deceased uncle's legacy, I must trouble +you to come down in person and give a definite renunciation, with the +necessary affidavit, such being your uncle's strict demand."</p> + +<p>There was no help. I had to go to get rid of the annoyance. Arriving at +the county seat, I paid my respects to the Vice-Governor, the same +dignitary to whom I had given the letter which my uncle had entrusted to +my care, and which, as I now learned, proved to be the very will in +question. I announced my firm resolution to adhere to my principles, and +the magistrate replied that that was all right, but before we talked +further on the subject, I had better go to the county meeting, which +was to be held that day.</p> + +<p>"But what right have I to be there?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, as the present head of the ancient Dumany family, of course," was +the reply. "There is not one of us provided with a better claim."</p> + +<p>So I let myself be persuaded, and went. The great Hall of Meetings was +crowded to suffocation, and among the local celebrities I recognised a +few of those compatriots who had kindly assisted my poor father to get +rid of his money by feeding them and keeping their pockets full. There +were others who were quite young men, old schoolfellows of mine; +somewhat bad students at the time, but, since Providence had furnished +them with strong voices, they had taken advantage of the gift so as to +make a noise in the world, and played the <i>rôle</i> of leading partisans. +One of them in particular, a good-for-nothing sort of fellow who had +never come near his degree in any school, was recognised as a bright +particular star, and quite too smart for anything. If I remember +rightly, he was the head of the Radical wing.</p> + +<p>After much deliberation and a good deal of talk, of which I did not +comprehend anything, it was decided to read the names of the present +county members. A long list was handed to an official, who was +instructed to pronounce each name clearly; and each name, as it was +read, was followed by a loud cheer "Éljen!" All at once there came, +instead of the "Éljen!" after one of the names, the unanimous shout +"Dead!" and the person named had to rise from his seat and leave the +room, and his name was erased from the list. This was repeated a number +of times, and behind me stood a Slav nobleman, who after each of these +utterances of "Dead," added the Slavonic word "Smrt"<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>—a beautiful +word, as bony as the spectre "death" itself.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> "Dead."</p></div> + +<p>There was a priest, with a broad red sash, who made himself especially +obnoxious to me; for, as often as the "dead" sentence was pronounced, he +laughed, and pointed conspicuously with his fat fingers at the expelled +man, who, with bent head, made his way to the door. I inquired the +reason of these demonstrations, and was told that these men were +traitors, who had filled offices under the absolutist government of the +Austrians.</p> + +<p>Immediately after one of these shouts of "Dead," an old gentleman who +sat just in front of me, and of whom I had up to this moment seen +nothing but his bald head, which showed an immense scar, evidently an +old sword-cut, got up from his seat at the green-covered table, and as +he turned I beheld an aged and careworn but honest face, with two big +tears slowly rolling down the furrowed cheeks. "That is for the seven +wounds I received at Nagy Sarló!" said he, with choking voice; and +raising his trembling hand to his eyes, he moved away.</p> + +<p>"Seven children the poor fellow has at home, and he had to earn daily +bread for them, somehow, so he served as surveyor, and that was his +treachery," said one of my neighbours in an undertone. As the banished +man passed out, I sat down on the seat he quitted. "It is ill luck to +sit in a traitor's chair," said a well-meaning man at my elbow; but I +smiled and kept my seat.</p> + +<p>"Who may that smooth-faced stranger be? and how comes it that he is +here?" I heard some of the bystanders ask, referring, of course, to my +clean-shaven visage. Nobody in the whole congregation knew or recognised +me, except the Vice-Governor, and the fellow-student of whom I have +spoken. But, of course, he kept at a distance. Presently my own name, +"Dumany Kornel," was pronounced, and "Dead! Dead! Smrt!" was the shout +of all around. I had caught the infection, and as the red-sashed priest +smilingly and playfully raised a threatening fat finger at me and said, +"He is turned into a German, an Austrian," down came my fist upon the +green cloth of the table. Philosophy, <i>sang-froid</i>, and political +indifference were blown to the winds, carrying forethought and +resolution with them. I jumped up, pushed the chair away from behind me, +and shouted—</p> + +<p>"He is not dead! He is here! And what is more, here he shall stay! I am +a landed gentleman, as well as the best of you, and as pure a Hungarian +as any in this meeting, or in this country either. I am that Dumany +Kornel whose name has been read, and I am not dead, but alive, as you +shall soon find out!"</p> + +<p>There was a dead silence at these words, and some heads were nodded in +acknowledgment that I was right. Then there was a whispering and +consulting and questioning, until the honourable Vice-Governor said, +"Silence, gentlemen! the honourable Dumany Kornel has the floor upon a +personal question."</p> + +<p>"Hear! hear!" shouted all, some in good earnest, some in order to +embarrass me, and the red-sashed parson said, maliciously, "If you are a +Hungarian, sir, as you claim, where is your moustache?"</p> + +<p>"Out hunting for yours, your reverence," said I, with a grin.</p> + +<p>"I am a priest!" was the haughty reply; but that was just what I +expected, and looking around at the portraits upon the walls of the +room, portraits representing the most celebrated heroes of our national +history, I gave them then and there such a barbological sermon, <i>ex +tripode</i>, that they listened to me in mute astonishment. I told them +that the great national high-priests and patriots, Peter Pázmány, Prince +Cardinal Esterházy, and Thomas Bakács, there portrayed, had worn +moustaches, although they were priests; whereas Mathias Corvinus, our +glorious, never-to-be-forgotten hero-king, wore a clean-shaven face like +mine. The famous Palatinus Illésházy had pronounced Hungary free and +independent with smooth hairless lips, and Thomas Nádasdy had carried +the Hungarian tricolour to immortal triumphs although his face was as +beardless as mine, as everybody might see by his portrait there present. +I told them that I did not speak for myself, as I did not care a straw +for their opinion, and felt sufficiently strong in my own self-respect +and clear conscience, which, perhaps, was more than a good many present +could say of themselves. But I was not going to look on when patriotism +was made the monopoly of certain people, whereas decent and deserving +men were hooted at because they had dared to earn their own bread and +that of their family, instead of living upon the bounty of friends and +driving them to ruin and death. And then I told them that it was not a +time to inaugurate a policy of jealousy and persecution. We had had +enough of that under the absolutist government; what we wanted was +honest, energetic co-operation for a common purpose, the welfare of +country and nation.</p> + +<p>I had spoken with all the bravery of a simpleton, who has no idea that +if he throws a glowing tinder into a barrel of gunpowder he may blow the +house up and himself also. For some seconds I ran the risk of being +thrown out of doors, or of getting my hands full of private quarrels and +duels, but the concluding sentences met with such unanimous applause +that I was heartily congratulated on the success of my maiden speech, +and had the additional satisfaction of seeing the majority of those +formerly pronounced "dead" restored to the list again, and I was able to +give back the seat which I occupied to its former owner, the old +gentleman with the seven scars and as many children.</p> + +<p>Among those who had congratulated me was one conspicuously handsome and +distinguished-looking young man. He fairly embraced me, and said, "You +are the man we wanted! Let me welcome you, and consider me your friend; +I am Count Vernöczy. Siegfried Vernöczy is my name!"</p> + +<p>The Vice-Governor invited me to dinner, and just as we were pushing our +way out of the hall, I heard the red-sashed priest and the Slav +nobleman, who had always added his "Smrt" to the cry of "Dead!" speaking +together in Slav, of which language they supposed me ignorant. The +nobleman said to the priest—</p> + +<p>"What folly it was of you to vex and excite this blockhead by +pronouncing him dead! Had you left him alone, he would have gone off, +and left the Maticza in possession of the old miser's fortune. Now we +may go and hunt for other fools; this one has escaped us for ever."</p> + +<p>"Well, how could I know that the milksop had turned into a fighting +bull?" was the reply.</p> + +<p>The reverend gentleman was wrong. I was not a bull, but an ox; and a +moment's excitement had made me give up fame and ambition, profession +and independence, and here I was in the kingdom of Swatopluk, taking +possession of my Uncle Diogenes's legacy. It was very foolish, but if I +had to do it again—why, I should do it. I was a Hungarian and a Dumany, +in spite of my cosmopolitan tendencies and in spite of modern equality.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_XI" id="PART_I_XI"></a>XI.</h2> + +<h3>MY DEAR FRIEND SIEGFRIED.</h3> + + +<p>So I must needs call him, for dear was his friendship to me; at least, I +have paid for it dearly. At our first meeting he told me that henceforth +we should stick to each other like the Siamese twins. And the man whom +he thought worth catching was clever indeed if he could extricate +himself from the meshes which encircled him. He was altogether a +wonderful fellow. Of athletic build, striking beauty, great agility and +versatility in all bodily exercises, an unrivalled fencer, and a perfect +marksman. What a soldier he would have made! But Mr. Schmerling knew a +good many fine tricks, and one of the prettiest was the prevention of +Hungarian youths from entering the army. He took advantage of the +prevalent Chauvinistic sentiments, and put them forward as a bait. One +thousand florins, paid down, protected a Hungarian youth from serving in +the hated army, and he was free to ride his own horses instead of the +king's. Yet what a general that Siegfried might have been! He was born +to command and direct other people. All who adhered to him and did his +bidding were his soldiers; all who declined to follow his lead, he +regarded as enemies. The former he compelled to serve him, the latter he +defeated and slew. He was sometimes high-spirited to eccentricity. At +other times he was discreetly prudent. He spoke almost every existing +language, and was a brilliant orator. His addresses were admirably +delivered, and he took an independent and imperative tone. His talk was +always fluent; and if a Hungarian or a German word failed him, he +substituted for it a French, English, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Turkish, +or other foreign phrase, never stopping for a moment to consider or even +to explain. His Hungarian speeches were rhetorical gems, yet they could +hardly be styled Hungarian, for they were delivered in a perfect +Volapük—that is, in a medley of all possible languages. He was a strong +personality, and a "grand seigneur." His purse was always open, and he +spent his money with a liberal hand. He must have been a very rich man, +for I never knew him in even a momentary embarrassment for money. When I +first felt the pressure of his iron arm, I knew at once that he would +dominate me. But such was the fascination he exercised that I submitted +at once.</p> + +<p>It was at the close of that memorable meeting, and after he told me to +consider him my friend. The Vice-Governor had invited me to dine with +him, and I wanted to go to my rooms for a change of attire, or at least +a white tie and a pair of light gloves. "Nonsense!" he said, "these +rustics will take you as you are, <i>en plein parade</i>. Come at once. We +will order them to lose no time, but to take up your status in your new +domain to-morrow, and have you put in possession of your rights and +privileges without delay."</p> + +<p>"But to-morrow I shall not be here," I remonstrated; "I have to go to +Vienna and provide for my patients."</p> + +<p>"What would you provide for them? <i>Qu'ils attendent, les pauvres bêtes</i>; +death will not escape them. 'We can wait,' is the Austrian parole; don't +worry about them. To-morrow you will have the board of commissioners +meet on your new premises, and put you in possession of your +inheritance, so that you may be placed on the list of voters. This must +not be postponed, for if you miss that you are dead indeed—'Smrt,' as +that honest Maticza champion said."</p> + +<p>Siegfried lost no time, and the Vice-Governor said that he was right. +"Yes," he said, "to-morrow you shall have the keys of your castle."</p> + +<p>"And that of the famous iron chest," said Siegfried.</p> + +<p>"No, that cannot be yet," replied the officer; "the iron chest is under +an official lock as yet, for the 'Maticza' has put in a claim to the +inheritance. The Slav parish priest in Dumanyfalva, as well as his +housekeeper and his sacristan, affirm that your deceased uncle, on the +eve of his death, dined with them (in parentheses, the fat pork he +partook of and the strong wine he drank brought on the fatal stroke), +and there at the table he declared that, even in case you, his nephew, +should accept of the inheritance, the Maticza should not be left +empty-handed, but should receive all the ready money found on the +premises."</p> + +<p>"Franca, franca! It's all a lie!" said Siegfried.</p> + +<p>"So I think, too. But we have no evidence to prove it. It all depends on +the decision of the court, because the Maticza has no documentary +evidence, and so the court will decide the question."</p> + +<p>"And where is the chest at present?"</p> + +<p>"There at the castle, under guard."</p> + +<p>"And why did you let it remain there? It ought to be here under your own +care."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but it is so riveted to the wall that we could not remove it +without tearing up the wall also."</p> + +<p>"Then why have you not taken the money into your own custody? Some +unknown person or persons may force the lock."</p> + +<p>"That lock? Why, we tried it in every way, for the tax-commissioner +would have liked to examine its contents to make sure as to the amount +of taxes due. But we could not find a locksmith capable of using the +three keys belonging to the locks in the proper way."</p> + +<p>At this I spoke out. "If," I said, "my uncle has indeed willed away his +ready money to the Maticza, he must assuredly have instructed them how +to get at their money. To me, at least, he disclosed the secret of the +lock, and I know how to apply the keys properly."</p> + +<p>"Bravissimo! That settles the question. A clearer piece of evidence +cannot exist. The court cannot decide otherwise than in your favour."</p> + +<p>"Then try to expedite the formalities. You can do it."</p> + +<p>"I can't. The parties must be informed at what time the court holds its +session; they have to appear before the court, and introduce testimony. +All this takes a month at least."</p> + +<p>"And how is he to manage until then? Is there nothing in old Diogenes's +casket to make money out of?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, a lot of old rubbish! I daresay it would bring something at +least. We have taken an inventory of it, and taxed it; here it is."</p> + +<p>With that he took from the shelf an official-looking document, and +handed it to me. I was curious to know at what they had appraised my +uncle's precious treasures, and looked at the inventory. I was more than +surprised—I was amused beyond everything. The contents of the two large +halls, ante-chamber, and five chambers were valued at three hundred and +seventy-nine florins and forty-five kreutzers. The kreutzers were for an +old Gobelin hanging—a rare piece of tapestry.</p> + +<p>"Why, this is ludicrous!" said I laughingly. The Vice-Governor smiled +knowingly, and Siegfried took the paper out of my hand, and read the +items. A Palissy-cabinet was described as a wooden chest, worth three +florins; precious old majolica as old earthenware, the suits of armour +as old iron, and so forth. "Now this is a masterpiece!" said Siegfried; +but I was indignant. "It is hyper-barbarism!" I said. "This inventory +enumerates the contents of some dime museum—not of my uncle's valuable +collections. If you had looked for it, you might have found an exact +schedule, made by my uncle, with the name of each object, statement of +cost, etc."</p> + +<p>"We could not find anything of the kind," said the Vice-Governor. "But I +forgot. Attached to the will was a package, sealed; and addressed to +you—'Dr. Cornelius Dumány.' Here it is."</p> + +<p>I took the package, opened it, found the inventory within, and handed it +to the official. "Here it is. You see I was right! Here you can see the +actual worth of my uncle's museum."</p> + +<p>"I have no curiosity whatever," said the Vice-Governor; "this is a +private document addressed to you, and, therefore, I have no business to +inquire into it."</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>"But it is time for you to go," said Siegfried, slapping me on the +shoulder; "never mind that old inventory of your uncle's."</p> + +<p>"But I do mind it," I insisted. "I can't have something that is actually +worth two hundred thousand florins appraised at three hundred, all in +all."</p> + +<p>"But can't you see that on the three hundred florins the amount of tax +would be seventeen florins, and on the two hundred thousand you will +have to pay nine thousand florins as legacy taxes?"</p> + +<p>"Is that the law?"</p> + +<p>"Of course it is, clear and distinct."</p> + +<p>"Then I shall pay according to law. I do not intend to cheat the +Treasury."</p> + +<p>The Vice-Governor broke into a laugh, and Siegfried took hold of both my +ears and gave them a hard pull. "Oh! you, you, you doctor!" He would +have said you fool, or you simpleton, but he found the "doctor" more +explanatory, and a good deal more to the purpose. Why, did I not +understand that it was the patriotic duty of a Hungarian citizen to +cheat the Treasury whenever an opportunity to do so was offered?</p> + +<p>"Just you let him alone," said the Vice-Governor, laughing. "He is an +innocent, honest fellow, with a tender conscience, and nothing so tough +and hardened as you. Come, friend Kornel! tell me, what do you think of +the rate at which the other things are estimated? For instance, your +uncle's private room? The whole furniture is valued at twenty-three +florins. Do you think that underestimated? No? Well, here are his +pipes—old clay pipes, stuck into cane stems. They are valued at ninety +kreutzers."</p> + +<p>I laughed. "The pipes are hardly worth more, but the stems would be well +worth the money, for they and the old reeds in my uncle's room were his +bank-note receptacles, and for all I know they may be full of hundred- +or even thousand-florin bills."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you are not the greatest ass in Christendom, then I am—and no +doubt about it," said Siegfried, vexed. "Here is this fellow actually +denouncing his own money to the police. If you are such an imbecile, and +really do not care for your own profit, then at least do not talk +without being asked."</p> + +<p>"Hadn't you better use more civil language?" I asked. "I really am not +used to such strong expressions."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course; I beg your pardon! Only I should like to know what you +will do without ready money? Because you have compelled our friend, the +Vice-Governor here, to take all the money on the premises, that is, all +the contents of the reeds and pipe-stems, of which you blabbed, into his +own custody, whereas you might have kept your own counsel, and culled +the money out at your leisure, without anybody having an idea of its +existence."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but that would not be honest. If anybody finds a pocket-book full +of money he cannot keep it for himself, but must give it up to the +authorities."</p> + +<p>"Not if it is his own pocket-book, I should think. But, as you have done +it, it is too late to quarrel about the policy of the act."</p> + +<p>The Vice-Governor called in one of his office clerks, and drew up a +statement containing all I had said about the reeds and pipes, and the +actual value of the museum. I had to put my signature at the foot of the +document, and then I was allowed to go.</p> + +<p>Next day Siegfried took me out in his own chaise, to which four +beautiful horses were attached, to Dumanyfalva, and there, with all the +ceremony belonging to the occasion, I was inducted into my legal rights +as landlord. I was conducted into the mansion, the keys were put into my +hands, then they took me out into the field and gave me a handful of +soil of each individual plot, or meadow, or pasture. After that they +split the reeds and pipe-stems, and ten bills of one thousand florins +apiece, two hundred bills of one hundred florins, and sixty-four +fifty-florin bills were found, flattened out, made into a package, upon +which each of the persons present put a seal, with his own name. Then +the Vice-Governor wrote on its cover, "Legacy of the Late Honourable +Dionysius Dumany," and handed it over to the trustee.</p> + +<p>"Now you see what has come of your blabbing," said Siegfried. "How will +you manage now?"</p> + +<p>"Well enough. I have some money in Vienna, and I am going to fetch it. I +have to go up to Vienna, anyhow, to arrange my belongings there."</p> + +<p>"And I'll go with you, for, thorough Æsculapius as you are, there is +danger of your escaping us yet."</p> + +<p>He kept his word, and we went by his own chaise and four to Nagy +Szombat, where we took the train for Vienna. In Vienna he never moved +from my side, hardly allowing me time for any business transactions, but +taking me to theatres, dinners, cafes, and all sorts of variety-shows +and music-halls. I had lived soberly and industriously up to this time, +rarely going to the opera or to private entertainments; but I was young +and naturally jovial, and did not object to a few days of dissipation, +enjoying the manifold diversions which the Austrian metropolis offered.</p> + +<p>On the last day, Siegfried helped to pack and send off my furniture to +Dumanyfalva, and, as I could not sleep in my empty rooms, he carried me +off to a hotel; but not to sleep, for we never closed our eyes that +night, and it was with a dizzy head and a confused brain that I found +myself in the railway carriage, travelling homeward. Happily, my +faithful old servant had gone with the furniture ahead of me, and, on my +arrival at home, I found that the practical old fellow had made the best +of his time. A bedroom and sitting-room had already been furnished and +the old dining-room made serviceable. He had also procured a cook, and +for the first time in my life I enjoyed the sensation of sitting at my +own table and playing the host, for that Siegfried did not leave me yet +will be readily understood.</p> + +<p>While at dinner, Siegfried laid down a plan of how the old mansion might +be renovated without and within, and I had to acknowledge that his taste +was perfect; but—very expensive, as I remarked.</p> + +<p>"How much ready money have you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Something over four thousand florins," I replied.</p> + +<p>"That is almost nothing—hardly sufficient to furnish a few rooms, and +what becomes of the building? Then there is the grange, the stable, +etc., and then you will want to buy two pair of horses; one for your +chaise, the other for work. You will have to buy cattle, and grain, and +hay, and a good many other necessaries, and you will have to take the +distillery away from the lessee, for what will you do with your cattle? +What you want is at least twenty thousand florins, and these you have +fooled away. It will take months to get hold of them again, and then +half of them will be gone, and the time for making all necessary +arrangements will have passed. I'll tell you what, you cannot sit here +and do nothing, and I am not going to let you waste time. I'll lend you +these twenty thousand florins." I was surprised at the offer. "Yes," he +said, "I have the money ready, for I intended to buy a piece of +property, but could not make a bargain with the owner. Now the money is +of no use to me at present, and you may have it until your money is +restored to you. Happily, I have the money with me now. Here it is!"</p> + +<p>With that he took out a portfolio, and handed me twenty bank-notes of +one thousand florins each. I wanted to give him a bond, but he would not +hear of it "The idea!" he said; "why, we are no Jews, but gentlemen. +Just write upon your card: 'Good for twenty thousand florins, which I +will pay upon receipt of my legacy.' Here, take my lead-pencil; that +will do."</p> + +<p>I was rather embarrassed, but his face showed so much sincere friendship +and regard that I did not venture to refuse the offer, and, considering +the circumstances, he was right, and he had behaved nobly. Still, I did +not like the obligation he had put me under, and should have preferred +to pay interest on the sum even to a common usurer. I had some faint +presentiment that the interest on such a loan as this would be much +higher than the usual percentage taken by the professional money-lender; +but I had done it, and could not undo it, as you might say.</p> + +<p>With the money in hand I attended to business. Siegfried, indefatigable +in his endeavours to be of use in me, assisted me with his practical +versatility in business matters, and with his good taste in the +domestic sphere. He purchased the horses for my carriage, he bargained +with the mason about the buildings, he made the contracts with my +tenants, and he bought my grain and other household necessaries. I could +never have got on without his help—at least, not so profitably—and I +was naturally very grateful to him.</p> + +<p>"You can't pay any visits to your neighbours until you have made your +own house fit to receive company; but, as it would be rather hard upon +you to live like a hermit until that time, you might drive over to the +county town and put in an appearance at the casino. I'll introduce you +to the whole set."</p> + +<p>The county town was two hours' drive from Dumányfalva. Siegfried drove +me over, and my own brand-new and very "pshutt"-looking cab was to wait +for me at the casino door. In the casino Siegfried introduced me to +about a dozen of young and old local celebrities, and one or two great +lights of national reputation. Party divisions there were none; all +parties agreed harmoniously, and played with each other their whist, +their games of chess or dominoes. I was very cordially received, and in +the ensuing conversation I took a very lively and active share, and +stood my ground without any of the usual bashfulness of a novice. +Siegfried seconded me in all my remarks with an occasional nod and a +"Very true, my friend," or "You have hit it exactly," or "You have +expressed my own opinion;" "My friend, you are an excellent debater," +and other observations of the kind, and soon we were unanimously called +"the Dioscuri," for we were never found apart.</p> + +<p>At a county banquet Siegfried spoke of me, in a brilliant toast-speech, +as of a newly risen star, or rather "a great shining planet," and there +was a universal "Éljen!" and shouts of acclamation. It was wonderful how +many friends I found, and how much I was sought after! I had a dozen +different invitations at once. One invited me to his shooting-box in the +mountains, another to inspect his model farm and dairy, a third invited +me on a fishing excursion, and so forth.</p> + +<p>While driving home from the casino, Siegfried said to me—"I wonder you +are not vexed at my never inviting you over to Vernöcze, but I must tell +you the truth. I am not the master of my own house and home at present. +An aunt of mine is here with my two cousins, half-grown young girls, +staying until the bathing-season begins. So the lady has control of the +house, and I live in a little pavilion in the park. My aunt will be very +much pleased to make your acquaintance—too much pleased, I should say, +for she is one of those spirited women who have an opinion of their own, +and let you know it. She is never tired of arguing, and you are the very +person for her. I verily believe that the two little girls have caught +the infection from her, and you would be surprised to hear what a flow +of nonsense issues from the aristocratic little mouths. And the number +of questions they ask is astonishing! Sometimes I give them an answer in +language such as I would not venture to use to a variety singer; but +the little innocents stare at me, and laugh without the faintest blush; +they do not understand the hidden impertinence. I'll some day introduce +you to all of them, my aunt and the two girls; but your house must first +be put in order. For I find it hard, even now, to keep them from rushing +in upon you unawares, and introducing themselves. They are positively +dying for a peep at you and your museum. Well, I have done enough to +excite that curiosity. I am incessantly talking of you."</p> + +<p>"Then it will be your fault if their ladyships are shocked at finding +out the deception. I am too commonplace a fellow not to disappoint them +cruelly."</p> + +<p>"Vederemo!" he said. "The Devil is never at rest!"</p> + +<blockquote><p>INTERMEZZO.</p> + +<p>The Devil?</p> + +<p>"Do you believe, then, in the existence of a personal Devil?" you +ask.</p> + +<p>"Has not this story been terribly dull and tedious up to this +moment? You have not shown us a single Devil as yet. No, not even a +woman."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll show you three of the latter species presently—a +strong-minded, argumentative aunt, and two little nieces."</p> + +<p>"You won't say that these two little countesses or their +aristocratic aunt, or either of them, is an incarnation of the Evil +One? Or are you speaking of your dear friend, Siegfried? Why, he is +a perfect guardian angel, the personification of goodness and +benevolence!"</p> + +<p>"Do you know the story of St. Anthony? How he was tempted by the +Devil in the semblance of a lovely sylph, until all at once he saw +the fiend's hoof appear from under the robe?"</p></blockquote> + +<p>That night, as Siegfried took leave of me, to drive home to Vernöcze, he +embraced me and kissed me on the cheek. It is many years since that +night, but many a night since then I have lain sleepless in my bed and +rubbed that eternally burning and smarting spot, and felt an almost +unconquerable temptation to take the operating-knife and cut out the +part which had been contaminated by that foul kiss.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_XII" id="PART_I_XII"></a>XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE DEVIL'S HOOF.</h3> + + +<p>One morning my dear friend, Siegfried, came. "My dear Nell," he said, +"we held a party meeting yesterday, and it was decided that you should +be a candidate for Parliament. In fact, we have nominated you already."</p> + +<p>"You are in a jocular mood, I suppose?" said I. "I do not understand an +atom of legislation and politics."</p> + +<p>"Neither do I; yet I fill my place in the House of Lords, so will you +fill yours in the House of Commons. You need not stare at me, for I am +not joking. I am fully in earnest, and, now that the chalice is set to +your lips, you are bound to drain it."</p> + +<p>"But I can't see why," said I. "I am not in the least fit for the +position, and am not going to make a fool of myself. I am a doctor of +medicine, not a legislator."</p> + +<p>"And what does that matter, pray? The department of public health is +very much in need of a radical reform, and you are the very man to +advocate sanitary measures in Parliament. But this is all nonsense. +Hungary is not yet in a position to have all departments represented by +experts; what she wants at present is firmness to principle, strict +party fealty. The demagogues, the heretics, and the Panslavonians of +our country are preparing for a strong contest at the coming electoral +struggle, and we Conservatives must strain every nerve to defeat them, +and cause patriotism, religion, and aristocratic rights to triumph. Our +party believes that you are the man to represent these principles, and +you can't decline to accept such an honourable mission. Do you not love +your country? Do you want her to become a prey to infidels, or +Panslavonic conspirators, or to the mob? You would not have the +descendants of the Hussites dominate Hungary? Are you not a Catholic +Christian? You are brave; you have strong principles, and you are an +excellent orator. You are the man we want, and there is an end of +arguing."</p> + +<p>"Very good! But there is a practical side to the question."</p> + +<p>"Yes. If the other parties come off victorious, the agrarian movement +will grow too fast for us. The Socialist rabble is preaching the +assessment of all land, the abolition of the congrua taxes,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and the +abolition of our feudal privileges. This is the prose or practical side +of the question, my friend."</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Congrua taxes are the taxes paid by the parish members to +their curates or priests.</p></div> + +<p>"There is another still," I persisted, "and I must speak plainly. You +know that I have no money for political enterprises. My own money is in +official custody; but, even if it were not, and I had so much money at +my disposal that I did not know what to set about in order to get rid of +it, I should not waste it in buying myself a seat in Parliament. I +remember well what politics did for my father, and how much it cost him. +But, besides this recollection, the idea of corrupting the minds of the +electors and of making drunken animals out of decent and intelligent +labourers for two or three weeks is repulsive to me. It is entirely +against my conscience."</p> + +<p>"Now listen to me. In the first place, no one asks for a penny of your +money, so it is no business of yours to inquire or care about it. What +is the use of party funds, I might ask? Then, what have you to do with +the details of the campaign? I am head-drummer, manager of the canvass. +You need not give a single bottle of wine to anybody, unless you want to +regale your friends here in your house; but that is quite a different +thing, and has nothing to do with the election. There is one thing you +must remember. If you offer venison and champagne to your electors, it +is called a banquet, and the papers speak admiringly of your bountiful +hospitality; but if you boil a sheep and open a barrel of sixpenny wine +or beer for them, then you are bribing voters, and corrupting the minds +of the innocent. So never trouble your head with a thought about these +things. I have made a bargain with every hotel-keeper or inn-keeper in +the whole county for that one day, and the voters may revel as they +please—at their own expense; that is, a dinner may be had for two +kreutzers, a supper for three, and the wine will be included in that +price. Who can forbid an inn-keeper to sell cheap viands? You will have +nothing to do with the whole business. Only, if some decent elector gets +his head broken in the spree, you will plaster him up, or sew him up, as +may be necessary. Up to the day of election you will not show yourself, +and only put in your appearance when they come to fetch you with music +and flags and all that flummery, and beg you to come and kindly accept +the mandate, which the chairman of the party is dying to hand over to +you. Then at the banquet you offer a toast to his Majesty the King, and +afterward you will accept of the torchlight serenade, which your voters +will give you, and perhaps speak a few gracious words; but that is not +essential, and you may hold your peace. At any rate, with that serenade +all your duties are ended."</p> + +<p>"I should think they began with that—at least, according to my notion. +No, I can't accept. I can't afford to loiter about in Budapest, and have +everything here go to the dogs."</p> + +<p>"What a greenhorn you are! You need not live in Budapest at all. If the +chief of the party telegraphs you that some great division is coming on +with respect to some important question, you go up, find the seat with +your name on it, sit down, and, when your name is called, you shout +'yes' or 'no,' according to the party's views, and then you travel home +again, and make your famous 'Lipto cheese.'"</p> + +<p>"I have no intention of becoming a voting machine."</p> + +<p>"There you are right. You are too spirited and much too talented for +that. You will deliver your maiden speech amid universal applause, and +become famous at once. You will be hated by the opposite parties, hated +and feared, and that will only stimulate your courage. You will be a +great man, and a blessing to your country. You can engage a trustworthy +man to manage your estate, and do well under such an arrangement; and +you will give your talent and your faculties to your country and your +party. It is your duty, and you are not the man to shrink from an +acknowledged duty. Besides, out of friendship for me, you cannot refuse. +I have positively staked my word on your acceptance; and then there is a +request from the party, with a hundred and twenty signatures. Look +here!"</p> + +<p>He showed me a sheet of writing, with a long list of badly-scrawled +names underneath a few lines of writing. I still hesitated, when +Siegfried smiled, and, taking from his pocket a little bit of a letter, +perfumed with heliotrope, handed it to me.</p> + +<p>"My aunt sends you this."</p> + +<p>I broke the rose-coloured wax, and drew out a tiny piece of +bristol-board with the signature of Countess Diodora Vernöczy. Its +contents were as follows:—</p> + +<p>"Pray accept the nomination."</p> + +<p>That was all. But what all the persuasions, all the allusions to +country, race, patriotism, and religion had not effected, these few +Hungarian words, written in a fine, aristocratic hand, did at once. They +persuaded me, and I accepted. Yet I had never seen the lady who had +written these words, and did not even know whether she was young or old, +beautiful or ugly! She was a woman, and that sufficed. No! the Devil is +not dead; here is his hoof.</p> + +<p>How I triumphed and how I fell I have told you already. If I had the +gift of Virgilius Maro, and could speak or write in hexameters, in such +verses I would compose the "Æneid" of my career as a belligerent. As it +is, you can read it all, described in somewhat unflattering language, in +the Hungarian newspapers of the period. There is a whole history of +bribery, corruption, intimidation, and similar crimes committed in my +name, related in those papers, and you may read of the horrible fraud +that was practised in offering the vote of a dead man. The epithets +"cheat," "deceiver," "liar," and so forth were freely and frequently +attached to my name; and then followed the shameful annulment of the +election, and I was sent home—a broken, disgraced, snuffed-out +wretch—a dead man, indeed!</p> + +<p>There is something fearful, something terribly cruel and unjust, in such +a moral cudgelling to death, for those who cast the stones are not a +whit better than their victim. A common criminal, murderer, +counterfeiter, or forger may procure a pardon, and rehabilitate himself +in time; but a man that has furnished society with amusement and been +laughed to death is never again allowed to hold up his head and show his +face. I was nearly mad with shame and disgrace. What should I do with +myself now—now that I was nothing but a broken tool—I, who might have +been a scientific celebrity, a light in the profession? I could not go +back to Vienna for very shame. A flouted, ridiculed man cannot be a +doctor. A doctor must be respected, trusted, even revered, like a +priest. For me there was nothing but to hide myself in my own house, +shut the doors against everybody, and live the life of a hermit—the +life of my Uncle Diogenes.</p> + +<p>I need not have shut my doors; not a soul demanded admittance. I really +think my dear friends made a circuit around my château when they had to +pass through my village.</p> + +<p>The first day I remained shut up in my room; the second I paced the +garden walks in a furious rage; the third I noticed that I had +shamefully neglected my uncle's dearly-cherished garden since I had +abandoned myself to the mania of politics. The carefully tended Isabella +grapes wound their tender twigs up and around an apple tree; the roses +were full of water shoots; the American lilies choked up with dead +nettles. Wasps' nests were hanging from the branches of the trees, and +giant ants had built their pyramids on the foot-path; and the hedgehogs +boldly invaded the lawn as I passed. As I strolled, my eye fell upon a +little flower which I recognised as a favourite from my dear mother's +garden; I observed a glowing alkermes, an Oriental corn-rose, then again +an artichoke, overgrown with vile weeds. All at once I found myself +working away with garden-knife, shovel, and spade, pruning, weeding, and +tying up the twigs and branches, just as Uncle Diogenes had done.</p> + +<p>By night I had smoked out the wasps, put the little bower to rights, +and, hardly knowing how or why, I had gone into my uncle's +turret-chamber instead of my own bedroom. And why not be as he had been? +I asked myself. Here at least I could meet with no shame, no +disappointment, and no deception. All was well. I should be a gardener +in summer and a museum-keeper in winter, and so the time would pass with +me as it passed with him. No doubt, in time, this solitary, secluded +life would not be so irksome to me as now. The social instinct would die +out; and, left to rural pleasures and occupations, the polish would be +rubbed off me, and in appearance also I should be as my Uncle Diogenes +had been. I gave up shaving, dressed shabbily, and ordered a dinner of +pork and potatoes, which disgusted me. I ceased to drink wine, because I +was no toper to enjoy drinking alone, and in the course of two or three +days I had a hearty indigestion, which at least recalled me from my +self-tormenting course so far as my inward man was concerned. In outward +appearance I had a beard of a week's growth, wore a pair of coarse +breeches and high top-boots, because in low boots I could not ramble +about in garden and field as I did.</p> + +<p>My valet was in despair; the good old man had known me for years, and +was very faithful to me. Of course, he dared not ask questions, but he +threw me such appealing glances that I was strongly tempted to pour out +all my burning shame and rage to him, since I had nobody else to make a +confidant of. It was a very, very miserable time, and it lasted +something more than a week—a week, I say! I thought it a century at the +least.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_I_XIII" id="PART_I_XIII"></a>XIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE VALKYRS.</h3> + + +<p>It was about ten or twelve days after my discomfiture, and a beautiful +afternoon. I was standing in my front garden, attired, as I usually had +been of late, in coarse breeches, muddy top-boots, a not very clean +linen blouse, and a broad, rough straw hat on my head. My face was rough +and adorned with bristles. I do not think that anybody coming upon me +unawares would have taken me for anything but a Slav garden labourer.</p> + +<p>Presently I heard the gallop of horses, and, looking through the new and +very handsome iron trellis in front of the building, I saw three Amazons +riding up to the house. I did not know them, and supposed them to be +strangers in the country, approaching in order to admire the curious old +building. They wore long black riding-habits, all three alike, with blue +veils tied around their high beavers and entirely concealing their +faces. One of them was a real Zenobia figure: tall of stature, regal in +gait, a magnificent creature! The second was tall and slender, and slow +and stately in movement. The third was a tiny little figure, but full of +nervous vitality and energy. Opposite to the verandah of my house they +checked their horses, and looked through the trellis at me as if they +expected me to run out, and give them the desired information. The +tall, slender lady rode nearer to the gate and looked haughtily in, +while the little girl-rider cried out:</p> + +<p>"<i>Tu y serais!</i>" Then she beckoned the groom, who was waiting behind +them, to come nearer and hand her a little wooden case with a round +glass set in at the front—a little photograph-apparatus.</p> + +<p>"Well," thought I, "these are amateur photographers, and Dumany Castle +has apparently pleased their eye, and they want to immortalise it in the +pages of their albums—an interesting object!"</p> + +<p>I was standing near the fence, by the side of a flowering rose-bush. I +held a spade in my hand, and was just in the act of putting it to its +proper use when the lady directed her camera toward me. I thought it was +rather a clever performance for a person on horseback.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ne remuez pas, mon cher!</i>" cried the lady, as I lifted the spade. Of +course the Slav gardener, whom I resembled, was bound to understand her +French prattle. So there I stood, with uplifted spade in hand, until the +lady had finished her picture, and then she released me with a "<i>Merci, +mon garçon!</i>" and I, hardly able to keep my composure, answered in Slav, +"<i>Dobri nocz, mladi panyicska</i>," which means "Good night, miss!"</p> + +<p>The ladies broke out into a merry laugh, returned the apparatus to the +groom, and rode off, laughing because the slender lady had been included +in the picture. I laughed also as I looked after them, and I said to +myself, "Now I shall not utterly die, '<i>non omnis moriar</i>.' The Valkyrs +have come to pick up the fallen hero and carry him into their Walhalla, +which in all probability is bound in morocco leather with silver +clasps."</p> + +<p>The same evening I had another surprise. My friend Siegfried drove up to +my house, sprang from his barouche, and, seeing me, he ran up and +embraced me tenderly.</p> + +<p>"So you know me still?" asked I.</p> + +<p>"Know you? It would be no wonder if I had not recognised you as you look +now! Do you know that with a week's growth of beard and moustache a man +looks like a gorilla?"</p> + +<p>"Well then, I look like the progenitor of mankind, if Darwin is to be +believed."</p> + +<p>"I say, it's high time I came! otherwise you would cease to be a +Christian, and become one of those detestable naturalists." With that +Siegfried ordered his coachman to walk the horses about, feed them, +water them, and prepare for the drive home after supper. So I had to +give orders for a supper, and remember that I was not yet my Uncle +Diogenes, but his nephew and a gentleman, and this friend of mine a +veritable Count, who expected me to give him a good supper. "After +supper you must come with me," said Siegfried, decidedly.</p> + +<p>"I! Where?"</p> + +<p>"To Vernöcze, to visit me! Have you not got my letter?"</p> + +<p>"I received a letter. I have it in my blouse-pocket yet, but—"</p> + +<p>"You have not opened it, nor looked at it yet?"</p> + +<p>"No. I thought that if anybody wrote to me now, he either wanted to +insult me or call me to some kind of a reckoning. I thought there was +time for both."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you stupid fellow! Where is that letter? I want you to read it at +once!"</p> + +<p>I took out the letter, opened it, and read:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"DEAR NELL,—Our party decided at yesterday's meeting to support +your name at all odds against the ensuing new election, and carry +you through at any cost. My aunt wants to inform you of some very +serious matter, so she begs you to pay her a visit on Wednesday +next.—Yours, as ever,</p> + +<p class="right">"SIGID."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The previous day had been Wednesday, and the letter had been in my +pocket for the last four days. I confess that I felt a glow after +reading these lines. Something like joy, like exultation, filled me, +that after all I was not dead and buried there in that house, not an +utter laughing-stock, and that my name was not hooted by friend and +enemy alike. I still had noble friends. They remembered me, acted for +me, endeavoured to avenge me, and rehabilitate me. It was an intense +feeling of relief, of pride, of happiness; but I tried to hide my +sensations and play the Cincinnatus a little longer. When Siegfried +said, "We expected you all day yesterday; but as you did not come I +concluded to come over and look after you," I replied, "I had not read +the letter; but if I had, it would hardly have been otherwise. I cannot +go from home at present."</p> + +<p>"Why! what is the matter with you? You are not going to play Uncle +Diogenes, are you? Simple civility might have induced you to come over +to Vernöcze. You are due there for ever so long."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind; but, you see, the Vice-Governor does not send his +sentinels to guard the iron chest with the money, and so I have to guard +it myself; and then, you see, I am busy budding my 'Marshal Niel' and +'Sultan of Morocco' roses—it is their season."</p> + +<p>Siegfried broke into a merry laugh. "The dear boy is actually trying to +live after the pattern of that exemplary old uncle of his. Now, don't +make a fool of yourself, old fellow, and don't make believe that you +like baked potatoes and curds. I tell you I want a good supper, and +after that I'll take you with me. You can take your rose-scions with +you. My gardener will be thankful for them. We have a lot of +water-shoots in our garden."</p> + +<p>We had a good supper, and after the first glass of wine I felt the gloom +vanish from me entirely. Siegfried had brought me good news. The new +election was to take place in twenty days. Our party was firm as a rock, +and the enemy was disheartened and short of money, as the Maticza +Society, which had given up all hope of driving me away from the estate, +would not furnish them with more funds. Now they had reunited to a last +desperate method, and their candidate was about to unfold the +anti-Semitic flag, in this way driving all intelligent, Liberal +voters—or those at least who assumed the name, and all the Jews with +their money, influence, and keenness—straight into our arms, so that +our success was undoubted. In order to silence all accusations of +bribery, of feasting the voters, and so forth, Countess Diodora, +Siegfried's aunt, was ready to keep open house in Vernöcze for our +political friends, and so there would be no need of engaging any public +restaurants or wine-shops. Siegfried told me that Countess Diodora was a +very active champion of our party, and very influential, too. Besides, +she was very much interested in me personally.</p> + +<p>"I am sure I am very grateful to her ladyship, and shall take the +liberty of telling her so, to-morrow," I said—"the more grateful, as I +really do not know how I could have merited such an interest."</p> + +<p>He smiled. "Merit is not everything," he said. "But Aunt Diodora is a +little vexed at your want of politeness. You should have come and paid +your homage long ago. Her ladyship really threatened the other day that +some day she would come over with the two little ones and fetch you, if +not personally, at least in effigy. They have photographic apparatus, +and are very clever amateur photographers."</p> + +<p>I could not suppress an exclamation, and then I related the little +adventure of the afternoon. He laughed. "Oh, no question as to their +identity! Sure enough, it was my aunt and the girls! That queenly Amazon +is my aunt, Countess Diodora. You are surprised? I see, you supposed +that an aunt must necessarily be some aged, corpulent lady, fond of her +game of 'patience,' and secretly indulging in a sip. My aunt is but one +year my senior, and I am barely thirty. My aunt is a classical beauty, +highly intellectual, and very talented; quite a female phenomenon. That +tall, slender girl is Countess Flamma, a miracle of beauty and virtue; +and that tiny creature was the little Kobold, Puck, or whatever else you +may call her, Cousin Cenni. She is the most skilful photographer of the +three, and it was she who told you not to move, and took you with spade +in hand. That's the best joke I ever heard! How vexed Countess Cenni +will feel on discovering the mistake! She is a little vixen, and full of +mischief. If any of the young dandies tries to court her, she bids him +go bear-hunting with her and show his valour. My woods are full of +bears. I have shot three, but there are a lot of them alive still, and +they do a deal of damage. So, if Cenni invites you, which no doubt she +will, you need not be afraid of want of game."</p> + +<p>I was dazzled, flattered, and surprised. What a difference between these +ladies of the high aristocracy and the daughters of our country gentry! +As if they really belonged to a different world, lived on a different +planet. One of them assuming the lead in politics, another bear-hunting +and photographing. The third, that tall, slender, somewhat haughty, but +modest girl, who had approached to admire my roses, pleased me best; and +then, too, their names—"Diodora! Cenni! Flamma!" The first domineering, +imposing; the second with a touch of the Bohemian or the gipsy; the +third bewitching, enticing, a flame! Oh, what a moth I should make!</p> + +<p>I did not show much further resistance, but was willing enough to go +with Siegfried. I did not even take the trouble of locking the +turret-chamber, in which the precious iron chest stood, with my own +hands, but ordered my valet to perform that duty and take care of the +key. I went out into the garden, and cut all the blooming "Sultan of +Morocco" roses and carefully wrapped them up with wet moss; and all the +way I held them in my hand for fear of injuring them.</p> + +<p>So the Valkyrs were indeed taking away the fallen hero to Walhalla, +their own abode.</p> + +<p>"Where is Walhalla, and what is it like? Does anybody know? If only +somebody might return and tell us!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I have been there, and I have returned, and I will tell you."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Part_II" id="Part_II"></a>Part II.</h2> + +<h2><a name="PART_II_I" id="PART_II_I"></a>I.</h2> + +<h3>THE SEA-DOVE.</h3> + + +<p>From Dumanyfalva to Vernöcze the high-road makes a circuit of a two +hours' ride, but we took a short cut by a cross-road through Siegfried's +deer-park, which is about ten thousand acres in extent. The whole park +was fenced in with high iron railings, and this fence alone had cost the +neat little sum of one hundred and fifty thousand florins. Yet it was +worth its cost, for, before its erection, the Vernöczys had to pay +yearly about twenty-five thousand florins for damage done by their game +upon the crops in the neighbouring fields. At the big iron gate a ranger +with two loaded rifles was waiting for us. He handed the rifles to the +two servants, and then took his seat on the box with the coachman.</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful wood through which we drove—all of giant larch trees +of a century's growth, perfuming the air with ambrosial odours. The +bright rays from our lanterns attracted the deer, and they stood gazing +at us with their glittering eyes. One of the bucks bellowed at us, and +one of the little fawns came almost under the wheels. Pheasants, +startled from sleep by the noise of our wheels, soared above our heads. +From the depths of the forest mysterious voices met our ears: the +woodcock's hoarse call, the roebuck's deep bellow, the wild boar's +grunt, the squirrel's chatter, and the shrill cries which announce the +presence of the wild peacock. What a difference between this lordly +forest and my small twenty-acre park! Red squirrels, gray squirrels, +gambolling among the boughs, playing with acorns and hazelnuts; +thrushes, blackbirds, nightingales, and greenfinches, chirruping and +twittering, were all the game I had.</p> + +<p>In vain we endeavour to bring high nobility and plain gentry into one +class. They are divided by the game-park. We are only visitors there, +kindly invited, kindly received, but visitors still, and we can never +repay the compliment. Therefore I consider we should always think twice +before we accept the invitation.</p> + +<p>It was past midnight when we finally arrived at Siegfried's +shooting-box, a beautiful pavilion in the Swiss style, with a large +verandah to the east, facing the magnificent château. Between the two +buildings extended a clear, broad lake, with silvery willows on the +nearer side, and grand old lime-trees on the side toward the mansion. +Graceful white and black swans swam on the lake, and two tiny little +wherries lay ready for a boating excursion. The south side of the +shooting-box had "altdeutsch" windows of coloured glass, and wooden +shutters with heart-shaped perforations on the outside. On the nearer +side of the lodge was a beautiful green lawn and a few somewhat +neglected rose-beds.</p> + +<p>The shooting-box was a comfortably large and luxuriously-furnished +building, and afforded accommodation for thirty guests. The couches in +the different sleeping apartments were all covered with deerskin +spreads, and the furniture was all in harmony with the purpose and style +of the building.</p> + +<p>I left my window ajar for the night, so as to be up early, and my plan +succeeded. The dew still glittered upon the tender petals of the roses +when I was up and sauntering among the flowers. I had brought my +"Malmaison" and "Sultan of Morocco" roses with me, and also my +budding-knife and the sap for budding. "What a surprise for them," I +thought, "when they find these beautiful flowers instead of the wild +suckers." I had put my roses into a glass of water, and was now +preparing for the performance by cutting off the collateral shoots and +removing the inconvenient thorns. Just as I had taken one of the "Sultan +of Morocco" roses out of the water, I heard steps on the gravel, and a +musical voice cried—</p> + +<p>"Gardener, do you hear?"</p> + +<p>I turned around, and beheld two beautiful young girls hurrying toward +me. One of them, a tiny little creature, was of the blonde type, with +long, golden curls and a face of cream and roses. One startling, +bewitching little black mole was seen on one of the dimpled cheeks. Her +eyebrows were dense, of a golden-brown, and arched over a pair of large, +glittering brown eyes. The corners of her little mouth curved upward in +a smile, and the cherry lips were always open and moving. Her little +hands were busy gesticulating, explaining, acting, and never at rest; a +picture of the entire little personage.</p> + +<p>The other girl was a tall, slender, willow-like figure, with raven hair +pushed high above the marble forehead. Her skin was clear and +transparent, but with hardly a tinge of colour. Her straight, black +brows and long black lashes overhung a pair of deep blue, or rather +sea-green, eyes, and her little coral mouth was so small that the idea +struck me that it must hurt her to speak, and therefore she liked to +hold her peace.</p> + +<p>Both were in morning dress, appropriate to the country. The blonde wore +a dress of some sort of light Japanese silk, covered with a pattern of +great painted birds and flowers. The dark girl had a Nile-blue gown of +some light material, and in style somewhat resembling the Greek.</p> + +<p>The verandah had prevented me from perceiving their approach. Now they +hastened toward me with the easy composure with which we meet some old +friend, or—a servant. Of course, I had no difficulty in recognising the +equestrian amateurs of the previous day, and it was easy to guess that +they repeated their mistake of that afternoon, by taking me for a +gardener. I had no intention of undeceiving them, and did not take off +my hat, but stood with the "Sultan of Morocco" between my teeth, and my +hands engaged with the budding-knife.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear?" said the little blonde, now coming near; "cut me a bud +of these 'Gloire de Dijons.' No! one of these 'Marshal Niels'; not this, +the other, that is just opening!"</p> + +<p>I was correctly dressed for the occasion, and quite in proper style for +a country visit: tanned shoes, knickerbocker jacket, Pepita waistcoat, +Madapolam shirt-collar, Bismarck <i>en colère</i> scarf, Panama hat. "My +darling, does not that content you?" Still these girls took me for a +servant. Well, let it pass!</p> + +<p>I cut off one of the roses, and began to pare off the thorns with my +knife, when she angrily stamped her little foot on the grass. "What are +you paring the thorns off for? I don't like a rose without thorns, I +want a rose with thorns; this looks stripped!" and, pulling the rose out +of my hand, she held it over to her companion.</p> + +<p>"<i>Tiens! Ca m'embête!</i>"</p> + +<p>To her she spoke French; to me, German. The girl took the rose without a +word; for her it was good enough without the thorns. I prepared to cut +another bud for the capricious fair one, when she asked, "What rose is +that in your mouth?"</p> + +<p>"A Sultan of Morocco," I said, taking the rose from my lips.</p> + +<p>"Give me this," with an imperative gesture.</p> + +<p>"This is for grafting," I tried to explain.</p> + +<p>"But I want it!" was the haughty reply, and she impatiently held out her +bit of a hand for the rose. I handed it to her, and for a moment she +buried her little nose in it and then tried to fasten it to her dress. +Presently a thought seemed to strike her, for she lifted the rose to +her lips, and then, turning to me again, asked—</p> + +<p>"Has the Count returned home?"</p> + +<p>"He has," I answered.</p> + +<p>"He did not come alone? A gentleman came with him, did he not?"</p> + +<p>I answered in the affirmative.</p> + +<p>"Are they asleep yet, do you think? Which is his window?"</p> + +<p>"Whose? The Count's?"</p> + +<p>"No, that I know! The stranger's?"</p> + +<p>"The one that is open," I said, wondering what she meant. She looked +around, and observed a double step-ladder standing in front of a tree. +"Bring that ladder," she said to me, "and put it in front of that +window."</p> + +<p>I began to perceive her intention, and, much amused, I fetched the +ladder. "Shall I hold it?" I asked, with seeming innocence.</p> + +<p>"No. Go back to your work!"</p> + +<p>I submitted, and went back to my roses, where the other girl was still +standing. The little blonde vixen, as Siegfried had called her, went up +the ladder, throwing me a haughty glance because I had the impertinence +to watch her movements.</p> + +<p>As I prepared for work again, I noticed that in the chalice of each +flower, two or more green cetonias were to be found. The cetonia beetle +is the deadliest foe of the rose, destroying it entirely, and since my +boyhood, when I used to practise gardening at home, and was taught to +kill a cetonia wherever I found it, I could not bear the sight of the +glittering, green beetle. I was just crushing one under my foot, when +the dark-haired girl near me cried out—</p> + +<p>"Why do you kill that poor cetonia?"</p> + +<p>"Because it injures the roses," I said.</p> + +<p>"Well, let them alone! Who cares for the roses?"</p> + +<p>"Who cares for the roses?" Is not that strange? A young girl taking the +side of the harmful destroyer against the innocent victim!</p> + +<p>The blonde descended the ladder, and her face, her hands, and her walk +betrayed that she was vexed. I was very much amused. Was it not a joke +that she had climbed up to my window to present me with my own rose, the +rose she had taken out of my mouth? And was it not amusing to see her +angry, because I had had the sauciness to watch the movements of those +tiny slippered feet in pink stockings as they mounted the ladder and +revealed a bewitching little ankle?</p> + +<p>The black-haired girl turned to her and complained—"See, he kills our +cetonias!" Whereupon the little one, with a queenly mien, stepped in +front of me and said—</p> + +<p>"I forbid you to do that! Do not dare to hurt my cetonias!"</p> + +<p>I could not repress a smile, as I answered, "I shall duly obey. I had no +right to interfere, as these cetonias do not belong to me."</p> + +<p>"I really think that fellow is laughing at us!" said the little one, +with arching brows, when the other, who had been watching me for some +moments, made some whispered remark, and then the fair head and the dark +one were put close together in earnest consultation.</p> + +<p>On one of my hands I wore an antique carnelian seal-ring, with my family +crest, and a large solitaire, the gift of a grateful patient. These +rings, rather unusual upon the finger of a common gardener, had caught +the eye of the dark-haired girl, and she could not but notice that my +hands and nails were not those of a labourer. For a while they looked +shyly at me, while they busied themselves in gathering into their garden +hats all the cetonias they could, as if afraid that, after their +departure, I should avenge myself by a general onslaught on their +<i>protégées</i>. Presently the blonde stepped up to me, and, touching the +carnelian on my hand with her finger, she said—</p> + +<p>"Are you a nobleman?"</p> + +<p>I answered by an anecdote.</p> + +<p>"A German journalist had to translate an item on sea-turtles from an +English paper. He did not exactly understand what a turtle was; but he +know of turtle-doves, which are in German called <i>Turtel-tauben</i>, and, +as he did not want to trouble himself to look for the expression in a +dictionary, <i>turtle-doves</i> it remained. He wrote of the bird, that it +comes out of the sea to the sand of the shore, lays its eggs in that +sand, carefully and safely scratching them in, and smoothing the surface +with its front paws. These front paws of a turtle-dove perplexed him, +and he did what he ought to have done before: he looked in the +dictionary and found that the sea-turtle was no dove at all."</p> + +<p>"Hem!" said the little one, looking with charming astonishment at the +other girl; and then she turned to me again, and, lifting a threatening +little finger at me, she said—</p> + +<p>"Now, don't you go and betray us to anybody. Promise!"</p> + +<p>"You have my knightly word," I said; "<i>parole d'honneur!</i>" But, unable +to suppress my mirth any longer, I broke into a ringing laugh, and both +girls fled as fast as they could.</p> + +<p>On returning to my room, I found Siegfried there. "My aunt's footman has +already been here to invite us to breakfast," he said. "When in the +country she is always an early riser, and so are the children. I wonder +they have not been running about yet. They used to."</p> + +<p>I did not tell him that they had been running about already; but, +stepping up to the window, I found the rose which the fair girl had laid +upon the sill, and, fastening it in the button-hole of my jacket, made +ready to follow up the invitation for breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you rather shave before going down?" asked Siegfried, with a +disapproving look at my face. "My valet has an easy hand, and is very +reliable."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you!" I said, and with that I took his arm and we went down.</p> + +<p>Near the lake was a mass of beautiful dolomite rock, a forerunner of the +high mountains further on. The face of the rock was all overgrown with +birch trees, and wild roses and other flowers were peeping out of the +thick moss and bush. At the foot of the rock was a clearing, surrounded +with pines, their drooping foliage forming a shady roof above the little +circuit of ground. In the wall of the rock was a grotto, overrun with +henna leaves, hedge-plant, and other creepers. Out of one of the walls +of the grotto broke, murmuring and rippling, a clear mountain spring, +which, meeting with another and uniting with it to form a rivulet, +flowed across the flowery plain, emptying itself into the lake by a +series of cascades.</p> + +<p>In the centre of this space the breakfast-table was set—the shining +silver, the glittering crystal, and the creamy china forming a pleasant +contrast to the rural simplicity of the chairs and table and the green +roof and walls above and around.</p> + +<p>Countess Diodora was already there, expecting us. The two girls were in +the grotto, pretending to be busy with the preparations for breakfast.</p> + +<p>Countess Diodora was strikingly handsome. Tall of stature and fully +developed, her movements had all the elasticity of youth and all the +majesty of a goddess. Her Creole complexion was in harmony with the +great almond-shaped eyes, the Minerva forehead, Grecian nose, and +shell-shaped mouth with its coral-red lips. Her head was crowned with a +tiara of heavy black tresses, more precious and beautiful than any +artificial ornament.</p> + +<p>Siegfried led me to her and presented me with the following words—</p> + +<p>"At last I am able to introduce my hitherto invisible friend. Do not be +amazed at his present resemblance to our common progenitors, the +Simians—that is, if we believe the evolutionists; but our friend here +has no intention of claiming that affinity. His sprouting moustache and +beard are a token of patriotic zeal, and a sacrifice upon the altar of +national idiosyncrasy. Henceforth he will be known as a Hungarian in +appearance also, and nobody will be justified in calling him an +Austrian."</p> + +<p>The lady smiled at the humorous introduction, and extended both her +hands, which were somewhat large, but magnificently shaped. Could I do +less than kiss both? The smile that flitted over her queenly features +gave her the appearance of a veritable goddess.</p> + +<p>"Is it not odd," she asked, "that we know each other so well, yet have +never met until this moment?" Her voice was a rich, deep contralto, and +very sweet.</p> + +<p>"I have already enjoyed the happiness of seeing your ladyship," said I, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"Indeed? And where?"</p> + +<p>"In my own garden. If I am not greatly mistaken, your ladyship and the +two young ladies, your cousins, were yesterday at the pains to +immortalise me by taking my photograph."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" she cried. "It could not have been you! With the spade in +hand, and—oh, it is too odd!" And she broke into a loud laugh.</p> + +<p>A laughing Pallas! The two girls ran but of the grotto to see what the +staid Diodora was laughing at. "Come on, Cenni," said the lady to the +little blonde: "here is the gardener of yesterday; the one you have +photographed along with his garden."</p> + +<p>But by that time the little one knew me well enough; she had recognised +the rose in my button-hole, and, with pretended anger, she ran toward +me, took hold of the collar of my jacket, and gave it a hearty pull.</p> + +<p>"You are an artful and dangerous cheat and deceiver—that is what you +are!" she said. "Why did you deceive us this morning, and make sport of +us? Let us treat you as a gardener, and send you on errands? Why did not +you tell us who you were?"</p> + +<p>Siegfried came to my help. "How could he? He did not know you; maybe he +took you for your own maids. If you had told him who you were, he would +have returned the compliment."</p> + +<p>"But you won't betray us to anybody?" she said, holding up, as if in +prayer, her little hands, that looked like the delicate petals of the +white lily. "You won't tell anybody of our conversation at the rose +bushes? If you promise, I'll give you a kiss; I will, indeed!"</p> + +<p>"But, Cenni!" cried Countess Diodora, shocked, "what expression is that +again?"</p> + +<p>The little one looked like a scolded school-girl, who does not know what +crime she has been punished for, and said, poutingly—</p> + +<p>"But I want him to keep the secret, and I must give him a reward."</p> + +<p>"You always forget that you are no longer a little girl of twelve +years, but a grown-up young lady, although, God knows, you do not look +like it!" said the countess, with a humorous shake of the head.</p> + +<p>"Now you great debater and future lawgiver, what do you say to this +offered reward? Answer <i>ex tripode!</i>" said Siegfried, laughingly.</p> + +<p>"I say that I am no usurer, and cannot take unlawful interest," I +replied.</p> + +<p>"Bravo! bravissimo! A usurer! Unlawful interest he calls a kiss! Oh, +what a moral fellow!" cried Siegfried; but Countess Diodora observed +that breakfast was waiting, and that we had time enough for ventilating +academic questions afterward.</p> + +<p>At the table I sat between Countess Diodora and Countess Flamma. The +latter turned to me, and said in her quiet and sober way—</p> + +<p>"But I discovered soon enough that the sea-turtle was not a sea-dove, +did I not?"</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about sea-doves?" asked the countess; "it seems +you have secrets in common already."</p> + +<p>I opened my mouth to answer, when the little blonde opposite to me +sprang up and put her little shell-coloured hand to my lips. "No +betrayal, if you please! You have given your knightly word!"</p> + +<p>"I am mute!" I said, bowing to her with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I declare!" said the countess, "knightly word, turtle-dove! Why, what +mystery is this? Flamma was complaining something about the cetonias."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is nothing," said Cenni, lightly, "and that may be spoken of; +but the 'step-ladder,' the 'Sultan of Morocco,' and the 'sea-dove' are +strict secrets, and never to be mentioned anywhere."</p> + +<p>Siegfried clapped his hands in surprise. "Riddle after riddle! and to +think that I myself have brought this boy to the house only last night +for the first time in his life, and introduced him not an hour ago, +and—talk of his being shy in the company of ladies!—he is head over +ears in conspiracy with both of the girls, when I thought he had never +seen them, and they did not know him at all!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_II" id="PART_II_II"></a>II.</h2> + +<h3>"WHAT IS THE DEVIL LIKE?"</h3> + + +<p>"We not know him?" asked the little one. "Why, we have his photograph in +our album! Only he looks much nicer there. Such a Lord Byron face!"</p> + +<p>"Well, this is really audacious!" cried Siegfried, "with such a face to +appear before ladies! Coarse and stubby like that of a Slav +field-labourer, and yet such a young lady as that calls it a Lord Byron +face! Now I see that the old proverb is right, and a man has to be but +one shade handsomer than the Devil, for women will find him handsome +enough."</p> + +<p>"Only that the proverb is a paradox in itself. The Evil One is not ugly; +on the contrary, he is beautiful!" said Diodora.</p> + +<p>"<i>Quien sabe?</i>" answered Siegfried. "I have seen his portrait in the +Greek churches, in a large wall-painting, and there he is represented as +a bandy-legged, ox-tailed, black-faced monster, with a pair of big horns +on his forehead. Then, again, I have seen the Devil in the opera, as +Göthe and Gounod's creation of Mephistopheles in <i>Faust</i>, and there he +wore a goat's-beard and red-feathered cap, was a little lame in one leg, +and had a baritone voice. He was not in the least beautiful."</p> + +<p>"You ought to read Klopstock, then, and Milton," said Countess Diodora. +"Their Devils are enchantingly handsome men, with pale faces, and deep, +sorrowful eyes; and that is the real demon-type as given by the +classics: for, originally, the Devil was not known as an evil spirit, +but was an angel. Only he was haughty and ambitious, and tried to rival +and dethrone the Almighty. It was after he was defeated, and due +punishment was dealt to him, that he became the representative of Evil, +and, after the creation of man, the tempter and seducer."</p> + +<p>"So part of the Devil's corruption is due to man kind," said Siegfried, +ironically.</p> + +<p>"If you read the Cabalists and Gnostics you will learn how sinful pride +had its downfall, and the angel fell. Still, in all his humiliation and +his banishment from grace and glory, he never lost his beauty, and this +is natural; for who would listen to the temptations of an ugly monster? +A seducer must needs be handsome. In the old Jewish Scripture, from +before Moses' time, the Evil Spirit is represented by a woman, Lilith, +the ideal beauty. In the same manner Menander has painted Sybaris, and +of Socrates it is said that he lived in intimate friendship with the +demon."</p> + +<p>Siegfried had made a desperate onslaught on the sandwiches; now he +turned in comical vexation to me, and said—</p> + +<p>"Friend, brother, help! for this learned woman is slaying me with +pandects, and, if the Devil has such a champion, what can poor I do +against him?"</p> + +<p>It was a difficult task. If I said that she was right, she would scorn +me as a simple, empty-headed flatterer. If, on the other hand, I tried +to contradict her, she was sure to conquer me with arguments. So I +thought I would plead scepticism.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I can't," was my reply. "All I have to say is that I do not +believe in the existence of an actual Devil at all. I positively deny +the existence of evil spirits or devils."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the countess, astonished and seemingly dismayed, "do you know +that such a negation includes a denial of the fundamental truths of all +religion also? Turn wherever you will, and you will find that the Roman +Catholic faith expressly commands us to believe in the Devil. The +Protestants, with Martin Luther at the head, have in speech and writing +gone so far as to compose a whole Shamanism of the Devil's special +qualities; and so on in all positive religions. Are you an infidel, a +so-called Freethinker, and not a Christian?"</p> + +<p>At first I smilingly referred her to Becker's "Bewitched World," which +made all belief in an actual Devil completely ridiculous, showing to +demonstration that such a being is simply impossible. She answered me +with Spinoza. I again spoke of Thomasius, whereupon the countess +declared me a Rationalist.</p> + +<p>Siegfried smiled, and smoked his cigarette complacently, and the two +girls listened innocently and wonderingly to the strange dispute.</p> + +<p>"You see, my lady," said I at last, "I am a physician, and I know of no +bodily or mental ailment that is without some foundation or reason. I +know of miasmata, spores, bacilli, as sources of bodily diseases, of +inherited or fancied maladies, infections, contagions, and their proper +remedies: vaccination, disinfection, prophylactics; but an invisible, +immaterial spirit, which we ought to know by the title of Devil, has +nothing to do with any of these. All evil-doers, murderers, etc., are +prompted to the mischief they do by some abnormity in their brains, or +by some powerful egotistic motive, as jealousy, revenge, greed, +ambition, etc.; but the temptation is always material—a benefit they +want to secure by their crime—never a spiritual Devil. We may fairly +say that all crimes committed without a visible motive are founded upon +lunacy, a disorder of the brain. I do not believe in one being, either +corporal or spiritual, that would do mischief purely for mischief's +sake, out of evil principle, of pure malice. I do not believe that any +being exists which would inflict sorrow on others just in order to +rejoice at the despair of the victims. The so-called hellish passions +and inclinations in man are really created by that which is beneath him, +the animal part of him, the material element, and it is superfluous to +look to that which is above him, a spirit, for a motive."</p> + +<p>As I pronounced this conviction, the four persons present looked at each +other and then at me, in wonder and defiance, but without a word. For a +moment a chilly presentiment crept over me—a shadowy warning that the +declaration I had just made would prove the <i>fatum</i> of my life.</p> + +<p>As a physician, I had given very much attention to disturbances of the +mind; nervous distractions, diseases of the brain. In lunatic asylums I +had had frequent opportunity of observing the different manifestations +of extravagances of the mind diseased. There are cases in which +simulation is identical with the symptoms of actual insanity, others in +which it is mistaken for such; but still the simulator is never quite +sane. I had speculated about the hidden motives of apparently motiveless +crimes. I had seen a gallant youth, whose noble, manly features inspired +love and confidence, and who yet had murdered many victims of his +bestial desires; had lured them on, and killed them.</p> + +<p>I had seen a tender, innocent, pleasant-looking young girl, with a +winning smile on her ruby lips, after she had poisoned all the members +of her family in turn; and I had known a miracle-working virgin, who had +for years and years befooled and deceived aged and experienced men. All +these and more I had seen, but all had possessed one common peculiarity +which betrayed them as belonging to that large and unhappy class we term +lunatics, and their mental disorder was revealed in a clear, glittering +glance, cold and keen as a steel blade. The moment that unlucky +assertion had escaped me, I saw my companions stare at each other and +then at me, and in the eyes of all four of them I clearly discerned and +recognised the same cold, keen, and gloomy expression. I felt a shock of +terror, and then I laughed at my own folly. A professional habit of +mentally examining and distinguishing all persons as sane and healthy, +or diseased, I thought, and I tried to joke the matter away.</p> + +<p>"Let us make a bargain, countess! We will leave the demon to those who +cannot spare him; for there are people who would greatly protest against +being robbed of their devils—as, for instance, some Western nations who +worship him instead of God. They say God is good, and won't hurt them, +anyhow, but the Devil must be bribed by compliments to keep him from +doing mischief. Therefore they raise altars to him, and set up his +images with many ceremonies. The Yakoots and Chuckches believe in a +double creation, and think that all good things are created by God, and +all bad things by the Devil."</p> + +<p>"It would not hurt you to be of the same creed," said Countess Diodora.</p> + +<p>"For instance, to believe that the rose was created by God and the +cetonia by the Devil," I replied, smilingly.</p> + +<p>"And why those?" she asked. "My niece has complained to me that you +crush these beautiful little beetles to death. In what have they +offended you?"</p> + +<p>"Offended me? Do you hold me capable of such petty malice? I kill the +cetonias because they are the deadliest foes of the rose; or, rather, as +they love the rose, and in loving destroy the flower, I must call the +cetonia the most dangerous friend of the rose."</p> + +<p>"However, the beetles are necessary to my nieces, and therefore they +must live."</p> + +<p>"Necessary?" I cried. "How so?"</p> + +<p>The blonde girl went into the grotto and, returning, brought with her a +large teak board, upon which a Chinese sun-bird was enamelled. The bird +was only half finished as yet, but it was the most artistic, tasteful, +and delightful enamel-work I had ever seen, and all of it was composed +of the delicate lids of the beetle-wings. The cetonias vary in colour: +some of them are red with a tinge of gold; others green and gold; others +again the colour of darkened copper, and still others in a metallic +blue, like steel. All these were carefully arranged and pasted upon the +teak board in a wonderful mosaic, the sun-bird's head and wings +consisting of red, its neck of blue, and its breast of green +cetonia-wings. I looked admiringly at the work. So, then, they had not +protected the cetonias out of some sentimental fancy for them, but for +industrial purposes. This changed my conception of the matter entirely; +for the better in some respects—in some for the worse.</p> + +<p>"So you save the life of the beetle in order to rob them of their +wings?" I asked them, reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"These are only their winter wings which we take off; their summer wings +they keep, and we give them their liberty again. It is summer now; they +have no need of their winter wings at present."</p> + +<p>Well, this was girlish logic and philosophy: I have taken what I wanted, +you must make the best of what I have left you. Rather a striking piece +of egotism!</p> + +<p>"Do you know that the cetonia contains poison?" asked I.</p> + +<p>"What kind of poison?" was the inquiring response, given with great +quickness.</p> + +<p>"The poison," I said, evasively, "that gives the motive to the Bánk-Bán +tragedy."</p> + +<p>At these words Siegfried puffed a whole cloud of tobacco-smoke full in +my face, and at any other time I should have strongly resented the +insult; but this time he was right. The explanation was, even as an +allusion, objectionable in the presence of girls. Nevertheless I could +perceive through the cloud of smoke that the pale face of Flamma had +coloured violently, and that Cenni pouted and pushed the sun-bird away. +The innocents were not so very innocent, after all.</p> + +<p>"Is not this beetle identical with the holy scarabæus of the Egyptians?" +asked Countess Diodora.</p> + +<p>"No. Because the cetonia lives on roses; and of the holy scarabæus +Herodotus tells us that he dies of the odour of roses. As soon as the +roses begin to bloom the scarabæus vanishes."</p> + +<p>This interested the girls, and we continued the subject. I told them of +the South American Hercules-beetle, that is as fond of liquor as any +human tippler, and I really thought that I had succeeded in turning the +conversation from the horned devil to the horned beetle, when Countess +Diodora said—</p> + +<p>"You are too much of a naturalist. This won't do, and you must try to +amend. To deny God is bad enough, but He is kind and forgiving, and the +infidel may yet be saved; but to deny the Devil is sure destruction, for +the Devil knows no mercy, and he takes his revenge on the insulter."</p> + +<p>I looked up astonished and met her eyes. Again I detected that +bewildering cold glitter, and with an involuntary shiver I turned away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_III" id="PART_II_III"></a>III.</h2> + +<h3>THE FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER.</h3> + + +<p>The same day our political friends and partisans came, and we held a +conference. From that day on I was a daily guest in Vernöcze, and when +occasionally I spent a night at home in my own house, next morning I was +sure to feel restless and uneasy, and persuaded myself that political +reasons required my presence in Vernöcze, and that I must make haste to +go there.</p> + +<p>A number of times the illustrious ladies of the Vernöcze castle +descended from their lofty situation to pay a visit to my lowly house, +and on these occasions I played the host, and set before them what my +cellar and buttery afforded. Then I conducted them through the chambers +in which were stored my late uncle's beloved curiosities, and I told +them of the horrors of the olden time, and the history of this ancient +seat of my family. There was the story of a walled-up wife and murdered +lovers, and we had our "Woman in White" and our "Red Templar," who, at +the stroke of midnight, duly stalked through locked rooms and corridors, +and performed all the actions that could be expected of real and +respectable ghosts. These phantoms the countess rather envied me, for +Vernöcze could boast of no such token of old nobility; yet the +Vernöczys were counts and the Dumanys only plain gentry.</p> + +<p>Of course, I was an ardent admirer of the three fairies, only I could +not exactly tell which of the three I admired most. Countess Diodora's +philosophical intellect impressed me as much as Countess Cenni's unruly +activity; and Countess Flamma's pensive silence affected me none the +less, and I looked at her with the reverential awe of the priest before +the Holy Virgin.</p> + +<p>Only one thing puzzled me. Here were three beautiful, gifted, high-born, +and wealthy young women, and not one of them had a real, earnest, and +sincere suitor. Of course, there were a number of young aristocrats +paying court to them, and very much inclined to carry on a little bit of +flirtation; but all in an easy-going, although certainly very respectful +and distant way; but of a real, true attachment I could perceive no +sign. Once I had ventured a remark to this effect in Siegfried's +presence, whereupon he explained that the two younger countesses were +mere school-girls yet, and nobody would have the audacity to think of a +serious courtship in that quarter as yet, while, as to Countess Diodora, +she would never marry at all. She repudiated the very idea of marriage, +and would no doubt, sooner or later, enter a convent as abbess.</p> + +<p>This explanation, to tell the truth, did not satisfy me. If the two +young ladies were such forbidden fruit at present, why bring them in +constant contact with young men? And, as to Countess Diodora's +intention to become a nun, I had my strong doubts. True, she was +religious, even to bigotry, but she was not averse to the pleasures of +the world, and I did not believe in her inclination to give them up of +her free will. I rather believed that men were afraid of her, for such +learned and strong-minded women can be only the wives of yet wiser and +more strong-minded men, or else of fools, who willingly become their +slaves.</p> + +<p>To me Countess Diodora was conspicuously kind, and showed me an +exceptional preference—that is, she did me the honour to select me as +her antagonist in debate.</p> + +<p>When she supported one paradox, I would support the opposite, and we +kept up a constant battle with intellectual weapons. She was a great +reader; so was I. She had travelled a good deal; so had I, and, as it +chanced, we had observed the same countries and scenes. On art, +architecture, literature, I gave judgment with the same startling +audacity as she, only that my opinions were in direct opposition to +hers.</p> + +<p>Still in matters of politics our views were harmonious. I had the same +Conservative principles as she, and I heartily agreed with all that she +uttered on that point. This was the first step to our mutual +understanding. The second step was taken when we joined each other in +defence of our principles against persons of opposing views; and the +third step, which lifted me not only to a level with my new and +beautiful ally, but even above her, was gained by me in a controversy +on professional science, with especial relation to physicians. The +countess, in a very spirited bit of banter, ridiculed the whole +profession and its science, stating that, in her belief, our entire +pathology, therapeutic, etc., was not worth the sand strewn over the +prescriptions. She declared that in the treatment of internal maladies +medical science has made no progress since Galen's time, and our most +renowned professional celebrities are no wiser than Paracelsus. Our +medicines, according to her opinion, were either baneful poisons, or of +no higher sanative power, at the best, than the waters of Lourdes. She +also was afflicted with bodily pain at times, but never yet had she +submitted to any professional treatment. No physician had ever entered +her bed-room or parted the tapestry hangings around her bed, and never +yet had she tasted of any kind of medicine.</p> + +<p>I listened complacently to her talk, and did not interrupt her with a +word. After she had finished, I said—</p> + +<p>"Allow me to contradict, and, at the same time, convict you. You have +never spoken of your special ailment to me up to this moment. I have +never heard of it before this, and I need not put any questions either +to you or to others in regard to it. Yet, by simply looking at you, I +can tell you from what you are suffering—that you are a victim of +occasional nervous attacks of greater or less severity, and I can tell +you exactly how these paroxysms commence, what symptoms they show, and +all the particulars of your ailment."</p> + +<p>She stared at me, quite perplexed. "You are right!" she said at last, +and there was not a man alive who could boast that she had ever said as +much to him. She asked me how I came to know or to guess the nature of +her sufferings, and I told her that I had had great experience in the +treatment of nervous disorders, and that her case was by no means +hopeless. That although it was impossible to entirely and permanently +cure the disease and drive away its attacks, yet it might be greatly +diminished. The paroxysms might be reduced in duration and violence, and +that without administering any poisonous drugs—simply by proper +massage.</p> + +<p>"Then I am sorry that we have no female physicians as yet; for I would +never submit to that treatment from a male physician."</p> + +<p>"And do you know that this shrinking is one of the symptoms of the +malady, and at the same time its main foundation?"</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"Because, if your views of propriety were not distorted, you would apply +for help in time, and not wait until you are past cure; but you grow up +with the conviction that it is a shame and a degradation to confess your +physical weaknesses to a male physician, yet you are by no means +ashamed—nay, you consider it a duty and a virtue—to confess your +mental and moral failings to a priest, although he is a man as well as +the physician, and the sins you confess are sometimes more degrading and +shameful than the sores of your body."</p> + +<p>She looked at me for quite a while. "Again you are right," she said, and +with that broke off the conversation.</p> + +<p>At that period, every day brought some political meeting or party +conference, and the leaders of the coming elections, head-drummers, and +subalterns swarmed into Vernöcze, bringing all sorts of news, asking for +all sorts of information, and Countess Diodora was at the head of +everything—presiding at the councils, assisting them all with her +advice, never tired, never slackening in spirit or courage, and never +forgetting her position as hostess—and a bountiful hostess, too.</p> + +<p>When the discussion approached the financial question, she said to me +with rare delicacy—</p> + +<p>"This is no affair of yours; leave that to us. You can meanwhile go and +look for the girls in the park."</p> + +<p>And I, in spite of my professional sagacity, in spite of the knowledge +and experience I had gained, I was such a greenhorn—such a simple +fool—that I actually believed in the existence of a fund raised for the +especial purpose of sending such shining political stars, such rare +celebrities, as the Honourable Cornelius Dumany, into Parliament, there +to enlighten the minds of his compatriots, and to be a blessing to his +country; although, if any one had asked me how I had deserved to be held +in such high esteem, I could not have found an answer! Oh, vanity and +conceit! How easily you are caught in the meshes of cunning deception!</p> + +<p>The "girls," as they were invariably called, were on the lawn looking +for four-leaved clovers, and the little blonde declared that she was +bent on finding one, for whoever found it first was sure to be married +first. I laughed, and, looking down, I saw one little quatrefoil just at +my feet. I gathered it, and presented it to the little blonde countess, +but she refused to accept it. "No," she said, "everybody must keep his +own fortune. You have found the leaf, and you will get married first, +and within the year."</p> + +<p>"Ought not I to know something of the coming happiness in advance?" I +asked, smilingly. "Surely I can't get married without my own knowledge!"</p> + +<p>"Just you keep quiet. Mockery is not becoming to you; but tell us in +good earnest, why don't you marry? You ought to."</p> + +<p>"Why, then, in good faith, I do not marry because the girls that would +not reject me I do not care for, and those that I might care for would +not accept me."</p> + +<p>"How do you know? First tell us what qualities a girl must possess to +make you care for her."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose I must obey your ladyship's wishes. In the first place, +then, she must be young and pretty; then she must be intellectual, +prudent, and well educated; and, finally, she must have a kind heart +and a sweet disposition; if she is merry and bright also, I shall like +her the better. Yes, there is something else: I should like my future +wife to be always elegant and stylish, and I should like to give her a +splendid home and keep her in luxury; but, as my own little Slav kingdom +is not sufficient for my notion of the term, therefore she must also +have a fortune of her own. Yet, if a woman, or let me rather say a young +girl, should possess all these qualities at once, which I think +unlikely, I would not take her if I were not fully convinced that she +married me for love. So, you see, with these pretensions I am likely to +live and die a bachelor."</p> + +<p>"Not necessarily. I, for instance, know a lady who answers to your +description as if you had drawn her portrait."</p> + +<p>"Indeed? You seem bent on proving that the four-leaved clover was a true +prophet of marriage. You want to make the match?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? But, indeed, I am speaking in good faith. Why don't you marry +Aunt Diodora?"</p> + +<p>"Because I have more sense than those poor birds who shatter their heads +and beaks in flying against the reflected rays of the lighthouse."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand the simile."</p> + +<p>"Do you know the story of Turandot?"</p> + +<p>"No. Novels and comedies I dare not read yet; but I should like to know, +for Aunty Diodora is nicknamed 'Princess Turandot.' I have often heard +her spoken of by that name. I think that Turandot must be a fictitious +creature, who tortures all her suitors to death, for aunty is also very +unkind to them. Only that is no fault of hers; it is her misfortune to +have nobody sue for her hand except simpletons. All these sweet-spoken, +flattering, aping, thought-snatching, cajoling, empty-headed wooers my +aunt calls monkeys, and not men. A man must have the courage to oppose +her, defend his own opinion against her and all the world, to gain her +respect and her confidence. This you have done. Oh, we girls know well +enough what impression a man has made on another girl!"</p> + +<p>This was a startling confession. Here was a little girl, who was treated +and spoken of as quite a baby; yet, in spite of her unacquaintance with +novels and comedies, she seemed to be very well versed in all matters of +love and matrimony.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she continued, "I have noticed it plainly enough, and quite +frequently. Whenever you are away she is gloomy, and melancholy, and out +of spirits; but, as soon as she sees you or hears your voice, she +brightens up and is good-humoured and pleasant. When, the other day, +Flamma and I had made some remark about you—some light jest—she gave +us such a sermon! telling us that men were all so different, and that +you were, among them, like a real diamond among coloured glass. Oh, if I +could tell you all! But you are proud and disdainful, I see. Perhaps you +want to wait until Countess Diodora Vernöczy makes you a humble offer of +her hand, and then maybe you would be proud, and consider about it."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I should. Give me leave, ladies, to tell you a story—the +history of a very intimate friend, and from beginning to the end true to +the letter. I shall invent nothing."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_IV" id="PART_II_IV"></a>IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE HISTORY OF MY FRIEND.</h3> + + +<p>As soon as I promised them a story, the two young girls sat down on a +low bench beneath a jasmine bush, and I sat down on the bowling-green at +their feet; or, rather, I kneeled there before them. Do not think that +we were left without a proper guard, for we could be seen from the +balcony of the house, and on the mountain-ash tree was an old +missel-thrush that kept on chirruping and twittering, "Take care, you +boy! take care!"</p> + +<p>The young ladies had stripped a heap of the slender Pimprinpáre stalks, +from which they began to braid chains and other ornaments, while I +related the following story:—</p> + +<p>"My friend is a descendant of the noblest families of Hungary, and a +count by birth. During the Revolution of 1848 he was one of the bravest +and most heroic defenders of the national cause, and his great personal +attractions, manly beauty, athletic strength, intellectual power, and +high moral integrity, united with an iron will and the tender heart of a +woman, made him distinguished above many. Of him it was said that, even +as a man, he obeyed every command of his mother, but could never be made +to obey that of any potentate of the world."</p> + +<p>"Is that paragon of a man alive yet?" asked Cenni.</p> + +<p>"He is. Only he is an old eagle now, for our friendship dates from the +time when he gave me a ride on his knees, while I blew the whistle he +had brought me. During our national struggle for liberty in 1848 he +served as a captain of the —— Hussars, and, after the Russian +invasion, and the final overthrow of the national cause, he made good +his escape to England. Of course, his lands and goods were seized, and +he was sentenced to death; but, as he could not be caught and hanged in +person, he was hanged in effigy—that is, his portrait was nailed to the +gallows.</p> + +<p>"The same high qualities which had distinguished him at home +distinguished him abroad. A great many Hungarian refugees had found a +home in England, especially in that gigantic metropolis, London; and it +is said of them, in general, that of all political emigrants they +behaved best. They never quarrelled, never grumbled, and never +conspired. Everyone hastened to find a mode of earning a decent living +for himself, and none of them were too proud or too lazy to work. Every +one of them was honestly and diligently engaged in some business.</p> + +<p>"My friend had some acquaintances among the English nobility, and he was +soon introduced, and speedily became at home in English high life. Among +those aristocratic families with which he had frequent intercourse was +one in which there was a young girl, an orphan and an heiress. She was +beautiful and intellectual, like Countess Diodora, and competition for +her hand was naturally high among the young and old bachelors, and +marriageable men of their set. Singularly enough, the young stranger, +who never thought of such good fortune, at last felt compelled to +believe that the open preference the lady showed him was more than +common courtesy, and more than the friendly, even sisterly regard with +which most ladies of his acquaintance honoured him. He could not but +admire her beauty, her grace, and accomplishments, and he was ready and +willing enough to fall in love with so much charm and loveliness. His +courtship, if so it must be termed, although the lady was doing the +greater part of the wooing, was short and successful, and they were +married.</p> + +<p>"The marriage took place on the Isle of Wight, at that time the +favourite haunt of the Hungarian refugees. Two of the latter, the one a +renowned politician, the other a famous general, were witnesses, and the +wedding breakfast was quite an event. But when, after the bridal cake +had been cut and the toasts drunk, the guests retired, and the young +couple were left alone, the fair young bride said to the happy groom:—</p> + +<p>"'I beg your pardon for leaving you to your own company, but I must +retire to change my dress, for my yacht is waiting, and I shall start +for France in two hours.'</p> + +<p>"He gazed at her in utter amazement 'Why, dearest,' he said, 'don't you +know that Louis Napoleon denies us Hungarians even the privilege of +passing through France, and that for me to go there is equivalent to +imprisonment, possibly death?'</p> + +<p>"'I know it, and I do not ask you to accompany me. I shall go there +alone. I yearned for independence and liberty, and for the coming years +I could get it only as a married woman. I was in need of a husband, or +of his name, and my choice fell upon you, because I did not dare to play +this trick on one of our English Hotspurs. Of you I know that you are +too gentle and too noble withal to injure a woman. So good-bye to you, +count, for I do not think that we shall ever set eyes on each other +again!'</p> + +<p>"With that the fair goddess left her husband of two hours' standing, +humiliated, stunned, without money, bereft of his former occupation, to +which, as her husband, he could not return; left him for ever; and he +was such a gentle fool that he did not even for a moment think of +revenge upon the woman who had robbed him of the last and only treasure +he possessed, his spotless name and honour, and had ruined him for ever.</p> + +<p>"For twenty-five years the poor victim of the fair deceiver could not +with decency extricate himself from the meshes of the net which she had +thrown over him. After some years he found a good, pure, and true heart +that was full to the brim with love for the unhappy man—so much so that +she sacrificed position, family, and reputation for his sake, and +accompanied him from country to country, through danger and poverty, +sharing his cares and troubles, and consoling him with her love and +fidelity. To this woman, who was his real wife, he could not give the +legal name and position she merited, and the curse that had been laid on +his own life was heavy upon his innocent children, for he could not +carry them to the baptismal font, could not christen them as his own. In +England he could not secure a divorce, to France he could not go, and +home to Hungary he dared not come. For twenty-five years he dragged +these heavy chains on his weary limbs, until Hungary had risen from her +prostration, had become a constitutional state with a free Parliament, +and had crowned her king, and called home her banished children from the +nooks and corners of the world. Then only, when again at home and in +full possession of his ancestral castle and estates, then only a legal +divorce set him at liberty and left him free to bestow his name upon his +faithful, loving companion and their children. But when that time had at +last arrived, my friend was an old man with silvery beard and a bald +head. The fairy that was the cause of so much suffering had taken +nothing of him but his name, of which she was in need; but what is a +name? Nothing but the lid, the tender coverlet of the beetle's wing. She +did not kill the poor beetle, and she set him free; he was allowed to +live with his winter wings."</p> + +<p>During the recital of this story, Cenni's rosy countenance was crimsoned +through and through, while Flamma's pale face was overspread with an +almost deadly pallor, and, as I spoke the final words, the girls looked +at each other in silence. "So, you see," I continued, "if such a thing +could happen to a man like my friend, the bearer of a great name, noble, +brave, accomplished, and handsome, what would be my fate if I should +attempt to do what he did—marry a beauty and an heiress? I, that am +nothing but a runaway doctor, an expelled Member of Parliament, and a +Slav King! one who, from his appearance, is mistaken for his own +subject."</p> + +<p>"No! no!" said Cenni, taking hold of both my hands, "there you are +mistaken, and—and I am sure you do not know your own worth!"</p> + +<p>At that moment the jasmine-bush was parted, and Siegfried's voice asked, +"May I take the liberty to interrupt these tender confessions?"</p> + +<p>At the sound of Siegfried's voice we all sprang from our seats, and +Cenni, throwing the chain she had braided on his neck, said, "You are a +great, naughty, good-for-nothing fellow! What do you want?"</p> + +<p>"This noble and gallant knight of yours. He is wanted by his +executioners—that is, by the election leaders that are to be."</p> + +<p>The two young girls laughed, and ran to the little lake for a boating +trip, and I asked Siegfried, "What do these men want from me? What is +their business with me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing!" he said, coolly. "They have not come; it is I who have +business to speak of with you, and quickly, too, for I may be too late +already. My dear boy, even a friend has something that he wants to keep +for himself and does not want to share with his dearest friend—his +love! You are making love to Cenni, although you must have seen that I +am over ears in love with her myself."</p> + +<p>"I have seen nothing of the kind, and I give you my word that I never +thought of making love to her."</p> + +<p>"Possibly so; but then she makes love to you, and that renders matters +worse yet."</p> + +<p>"I assure you that your jealousy leads you into error."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Do you think we have no telescopes in the house? I have witnessed +the last interesting scene as if I were on the spot."</p> + +<p>"Then I can only wish that your hearing might have been as much +increased by some instrument as your vision by the telescope, so that +you might have heard our discourse, and not guessed at it by sight."</p> + +<p>"Did you not find a four-leaved clover, and offer it to Cenni?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, here it is; take it, my boy, and marry your Cenni, with my +blessing!"</p> + +<p>"Take care! I may take you at your word!"</p> + +<p>"And welcome! I'll be your best man."</p> + +<p>"That's a bargain. And, now that I see that you are really not going to +play the traitor with me, I'll tell you the whole truth. I am mad with +love for Cenni; and then, too, she has a million florins from her +grandfather, and this money would come in well to help me carry out my +plans. But my aunt does not consent to give the girl to me. She says I +am a libertine, a <i>frivol viveur</i>, etc., and she won't take the +responsibility of trusting me with the dear child."</p> + +<p>"Tell her you will reform, you will change after marriage."</p> + +<p>"That I have repeatedly tried, but she refuses to believe me. Then +there is that million. As long as the girl is unmarried and a minor, my +aunt takes her revenues, and, among her other accomplishments, my aunt +is a very fair accountant. She has found out that the girl cannot eat +figs and candies in a year to the amount of sixty thousand florins, so +she is not over-willing to part with her at all. But I am not going to +play the Tantalus for years, and run the risk of having the girl +snatched from me by some jackanapes or rascal or another. Pardon!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind! I shan't pick up the 'jackanapes' or the 'rascal.' They do +not belong to me."</p> + +<p>"Then help me carry out my plan. Do you promise?"</p> + +<p>"By all means."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. But let me unfold my plan. Cenni and I will be married +clandestinely behind Aunt Diodora's back. My aunt is sometimes subject +to severe neuralgic attacks, and, as she never calls a physician and +never takes any remedies for her pains, she suffers all day. During +these paroxysms of her nerves she remains all day in a darkened room, +and will not allow anybody to stay with her but Flamma. That kind soul +is with her at such times, administering to her comforts, smoothing her +pillows, etc., and in return she is allowed to read Flammarion, or one +of Verne's harmless fictions, in the adjoining sitting-room. On such +days Cenni is entirely at liberty, and not watched by anybody, because +that sleepy governess the girls have is hardly worth mentioning. Now +listen. I keep here, concealed in my shooting-box, a priest—a Capuchin +monk—Father Paphuntius. He seems to be a jolly good fellow, and he has +an open hand. In the park there is a little memorial chapel, erected by +one of my ancestors in honour of St. Vincent de Paul. In that chapel we +will exchange vows. You and Muckicza shall be my witnesses. Now you have +given me your promise, will you stick to your word?"</p> + +<p>"By all means! Only after the marriage is perfected give me leave to run +away as fast as possible; for I should not dare to look your aunt in the +face after such perfidy on my part."</p> + +<p>"<i>Au contraire</i>, you shall not run, for you must stay and help me out +further. I have chosen you in your capacity as physician to persuade +Diodora to swallow this bitter medicine. She will take much if it comes +from you, and I really believe you have magnetised her. It will be your +mission to break the fact of the accomplished marriage to her, and +persuade her to give her consent, since the matter is irreparable. You +see, we cannot afford to quarrel with her, for she has four millions, +and is not likely to marry at all."</p> + +<p>I hesitated, but he begged and prayed—"My dear friend," "My own Nell," +and so forth—until I gave way, and promised to do all that he wanted.</p> + +<p>When I had finally promised him he pressed my hands, and then turned +away and buried his face in his silk pocket-handkerchief. Was this to +hide his tears or—his laughter? <i>O sancta simplicitas!</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_V" id="PART_II_V"></a>V.</h2> + +<h3>HOW ROSES ARE INOCULATED.</h3> + + +<p>The same day, after luncheon, Countess Flamma turned to me with the +question—</p> + +<p>"Would you mind teaching me the process of inoculation? I am greatly +interested in roses, and should like to see how the scion is set into +the stock."</p> + +<p>"With ever so much pleasure," I said, pleased that the pale, silent girl +showed an interest in my favourites, the roses, and turned to me for a +favour. Countess Diodora gave the required permission for the lesson, +which was to be given and taken while the others were playing +lawn-tennis on the adjacent grounds. Flamma was a bad player, anyhow, so +she might take to horticulture meanwhile.</p> + +<p>When the whole company were on the grounds, Flamma and I stepped up to +the rose-beds, and I began to explain to her how, in the first place, a +T-shaped incision has to be made on the stock, when presently she said, +in a low whisper, "Take care of yourself."</p> + +<p>I thought she meant that I should cut my fingers with the knife, when +she repeated her warning again, mid more explicitly, "Take care; they +mean to play a bad joke on you."</p> + +<p>I looked up amazed. What could she mean?</p> + +<p>"Who?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Don't look at me, but continue the explanation and demonstration. Never +forget I am taking a lesson, for we are closely watched."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. So now we take a carefully chosen scion. Tell me, pray, who +wants to play that jest on me?"</p> + +<p>"This scion is beautifully developed, let us take it—Siegfried."</p> + +<p>"Siegfried? What does he intend to do?"</p> + +<p>"Keep your hands busy, and do not look surprised. That clandestine +marriage, of which you are to be a witness, is a comedy. The Capuchin +monk, who is to perform the ceremony, is Seestern, the famous German +actor, who is here under an assumed name, as he does not want to be +pestered to play or amuse the others."</p> + +<p>My hands trembled, but I kept on and said—</p> + +<p>"Siegfried has sworn to me that he is madly in love with Countess Cenni, +and that he will marry her, come what may."</p> + +<p>"What for?"</p> + +<p>"What a question! For love, and—because—he wants the million florins +of her grandfather's which the countess has."</p> + +<p>"Hand me the knife, for you will assuredly cut your finger, and give me +that scion, so that I may try to insert it. Cenni is no countess at all, +but the niece of Leestern and daughter of an actress, who at one time +did my aunt a great service, and, when dying, made Aunt Diodora promise +to take care of her little girl. Aunt gave her at confirmation the name +of Cenerentola, which we have shortened to Cenni. Her real name is +Klara. She has no other money or dower but what Aunt Diodora will give +her, which will not be much, for in money matters she is not very +liberal, and Cenni is called 'comtesse' because it suits Aunt Diodora's +whims. That million of which Siegfried spoke exists; but it is mine, and +not Cenni's. Is this scion well inserted?"</p> + +<p>"No. I will show you the whole process again. What is Siegfried's object +in the deception?"</p> + +<p>"You show too much agitation. Show me how to cut out the germ properly. +This is the plan. After the ceremony, on the day when Diodora is +confined to her room and I am with her, a festival banquet will be +spread in the shooting-box. It will be a noisy, dissolute company that +meets there, and Siegfried will drink most, be the loudest and least +well-behaved of the set. The bride will pretend to be afraid of the +groom, and at last she will break away from his hands, and ask the +protection of the only sober, sensible, and decent man present, namely, +yourself. The bridegroom will have lost all self-control through drink. +He will swear, and use all sorts of bad language, and the bride will sob +and entreat you to take her away, protesting that she hated the sight of +the vulgar wretch she had just married, but had been forced to do his +will, although he knew well that in reality she loved you, and you +alone. At last, growing desperate, she will attempt to leap out of the +window to escape from this place, even at the risk of her life. You will +take pity on her; her tears and charms will conquer your resistance, +and you will tell her to dispose of you for ever, and take shelter in +your own castle from the ruffian who was not worthy of the treasure he +had obtained. You will order your carriage, and take Cenni with you; +but, as soon as you have left, the fellow-plotters will mount their +horses, and, by a short cross-cut, arrive there before you, discover the +intended elopement of the bride, and carry off you and her as criminals. +You will of course offer to fight every one of them, until all, the +bride included, will burst out into Olympian laughter, and you stand +stunned and bewildered. But, pray, show me how to insert the germ +properly into the T-shape?"</p> + +<p>My whole frame trembled with excitement.</p> + +<p>"What is his object in all this?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"To give you the usual 'jump,' as they call it in our set. If, for +instance, a member of some other class of society—in your case a simple +nobleman—is pushing his way into high aristocracy, he must be 'jumped,' +each in his own different way. One is made to drink until he makes +himself obnoxious even to his nearest friends; another is made to gamble +until he either wins or loses a fortune, generally the latter; but all +must 'jump,' and if they break their necks, well and good! It was +proposed to 'jump' you in courtship; you refused to aspire to Diodora. +In a duel you are not afraid of a fight, and so this course was decided +on. You had been 'jumped' already—at the election—but the triumph and +your downfall were not complete. Your vanity—don't start—was not yet +wounded to death, and you will have to 'jump' once more—once in private +and once at a second election. But this time you will not rise again. +Hopp! Hopp! That's the design. Don't look at me—that's all!"</p> + +<p>I was fairly choked with emotion. "But why do they play that trick on +me? I did not want to enter their society; in fact, never valued it at +all; but I cared for Siegfried, and he lured me on with protestations of +friendship. What was his reason for that? What have I done to him to +merit this?"</p> + +<p>"What have you done? You have provoked him—called him out. You said you +could not believe in the existence of a spiritual or corporal being who +would do mischief without a material motive, simply for the sake of +mischief and the pleasure he found in the despair of a fellow-being: you +did not believe that there are men who will afflict the innocent with +pain and sorrow, who will degrade, socially and morally humiliate you, +and then laugh you in the face and make game of you. Stay here, move in +our society, and you will find out your mistake! Why, what a sight it +will be to have the great debater, the candidate-elect, the sage and +learned doctor, and heir of old Diogenes caught in the act of robbing +another man of his bride! They will have a painter there to take a +sketch of the fine situation '<i>en plein air</i>.'"</p> + +<p>At that moment one of the lawn-tennis players throw the ball just in +front of my feet, and Siegfried came running to fetch it.</p> + +<p>"Well, have you profited at all by this lesson on inoculating?" he +asked the girl, and he added a remark which was so vulgar and +impertinent that he would not have dared to use the expression in a +variety theatre or any other low place of common entertainment.</p> + +<p>"I have," said the girl, with low emphasis, and laid down the knife.</p> + +<p>I was in such a state of anguish that I did not know for certain whether +the spot I was standing on belonged to this earth or was part of the +infernal kingdom, for the soil actually burned my feet. Countess Mamma +thanked me for the horticultural lesson I had given her, and I was so +much embarrassed that I repeated her own words verbally, instead of +giving her a courteous reply. Siegfried laughed.</p> + +<p>"What an exemplary, bashful young fellow you are! Evidently you are not +used to teach young ladies such delicate lessons. Come! come! Don't +blush. Try your hand at lawn tennis."</p> + +<p>And I went with him and played.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_VI" id="PART_II_VI"></a>VI.</h2> + +<h3>MR. PARASITE.</h3> + + +<p>I have never given way to paroxysms of temper; not exactly because I was +naturally cool and collected, but because my profession had taught me +presence of mind and self-control. Violent wrath, violent terror, and +violent love could not attack me.</p> + +<p>Countess Flamma's singular disclosure had made a twofold impression. My +first feeling was a painful regret that my most intimate friend, in whom +I had placed infinite trust and confidence, was a faithless deceiver; +and my second emotion was that of a burning curiosity as to why that +girl, a close relative of my cozening friend, had betrayed him to me—a +stranger. What reason had the one to hurt me, and what was the motive of +the other in warning me? For, as I refused to believe in evil spirits, I +also refused to believe in protecting angels.</p> + +<p>"My dear friend, take care!" said Siegfried, throwing the ball at me. +The ball I did not catch, but the "dear" epithet I picked up; for it +struck me that the same phrase was often attached to my name as well as +to that of other less intimate acquaintances, and sometimes with a +special, humorous playfulness. Now I caught it. Of course I was their +"dear" friend, for did not I sit there and do nothing, and let them +waste their money on my election?</p> + +<p>In Hungarian society, and I think in most other societies as well, +there is a certain person whom we call "Potya ur"—"Mr. Parasite." He +feeds at every board, sleeps in other men's rooms, is served by other +men's servants, uses other men's horses and carriages, and smokes other +men's cigars. When playing cards, he has invariably left his money at +home; so when he is a loser it does not matter, for he is not accustomed +to pay his losses; but, when a winner, he complacently pockets his +gains. He never pays for the flowers he sends to his hostess, never pays +anything or anybody; yet he is well lodged, well fed, well clad, and in +excellent spirits, for he needs them. His wit is his only resource, his +sole capital.</p> + +<p>Such a Mr. Parasite, I thought, was I to these men, and I determined +that I would be so no longer. Surely I, who was formerly a physician in +Vienna, had no right to accept a nomination for Parliament in +Hungary—at other men's expense. They were right, and I had been an ass +and a coxcomb. When Siegfried told me that the party had decided not to +take a penny of me, but to secure my election out of party funds, I +should have remembered Chinese etiquette. If two Chinamen meet on the +street, Tsang will invariably invite Tsing home to dinner, and Tsing +will invariably refuse. Tsang will use all possible persuasion, and +finally fairly drag the invited one to his house, although the man +protests and struggles as much as possible. And well he knows why; +because if he should give way to the pressing invitation and go with +Tsang, the moment he entered the house his host would call him a rude, +unmannered peasant; for he must remember well that it becomes the one to +courteously invite, and the other to respectfully refuse. This is the +law of civilisation in China; and I had forgotten that law the second +time.</p> + +<p>So, about Siegfried's motive I felt pretty sure; but what was that +girl's motive in betraying the whole plot? More! She had not only +betrayed Siegfried, her own cousin, to me—a stranger: she had betrayed +Cenni, her origin, her real name, and her kin; and, finally, what motive +had she in informing me that the million of florins was her money, and +not Cenni's? What was her motive in confiding to me such a secret in +such a mysterious and secret manner? Was it only kindness, generosity, +compassion, that prompted her, or—? No, I durst not go farther—as +yet—only I knew now beyond a doubt that, from the first, of all the +three fairies of the castle Flamma alone had aroused my interest and +sympathy. Her clear, transparent, pale face, her deep, sea-tinted eyes, +and her silent, cherry lips, so lovely when parted in speaking, had +attracted me from the first.</p> + +<p>We were called indoors to partake of some iced coffee, and strawberries +with cream; but this time I had not forgotten Tsang and Tsing. I +refused, saying that I had a letter from the Vice-Governor, and was +expected by him; so I could not return until next day in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>My excuse was accepted, and I took my leave. For a second the thought +flashed through my mind that I ought not to return at all, and that +this should be my last visit to the place; but, somehow, to that +rose-scion which I had taught Flamma how to inoculate I had +involuntarily and unconsciously tied that particular part of my being +which is known as the "soul."</p> + +<p>Next morning I drove over to the county seat, and paid a visit to the +Vice-Governor.</p> + +<p>Of course, he was as cordial as ever, and welcomed me as a dear friend. +"Well, what have you brought me?" he asked finally.</p> + +<p>"This time a sensible resolution," I said. "I have come to give in my +resignation as a candidate for Parliament."</p> + +<p>The Vice-Governor embraced, nay, fairly hugged me in his arms. "My dear +boy, that's a sensible thing, indeed: not from the view of the +Government party only—I don't believe that your party could have +carried the day with you—but in consideration of your own welfare. Just +sit down, and let me inform the President of the Board of Elections of +your resolution. I shall do that at once. Not for a world would I let +you reconsider this excellent idea. Perhaps you might be over-persuaded, +and 'jumped' again by your good friends."</p> + +<p>Again I heard the expression "jumped," and I sat down to meditate over +it. "Have you told Siegfried yet?" asked the Vice-Governor.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," I said; "but I think he won't greatly object."</p> + +<p>"Who knows? But you will pledge your word that you will stick to your +resignation against all persuasion?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. I'll give you any oath you want, and—well, here is my hand +on the promise. My resignation is final."</p> + +<p>"Then allow me to congratulate you, and to convince you, by action, what +a sensible conclusion you have come to. I should have withheld your +property from you until after election, for I feared that generous +nature of yours, and was afraid that, if you had free access to your +uncle's iron chest, your companions would soon enough have their fists +deep in it. But, now that you convince me of your good sense, here are +the papers which make you lord of the real and personal property of your +late uncle, and here is the package with the bank-bills. Pray open and +count them over. The county sheriff will go over with you to take off +the seals from everything, and put you in legal possession."</p> + +<p>I thanked him, and put the money, uncounted, in my coat pocket. Then I +returned to our former theme, and asked the Vice-Governor if he really +thought that my nomination had put my party to very great expense.</p> + +<p>"Think so?" he exclaimed, "of course, I think so! Why, my dear friend, +you are a new man, and considered almost as a foreigner and a scholar, +not a patriotic politician! But, if you are really interested in the +question, you can find out the exact figure which your nomination has +cost your party. Just go straight to the County Savings Bank here, and +ask the amount which Siegfried has drawn on bills signed with his own +name and that of his political friends as security."</p> + +<p>I was stunned. "I never thought of such a thing," I said. "Siegfried +told me that he had money at home which he did not want for himself at +present, and could easily spare."</p> + +<p>The official laughed. "Siegfried, and spare money! Why, what an innocent +you are! If he had money at all, he would leave it on the card-table, he +is such a gambler. The fact is, he is on such a sandbank, just at +present, that it will be fortunate for him if his barque ever gets +afloat again."</p> + +<p>"How is that possible? I thought him very well off."</p> + +<p>"He is more than that; he is very rich. His domains are large and +beautiful, and his income is princely; only he is of the opinion that it +is mean to keep money, and he spends in six months the income of a year, +and in this way he runs into debt. He has practised that for a +considerable time, and it cannot go on that way much longer. His only +resource is his maiden aunt, Countess Diodora. It is said—at least, +Siegfried says—that she hates men, and will take the veil to become an +abbess. In that case her estates will revert to him as next heir."</p> + +<p>"H—m; and do you think Siegfried would feel insulted if I should go to +the Savings Bank and pay those bills of his? Or do you believe that his +friends would be offended if I took up all the bills, and paid all the +expenses I have caused them?"</p> + +<p>"No; although they would pretend to be so for a while, in reality I +think they would be only too glad. But I will tell you something: you +are just such a generous, large-hearted, noble, free-handed fool as your +father was, and, if you go on the way you have begun, old Diogenes's +hoard will go after your father's fortune. Do you know what the two Ms +in the palm of your hands signify?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Memento mori</i>," I said, smilingly.</p> + +<p>"No. Mind money. It means 'Always mind your own money.' It is the best +advice I can give you, and the one you stand most in need of."</p> + +<p>I thanked him, and took my leave: no more Mr. Parasite, but on the way +to earn the title he had given me—that of a fool.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_VII" id="PART_II_VII"></a>VII.</h2> + +<h3>A BRILLIANT GAME.</h3> + + +<p>If I had had a particle of good judgment or common sense, I should have +taken the bills I had paid for at the bank to the solicitor who acted +both for Siegfried and myself, should have authorised that gentleman to +pay the twenty thousand florins Siegfried had lent me when I came into +possession of my house, and I myself should have written two pleasant +letters—one to Countess Diodora, thanking her for her great and +disinterested kindness and hospitality, and the other to Siegfried, +notifying him formally of what I had done, and, at the same time, +telling him that my resolution was firm, and that no persuasion on his +part would shake it. Then I should have thanked him for his friendship, +and finally have taken myself off with all possible speed to Heligoland, +Ostend, or some other remote watering-place. After an election campaign, +or, as in my case, nearly two campaigns, such an invigorating of the +system is very commendable.</p> + +<p>All this I should have done as a man of good judgment, but, alas! I was +not such a man—at any rate, no longer. My judgment had left me, and it +would need a whole pathologico-psychological dissertation to explain how +the process of inserting a rose-scion into a stock can, in a period of +hardly an hour, convert a cool, sensible, and collected man into a +stark raving madman.</p> + +<p>For a lunatic I was—no doubt about that. Now it was I who wanted to +play the game to the end, and to show to those five companions of mine +which of us could "jump" best. An angel had come to warn me, and had +given me a weapon against my adversaries; now I was bound to show her +that I could make proper use of the weapon. There was already a sweet +secret bond between us—her warning, and I was burning to find out the +cause, the fountain-head, of that significant partiality shown to me. +Why was the angel an angel? The question was all-important to me.</p> + +<p>On arriving at home with the sheriff I found a letter from Siegfried, +and on the envelope the inscription, "<i>Ibi, ubi, cito, citissime</i>. N.B. +Dr. Cornelius Dumany, Esquire."</p> + +<p>The contents of the letter were as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"DEAR FRIEND,—Aunt Diodora has her nervous attack, and is +dangerously ill. Pray make haste! <i>Periculum, in mora</i>. Bring your +electro-magnetic apparatus with you, and come at once.—SIEGFRIED."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The gamekeeper had brought the letter, and said that he had strict +orders to wait for me, if it was until midnight. So I despatched my +business with the sheriff, gave orders for refreshments for him, and, +going into my museum, I took out a watch of the Apafy period, with which +I presented him, and made him perfectly happy. Then I picked out an +antique opal bracelet, which Cenni had found exceptionally beautiful, +and put it into my pocket as a present for the bride. I would take the +ceremony <i>bonâ fide</i>, and play my part as naturally as possible.</p> + +<p>We drove through Siegfried's game-park, and at the cascades I was +expected by Baron Muckicza, the other witness. "You are expected like +the Messiah by the Jews," he cried, and leaped up to me without stopping +the vehicle. "Cenni and Siegfried are in the chapel already."</p> + +<p>On arriving in front of the chapel, an old Gothic edifice, situated in a +large clearing in the park, we alighted, and I ordered my coachman not +to unhitch the horses, but to drive about, and wait for me at the gate +in about an hour or more.</p> + +<p>We opened the little gate that led to a large stone crucifix in front of +the chapel, and found the vestry-clerk and a boy ministrant waiting for +us in the entry. Now they tolled the bell hurriedly and briefly, and +gave way to us.</p> + +<p>Siegfried and Cenni met us in the chapel. He pressed my hand in evident +excitement, assuring me of eternal friendship and gratitude for standing +by his side at this turning-point of his life, whereupon I returned his +protestations with equal feeling. The bride, in a dove-coloured +travelling-dress, with a wreath of orange flowers in her blonde locks, +and a costly lace shawl as a bridal veil, was an exquisite image of love +and modesty. On seeing me she bashfully hid her face in her hands, +exclaiming, "Oh! what will you think of me?" and to Siegfried, +imploringly, "Pray let me go back to the house! My God, what a step you +have persuaded me to! Pray let me go back; oh, pray do!" But Siegfried +tenderly held her hands, and persuaded her to go to the good Father +Paphuntius, who was awaiting her in the shriving-pew to receive the +confession of her sins; for, as a good Catholic, she could not marry +unshriven. So she simpered and blushed a good deal, and went away to +where the Father, with clean-shaven face—evidently a Ligorian, not a +Capuchin—received her with a benediction.</p> + +<p>It was a splendid farce, and admirably acted by almost all the parties. +There were two bridesmaids with somewhat rural complexions, and hands +which seemed to swell out of their number seven white gloves, as did +their robust waists from the tightly-laced silk bodices. Of course, we +called them "Milady," and spoke French to them, although it was easy to +guess that they were dairy and garden wenches, and the only language +they understood or spoke was the Slavonic. They blushed and giggled a +good deal, and did not feel very much at ease on our arms.</p> + +<p>The ceremony took place in the most solemn and decorous way. Father +Paphuntius delivered a very impressive sermon on domestic virtues and +the fear of God leading to earthly happiness and eternal bliss. Bride +and groom kneeled down before the altar and exchanged their vows, +whereupon the priest bound their hands together and gave them his +benediction.</p> + +<p>My hand itched, and I could hardly keep from loudly applauding the +acting priest or the preaching actor; but I did not forget that at least +the place of comedy was really sacred, although profaned by a parcel of +blasphemous roysterers, and so I held my peace and looked on.</p> + +<p>After the ceremony, of course, everybody congratulated the new couple, +and I added the opal bracelet to my compliments, and received in return +a sweet smile from the fair bride. "You have robbed your collection of +its most precious treasure," she said, and "It will be made more +precious by your ladyship's acceptance" was my answer.</p> + +<p>We wrote our names in an old register which was in the vestry. I +presented the excellent Father Paphuntius with six gold eagles, and the +vestry clerk was made happy with as many brand-new and shining silver +florins, while the boy received six glittering quarters—all in the +fashion of a real wedding. After that, the new Benedict gave his arm to +his bride. Baron Muckicza and I bowed to the red-faced damsels, with the +German phrase, "<i>Darf ich Ihnen meinen Arm bieten, mein Fräulein</i>," to +which they answered in classic Slavonian, "<i>Gyekujem peknye mladi-pan</i>," +which means, "Thank you very much, young master." Then we went, <i>per +pedes apostolorum</i>, to the shooting-box, Father Paphuntius, of course, +accompanying us, to feast at the wedding banquet.</p> + +<p>The table fairly groaned under the sumptuous meal. The newly-wedded +couple took the seat of honour. I was placed to the right of the bride, +and Musinka, the dairy-wench, sat next to me, as became her position as +bridesmaid. Next to the groom sat the priest, then Anyicska, the +garden-wench and second bridesmaid, and at her side, between the two +damsels (the table was round), sat Baron Muckicza.</p> + +<p>We were in excellent humour and rather hilarious, and the affair was a +very lively one. At all such revels I have the peculiarity of never +drinking anything but champagne. All other wine I despise and scorn to +drink. Siegfried knew this well, and had given orders that, after the +trout, champagne should be served. The cork was drawn with a loud noise, +the wine foamed and sparkled in the glasses, but, when the servant came +to help me, I took the bottle from his hands to look at the label; for +there is a difference in the fluid, and Röderer and Röderer is not +always alike. There are certain symbolical marks on the bottles, well +known to connoisseurs. On some is a bee, on others an ostrich or an +elephant. On this particular bottle was a fly, and I threw the bottle to +the wall with such force that it broke into shivers, and the foaming +contents went splashing into the faces of the company. The reverend +Father had just risen, glass in hand, to drink a toast to the happy +couple, and Siegfried said, reproachfully—</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, you begin it too early; the bottle-breaking business +comes after the drinking, not before it."</p> + +<p>"All right," said I, grumbling, "but if you have a physician as your +marriage witness, don't treat your wedding company with wine marked with +a fly. I know the effect of that poison."</p> + +<p>He smiled mischievously, and, turning, he said in Hungarian, which the +Father did not understand, "Don't spoil the game. You'll have another +mark; this is for the Capuchin. I want to 'jump' him."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" I thought. "Well, I'll 'jump' you both." The mock priest was +standing with his glass in hand to begin his toast, when I turned to him +and asked—</p> + +<p>"Is it not you, my dear Seestern, that plays the Capuchin in Schiller's +<i>Wallenteins's Camp?</i>"</p> + +<p>The man stared at me, and fell back into his chair, with the classical +quotation "<i>Ha, ich bin erkannt!</i>" The bride shrieked, and, bounding +from my side, ran out of the room. The rustic bridesmaids stared at each +other, and asked, "<i>Csoeto?</i>" ("What does that mean?") and Siegfried's +fist came down hard on the table. "<i>Sacré de Dieu!</i> This is treachery!" +and taking hold of my arm, he asked, "Who was it? Who has betrayed this +little joke?"</p> + +<p>I looked him innocently in the face. "Why, my dear Siegfried, it would +be unnatural if an old Vienna theatre-goer like me did not know +Seestern, the famous comic actor. I am no country cousin to be cozened +in that way."</p> + +<p>"Well, evidently we have made the reckoning without our host," said he, +grumblingly. "But it is a pity. Such a capital joke it would have been, +and you would have laughed most. Still, it can't be helped, so we'll +make the best of the spoiled game. I see the prima donna has thrown off +her <i>rôle</i>, so you had better go after her, Seestern, and see her safe +to the château. Your monk's cowl is a protection in itself. Don't look +disconcerted; you can come back. Our revel does not end yet; it has +hardly begun. You, Muckicza, my dear boy, go out and get in the boys. +Tell them the hunt is over; the game has broken fence."</p> + +<p>By this time one of the Slav girls had stuffed her pockets with French +candies and confectionery from the table, and the other drank off the +champagne from all the glasses near. Now Siegfried looked at them, and +imperatively motioned to the door. They hurried out, and "my dear +friend" Siegfried and I were face to face, alone. His face wore a gloomy +expression, and he said, in a courtly manner—</p> + +<p>"Sir, I am at your service. Do you feel offended by this joke?"</p> + +<p>I laughed outright. "I offended? Why should I? Nothing has happened to +me."</p> + +<p>"But it would have happened. We intended to give you a little 'jump.'"</p> + +<p>"And why?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, for nothing! Only you look so funny with that gorilla beard you +wear on your face."</p> + +<p>"Indeed? And pray how should I 'jump' as your marriage witness?"</p> + +<p>"Has not the person who warned you betrayed the whole scheme?"</p> + +<p>"Never you mind. I am not offended; quite the contrary. I like such +practical jokes, and have taken my revenge beforehand. I have played you +an equal trick: I have given my resignation as a candidate this +morning."</p> + +<p>"You cannot mean it! Tell me, are you in earnest?"</p> + +<p>"Dear me, no! I am joking; I told you so! But the thing is irrevocably +done, all the same."</p> + +<p>"But how could you do it without consulting the party!—without telling +me! Thunder and lightning! this is no child's play, but a high game; and +there are thousands staked on it! How dare you play fast and loose with +us, after all the expenses you have caused us?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I have a hand in such a game, I generally play it in the proper +way!" I said, taking out the wallet with Siegfried's bills, and putting +them all in a row on the table. "You see, this is the way I ventured to +do as I did."</p> + +<p>He tried to play the offended man. "Sir, it seems you do not know—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, everything, my dear count!" I said, laughingly; "only don't let us +make much ado about nothing. We have both had our joke, and now allow me +to beg you for my piece of pasteboard, on which you had the kindness to +lend me twenty thousand florins. Here, pray, let me hand you your money. +I have it ready for you."</p> + +<p>He gave me my card, but refused the money. "It is paid already," he +said. "The amount is included in these bills."</p> + +<p>At that moment Countess Diodora's footman came in, and Siegfried asked +if he had come to look for Countess Cenni. "No," said the man, "Countess +Cenni is in the château"—("What a good runner she is!" I thought)—"but +her ladyship, the Countess Vernöczy—Diodora—is very ill, and begs his +honour, the Dr. Dumany, to be kind enough to come and see her. The +ranger has saddled his horse, and is waiting for the prescription to +take it to town at once."</p> + +<p>That was an honour indeed, and I lost no time in following the man, and +left Siegfried utterly amazed. "Why, Nell," he said, "you can work +miracles! You are a Cagliostro, and exercise some powerful, mysterious +influence! You must be congratulated on this victory. Fancy Aunt Diodora +consulting a physician! having a man enter her maiden sanctuary! It +would not be believed if I told it!"</p> + +<p>At the portal of the château I hesitated for a moment. I had grown +suspicious, and suddenly it occurred to me that this might be some other +little practical joke, and part of the programme; but I dismissed the +thought as base. The countess was a woman—a sick woman; deception in +that line was impossible, at least in my profession. I could not be +"jumped."</p> + +<p>In the château everybody went on tiptoe, as usual when Diodora had her +nervous attacks, but I did not heed that. My step was as firm as ever; +the reverberation of the physician's step is soothing to the patient, +and fills him with hope and assurance.</p> + +<p>The servant conducted me to the room in which Countess Flamma sat; the +adjacent room was that of the sufferer. Flamma sat reading before the +lamp when I entered. She laid down the book, got up, and extended her +hand. "Diodora expects you impatiently. She is more excited than ever, +and has just driven out Cenni because she smelt of wine."</p> + +<p>"So Cenni was here already, possibly for the sake of an <i>alibi</i>."</p> + +<p>"Don't speak of that! She told me all that has occurred. Have you drunk +wine also, or is your breath pure? Bend down a little, so. You are all +right, and I'll take you to Diodora; only wait here a little."</p> + +<p>She went in, but returned instantly, and beckoned me to follow her into +a boudoir lighted by a lamp with a shade of green glass. Rich tapestry +hangings divided the apartment. Flamma drew the hangings partly aside, +motioned me to go near, and left the room, softly closing the entrance.</p> + +<p>So I was here on that sacred spot, the first and only male being alive +who had ever been granted the privilege of seeing the sublime Diodora on +her couch. Only her head and arms were visible—such arms as might have +been lost by the Venus of Milo and found by this, her divine sister. The +thick tresses of raven hair were uncoiled and scattered in rich skeins +on the pillows and the coverlet. One of the silken coils fell down +heavily to the carpet, and another was thrown high over the sculptured +ornaments of the mahogany bedstead. It was an <i>embarras de richesses</i> +rarely met with; and in the rich and precious braids the ivory fingers +were clutched, dishevelling them, tearing at them, in the excess of +pain. The beautiful face was pale and lustrous, the eyes bright and +glittering, surrounded by broad, dark blue circles; the lips were +parted, and the breath came short. Her hands were hot and dry, and the +pulse beat intermittently. When I laid my hand on her head and my thumb +pressed against the crown, she groaned—"Yes, there it is. Hell itself, +with all its tortures!"</p> + +<p>My hands went down on her neck, between the <i>musculus cucullaris</i> and +the <i>sternocleido mastoideus</i>. "Ah, that is the way the pain goes down," +she sighed; and when I asked, "Will your ladyship give me leave to make +use of my skill?" she answered, "Don't call me 'ladyship'! I am no +countess now; I am nothing but a suffering animal, and you may call me +what you please. Give me the title of dog, so you can help me."</p> + +<p>"Then pray sit up first, and let me gather and secure your hair; it +hinders my movements."</p> + +<p>She obeyed; and, while I gathered the loose tresses and coiled them +around the head, the coverlet slipped down unnoticed, and the lace +nightgown, torn open by the restless fingers, revealed the marble bust +and shoulders; but for the physician, in the execution of his +professional duty, female charms do not exist. The warm, soft, creamy +skin is nothing to him but epidermis, <i>stratum mucosum Malpighii</i>; the +white, sculptured neck only the <i>regio nuchæ</i>, and then comes the <i>regio +scapularis</i>, the <i>deltoidea</i>, and then the <i>sacrospinalis</i>.</p> + +<p>What a fuss they make about that ascetic who resisted the temptations +of the flesh when tried by the evil spirit in the shape of Lilith! What +would that famous saint have done, how would he have behaved, if he had +been called to rub this soft, velvety, odorous flesh, the fascinating, +peerless body, with his hands? Who knows if then the Catholic Church had +not boasted of one saint less? Indeed, indeed, we modern physicians have +more of the saint in our disposition—in general, of course.</p> + +<p>The effect of the treatment appeared at once in soft, voluptuous sighs +of relief, deep and long-drawn; in the magnetic showers of the body I +recognised a sure token which that mysterious disorder in the veins, +lymphs, and nerves reveals in the ganglia. A firm pressure of the biceps +with full fist, a pressure of the thumb against the <i>rhomboideus</i>, made +her exclaim, "Oh, that has done me good!" Then she began to shiver, the +body ceased to be hot and dry, and perspiration set in. She laughed +involuntarily, her teeth chattering with cold, and then she sighed +again, and said, gratefully, "I feel as if you had saved me from +drowning in an ocean of hot oil." I was at the <i>regio palmarum</i>, rubbing +her hands and fingers, cracking each of them. "Thank you," said she; +"that will do. I feel much better."</p> + +<p>But I told her that my work was only half done as yet and had to be +finished, or else the attack would return. The object was to gain +regular circulation of the blood throughout the whole body. This is no +witchcraft, but plain mechanical aid to the action of the live organism.</p> + +<p>But now that her sense had returned, her bashfulness returned also. +"Could not the remaining part of the treatment be executed by a woman?" +she asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, if she has studied anatomy, visited the dissecting-room regularly, +and knows every particle in the structure of the human body; otherwise, +a quack may do just as much mischief with the pressure of her unskilled +hands on the outside of your body as with a bottle of quack medicine to +your inner system. It is hard to make you open your eyes to the fact +that the organic structure of the human body is a more wonderful, much +more admirable work of creation than the starry heaven. When, at a word, +the muscles of your face move to a smile of pleasure, or your eyes are +filled with tears of joy, sorrow, or compassion such a complicated +machinery is set in motion that no mechanical iron structure on earth +can be found half as involved or half as complete; and a person not +thoroughly acquainted with the qualities and parts of this wonderful +apparatus will prove a tormenting executioner, not a healing physician, +to the sufferer. Be patient, milady, the physician at the bed of his +patient is of the neuter gender—just as the angels are."</p> + +<p>"Then—be an angel!"</p> + +<p>I did my duty. The <i>musculus risorius</i> was moving already. A happy smile +played on her face, the pale face regained its colour, and then the +involuntary smile gave way to involuntary tears. After this she fell +asleep; so deep, so peaceful was her sleep that the <i>aponeurosis +plantaris</i> did not disturb her, although there are few or none who are +able to undergo the process of having the soles of their feet rubbed.</p> + +<p>She slept, and there she lay in all her sublime beauty, like some +wonderful marble statue, the image of a goddess. I took the coverlet, on +which the Vernöczy crest—a nymph rising out of a shell, holding apart +her long, golden hair—was embroidered, and covered up the fair sleeper, +folding the blanket well on the feet to prevent evil dreams. Then I let +down the curtains to shut out the lamplight, and left the room.</p> + +<p>On the thick, soft carpet, my step was noiseless, and Countess Flamma +was not aware of my presence. I entered the room in which she sat before +a little table, her palms clutched together, her pale, beautiful face +bent over a book. It seemed to be a very interesting book, for she was +entirely lost in the contents. I waited until she finished the page, but +she did not turn the leaf, but re-read the same page again and again. +"Countess!" I said, deferentially. She looked up and hastily closed the +book. The silver filigree cross on the purple velvet cover betrayed the +prayer-book. What prayer was that of which she did not tire, but read it +over and over repeatedly?</p> + +<p>She gazed at me in evident wonder, and her eyes sparkled like two +shining orbs. "You have returned?" she exclaimed, as if in doubt of my +bodily reality.</p> + +<p>"Countess Diodora is asleep," I said, "and will not wake until the +morning. Pray, take care not to disturb her."</p> + +<p>"And—you—you—did not remain—there?" pointing to the room I left.</p> + +<p>"I have done all I could, and my staying would be of no use to her. To +watch her sleep would do no good to her and be tiresome to me."</p> + +<p>From the shooting-box shouts of revelry reverberated up to us. "You are +going back to them?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"No. I have finished my business with Siegfried, and told him that I had +revoked my nomination."</p> + +<p>"You have really done it?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. I have also paid the election expenses up to date, and +thanked Siegfried for his good intentions. Henceforth we shall be +friendly neighbours, but not friends. Now give me leave to say +good-night to you. To-morrow morning I'll drive over to pay a +professional visit to Countess Diodora."</p> + +<p>"Don't go home now," she said, holding my hand; "the night is dark, and +something might happen to you. I have prepared a room for you here in +the château, with auntie's permission, and you will stay. Henceforth, +whenever you come to Vernöcze, you will come straight here, not to the +shooting-box."</p> + +<p>The blood rushed up to my face, and then back to my heart with a +throbbing sensation. A tingling noise like the sound of bells was in my +ears, and for a moment the whole universe seemed to have but one real +fixed star—the fair, pale face before me. "Will you stay?" she asked, +with a sweet smile and a pressure of her hand; and I ask, Is there on +earth a Cicero or a Demosthenes so eloquent as the pressure of a +woman's hand when it speaks?</p> + +<p>I thought I knew all. I had sounded the mystery of her warning to me, +and in that moment of overwhelming bliss I do not know what I did. Had I +kissed her hand? Had I said anything? given a promise or received one? I +do not know; but that my head was dizzy, and my heart filled with a +world of joy, that I remember.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_VIII" id="PART_II_VIII"></a>VIII.</h2> + +<h3>A BITING KISS.</h3> + + +<p>The valet conducted me to the room assigned to me, and carried my orders +to my coachman to unhitch the horses, and send up my necessaries. "Will +it please your honour to take some tea?" asked the valet.</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said I, "I won't take anything. But you will greatly oblige me +if you will send me a bowl with warm water; I want to shave."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, sir. The chambermaid will fetch it at once."</p> + +<p>I had resolved to shave. Good-bye to Chauvinism and national +peculiarity! I wanted a smooth, clean face, as I had had before I had +given way to vanity and political ambition. From this day on I ceased to +be a clay figure in the hands of juggling quacks. I was Dr. Dumany +again, and would remain so for life.</p> + +<p>As I sat before the mirror, looking at my own face, I could not repress +a smile. That beard of a few weeks' growth lent me an appearance that +was nearly akin to that of a gorilla. I took a pair of scissors and +clipped off the hair; then I prepared the soap and razor for shaving the +bristles. A woman, whom I took to be the chambermaid, set a bowl of +water before me, and, as I am not in the habit of looking closely at +chambermaids, I said, "Thank you," prepared the lather, and commenced +shaving.</p> + +<p>The woman was yet standing beside me, and, as I thought she was waiting +for orders, I said, without turning—</p> + +<p>"Much obliged, my dear; you need not wait. I shall not want anything +this evening."</p> + +<p>"May I not send you a cup of tea?"</p> + +<p>I started, and the razor in my hand gave a great jerk, happily not into +my face: the woman I had taken for a chambermaid was Cenni.</p> + +<p>"Oh," I said, "it is you!"</p> + +<p>She laughed, and said, with a mock obeisance, "Yes, sir." But, looking +at me in the mirror, she laughed again, and said—"Only go on. I am +waiting for the Byron face to appear again, when these stalks are swept +off. We can talk a little meanwhile."</p> + +<p>"Indeed? But, you see, there is one more forbidden subject between us. +There are four now: the step-ladder, the Sultan of Morocco, the +sea-dove, and now Father Paphuntius."</p> + +<p>"It's astonishing how sharp you are; almost as keen as your razor. Only +take care, you may cut your own skin!"</p> + +<p>"Not likely. My hand is skilled in using knives. Am I mistaken in +supposing that you have come to ask for secrecy on my part?"</p> + +<p>"Not altogether. That was a part of my motive in coming."</p> + +<p>"You magnanimously promised me a kiss for keeping the other secrets. +What will be my fee for this?"</p> + +<p>"A bite, and yet a kiss. It will hurt you, and yet it is meant as a +caress—like those biting kisses which some over-fond mothers bestow on +their little ones, and make them cry."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, I am ready to accept it, and shall do my best not to cry."</p> + +<p>"Don't be too sure of that. Take care of the blade in your hand! I half +think I ought to postpone my revelations, because as long as this +shaving process serves you as a pretext for making grimaces, I cannot +clearly detect the real impression my words are making on you. Would you +mind laying down that razor for a while, and leave off making faces and +holding the tip of your own nose?"</p> + +<p>"Impossible. I have heard of Janus having two different faces—one for +peace, smooth and smiling sweetly; the other for war, frowning and +threatening, and clothed with a grizzly beard. But I myself always show +an honest impartiality to friend or foe."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I daresay that you condemn and despise me, for, foolish and +conceited as you are, you scarcely know how to distinguish between +friend and foe. You think the misfortune that little pleasantry would +have brought upon you highly important, whereas, if carried out as +intended, it would have saved you from real harm and real degradation."</p> + +<p>"What? If I had played that game to the end and had caused you, the +pretended bride of another man, to elope with me, it would have been to +my advantage? Is that the quintessence of cynicism, or sublime +<i>naïveté?</i>"</p> + +<p>"No. It is plain truth, and you will find it out with a vengeance! Only +then it will be too late for repentance. You have been told that I lent +my aid to play a trick which would have made you the laughing-stock of +all your acquaintances. I tell you if you had only gone on, +unforewarned, you would have come out a hero and the master of them all. +Only then you would have known me as I truly am, and not as I choose to +appear. I have been slandered to you, and you think me a she-devil at +least, because I like a joke, and look everybody in the face, and not up +to heaven like a saint, or down to earth like a sinner. I also look like +a bold word, and am no more a hypocrite in words than I am in deeds; +and, first of all, I never make use of calumny to gain my own ends. I +know who has told you that I was a Satanella. Flamma, the—'angel.' Of +course, everybody who is acquainted with us will tell you that she <i>is</i> +an <i>angel</i>, and that I am a devil at least, because I have cat's-eyes, a +sharp tongue, and a quick temper, whereas she has the face of a Madonna, +the disposition of a nun, and—she knows how to keep her own counsel. +Her mouth is only opened when necessary to her own purposes; in such a +case she does not recoil from the basest slander. Do you think I did not +watch you two at that rose-bed? That I did not notice the glitter in +your eye, the excited shaking of your hands? And do you know why she did +it? Because the day before I had boldly told you to win Diodora. That +she could not forgive me, and do you know why? You remember your answer. +It was when you told us the tragic story of your friend and the moral, +that you were wary of the caprices of aristocratic heiresses. Now—she +thought—if this is so? Here is a girl without a penny of her own, with +a mock title which does not belong to her; if he disbelieves in +heiresses, he may believe in her, and that is a state of things not to +be endured. Let us spoil that little private game of Miss Nobody, +because we have a reason for wanting the light-headed, easily-deceived +fellow for ourselves. But do you know that reason? Can you guess it?"</p> + +<p>The knife was at my throat literally; but she laughed a short, harsh +laugh, and continued—</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha! You come from them. You have been called to the divinity to +admire her in her sublime loveliness, and you have treated her as clay, +and played the <i>rôle</i> of the Messiah, Who drove out the demons by the +touch of His hands. How she must despise you—nay, hate you—for that +proof of your preference for Psyche over Anadyomene! How that +sweet-winged creature, Psyche, must have pressed your hand, and looked +up to you with a sweet, promissory smile as you kissed her hand and +professed yourself her most obedient slave for ever after! Although you +ought to remember your friend's story well enough! When you told it, you +said, 'I am nothing but a runaway doctor, an expelled Member of +Parliament, and a Slav king'; now you shave your face and say, 'I am a +marvellously powerful man, and endowed with magical charms. I shall be a +king of hearts!'"</p> + +<p>My face was smooth and clean. I poured some <i>eau de Cologne</i> in the bowl +of water, dipped a sponge into it, and washed my face, drying it with a +soft towel. "Oh, you are quite handsome enough!" she said, mockingly; +"you can show your Byron face; 'I come, I see, I conquer,' is written on +your forehead. But now I am not jesting; and listen to me, or repent it +until your dying hour! If you succeed in winning the divinity you may be +a slave, but a cherished slave. You will not know the blessing of love, +but you will also be free of the pangs of jealousy and of shame. But +beware of the angel! I tell you, if that rose-scion which you both +inserted the other day germinates and comes to bloom, deadly despair +will be your lot, and the angel's rose will kill you with foul poison! +Beware, I say! Cut that scion while you have the opportunity, and then +go to the end of the world to be safe from the angel's revenge! +Remember, I have warned you!"</p> + +<p>She had gone to the door, but at the threshold she turned and said—"I +have given you the biting kiss I promised. Much good it may do you!"</p> + +<p>With that she went out, but her biting kiss had not hurt me. My heart +was full of hope and joy. This girl's impotent jealousy had convinced me +of the reality of my happiness. I was beloved, and I loved again; and +could the venomous tongue of a jealous woman incense me against an angel +like Flamma? True love is like pure gold, and the acid of calumny does +not destroy it, but gives new proof of its value. I loved Flamma, and +Flamma loved me. This was enough of bliss, enough to keep me all night +in a waking dream, in a transport of exquisite joy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_IX" id="PART_II_IX"></a>IX.</h2> + +<h3>WHO IS THE VISITOR?</h3> + + +<p>I waited impatiently for the daybreak. At the first dawn I was up and +dressed, and taking long strides on the garden path. How long would it +be until the ladies were up, and willing to receive me? Even the +servants were asleep yet. I strolled on aimlessly until I found myself +unexpectedly at the dairy, which was quite a grand establishment, where +twenty milch cows of the Aargau breed were milked daily, and a delicious +cheese manufactured. Siegfried had told me some time before that, as +soon as the railway was extended to the neighbouring town—a prospect +which was expected to be realised shortly—he would have a branch laid +on, at his own expense, to his dairy. Anyicska and Masinka, the two +bridesmaids of last evening, met me at the gate, and were very officious +in showing me in, and while Anyicska brought me a cup of excellent sweet +milk, Masinka brought some spongy rye bread, fresh from the oven, upon a +salver. Of course, this was offered as a bribe for my secrecy on the +topic of last night, and I promised them not to tell Countess Diodora +how they had been employed at the mock wedding. Poor things, why should +I betray them for obeying orders? So I graciously accepted my +hush-money, which was less subtle and more substantial than that offered +by the fair bride herself; and they told me that the revelry had lasted +almost until cock-crow. They all had capital fun. The Father had sung +highly amusing songs. The girls had been called back after my departure, +and then, with the other companions who were called in, the merry-making +had reached a very high pitch. Of course, Cenni had not returned to +them.</p> + +<p>As I gave them my promise of silence they thanked me, and in return they +told me that, with my smooth face, I was a much handsomer-looking fellow +than last night, with that beard on my cheeks and chin; and I was +conceited enough to pocket the compliment and believe in its truth.</p> + +<p>Breakfast was served to me in my room. The ladies were up, but Countess +Diodora was too weak to preside as usual at the breakfast-table. I +requested the honour of paying her a professional visit, and was told +that she would be glad to see the "doctor."</p> + +<p>The room in which she received me was a magnificent <i>salon</i>, with a +balcony in front. When I entered, the doors and windows were wide open; +the rays of the sun darted through the filmy lace curtains; it was a +"<i>tableau en plein air</i>" that met my eye. Countess Diodora, in a +mauve-coloured silk dressing-gown, rested on a settee. Before her was a +little Venetian mosaic table, and on it a tea-tray. Diodora seemed to be +in excellent spirits, and looked beautiful; the suffering of last night +had not told on her complexion the least bit. She wore a black lace +scarf to conceal her hair, which was still in the state in which I had +coiled and pinned it, except that a great ornamental tortoise-shell +comb, of yellow hue, had been thrust into it. Opposite to the countess, +on two embroidered stools, sat the two girls, engaged in finishing the +Japanese sunbird; and in the balcony door stood Siegfried, smoking a +cigarette, and blowing the smoke—in consideration of his aunt—out of +the door. I thought it would have been more considerate still if he had +not smoked at all. As I entered, the thought seemed to occur to him that +the business of smoking would be best despatched on the balcony, so he +escaped the difficulty of looking me in the face. Cenni also found a +pretext for retiring; she took the tea-tray from the little table and +left the room with it. Countess Diodora, Flamma, and myself remained in +the room. I asked the countess how she felt, and whether she had enjoyed +a peaceful sleep, and she answered, with rapture—</p> + +<p>"I slept deliciously, as I never have before since my childhood; and I +had such delightful dreams! I fancied I was a child again, and rambled +in the garden chasing butterflies. You have worked miracles, and +henceforth I shall believe in you as in an oracle. I revoke all I have +said against your profession and science, and confide myself entirely +into your hands. The first touch of your hand had a magic effect on me, +and afterward I felt as if you had taken my vile body of clay from me, +joint by joint, with the witchcraft of your fingers, and given me a new, +better, and more perfect form. I felt as if you had lent me wings, and +that now I could rise with you up above the clouds, captivated by your +mesmeric influence upon me. Moon and stars seemed to remain far below +me, and you were guiding me up to a strange world, full of unknown and +eternal bliss. Oh, why cannot this transport of exquisite pleasure last +for ever? Indeed, indeed, I do not know how to express the gratitude I +owe you!"</p> + +<p>Diodora said this to me in the presence of Flamma, and in the hearing of +Siegfried, who, on the balcony, could hear every word through the open +door; and, as she said it, her great Juno-like eyes rested on mine with +an expression of enthusiastic admiration. Yes! such might have been the +look which the goddess bestowed on poor, silly Ixion as she lured him on +and then—left a cloud in his arms.</p> + +<p>But do you know why that look failed to infect me as it had Ixion? +Because I had been inoculated against the infection by another look last +night—a look from the violet eyes of Flamma.</p> + +<p>I rose from my seat, and, throwing myself into an attitude befitting a +ceremonious announcement, I said—</p> + +<p>"Countess, to be of service to you is a happiness to me. Pray dispose of +me. If I can convert your pains into pleasures, I shall consider the +happy result as the highest reward. Your ladyship's gracious words at +this moment inspire me with boldness; so much so that I feel encouraged +to lay the hidden secret of my heart, the cherished wish of my life, in +your hands. If you deign to accept my confession and grant my desire, +you will bind me to your service for life, in attaching me to your +family."</p> + +<p>I shall never in life forget that proud, repellent lifting of her head +as I spoke. Diana might have looked so at Actæon, although, poor fellow, +he had never come so near to the virgin charms of that Olympian lady as +I to those of the queenly virgin before me on the preceding night. Her +forehead seemed to gain in height, her eyes retreated behind the lashes, +her lips were pressed together, and her nostrils dilated. In looking at +me her chin doubled, and she seemed the personification of haughty +disdain.</p> + +<p>"My dear doctor," she said, with proud emphasis on the "doctor," "it +seems you have misinterpreted my words. I have never thought of +encouraging you in desires such as you this moment expressed."</p> + +<p>I bent my head deeper still. "Dear countess, allow me to say that the +misconstruction is on your side. I did not intend the bold request which +you seem to impute to me; I simply beg leave to ask for the hand of your +niece."</p> + +<p>Her whole disposition seemed to change on hearing this, and she broke +into a long, ringing, scornful laugh—the laugh of offended vanity, of +angered pride; such a laugh as women use to mask their disappointment +and jealousy, and the rising of their temper.</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha! ha! Ah! ha! ha! The little Cenni! Ha! ha! So it is true, and I +have guessed right? Ha! ha! ha! And the little fool has run out; she +guessed the object of your visit. Ha! ha! ha! It's wonderful! My niece, +the little Cenni—Countess Cenni! Oh, what a perfect match! Ha! ha! ha!"</p> + +<p>I did not disturb the explosion of her mirth. As a physician I knew that +it impaired the health of a nervous woman if she was interrupted in her +vagaries. At the sound of her laughter Siegfried re-entered and asked, +"What is it now?"</p> + +<p>Diodora explained, laughing hysterically, that their dear, common +friend, Dr. Dumany, had just now asked for the hand of little Cenni.</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Siegfried, "serves him right. Let him have her, by all +means!"</p> + +<p>"I beg both your pardons," I said, "but it seems to me as if the +misunderstanding between us is becoming chronic. I very much admire, but +have no intention of marrying—Miss Klara."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" Like Semiramis she stood before me. "Who has told you that there +was such a person—a Miss Klara—existing in this house?"</p> + +<p>Retreat was impossible. I looked at Flamma, and she answered with an +encouraging nod; so I replied to the countess's imperious inquiries—</p> + +<p>"Lady Flamma."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was I," said Flamma, rising from her seat, and stepping to my +side.</p> + +<p>"You shall pay dear to me for this!" cried Siegfried, with a threatening +look; but I took her hand, and said—</p> + +<p>"Pray compose yourself. This lady stands under my protection. I have +done myself the honour to ask for her hand, and I wait for your +decision."</p> + +<p>"Show the Devil your finger, and he will take your hand; treat a peasant +with kindness, and he will think himself your equal," said he, with a +sneer.</p> + +<p>"Siegfried!" said Diodora, "I beg you not to forget that this is my +room, and that my guests are not to be insulted in my presence. This +affair does not concern you in the least."</p> + +<p>"But if he is impertinent?" growled he.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the count might be more careful in his choice of language," +said I, proudly, "if he would consider that a Dumany fought as a knight +and a soldier under the national tricolour at Mount Thabor, while the +first Vernöczy was still serving as a humble shepherd on the Verhovina."</p> + +<p>I was sorry for this as soon as I said it, for I had offended Flamma +also; but the bitter pill had the desired effect, inasmuch as the whole +aristocratic family regained their usual lymphatic composure.</p> + +<p>"Flamma," said Diodora, coldly, "have you given this gentleman the right +to claim your hand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then—I do not object," and she motioned with her hand. I understood +the gesture, and extended my hand to Flamma. She accepted it, and I +bowed and kissed her hand. That was our betrothal. Siegfried took out a +cigarette, lighted it, and blow the smoke at the chandelier.</p> + +<p>"I had other intentions concerning Flamma's future," said Diodora again, +"but, since her choice has fallen on you, I am satisfied—at least, I +do not object. Only I beg of you not to delay your nuptials. Have them +celebrated as soon as possible, for I intend to go to Heligoland—to try +the baths."</p> + +<p>To Heligoland!—that was the place I should have gone to, if I had +listened to good sense—and to Cenni.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," I said; "I am only too happy in the prospect. If you will +give me leave I shall hasten to Szepes-Váralja, to the bishop, for a +dispensation, and, as soon as I am in possession of that document, I +shall return, and we can have the ceremony performed the day after my +return."</p> + +<p>"Then I should also wish," said Diodora again, "that the wedding might +be altogether a simple family affair, with no strangers as witnesses."</p> + +<p>"Your ladyship expresses my own wishes."</p> + +<p>"If so, we might have the ceremony performed here, in our chapel."</p> + +<p>I remembered Father Paphuntius. "No, I'll have nothing to do with that +chapel."</p> + +<p>Siegfried smiled as he guessed the reason of my embarrassed silence, and +then Flamma smiled, and Diodora also. At last, as a smile has a soothing +effect on everybody, we all laughed. "No," said Diodora, "I was not +speaking of the park hermitage. We have a chapel here in the château, +and if we do not invite too many we shall have room enough."</p> + +<p>"I shall invite no one but a single witness as my best man."</p> + +<p>"But do not ask me to fill that position," said Siegfried; "for I am +invited to go buffalo-hunting in Volhynia, and shall start to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"There is something else," said Diodora. "After the wedding ceremony I +shall hand you over Flamma's dowry, which she has inherited from her +grandfather. It consists of a million of florins in good bonds."</p> + +<p>I bowed in silence, looking at Flamma.</p> + +<p>"No; this is a matter which concerns you as well as her, and you must +know that her grandfather laid down the condition that if she, guided by +whatever motive, should release herself from the bonds of the Catholic +religion, she should lose everything, and surrender the inheritance to +collateral relatives."</p> + +<p>"I cannot think that such an event could take place at any time."</p> + +<p>"Time will show."</p> + +<p>There was a long pause, and I thought best to take my leave. I turned +first to Flamma, who laid both her hands in mine, and, looking up to me, +asked me softly to return soon. Then Diodora languidly extended her hand +to me, and I bowed over it with cool, studied politeness, and as I +looked up I saw that Siegfried thought fit to shake my hand in honour of +the new relation between us. He even went so far as to embrace me. "God +bless you, my dear—cousin," he said, laughingly; but, thank God, he did +not think it necessary to kiss me!</p> + +<p>A week later Flamma and I were married. Everything went on in the +regular way. No objection, no obstacle was raised. The ceremony was +held in Vernöcze in the afternoon, and the same evening I was free to +take my bride home to Dumanyfalva. From one of the great portals I drove +with Flamma; from the other, Diodora and Cenni started on a trip to +Heligoland. Siegfried had gone to Volhynia six days before.</p> + +<p>If you think that with this marriage my story is at an end, you are +mistaken; it has hardly begun. It is a strange story, and not pleasant +to dwell on; but you shall judge for yourself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_X" id="PART_II_X"></a>X.</h2> + +<h3>AFTER THE WEDDING.</h3> + + +<p>So overwhelming was my happiness that I sometimes fancied that it was +all a dream, and that I should wake to find myself in my former +condition. In one short week I had had my old mansion refurnished in a +style worthy of the high-born and gently-reared bride who was to inhabit +it; and I thought what joy it would give me if she should walk through +the halls and chambers of her new home, and find everything arranged to +suit her own delicate and refined taste, and answering all her +requirements as to beauty and comfort.</p> + +<p>And then I had dreamt of the first supper we should eat at home at our +own table; each dish an inviting delicacy, deliciously prepared; and yet +we should hardly taste of it, our palates thirsting for different +feasts.</p> + +<p>And now this dream had become a reality, and I looked at my beloved, and +tried to catch a glance of her beautiful, downcast eyes. I had as yet +never enjoyed the privilege of a kiss from her lips, and I was longing +for one; but when I tried to draw her close to me, she whispered, +"Don't, we shall be observed by the servants!"</p> + +<p>At last the meal was over, and we rose from the table.</p> + +<p>"Pray lead me to your work-room. I have yet to hand you over my dowry."</p> + +<p>I laughed. "Time enough for that a week or more hence. No? Well, any day +you please; but not now." Still she persisted.</p> + +<p>"It has to be done this evening. I can't keep it any longer. You did not +accept of it from Diodora, so you must take it from me. It is no longer +my own—it is yours."</p> + +<p>"Dearest, there is no such distinction existing! Since this blessed +morning neither of us can claim possession of anything that is not +common to both alike. What is mine is all yours, and what is yours I +claim all for myself! For the marriage tie has made us one for ever!"</p> + +<p>"But pray come," she said again; "I have the chest with the securities +here with me, and I should like to have it all over."</p> + +<p>I sighed and obeyed. At the door of my study she left me for a moment, +returning instantly with a rosewood chest, richly ornamented with +silver. On one of her bracelets a tiny filigree key was dangling; with +this key she opened the chest, and then, stepping back, she said—</p> + +<p>"Convince yourself. The contents must amount to exactly one million of +florins."</p> + +<p>"I am quite convinced," I said, "and accept it as correct."</p> + +<p>"That you shall not. Let us take out everything, and reckon up the +amount." With that she took the papers out herself, and I had to sit +down, take slate and pencil, while she dictated to me the value of each +bond, its title, and, looking into every one, she satisfied herself that +the coupons were attached to it.</p> + +<p>In the abstract it may seem rather a pleasant occupation for a married +couple to reckon up a million of money as their joint property; but, in +this concrete instance, to spend the wedding-night in a study, making +pecuniary computation, is the pinnacle of pedantry.</p> + +<p>At last it was done; and, as I computed it, I made the total to be one +million and twenty-five thousand florins.</p> + +<p>"How is that possible?" she asked.</p> + +<p>I had to explain to her the fluctations of the market price in relation +to the nominal value, which was the basis of our computation.</p> + +<p>"Then let us look for the market-price of the bonds as it is at present. +I know it is to be found in every newspaper," and with that she took one +up from the table, looked for the exchange report, and dictated again, +"Hungarian real estate bonds, 85; Lower-Austrian, 88; Transylvanian, 82, +etc."</p> + +<p>This time we have thirty thousand florins less than the million.</p> + +<p>"How is that possible?" she asked again.</p> + +<p>"Dearest," said I, "let that be! What does it matter if—"</p> + +<p>"But it does matter. My grandfather left me exactly one million; neither +more nor less. So I must find out this balance of thirty thousand, +also."</p> + +<p>"Maybe, at the time when he bequeathed this money to you the price of +these securities was higher than at present," I suggested.</p> + +<p>"That is possible. But then there ought to be some list, or something +else relating to it. Let me look it over again."</p> + +<p>Great heavens! she took everything out again, and searched for a last +year's exchange list. A crumbled yellow newspaper clipping was found, +and then the whole process had to be repeated again; and now thank God, +the million came out even! I drew a great sigh of relief; but I had +triumphed too soon. She asked for pen and ink, and, as I got up from the +seat before the writing-desk, she sat down and wrote on each of the +bonds, deeds, obligations, mortgages, etc., her own name—"Flamma Maria +Dumany of Dumanyfalva, <i>née</i> Countess Vernöczy of Vranicsa," in a clear, +almost masculine hand.</p> + +<p>"What is the use of this, dearest?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"You know," she replied, "all these papers, as yet, bear the name of my +grandfather, and we could not realise upon them as they are. I must +first write my own name upon each."</p> + +<p>"But we do not want to realise on them."</p> + +<p>"That you don't know—at present."</p> + +<p>"But there would be time for this on some future day."</p> + +<p>"No. Pray compose yourself. I have to finish this now."</p> + +<p>And she did finish it. On two hundred different securities she wrote, in +bold, large letters, her full name, and I stood there and looked on in +helpless despair.</p> + +<p>At last there was an end of it. She put the papers in the chest again, +handed me the key, and begged me to lock everything up in the safe. I +obeyed, in the ardent hope that at last I had done with papers and +accounts.</p> + +<p>"There is something else I have to hand over to you," said Flamma, as I +stepped nearer; and, drawing from the pocket of her dress an envelope, +she handed me an official-looking document, fastened with tri-coloured +tape, with a large official seal upon it. It was a power of attorney +from Flamma Maria, Countess Vernöczy of Vranicsa, to her husband Dr. +Cornelius Dumany of Dumanyfalva, giving him full authority over her +dowry, consisting of real estate, bonds, etc., to the amount of one +million of florins, and authorising him to sell or retain or use the +aforesaid securities according to his own need or pleasure, and without +previous consultation with any person, his wife included.</p> + +<p>"Dearest," I said, "this is very generous of you; but there is no need +of any such document to give me proof of your confidence."</p> + +<p>"I did not intend it as such a proof."</p> + +<p>"Then what was your intention?"</p> + +<p>"To give you no cause to accuse me of meanness. You shall not say that I +left you on your wedding-day without a shilling in your pocket, as your +friend was left on the Isle of Wight."</p> + +<p>I gazed at her, at the pale face that was even paler than usual, and +cold and inanimate as a block of ice.</p> + +<p>"Flamma!" I cried, "what does it mean? How am I to take this?"</p> + +<p>"As a confession. That other man has made me—his—wife."</p> + +<p>"Flamma!"</p> + +<p>She stood there, pale, cold, statue-like, and her voice sounded like +that of an automaton. I felt like one stupefied, like one who had meant +to enter the gates of paradise and found himself in a sea of fire and +brimstone.</p> + +<p>"Who is the man?" I stammered.</p> + +<p>"Siegfried."</p> + +<p>"And why did he not marry you, if—"</p> + +<p>"Because he is married already. His wife lives in Egypt, and he cannot +get a legal divorce from her."</p> + +<p>"And why have you married me? For we are married. The ceremony of this +afternoon was real, not a comedy like that other?"</p> + +<p>"No; we are married. When that—misfortune—happened to me Siegfried +promised to marry me to some distinguished gentleman who might give me a +good name and an acceptable position, so that the marriage should need +no explanation."</p> + +<p>"When was that?"</p> + +<p>"Three months ago."</p> + +<p>"At the time I arrived from Vienna?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Was that the reason for his instantaneous proffer of friendship?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And for that reason I was nominated for Parliament?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but that also was the cause of your first failure. It was +Siegfried who bribed the witnesses against you. He wanted to crush your +pride, draw you closer to him, bring you into close connection with and +dependence upon our homes and us."</p> + +<p>"So it was all a conspiracy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And Cenni's mock-marriage and your betrayal of the scheme?"</p> + +<p>"Were meant to win your confidence."</p> + +<p>"So Cenni co-operated with you?"</p> + +<p>"She had to. At first she opposed it, and meant to win you for herself. +She is a poor girl, and dependent on Diodora's charity; and she had to +give way."</p> + +<p>"And Diodora?"</p> + +<p>"It was she who designed the whole plot. Her sickness that night was +simulated in order to bring you near me, and to encourage you to the +proposal."</p> + +<p>This whole discourse, so closely resembling a cross-examination, had +altogether the appearance of such an interrogatory as a magnetiser would +address to his subject; and the answers I received were given with the +plain, involuntary precision characteristic of hypnotised persons. She +stood there before me, with her hands clasped in each other; that +seraph-face of hers, that seemed the type of innocence and purity, +without a tinge of colour, although her dreadful confession was enough +to paint the cheeks of the most degraded woman with the colour of shame. +She seemed to have no bashfulness, no sense of shame, and to be wholly +incapable of realising her offence. And I had not believed in a Devil! +Here he was before me, in the shape of this fair woman, who had tempted +me with her angel's mien to sell my soul for her, and now she was +dragging me down with her to eternal damnation! And the other one had +warned me! She had told me with that "biting kiss" of hers that this +seeming angel was no angel, but a Devil to kill me body and soul. She +had told me that this fair rose was full of foul poison, and her warning +had filled me with vain conceit and enhanced my love for my executioner. +I saw it now. Cenni had meant to make that elopement real; and if I had +taken her she would have given me her love, as this one had given me her +accursed million. Money to pay for my honest name, money for my lost +life and happiness, money to bribe me to the endurance of these hellish +tortures!</p> + +<p>Impossible! I cannot believe that human nature can be so vile, so +miserably cunning and treacherous. This is some evil dream, some test, +perhaps, of the sincerity of my love and trust in her.</p> + +<p>"Flamma!" I said—"dearest! do not continue this ugly jest. I cannot +hear foul words come out of your pure mouth;" and I tried to take her +hand. But she drew back.</p> + +<p>"I have told you the truth," she said, with a repellent gesture.</p> + +<p>The truth! The truth! This shameful, horrid confession was the truth? +Like an idiot or a lunatic I stared, gazing before me, with scarcely a +thought in my stunned, aching head. A Calabrian dagger lay before me on +the table. I had taken it from the museum, and used it for +paper-cutting. Upon the steel blade was graven, in golden letters, +"<i>Buona notte</i>;" and "<i>Buona notte! buona notte</i>," I kept incoherently +murmuring.</p> + +<p>"Have you no other question to address to me?" she asked, in a tremulus +voice.</p> + +<p>I shook my head, and pointed to the door, and, like a wooden puppet, she +turned and disappeared through it. At the moment when her back was +turned something like a flame flashed through my brain and body. For an +instant I felt a mad impulse to rush after her, and with one bound bury +this two-edged knife in her heart. Yes, in her heart; but from behind, +just as they had stabbed me unawares, like assassins. My better self +kept me back. My Uncle Diogenes rose before me. "Never quarrel with, +never hurt a woman!" and my professional instinct was awakened. I should +then have destroyed two lives; with the guilty I should have slain the +innocent—a life which was in God's keeping as yet. Now the door closed +behind her, and I had let the only opportunity for a deadly revenge upon +the woman who had tricked me pass by neglected. Had I killed her at that +moment I should have washed off the stain she had brought on my name in +her own blood. "Look," I might have said, "she was led astray by another +man, and I have killed her; it was my right and my duty!" This I could +no longer do. She had escaped, and would live on safe and unharmed, and +I should be dead and buried alive. I remembered now how confused they +looked, Cenni and she, when I related to them the story of my friend, +and how I had prided myself on my own prudence and good sense! And the +trap was already laid for me, and I, who had thought myself safe from +every such danger, here was I, on my wedding night, left alone, +insulted, degraded as he was. No, not quite. He had had no money, and I +had received a million. I had been paid for my disgrace, bribed for my +infamy with money!</p> + +<p>Great Jehovah, Whose vengeance is mighty, lend me Thine ear! No! Thou +art too just and upright, I'll have nothing from Thee! Turn from me! I +will none of Thy advice, none of Thy heavenly patience and magnanimous +mercy! That marble-hearted woman had said to me, "If you deny God, He +will forgive you, for He is infinitely good and merciful; but if you +deny the Devil, he will be revenged on you!" and I had seen the devilish +light in their eyes. I had shuddered and shunned them, and yet I had +plunged headlong into the abyss which they had opened at my feet.</p> + +<p>But now they had conjured up the Devil before me, I felt that in my own +breast they had awakened a demon quite as cunning and wicked as their +hoofed and horned idol; and we would see whose teachings would prove +more destructive! Only, cool blood! Let me not betray myself; let me +consider how to act, and then keep my own counsel. Shall I go to +Volhynia after that man? Hold him to account, invite him to face the +muzzle of my pistol or the edge of my sword? He is a ruffian and a +notorious duellist. I am a bad shot and an indifferent fencer. He is +perfect in both; it is his profession. Naturally, he would kill me, and +where would be my revenge? Should I kill myself? Die the death of a +suicide, and be spoken of as a lunatic who had crazy fancies because his +fortune had turned his head? And what would be the result? Flamma would +perhaps faint away for a few seconds, have bad dreams for a week, wear +mourning for six months, and—would be none the worse for being a widow, +whereas I should be laughed at as a silly fool. Shall I sue for a legal +divorce? "<i>Si fuerit dolus?</i>" Had I not had enough of notoriety? Enough +of laughter, calumny, and ridicule? Must I drag my honest and hitherto +respected name through the mire, and become the laughing-stock of every +fop throughout the country? No, anything but that! Help me, thou worser +self, thou Devil in my own breast, help me to find some revenge worthy +of a Devil's teaching! Give me death, for it is death I crave; but such +a death as will give me peace and rest and honour in my grave, and to +those others remaining here on earth, shame, sorrow, and remorse! I am a +dead man from this accursed night forward, but I can, at least, choose +the manner of my corporal death, and woe to her who has driven me to the +choice!</p> + +<p>When the morning dawned my scheme was complete, and it was a scheme that +did honour to my special demon. I would die, but fame and glory should +write my epitaph; and dead, I should be remembered by this woman with +lifelong sorrow. She shall never be happy; and in remembering me, her +soul shall be filled with bitter repentance for the misfortune she +brought on me. She shall yearn for me, shed bitter tears for me, and +fret away her life in despair. This should be my revenge.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_XI" id="PART_II_XI"></a>XI.</h2> + +<h3>MY SCHEME.</h3> + + +<p>Next morning I said to my wife—"We cannot stay here. Our next year must +be spent in travelling in foreign parts, and we shall start for Paris in +three days. You had better make arrangements accordingly."</p> + +<p>"My arrangements are made, for I have not unpacked my things yet. So +everything is at your command," was her answer.</p> + +<p>I left her, and drove over to the county town to my solicitor, and told +him to borrow as much money on my property as he could possibly get from +the financial institutions. As a pretext I told him that I had the +intention of buying lands. He advised me to wait, for he had learned for +certain that in a year's time Siegfried would have to sell out. His +estates were mortgaged over and over, and matters were going very ill +with him. If, then, I should add to the million my wife had brought me, +the money I had and the money I could at any moment raise on my +property, I should be able to purchase the Vernöczy estates.</p> + +<p>This was a revelation that for a moment made me hold my breath. It would +be something to tear that water-nymph on the Vernöczy crest from over +the portals of the château into the mire, and erect the Dumany crest on +the front of the proud old castle. But that feeling passed, and with it +the temptation. It would be no revenge on her to let her live as +mistress on the estates of her forefathers, and, first of all, I craved +revenge on her. More than that scoundrel who had betrayed her and then +flung her to me, I hated her, Lilith, the tempting devil in the guise of +a seraph! But I said to the lawyer, "Very well"—that I would consider +about it, and not buy anything at present; but that he should raise the +money, all the same, and send it for me to Paris, as well as the funds I +had inherited. Perhaps I might have use for the money there—at any +rate, he must send it. Then I took the rosewood chest with my wife's +dowry, and sent it by mail, and under the usual guarantee, to a +well-known banking firm in Brussels as a deposit.</p> + +<p>Three days after, we were on our journey to Paris. I had taken the Swiss +route, for in those days it was the safest way to escape the obstacles +and annoyances which on the road through Germany were thrown in the way +of travellers to France. War was, so to speak, floating in the air, and +was each moment expected to break upon the two leading nations of the +Continent. At such a time the railroad termini are naturally the centres +of exciting scenes and noisy demonstrations; but the Swiss republic was +neutral, and the southern part of France was quiet. So we arrived in +Paris unmolested; and the great crowds in the boulevards, and the +multitude of detectives among the people, gave us the first notion that +something extraordinary was occurring.</p> + +<p>At first the demonstrations were all in favour of peace. Labourers in +blue blouses were marching up in compact masses on the Place de la +Concorde, carrying white flags and signs with the inscriptions "<i>À bas +la guerre</i>" and "<i>Vive la paix!</i>" Public speakers delivered long +orations on the horrors of war, and protested against the ambitious, +fame-hunting tyrants who drove their innocent, peace-loving subjects +into bloody combats to feed their own greed for glory and power. But +their speeches were all blown to the winds. Bellona is a fair woman, and +the more she is slandered to her admirers the more ardent and +impassioned is their love for her. In vain did the orators protest that +France was all for peace, and would not be dragged into the perils of +war. The soil was thirsting for blood, and the day after our arrival in +Paris the declaration of war which Napoleon had issued against Prussia +was publicly announced.</p> + +<p>I had been informed of these events long before they happened, and on +them my whole scheme was built. When the public enthusiasm was highest, +and the shouts "<i>À Berlin!</i>" loudest, when throngs of people crowded +through the streets, singing the "<i>Marseillaise</i>" and "<i>Le Départ</i>," I +mingled with them, bent on business.</p> + +<p>During our journey I had shown my wife all those polite little +attentions which are due to a bride on her wedding tour from her +husband. Now I was looking for a residence for her. I found a handsome, +palatial-looking house, exquisitely furnished, which had been hastily +abandoned by a German diplomat at the first rumour of the war, and was +now in the market, with its carriages and horses, servants, and +everything. The bargain was made, and, as I took my wife to her +temporary home, she seemed to be struck with the delicate consideration +which I showed her. I saw by her face that she wished to protest against +this excess of luxury, which was not in keeping with our means. But +perhaps something in the expression of my face warned her to be silent; +perhaps it occurred to her that as she had given me full power to do +what I pleased with her dowry, I had acquired the right to squander +it—if it suited my whims—on herself.</p> + +<p>When she was comfortably established I said to her—"I have offered my +services as an army physician to the French Government, and they have +been accepted. I have received my commission from the Duke of Palikao, +and shall start this evening for my destination."</p> + +<p>"If it is your wish, I cannot oppose it," was her answer. What a meek, +obedient wife she was! Whatever I said or did, it was, "Pray please +yourself. Whatever you think best will satisfy me." She never showed the +slightest increase of temper, never offered the least resistance to my +arrangements. She was the same quiet, pale, silent, sylph-like being as +she had been when I first knew her, and I wondered that she had not +changed. We had been married only two weeks, but to me it seemed as if +seven hard winters and seven fierce tropical summers had passed since +that time, and had taken the marrow from my bones and every spark of +hope and brightness from my soul.</p> + +<p>"I have left you forty thousand francs in the safe; they will last you +until the time of my return. You need not deny yourself anything you +wish," I said.</p> + +<p>"Thank you. I shall manage the money carefully, and shall not spend more +than is strictly necessary. I am of a saving disposition."</p> + +<p>These were our parting words, and we exchanged no others. I went to +H——'s banking-house to draw the money my solicitor had sent me, and +when they inquired whether I wanted checks or bills of exchange, I asked +for the latter, because, as I said, in time of war the Government might +bring in a <i>moratorium</i>.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> "What," they laughed, "the Napoleonic +Government bring in <i>moratorium?</i> <i>Tête carrée!</i>" The latter was meant +as a compliment for me.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> A governmental act of mercy in regard to the payment of +debts.</p></div> + +<p>By the next express train I went to Brussels, and then straight to the +banker to whom I had sent Flamma's million. I opened the chest in his +presence, and convinced him that it actually contained good +security—bonds and deeds for the sum of one million and twenty-five +thousand florins par—and asked him for an advance. The banker put +seventy-five per cent of the nominal value at my disposal, and I handed +him the power of attorney from my wife, and a written authorisation +permitting him to sell the securities without notice in the event of my +failure to repay the loan at a certain date.</p> + +<p>This money, with a part of the funds which my solicitor had sent me, +amounted to two millions of francs. With this sum I went to a well-known +and trustworthy stockbroker, and instructed him to speculate with the +whole amount in French Government bonds for a fall.</p> + +<p>"Do you intend to throw this money in the gutter?" said the man, eyeing +me critically.</p> + +<p>"That is my own business, I presume," said I, calmly.</p> + +<p>"Have you ever speculated on the Exchange before? Are you versed in +these manipulations?"</p> + +<p>"No! Never!"</p> + +<p>"Do you know the situation of the Money Market at present?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Then grant me leave to inform you by giving you a few data. All French +securities are rising in value. Paris is enthusiastic for the war. The +money-chests of the financial ring are open to the Government. The +French military force is fully equipped, ready to begin hostilities, and +stationed at the Rhone, whereas the Prussians are caught unprepared. +Bavaria will remain neutral, and the Danes are preparing to break into +Schleswig-Holstein. The sequel of the war can be foretold with such +certainty that a Paris financier offers, to any one who will accept it, +a wager of two hundred thousand francs against one hundred thousand that +on August 15 the French will march into Berlin."</p> + +<p>"Well, you may take up that wager, also, for me."</p> + +<p>The agent shrugged his shoulders, and accepted my offer for a bear +speculation. We agreed that from time to time we should communicate with +each other in cipher. Telegrams were to be forwarded through H——'s +Bank.</p> + +<p>From Brussels I returned to Paris, and procured all the necessary +surgical instruments at my own expense. Next I bought three waggons with +strong Trakene horses for my own transport and that of the invalids, +furnished myself with all utensils requisite for camp hospitals, and +then, under the protecting ensign of the Geneva Cross, I joined the +regiment of the French army in which I had enlisted as volunteer +camp-surgeon. My scheme was clear now. I was a dead man. I was seeking +Death in his own realm, where he reigned supreme, and it was impossible +not to find him there, if one really sought him. So I should die, but +not the death of a suicide, despised, misjudged, forgotten, but a death +on the field of honour and glory, as a hero and a martyr of science and +philanthropy. And that accursed money which was given me as a fee for my +disgrace would be blown to naught, as my body would be by a merciful +Krupp shell. When the news of my death reaches that woman in Paris, she +will try hard to discover what I have done with her fortune—and mine! +But let her search ever so thoroughly, she would find—nothing! I had +left no trace of my operations, nothing from which she could regain one +penny. Then she would be compelled to come down from her height, return +to Hungary, and live a lonely, miserable, poverty-stricken existence on +my Slav kingdom, which I had mortgaged and ruined. She would have to +struggle against poverty and want, and, by daily care and close economy, +would have to pay from her scanty crops the heavy debts I had incurred. +All day she would pine and toil, all night she would sigh and grieve. +And in her dreams she would call me back, and ask me where I had buried +the treasures. Her priests would fail to console her, and she would +become superstitious, and resort to clairvoyants and mediums for the +solution of the torturing mystery. But no prayer or curse will reach me, +no incantation of conjurers or spirit-rappers will call me back. The +dead do not return, either for promised kisses or for promised bites.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_XII" id="PART_II_XII"></a>XII.</h2> + +<h3>SEEKING FOR DEATH.</h3> + + +<p>To tell the truth, on my arrival at the camp I felt like an apprentice +in the presence of his masters. French surgery in general occupies a +foremost place. French camp-surgeons have acquired skill and experience +in their great military expeditions; there their studies receive the +finishing-touch, whereas the little skill and practice which I had came +entirely from the clinic and the dissecting-table.</p> + +<p>But, nevertheless, I was very cordially received by the old, experienced +masters of the profession, to whom I stated that I had come, as a +voluntary apprentice, to aid in the work of philanthropy as best I +could. My immediate superior was old Duval, who had served as +camp-surgeon at Sebastopol, and I succeeded in acquiring his good +graces. He asked me if I had ever been on a battle-field before, and I +answered, a little ashamed, that I had never had that opportunity. In +spite of my descent from the chivalrous Hungarian nation, I know the +sound of the cannon only from hearing the salutes fired on our King's +birthday, or other occasions equally peaceful.</p> + +<p>"It does not matter," said the old man, encouragingly. "You will get +over your first irritation at the noise, and then you will feel as much +at home and as safe as in your own study. There is not the least danger +for us. We hoist the Geneva flag with its red cross, and every civilised +foe respects that ensign. After the battle is over, and the enemy has +fled, beaten, shattered, and in disorder, we carry our ambulances to the +gory field, and take up the wounded, friend and foe alike. The severely +injured we attend to at once, dressing their wounds on the spot, and +then we place them all on our beds, and take them to our hospital-tents +for treatment."</p> + +<p>This had been the old man's practice in many wars. The French had +invariably been victors and masters of the field; the enemy had +retreated, and then the French had taken up the wounded and nursed them +faithfully, whether friend or foe. That a time could come when the +French would be driven from the field, and the enemy would take up the +wounded, was deemed preposterous and out of the question.</p> + +<p>We were attached to Marshal Douay's corps, but, unfortunately, I did not +receive the privilege of participating in the first battle at +Saarbrücken, where old Dr. Duval's experience was confirmed; the +Prussian advance was repulsed, and the victorious French gathered up the +wounded.</p> + +<p>The first wounded soldiers whom we treated were foes; one an Englishman, +the other a German from Baden. Both were officers in the German army. +Three daring officers from the German camp, on horseback and in full +uniform, had galloped into the heart of the French camp in broad +daylight; there they had cut down the sentinel, ordered food and drink, +taken notes as to the camp, the position and order of the forces, the +number of the batteries, etc., until at last the French awoke from their +illusion, and recognised them as foes. They retreated firing, cutting +their way through the French lines, killing two French officers, one of +whom, as he expires, finds strength enough to return the fire, and one +of the three, the Englishman, falls shot in the abdomen. A second, the +Badener, is hewn down from his horse; but the third escapes unhurt, and +cuts his way back to the German camp.</p> + +<p>This incident I regarded as a bad omen. The French were so confident, so +presumptuous, that they neglected the outpost service. Next day the +Germans attacked Marshal Douay at Weissenburg with three times his +force. This was the fault of the French, who ought to have attacked the +Germans with an overwhelming force, instead of waiting to be attacked by +them.</p> + +<p>The French fought heroically against the crushing superiority of the +Germans, vainly hoping that the report of the cannonade would attract +assistance from a corps stationed in the neighbourhood of the +battle-field; but in this heroic fight their lines were sadly decimated. +At first they fought in the village, then they were forced out by the +Germans, and had to defend themselves among the vineyards and the +thickets. The soil was saturated with blood, and the dead and wounded +were lying about in ditches, copses, and everywhere.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said I to Dr. Duval, "to-day the enemy will be master of the +field, and he will gather up the wounded, unless we prevent this by +picking them up while the fight lasts. Now, while the balls are flying +about, is our chance! Give me leave to go there with the ambulance."</p> + +<p>"With all my heart! Try it if you have a mind to."</p> + +<p>"If I had a mind to?" Why, of course, I had come for that; it was the +opportunity I had craved, the chance for the immortalising cannon-ball +to send me up to heaven and glory! So, taking the twelve men who were +given me as aids, I started off with the ambulance to the scene of the +battle.</p> + +<p>There is not the slightest braggadocio about this. Soldiers, even in the +hottest ardour of battle, will carefully avoid firing at the life-saving +corps, which is distinguished by the sign of the red cross. But it is +impossible to prevent an exploding shell from sending its splinters +among them, and on that eventful day I had occasion to watch the course +of these splinters.</p> + +<p>The firing did not cease for a moment. The roar of the artillery, the +cracking of the rifles created a deafening noise; the hoarse, grating +sounds from the French mitrailleuses, in particular, made a horrible +accompaniment to the dying groans of the wounded. But the French +mitrailleuses had found their match in the Krupp cannon. These fire no +balls, but some fiendish contrivances, longitudinal, cylindrical +projectiles, which explode as they alight, and scatter their deadly +fragments far and near.</p> + +<p>All the injured men whom we took from the field were wounded by these +splinters. As we toiled, the hellish projectiles were flying over our +heads; but my experienced aids worked with the coolness of the harvester +when he hastens to save his crops from the threatening rain. They knew +well that these messages of death were not sent to them, but to the +French artillery, which was opposing the advance of the Germans. All +this while I felt that indescribable intoxication which is sure to +overtake every novice. I stood there in the terrible realm of death, in +the presence of the awful Moloch, Hamoves, the angel with the scythe. I +felt a chill, a shudder, and I bowed down before the omnipotent Lord of +life and death, the Almighty Ruler of the universe.</p> + +<p>This short-lived sensation of terror every novice has to overcome. Nor +is anyone spared the humiliation of this experience. The eye can hardly +perceive anything of the effect of the shots, for the cannon-smoke +envelopes the surrounding objects in a thick cloud of fog. The Prussian +infantry were crouching down, and, while creeping and cringing thus, +they were pressing forward. Nothing but the smoke of their rifles +betrayed the level of their faces, and the French infantry were hidden +in ditches, behind bushes and trees, and firing from these +vantage-grounds. Only the Zouaves and the Turcos might now and then be +recognised by their red caps.</p> + +<p>While the artillery was pealing, the bugle was sounding the commands. +All at once a strange drumbeat was heard from beside us, and the +veteran sergeant at my elbow said—</p> + +<p>"Sir, we must get out of this with our beds at once. Cavalry is +advancing."</p> + +<p>"Cavalry of the enemy?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Brother and enemy is all one in such a case. If we are in their way +they will crush us under their horses' hoofs, without observing what +body we belong to."</p> + +<p>So we hastily picked up our beds with the wounded, and retreated with +all speed behind the line of battle. We had hardly reached security +when, from both sides, the cavalry advanced, both friends and enemies. +The earth shook with the stamping of the hoofs, "<i>Quadrupedante putrem +crepitu quatit ungula campum</i>."</p> + +<p>Avoiding our right wing, a regiment of Prussian hussars was galloping +towards us; a regiment of French chasseurs on horseback, under command +of the commander-in-chief, Marshal Douay, in person, was dashing from +the hills to meet them. The strong west wind was blowing clouds of dust +in the faces of the French, the backs of the Germans. All at once the +Prussian regiment divided itself, wheeling to right and left; behind +them a whole battery of artillery appeared, and a powerful discharge +saluted the chasseurs.</p> + +<p>The shells made a fearful gap in the French horsemen, but still they +dashed bravely on, shouting wildly, and giving the enemy's artillery no +time for a second shot. The Prussians wheeled swiftly, and hussars, +battery and all, fled before the lines of the French chasseurs. We +thought this wild retreat meant victory for the French, but we +discovered that it was only a ruse.</p> + +<p>When the clouds of dust had dispersed, we saw that on the battle-field +horses, struggling in deadly convulsions, and men in the throes of +death, were strewn thickly around. We hastened thither to save whom we +could, but, oh! what an awful sight it was! Man and beast piled in +confusion and crushing each other. The neighing of the wounded horse +mingled with the last prayer, or the death-groan, of its rider. Maddened +horses, with their dead or wounded riders hanging in the saddle, were +galloping on, while the less-injured soldiers, who had been thrown from +their slain horses, or were struggling to extricate themselves from +beneath them, were cursing and swearing, and invoking God and Devil for +vengeance on the Prussians.</p> + +<p>Among those who were fatally injured was Marshal Douay himself. As the +old sergeant drew him out from under his horse, the blood rushed from an +awful gash on his neck. "<i>O, mon général!</i>" sobbed the old soldier, +trying to close the gash with his pocket-handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry!" said the dying chief, hoarsely. "Go shout to them '<i>En +avant!</i>' in my place."</p> + +<p>It was a fatal command, this "<i>En avant!</i>" The French chasseurs had +pursued the German hussars to a hop plantation, which proved to be full +of concealed Prussian sharp-shooters. At this point the hussars +attacked the chasseurs in the rear, while the sharp-shooters received +them with a volley from their quick-firing rifles, and a general +onslaught was begun upon the brave corps. The chasseurs endeavoured to +break into the hop field, but such a plantation is a terrible +fortification, with its walls of vines fastened to other walls of stout +poles, and behind each a hidden foe with a quick-slaying weapon. The +whole fine corps of cavalry was destroyed then and there.</p> + +<p>The fall of the commander-in-chief, Marshal Douay, had decided the fate +of the battle. When finally, all too late, MacMahon arrived with his +troops, Douay's unfortunate command was shattered, and the battle of +Weissenburg lost.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_XIII" id="PART_II_XIII"></a>XIII.</h2> + +<h3>MY DISCHARGE.</h3> + + +<p>In spite of this terrible disaster, the retreat of the French troops was +accomplished in good order, and but few prisoners fell into the hands of +the Prussians; even those few were mostly Zouaves and Turcos, not real +French soldiers.</p> + +<p>That we had really been beaten was not believed by anybody. Everybody +was inspired by the conviction that the Weissenburg disaster was nothing +but an incident. A comparatively small defensive force had been attacked +by an overwhelmingly large force of Prussians, and was compelled to +retreat for the moment; but the fight had been only a trifling prologue +to the great battle to come, or else was part of a deep-laid plan which +would secure to us the final victory. So it had been at Solferino, when +Benedek had been allowed to attack and disperse the French-Italian +troops on their left wing, while at Solferino itself the Austrian army +was destroyed. So it would be here. It was supposed that this slight +victory was allowed to the Prussians, so as to divert their attention +from the movements of MacMahon and Bazaine, who were certain to crush +them all at their first encounter.</p> + +<p>Next day the Emperor himself and his young heir-apparent appeared among +us, presenting to each of those who had distinguished themselves at the +battle of the preceding day some badge of honour. At the recommendation +of old Dr. Duval, the Chevalier Cross of the Legion of Honour was pinned +to my breast, and the reporter of a Paris newspaper wrote a flourishing +item about the heroic and self-sacrificing Hungarian surgeon. When I +read it, I thought of that woman in Paris, and what she would think of +these reports. Perhaps she would say to herself, "So he is not +everywhere the same coward as he was here! He has some pluck, some +physical courage at least."</p> + +<p>But in vain did we wait for our revenge upon the Prussians. After +Weissenburg came Spicheren, then Wörth. Everywhere the German force was +stronger than the French, and it turned out that their artillery was +better than ours. MacMahon was cut off from Bazaine, and in the gigantic +battles at Bézonville and Gravelotte, Bazaine, with his force of one +hundred and fifty thousand men, was driven back into Metz. Strasburg was +besieged, and MacMahon cut off from the road to Paris.</p> + +<p>In every battle that was fought the Prussians remained masters of the +field, and it was always they who took charge of the wounded. Of course, +each corps was in ignorance as to the fate of the others, and if one was +beaten or repulsed, it was fully convinced that the other had meanwhile +been victorious elsewhere. The Paris newspapers and the Bourse supported +and increased that belief. One evening, after a forced march that very +much resembled a regular flight, we arrived at a certain town. I entered +a café, and being very curious to learn something of the present state +of the Money Market, I looked for a newspaper, and here it was:—"Paris. +Extraordinary Upward Movement! Rate of interest raised to 68-15, and +rising rapidly. News of great victories!"</p> + +<p>"Well," I thought, "my two millions are nicely exploded by this time." +Underneath I read in large letters, "The Prussians severely beaten by +MacMahon! The German Crown Prince captured and made prisoner by +MacMahon!"</p> + +<p>That very day we had been compelled to leave our entire baggage in the +enemy's hands and run for our lives, so to speak, and here they are +talking of the German Prince having been captured. That is how they +create upward movements on 'Change. But could this last? Surely such +lies would soon be exposed! How long was it possible to keep on in this +way?</p> + +<p>How long? For ever.</p> + +<p>After the massacre at Mars-la-Tour, MacMahon's forces were practically +scattered to the winds, running aimlessly about, and, when coming into +contact with the enemy, hardly thinking any longer of resistance. If a +Prussian Uhlan was seen far off on the road every man took to his heels. +The infantry threw down their rifles, the cuirassiers their helmets and +breastplates; the gunners cut the traces of the horses, jumped upon +their backs, and dashed on, without thinking of the fate of the rest. On +horseback, with a loaded revolver in hand, I had to keep guard at the +side of the ambulance carts, to keep the marauders away from the +wounded. Once I had a narrow escape from being captured by the +Bavarians. It was at a skirmish of artillery. A couple of French and a +couple of German pieces were in position. The French were quickly +disabled by the Germans, and even the head gunner was severely wounded. +I took him on my shoulders, and got him out of the line of fire. The +Bavarians sent another shrapnell shell after us, and, as the projectile +burst over our heads, I felt a blow on the leather rim of my képi. "A +shrapnel splinter!" I thought, scornfully: "could it not have hit me a +little more to the right, and have done with me?"</p> + +<p>After I had hastily placed the wounded officer on the waggon, I jumped +on horseback, and hastened after the flying troops. Upon a wooden bridge +that led over a shallow rivulet the soldiers were crowded. I did not +stop to consider, but dashed on with my waggons to the water. A +detachment of Bavarian hussars, guessing at my intention, was there to +prevent its execution. A young lieutenant of hussars was leading the +detachment, and, placing the muzzle of his revolver to my forehead, he +shouted: "<i>Rendez-vous: demande pardon!</i>"</p> + +<p>"At last!" I thought, "here is my opportunity for the glorious end. This +fellow is the man I want," and, turning my face full toward him, I +looked coolly into the barrel of his weapon. "Shoot, comrade!" I said. +"You'll get neither me, nor my charges, as long as I am alive."</p> + +<p>He gazed at me, as if scrutinising my features. "You are not French?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"I am a Hungarian," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Kornel, and no doubt about it!" he exclaimed, taking hold of my hand +and shaking it. "Don't you know me? I am Plessen." Sure enough, he was +my favourite chum from the University; but we had not seen each other +for years, and the last three months of camp-life had done more to +change a man's outward appearance than whole years at home. "Go on, +comrade," he said, with a farewell shake of the hand, "and may our next +meeting be a pleasanter one! Good-bye!" With that he let me take my +charges safely across the water and over the fields, avoiding the open +roads, until finally, as night fell, I reached with my patients the camp +at Chalons, and found my way to the camp hospital.</p> + +<p>What a cursed, vile task old Duval had had all day! Nothing but sore +heels and slight shrapnel scars in the rear!—and he embraced me and +kissed me all over for bringing him now three cart-loads of real wounded +men, with wounds got from sword-cuts, rifle-bullets, and gun-shots. +"What an invaluable, brave fellow you are!" he said to me, handling each +of my charges with the tenderness of a loving father; "but now you shall +share the privilege of dressing their wounds, and assist me in the +necessary operations." This was a privilege indeed, and for a while we +were very busy. When we had finished, he put his hand into his pocket +and said, "Now, my boy, I will also present you with something."</p> + +<p>I thought he meant to give me one of his utterly wretched cigars; but +no—it was a paper, and, on handing it over to me, Duval said, "It is +your discharge, my boy; you are free."</p> + +<p>"My discharge?" I asked, offended, "and why, pray? Have I not done more +than my duty? And if so, how have I merited this disgrace?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid that it was just your extraordinary ardour that brought it +on you; that's it, you have done more than your duty; and as you are a +foreigner, it is natural to ask, Why have you done it? Why have you +exposed your own life, contrary to custom, picking up the wounded where +the fight was the hottest and the balls flying thickest? True, you have +by this course saved the lives of many that would have bled to death, or +been otherwise lost; but it is a marvellous thing that you could do all +that and escape unhurt. The fact is, you have always come back with a +sound skin. Can you explain this miracle? Can you tell me, why you, a +foreigner, took the risk of such imminent danger for—Hecuba—that is, +for wounded French soldiers?"</p> + +<p>The old man was right. I could not explain it, for I could not tell him +that I had regarded their great national calamity as a means of carrying +out my petty suicidal designs and giving them a decent cloak. I never +thought of it before; but now I had to acknowledge that my conduct +looked suspicious to strangers. What will be their suspicions, I +thought, when they learn that I have talked German with a Prussian +officer, and shaken hands with him? Would this not give new matter for +their suspicions, and was it not natural in the vanquished to believe in +treachery?</p> + +<p>And then I thought what a self-conceited fool I had been to think I +could command God Mars to afford me a disguise for self-murder. "Why," +he said, "do you suppose these great national conflagrations are kindled +to cook your meals on? What do I care for your family quarrels? If you +are tired of life, take a rope and hang yourself on that willow, and +there is an end of you and your paltry complaints."</p> + +<p>As I stood there musing, old Duval turned my face around and +exclaimed—"Look! look! Your forehead is wounded."</p> + +<p>"A mere scratch with a shrapnel splinter," I said, bitterly, "not worth +plastering." I took from him the letter with my discharge, presented him +with my camp outfit, instruments, horses, etc., and kept nothing but one +of the waggons and a pair of horses for my journey homeward—that is, to +Paris. This was now the speediest way of travelling, for the railways +were all occupied with the transport of troops.</p> + +<p>Before I left Chalons, I entered a café and drank a cupful of some black +beverage that was called coffee, although I think it tasted of soot, and +read one of the Paris newspapers—the last that had arrived the same +day.</p> + +<p>A dazzling glare of light was visible through the windows, arising from +the valley. It was the burning camp. The Emperor had given orders to +burn all tents, since there was not time enough to strike them and carry +them off. So everything was left to be consumed by the flames, while the +men fled for their lives.</p> + +<p>The newspapers in the coffee-house were going from hand to hand, and +were eagerly devoured. At last I obtained one. I found the following +report in large letters—</p> + +<p>"The Prussian army scattered! Two hundred Krupp guns remaining as +captures in the hands of the French! Commander Moltke a prisoner! +Bismarck fatally wounded! Price of rentes, 1 franc 25."</p> + +<p>If this were true, one part of my scheme had succeeded. The two millions +were annihilated. But what of the other part? I was still alive, and +death would not come to me without disgrace and ridicule. What a +position to be in!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_XIV" id="PART_II_XIV"></a>XIV.</h2> + +<h3>HOME! SWEET HOME!</h3> + + +<p>It was damp, disagreeable, dirty weather when I arrived in Paris. It had +rained for the last few days, for usually after great battles stormy +weather sets in. The poets will have it that heaven washes away with +tears the blood spilt by man. Scientists say that the gas freed by the +combustion of so much gunpowder, together with the detonations at the +explosions, brings on the rain. The fact is that after all great battles +rain is sure to follow.</p> + +<p>As I alighted from the one-horsed vehicle that had brought me to the +door of my residence, my own porter asked me whom I was looking for at +this house? I answered "Myself," but found it difficult to convince him +that I was his master. At last he let me in, and rang the bell three +times as a signal that the master of the house had arrived.</p> + +<p>The valet met me at the ante-chamber, and stared at me with mouth and +eyes wide open; but no wonder. I must have cut a handsome figure, with, +that torn and perforated red képi on my head, and the dirty, +blood-smeared cotton handkerchief around my forehead. My face was +blackened by exposure to the sun and wind, and had a grizzly beard of +three months' growth upon it. My uniform was dirty and torn, and above +it was a rubber cloak with a hood, while on my feet were a pair of +rough, high top-boots, with spurs. By my side I had a sabre, a revolver, +and a bag for bread and bacon—not a very gentlemanly appearance, by any +means.</p> + +<p>"Is madame at home?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Madame is in her boudoir."</p> + +<p>"Then tell her, monsieur has come home, and afterward see that a fire is +kindled in my room. I am cold and damp."</p> + +<p>The valet was a very humane and obliging fellow. He asked me to step +into the <i>salon</i>, where a fire was burning already. I was forcibly +struck by this proof of democratic condescension. Fancy his allowing a +fellow with such a robber's look, who had unexpectedly intruded into the +house, to enter the luxurious, polished, gilded <i>salon</i> of—his own +wife!</p> + +<p>The fire was burning in the grate, and I went up to it to warm myself, +when the door opened, and, with quick steps, there entered—my wife. She +had entered hastily, but, on seeing me she faltered, and stood +motionless at the door.</p> + +<p>Well might she start at my strange appearance; but, if I looked dreadful +to her, her appearance was positively loathsome to me. I had not seen +her for three months, and she had visibly changed since then.</p> + +<p>To another man his wife looks charming in that condition, but to me my +wife seemed perfectly disgusting, horrid, abominable! I cannot find a +phrase to express the detestation that filled me as I looked at her.</p> + +<p>"You have come away from the camp?" she asked, in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"I have been discharged," I answered.</p> + +<p>"You? How could that be?"</p> + +<p>"They believed me to be a Prussian spy."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! I have read so much of your courage and daring, of the +self-sacrifice which made you risk your own life to save that of others. +The papers were full of praise of your magnanimous conduct."</p> + +<p>"That's it exactly. They think a respectable surgeon has no business to +risk his hide or exhibit sentiment. So they told me to pack off."</p> + +<p>"But you are wounded!" she cried out, as I took off my képi.</p> + +<p>"A mere scratch, and already closed. It's nothing." And, throwing the +rubber cloak from my shoulders, I stepped nearer to the gate.</p> + +<p>"You have been decorated!" she said, pointing to the "<i>légion +d'honneur</i>" on my breast.</p> + +<p>"Trash!" I said, tearing it off, and with an angry gesture throwing it +almost into the fire.</p> + +<p>She ran up to me, and held my hand. "No! no!" she said: "I shall not let +you! Leave it on your breast!" and, snatching it out of my hand, she +pinned it in its place again.</p> + +<p>"Well, let it be," I thought. At least there would be one spot on my +body that was honourable. But it was time to change the subject. For a +soldier coming home from the gory field of honour might speak to his +wife of his wounds and his deserts, but I? As I was no real soldier, so +my wound was no real wound, this badge of merit not really merited, +and—my wife—was not really my wife. So I changed the subject, and, +like a conscientious family physician, I questioned her about her +health. My questions were purely professional, and she gave her answers +in confidence, as patients usually answer the questions of their +<i>ordinarius</i>. I advised her as to the best way of avoiding +inconveniences connected with her present condition, and so on. After +the consultation was over, I asked her if no letters had arrived for me +during my absence.</p> + +<p>"Only one—in the last day or two, and that has been opened."</p> + +<p>"By whom?"</p> + +<p>"By the police, I think. For a short time back all letters coming from +foreign parts are opened by the police."</p> + +<p>"Have you also read the letter?"</p> + +<p>"I looked into it certainly; but I have not read it. It is written in +cipher."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" I thought, "the communication from my agent to say that the +millions have disappeared." But I did not show any impatience to get at +the contents of the letter. I listened politely as she related to me the +events of her life in my absence.</p> + +<p>After a while the valet announced that my room was ready for me, and +then she asked if I would not dine with her? "No, thank you!" said I, +with an inward shudder; "I am quite unfamiliar with your civilised +customs, and will thank you if you will permit me to retire to my room."</p> + +<p>In my room I found the letter upon my writing-desk. As I had expected, +it came from my agent in Brussels. The key to the cipher code was in my +pocket, rolled up in a cigarette; so that in case of my death on the +battle-field some soldier or nurse might smoke the cigarette and +unwittingly destroy this last clue to the mystery which surrounded my +money transactions. The letter ran as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"SIR,—The two millions which you entrusted to my care have doubled +themselves, and I hold four millions of francs for you. The decline +is continuous, and will hold good for a considerable time to come. +The Paris Bourse created an enormous rise by fictitious reports of +victories; but the decline was all the sharper in consequence. The +French are beaten everywhere, and if you will consent to let me +continue in the present course, I shall double your money again on +short sales."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Camp life had taught me to swear, and I was furious. Fate was mocking +me, tantalising me. Instead of taking from me the accursed money which I +had received in exchange for my life, my soul's salvation, and my +honour, it doubled that money, and threw it back at me. But I would see +if I could not get the better of blind fortune. I did not want that +money, and would have none of it.</p> + +<p>I sat down and wrote an answer on the spot I gave the agent fixed +instructions to speculate with the whole amount for a rise, and that +immediately. As soon as I had translated this into cipher, I gave it to +the valet to be posted.</p> + +<p>Then I took out the rough fare I had been accustomed to during my camp +life, the rye bread and bacon, and, slicing it up, I toasted it at the +grate fire. Surely a man who had thrown four millions out at the window +a few minutes before had a right to indulge in such luxuries.</p> + +<p>But the cognac which I had been used to drink I could not relish at +home. For three months I had drunk nothing but cognac. It is a powerful +stimulant, good for fever and ague, hunger and thirst, influenza-cold, +and, yes, the tremor before a battle. But here, at home, I wanted +something I could not get there—a glass of clear, fresh water.</p> + +<p>Oh, how I enjoyed it! How deliciously refreshing it was after so long a +craving! Home had still a great treasure to offer me—a glass of clear, +fresh water.</p> + +<p>What a precious, sweet, home it was!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_XV" id="PART_II_XV"></a>XV.</h2> + +<h3>VOX POPULI.</h3> + + +<p>The street was very noisy, and a tumult of loud voices, shouts, etc., +penetrated through the blinds, shutters, and doors into the room in +which I sat. I took that to be the normal condition of a Paris street, +for in large cities there is always some spectacle afoot to set the mob +shouting. But I was mistaken. The valet, whom I had sent to the +post-office to mail my letter to the broker at Brussels, entered +hastily, his face livid with fear.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur, save yourself!" he cried. "The mob is coming."</p> + +<p>"Coming where?"</p> + +<p>"To this hotel. A German diplomat lived here before you, and the people +think this is his house still. Someone has given them a hint, and they +have taken it up, and they are coming to storm and plunder the house. +The residences of two bankers have been demolished in this way, only +because their names had a German sound."</p> + +<p>"Let them alone," I said; "I will talk with their leaders. Now go to +madame, and tell her I beg she will retire to the winter-garden, and not +come out of it in any case or for any noise."</p> + +<p>The valet obeyed, and I girded on my sword again, put on my képi, and +went downstairs.</p> + +<p>The porter had locked the entrance, but a loud muttering and battering +noise was heard from the outside.</p> + +<p>"Open the door!" I said to the porter, and, sword in hand, I stepped out +What I beheld was the usual spectacle upon such occasions. A mob of all +classes; labourers in blouses, dandies in tall hats, college youths, +street boys, market women, and veiled "ladies" in flashy dresses and +with painted cheeks, all huddled pell-mell in picturesque disorder.</p> + +<p>The man who was battering at the door was a gigantic locksmith, with +hammer in hand, and I believe that the only object he had in his +battering operations was to make use of his hammer. As I appeared, those +who were near the door, retreated a little, and some of them called out, +"See, see! An officer of the army."</p> + +<p>"<i>Citoyens!</i>" said I, in a loud voice, "in this house there is a sick +woman, and whoever tries to break into this house will have his skull +split in two."</p> + +<p>Most of the <i>gommeux</i> retreated at these words, but the locksmith seemed +to think resistance a provocation to an attack. "Ho, ho!" said he, +beating his breast and swinging his hammer, inviting me to try the edge +of my sword on his skull, while around him sticks and umbrellas were +upraised against me with threatening gestures of all sorts of people, +male and female.</p> + +<p>I had to make an end of this, and that was only possible by showing them +that I was not afraid of them, and, first of all, I had to silence that +burly smith by a smart cut on the hand that held the hammer. I had just +lifted my arm with the sword, when someone caught it from behind, +seizing tight hold of both hand and sword.</p> + +<p>It was Flamma.</p> + +<p>"What do you want here? Why did you come out?" I asked her.</p> + +<p>She stepped close to my side, and addressed the people. I could never +have believed that that tiny, silent, shell-mouth of hers could be +capable of such eloquence. "<i>Citoyens!</i>" she said, with a perfectly +dramatic intonation and gesture, "you are mistaken in this house and in +us. We are no Germans, no enemies, but Hungarians, and friends to the +French. Look at my husband! He has just arrived from the battlefield, +where he has served the French army. He has repeatedly risked his own +life to save that of your brethren. Look at his forehead! That wound +upon it he received in the service of your country! Look at his breast! +It is decorated with the star of the Legion of Honour! He—"</p> + +<p>I was furious. What business had this woman, who, in her heart of +hearts, despised me as an abject, greedy, dishonourable coward, a base +wretch, who had accepted the most degrading position on earth for a +money consideration—what business, said I, had she to speak fair of me +before this crowd?</p> + +<p>"Madame," I shouted, "go into the house! I do not want your speeches! +Let go my hand, I say! I want to drive this rabble away!" But she clung +tightly to me, and, seeing that I could not free myself of her, I +caught her up in my arms, and carried her to her room. There I threw her +upon her couch and said—"Don't move from this bed. You are trifling +with your life!"</p> + +<p>"Then stay here with me," she said, beseechingly; "don't go back among +them!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, I am able to protect and save you from a drunken mob, but +from an attack of convulsions I could not save you! This might cost you +your life."</p> + +<p>At this word I fancied I saw a smile of contempt on her lips, and it +occurred to me that she thought I feared for her life, because, in case +of her death, I should have to return her money. "I wish they would come +and tear me to pieces in her very presence," I thought, in the +bitterness of my heart; but, to my surprise, no one came. The next +minute or two furnished an explanation. I heard the sound of a bugle, +then the clatter of horse-hoofs; the Imperial Guard itself had cleared +the street of the mob. In a few minutes the shouts and threats were +silenced, and the crowd had moved on to other quarters. Immediately +afterward I heard voices in the <i>salon</i>, and, telling the woman to keep +quiet and not stir, I entered the <i>salon</i>.</p> + +<p>A police officer was talking with the valet. I thanked him for ridding +me of my unpleasant visitors, who would undoubtedly have done harm to +the furniture of the house, if not to our persons.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is past," said he, "but there is something else amiss; and I +may tell you at once, sir, something that is very serious!"</p> + +<p>"Serious to me?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the police have certain knowledge of the fact that you keep up a +cipher correspondence with somebody in Brussels. You have received a +letter a day or two ago."</p> + +<p>"I know it. The letter had been opened by the police."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. You have answered that letter, also in cipher, and the letter +was posted not quite an hour ago."</p> + +<p>"And the contents of this letter are already in the hands of the +police?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Will you have the kindness to give me the key to the cipher?"</p> + +<p>"Sir," said I, "you know well that every correspondence has secrets +which cannot be disclosed to a stranger!"</p> + +<p>"I assure you that the Police Department is just as silent with respect +to the secrets that are entrusted to it, as the tongueless stone lions +on St. Mark's Square in Venice."</p> + +<p>"And what will be the consequence if I refuse to give you the key?"</p> + +<p>"If they offer to shoot me," I thought, "I will not tell."</p> + +<p>"If you refuse, you will be conducted to the Belgian frontier without a +moment's delay."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you," I thought; "I'll have none of that."</p> + +<p>So I invited him into my room, and together we solved the contents of +both letters.</p> + +<p>The first was that of the agent, the second was my answer, which +consisted of the following words:—</p> + +<p>"The French will be victorious; invest my whole fortune, all the money +you hold of mine, in buying for a rise."</p> + +<p>The tears rushed down the cheeks of the police officer. That a foreigner +had so much confidence in the French cause as to stake his whole fortune +on it was completely overpowering to him. He pressed my hands in silent +acknowledgment, when I could have laughed in his face, and was silently +applauding myself on the comedy I had played.</p> + +<p>"It is all right, sir," said he, taking his leave; "but since you are a +true friend of the French, let me give you a bit of honest advice. Don't +stay in Paris beyond to-day at the utmost. To-day we command; to-morrow, +God knows who may fill our place. Go to-day, while you are free to go; +to-morrow it is possible that I shall follow your example."</p> + +<p>I thanked him heartily, and gave him my passport for revision. In an +hour the passport was returned to me in proper order, and at daybreak we +were sitting in a railway carriage. My wife confessed that she felt very +happy in being able to leave Paris; she had been very uncomfortable and +ill at ease there.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_XVI" id="PART_II_XVI"></a>XVI.</h2> + +<h3>DAME FORTUNE.</h3> + + +<p>It took us two whole days to reach Brussels. All the railway trains were +crowded with soldiers and refugees fleeing from Paris, and at every +station there was some delay. Special trains had to be waited for, and +at every town the passengers had to leave the carriage, show their +passports, answer all questions, and open all trunks and valises for +examination by the police.</p> + +<p>For me this exasperating procedure was rendered more difficult still. +The wound on my forehead betrayed me for a soldier of some sort, and a +strict command of General Trochu expressly forbade soldiers to leave the +country. Of course, I had my discharge; but, when I showed the document, +it took them always a good while to consider which command of General +Trochu should be respected—the one which bade me go, or the other which +directed me to stay.</p> + +<p>At the border I was detained for exactly four hours. Again my luggage +was searched; again I had to convince them that I was no runaway +soldier, no foreign spy, but a lawfully-discharged volunteer +camp-surgeon of foreign birth; and I had to give my word of honour that +the lady with me was really and legally my own wife.</p> + +<p>When we finally arrived at Brussels, late at night, we could hardly find +a lodging. All the hotels were crowded to the doors, and only with +difficulty, and by the aid of a very liberal tip, was I enabled to +procure a back room on the third storey. I took my wife to the elevator, +to be carried to the room, gave orders for her supper, etc., and went +down to the café to drink a glass of hot punch.</p> + +<p>The place was crowded to suffocation, in spite of the lateness of the +hour. Every newspaper was being read by five or six readers at once. +Something very important seemed to have happened, but the noise was so +deafening that it was utterly impossible to catch a word of the news.</p> + +<p>I begged the waiter to let me have one of the papers.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, sir," he said, smilingly; "these are all afternoon +editions. If you will wait till your punch is ready, I will manage to +get you a fresh paper moist from the press."</p> + +<p>I rewarded his good offices with the expected money gratification, and +some minutes later the hot punch and a moist copy of the morning +<i>Indépendance</i> were before me. The price of the copy was five francs.</p> + +<p>As an experienced reader of Continental newspapers, I began my reading +on the last page, devoted to the telegrams. I found one from Arlon, +stating that MacMahon's position was very good. He was posted behind +fortifications, which were stored with provisions for three hundred +thousand men. Yesterday's engagement had ended in a triumph for the +French.</p> + +<p>Another telegram came from Mézières, according to which yesterday's +battle had ended fatally for the French, who had been forced to the +Belgian frontier by the Prussians. The Emperor was with MacMahon. The +line of battle extended from Bazille to La Chapelle. Three thousand +French soldiers, with five hundred horses, had been driven across the +Belgian frontier, and had there surrendered.</p> + +<p>A gentleman sitting near me, evidently a Frenchman, politely begged me +to show him the telegrams. "Oh," said he, "these are old ones, brought +over from the evening papers. Let us look at the front page," and, +turning the leaves, he pointed to a few lines printed in large letters, +"Sedan, September 2, 8 p.m. MacMahon's army has surrendered and laid +down its arms. MacMahon is severely wounded, and General Wimpffen has +taken command in his place. The capitulation was signed by him. Napoleon +has personally surrendered to the Prussian King."</p> + +<p>The French gentleman had fallen from his chair in a swoon. He was +carried out into the fresh air to recover. This incident caused a +sensation in the room; everybody inquired for the cause of the swoon, +and I gave them the newspaper, which was eagerly devoured, until one +gentleman leaped upon a billiard-table and read the news aloud to all.</p> + +<p>I went up to my wife. She had thrown herself on the bed, without +undressing, for, as we had only this single apartment for both of us, +she could not undress before the stranger who was—her husband. I begged +her pardon for disturbing her, but I thought she would be interested in +the important news. Of course she was! All the sleep was gone from her +eyes in a moment. She sprang from the bed and came to me. "See how kind +Providence has been!" she said. "If you had not been dismissed, you also +would be a prisoner now. So what seemed an evil has been converted into +a benefit."</p> + +<p>At the first moment I felt inclined to share her views. For, indeed, it +would have been a ludicrous end to my little private tragedy if, instead +of the coveted death, I had experienced a few years of tedious inaction +at Mainz or some other German fortress.</p> + +<p>So that, considered from this point of view, I had indeed had a +fortunate escape, and out of the fancied evil had come a certain good. +"But if evil may change into good," I thought, "I wonder who can repair +my marred and blackened life? Is there any Providence powerful enough to +convert this evil into a benefit?"</p> + +<p>I gazed at Flamma, and wondered how she would look if I were to tell her +that her million had ceased to exist, that this catastrophe, which had +dragged a monarch from his throne into captivity, had also cost her her +sole fortune, the inheritance of her grandfather, and had thrown her +upon my mercy? "Good-night!" I said to her. "Try to sleep a little. I +will go and look for some private lodgings. We cannot stay in this +place." She thanked me, and, if I remember rightly, she extended her +hand to me; but I contrived to avoid taking it, and left her to her own +company.</p> + +<p>I descended again to the café. Nobody was there except the staff of +waiters. Everybody else had gone to the Bourse, I learned. 'Change open +at four o'clock in the morning! is not that extraordinary? Certainly, +but so are the events which are occurring. The spacious halls and +corridors of the Exchange were brilliantly lighted all night long, and +were filled with a throng of brokers and "matadores." Curiosity took me +there also; but I had literally to fight my way in. My fists had to +procure admission for me. In the large hall this lighting for room was +general; and as for the noise and uproar of voices, the blockade of +Spicheren must have been a symphony in comparison.</p> + +<p>I promised twenty francs to one of the servants of the establishment if +he would fetch me Mr. X., my broker, from the <i>coulisses</i>. I handed him +my card. It was an hour before the good man could emerge from the crowd. +His silk hat was crushed, his coat-collar torn off, the bow of his +necktie was dangling at the back of his neck, and his waistcoat had lost +four buttons; but he was radiant. As he caught sight of me, he ran to +meet me, shook my hands, embraced and kissed me, and fairly went into +ecstasies over me. Was this man mad?</p> + +<p>"Sir!" he cried. "My friend! my hero! You are a sage, a prophet! At the +news of the catastrophe of Sedan a tremendous rise has set in on +'Change!"</p> + +<p>"Rise!" I exclaimed, astonished.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, and what a rise! If the French had simply been vanquished we +should have had a tremendous fall, but at the news of the surrender +values are rising enormously. You are a wonderful man! How you have +scented it all! Let me go back to make millions! Your money is all +invested for a rise. To-day we shall take lunch at Tortoni's at twelve +o'clock sharp. I shall bring you home eight millions. Let me go, or I +shall leave the lappet of my coat in your hands."</p> + +<p>With that he ran back to the orgies around the golden calf. I let myself +go with a crowd that was thronging out—possibly the beaten +speculators—and was borne by the current into the street. I was +completely stunned at the results of my determined efforts to lose that +money, and felt for my head to make sure that I was not dreaming. Could +all this be true? Could ice be kindled into flames, and could flames +freeze to ice? How was I to believe that all my curses could be turned +into blessings, and that out of misfortune Fortune herself should arise?</p> + +<p>By this time the morning had dawned, and I went into a café to get some +tea. With the tray a newspaper was laid before me, and, sure enough, I +read—"General rise! French values mounting and greatly in demand! Money +in abundance!"</p> + +<p>So it was no dream.</p> + +<p>Until noon I sauntered about in order to kill time. At precisely twelve +o'clock I was at Tortoni's, and found my broker already expecting me. He +had ordered lunch: Four dozen oysters, woodcock, artichokes, +giardinetto. Wines: Chablis, Chateau Lafitte, Grand Vin Mumm, etc.</p> + +<p>"Wonderful victory!" said he, taking my hand. "<i>Écrasant</i> defeat of the +<i>contremine!</i> Sir, Napoleon has capitulated before King William; I +capitulate before you. You know more of the psychology of the Money +Market than I!"</p> + +<p>I to know the psychology of the Money Market? was not that excessively +absurd?</p> + +<p>"It is easy to understand," he continued. "You are home from the French +camp. Evidently you have not gone there to plaster sores or set broken +bones, but to have an opportunity for watching the development of the +situation, and the movements of the forces. Oh if all 'matadores' would +only be as prudent! But this course requires pluck, courage, and perfect +coolness. You already knew that MacMahon was hemmed in, and that the +Emperor shared the same fate. It was easy to foresee the ensuing +surrender, and you made use of the means provided for your escape. You +gave me instructions; I have carried out your order, and here is the +result. Four millions are the prize of this one day."</p> + +<p>"But how is it possible?" asked I.</p> + +<p>"Pray don't try to play the simpleton before me. Of course, you had +calculated that, with the capitulation and the capture of the Emperor, +the war was at an end. The French have no organised armies left, and +are, therefore, compelled to make peace. The Stock Market anticipates +the conclusion of peace, and forces up French securities. What shall I +do with your eight millions?"</p> + +<p>What? I hardly knew. Throw it into the ocean; it would come back to me, +like the ring of Polycrates. Nay, not like that, for it kept hatching, +and came back like a hen with a brood of chickens—that is, millions. +This odious money sticks to me like so many burs, and I cannot get rid +of it. Fortune is called a goddess. To me she was a "She-devil;" her +gold was choking me.</p> + +<p>"Did you come from Paris alone?" asked the broker.</p> + +<p>"No; my wife is with me."</p> + +<p>"Have you found comfortable quarters to live in?"</p> + +<p>"A back room on the third storey. I am looking for private lodgings."</p> + +<p>"Well, I will tell you something. A banker, who was on the bear side, +offers his residence for sale, in order to pay his differences. His +house cost him four hundred thousand francs. We could get it for half +the amount, and you could move into it at once."</p> + +<p>"Take it, by all means."</p> + +<p>"But what shall I do with the balance of the money? This glass to the +new landlord!"</p> + +<p>We clinked glasses. What a powerful agent money was! Only last night I +could not find a room to sleep in, and now I was practically the owner +of a palatial residence in Brussels. But what should I do with the rest, +the seven million eight hundred thousand francs?</p> + +<p>"Speculate with the whole amount for a fall," said I to the agent, +determined that this time the hateful money should be lost for ever. Mr. +X. set down his glass and looked at me. "I beg pardon, sir, but—perhaps +you are not accustomed to spirits? The champagne was rather strong."</p> + +<p>"Wine does not affect me. I am quite sober."</p> + +<p>"Then, in all politeness, I would advise you to consult a specialist; +perhaps you are suffering from the mania of contradiction or some other +mental disease."</p> + +<p>"This is my own affair. You do with my money as I instruct you. Put all +the money left, after paying for the house, on a bear speculation at one +week."</p> + +<p>"Then, pray, give me permission to take out my percentage first; for in +this transaction I take no share. You have pulled out the devil's +forelock and shaved off his beard, but he won't give you his hoof and +tail also. Give me my percentage, and handle your money yourself."</p> + +<p>"Your percentage you may take when you please, but with the rest do as I +tell you; speculate for a fall at the end of a week. I have no time to +go on 'Change, as I must be off to Paris."</p> + +<p>"Paris? You are going back to Paris? Sir, your reason must be disturbed. +Why, revolution has broken out in Paris. Don't you know of it?"</p> + +<p>"That's exactly the reason for my going. My wife has left her whole +wardrobe, her silver, jewellery, pictures, and tapestry in Paris, and I +am going to take everything away before it is destroyed."</p> + +<p>"But, sir, this is foolish! Here are eight millions. Surely you can buy +a new wardrobe and jewellery for your wife with this money without +carrying your head to the guillotine."</p> + +<p>"Will you allow me to judge of my own affairs?" said I, angrily. "I must +know best what I ought to do."</p> + +<p>After that my man put the tip of his forefinger to his nose, and +exclaimed: "Oh, so!"</p> + +<p>I looked at him with tight-shut lips, giving vent to a slight "H—m, +h—m!"</p> + +<p>At that he raised his eyebrows, lifted his fat finger with a warning +gesture, and smiled mischievously; whereat I shrugged my shoulders, and +the mutual understanding was perfect. Of course, it was natural in the +owner of eight millions to have, besides his legal wife, another illegal +wife, or mistress; and as in case of danger an honest man's first duty +is to save his own wife, I had of course done so; but, like a real +gentleman, I was returning to the place of danger in order to save my +other wife as well.</p> + +<p>That was the meaning of the mysterious winking and smiling and hemming, +and I did not think it worth my while to undeceive him. Let him believe +whatever he likes; what do I care for his opinion?</p> + +<p>The same day I obtained possession of the house, and took my wife to it. +She was greatly astonished at its splendour, but ventured no remark. I +asked her if she had any money left out of the forty thousand francs, +and she answered that she had only spent half of it. That showed good +economy. Not to spend more than twenty thousand francs in three months +was the quintessence of thriftiness. I told her that the house was at +her disposal, and that she might arrange everything to please herself. I +was compelled to leave her on urgent business. She did not ask me what +business I had, nor where it would take me. Neither would she persuade +me to stay.</p> + +<p>I reached Paris much sooner than I had expected. As soon as I had passed +the frontier I had donned my uniform again, and was very wise in doing +so. All those who had hindered me when leaving the country were now +very officious in assisting me to reach Paris. The sight of my uniform, +my wounded forehead, and the <i>légion d'honneur</i> was enough to put them +entirely at my service. In Paris I was surprised at the change of the +appearance in the public streets. Over every porch, on every house, a +large tricolour flag was displayed; the military embraced and +fraternised with the people. I saw the Imperial Guard hacking at the +imperial eagle over the barrack-gate with their swords—the same swords +which they used two days before to drive off and disperse the mob at my +door.</p> + +<p>My own residence had undergone a similar change. Like the caterpillar +which has developed into a gay butterfly, it had put on wings, and from +the balcony, above the porch, on all sides, great tricolours were +hanging, with the legend "<i>Vive la République!</i>"</p> + +<p>So it was already a Republic, and only the other day it had been an +Empire. And all this had occurred without the shedding of a single drop +of blood, without the least disorder! It was just as though a handsome +widow should remarry the day after her husband's funeral. The new +Government was already established, and the satisfaction over this +performance was enough to sweeten the pang caused by the catastrophe of +Sedan.</p> + +<p>In the streets no policeman, no detective could be seen. The National +Guard watched over the public order, and the foreigners, who, under +Palikao's reign, had been the victims of so many molestations, were left +in peace. Yes, large placards, in big red letters, invited all +foreigners who were true friends of liberty to enter the volunteer +corps, which was called into existence for defence against the tyrants. +It was enough to show some exotic trait of dress or appearance to be +literally embraced on the streets by fair ladies.</p> + +<p>So it was in vain that I had come to this place to get rid of my head. +There was no guillotine, no barricade, not the slightest opportunity for +cheap martyrdom; and as for the volunteer legion, why, that was a +veritable life insurance corps.</p> + +<p>I could not get myself killed. But my millions had another chance of +annihilation. The rise was lasting for days, and all Europe believed in +a restoration of peace.</p> + +<p>On the sixth day, the limit I had given to my broker, appeared that +manifesto of the French Republican Government which proclaimed that the +war would be continued until all resources were exhausted. France would +never rest until she had driven her enemy from her soil.</p> + +<p>This proclamation was a deathblow to all hopes of peace, and destroyed +all calculations and expectations. That a tremendous decline in values +was the consequence will be readily understood.</p> + +<p>So my Hell-born millions had hatched again, and returned to me doubled. +Dame Fortuna insulted me! She was a demon—a Devil!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II_XVII" id="PART_II_XVII"></a>XVII.</h2> + +<h3>LIGHT AT LAST.</h3> + + +<p>At this I gave up that Quixotic fight against windmills, and said to my +own familiar spirit, my little inward devil—</p> + +<p>"My dear little demon, I find you are a much more cunning little devil +than I thought you to be, and I shall begin to listen to your advice. +What the devil shall I kill myself for, when I have got sixteen million +francs of ready money? Is there any need of my final surrender to you as +yet? First, I'll see what services you'll do me still. The money I got +by following your suggestions, but the suicide speculation was a +failure. Evidently there are other devils more potent than you. Now let +me see. If I judge correctly, I can spare you altogether, dismiss you +with good references, such as, 'A fine little demon, very cunning, very +devoted and submissive.' It would be easy for you to find another +master, and I could well spare you. Why, with sixteen millions there is +no need of my being unhappy, and giving way to despair; with so much +ready money, I have Fortune at my command. She will come at my bidding. +If every husband in France who is not beloved by his wife were to enlist +against the Prussians, daring Death and Devil alike, the Prussians would +very soon find their way home again. And if she has insulted, betrayed +me with another man before she became my wife, I can revenge myself now, +and why not? When Father Adam quarrelled with Mother Eve, he found +consolation with Lilith, the dark-skinned Hashor, the almond-eyed +Anaitio, the silent Mylitta. So, my dear little demon, I can't see of +what use you can be to me any longer. I am tired of going death-hunting, +and not fool enough to play a game of shuttlecock with a lump of gold. +Then what's the use of my keeping you?"</p> + +<p>"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" laughed he. "Fancy your sending me off when you stand +most in need of me and my advice. My dear boy, you were never so much my +own as at this moment. You are tired of death-hunting? Very good; live +on, drink deep of the fountain of life, drain it to the dregs, and much +good may it do you! You have wealth and therefore power, and you will +become just such a dare-devil villain as the man who has caused all this +pother. You will betray innocent, confiding maidens, deceive loving +friends, ruin families, and beget unfortunate, ill-starred beings. You +will become a heartless libertine, a selfish sensualist. You will mock +at God, mock at the Devil; and when you are all alone, you will dread +and despise yourself. You will do evil for evil's sake, and rejoice at +the despair of your brethren. Oh, you can't spare me now, my boy; you +want me more than ever!"</p> + +<p>I did not enter the Franc-tireur legion, although its captain was a +countryman of mine, a chivalrous Hungarian: if I am not mistaken, his +name was Varjassy. I returned to Brussels, and remained there.</p> + +<p>My broker, Mr. X., came to me, quite submissive, doing penance in +sackcloth and ashes. Again he called me sage and prophet, and finally +asked me, "What next?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," I said. "We will not go near the Bourse again. We have made +our booty; don't let us run the risk of losing it."</p> + +<p>"You are certainly wise!" he said, admiringly. He took his own +proportion, and bought property with it. The last time I had heard of +him he had established a great dairy and was manufacturing an excellent +cheese.</p> + +<p>I had become a fashionable dandy. I was a member of the Jockey Club, was +seen at the theatres and at all fashionable places of public +entertainment. I opened my palatial residence to fashionable society, +and took my wife to all social amusements fitted to her station in life. +I took pride in the elegance of her toilette, and was jealously careful +that her equipage should outshine all others.</p> + +<p>Still I cannot say that this constant, tender consideration and +attention to her affected her in my favour. On the contrary, I found +that of late her glance had a troubled, I may say, puzzled expression +when it rested on me; and when occasionally I entered her room +unexpectedly I saw that she hastily concealed in a drawer a small and +well-worn note-book. I supposed she was calculating what this expensive +rate of living might cost. If she only computed what I spent officially, +so to speak—that is to say, on herself and the household—she must have +made it some four hundred thousand francs. The income on her million of +florins would amount, at the utmost, to one hundred thousand francs, so +she must naturally have come to the conclusion that her securities were +scattered to the winds.</p> + +<p>At that time the rosewood chest with the bonds, in exactly the same +condition as when she had given them to me on our wedding night, was in +my own possession again, and locked up in my safe. It had been my first +care to take it home from the banking-house where it had been deposited. +I had repaid the amount of the loan, received the securities, and found +them all in excellent order.</p> + +<p>By this time the period of Flamma's confinement had arrived, and a son +was born. I had made her a proposition to postpone the christening for a +month, and only then to give our aristocratic family connections at home +information of the happy event. She consented, and by the time the +christening took place she had fully recovered her health and beauty, +or, rather, she had become more beautiful than ever; for, from a girlish +maiden, she had developed into a blooming woman.</p> + +<p>The little boy we christened William James. He was a well-formed, +healthy child, and I myself had conscientiously selected a nurse for +him.</p> + +<p>When at last no harm was to be feared from excitement, and Flamma's +health was fully established, I wrote her a line that I should like to +have some conversation with her on money matters that afternoon. She +wrote me in reply that I had anticipated her own wishes, and that she +would be ready to receive me.</p> + +<p>At the appointed time I carried the rosewood chest with her dowry to her +room. I found her engaged with the same worn-looking note-book that I +had already noticed, but this time she did not hide it upon my entrance. +She offered me a seat, but I set the chest on the table in front of her, +and, looking her in the face, I said—</p> + +<p>"Madame, to-day it is seven months since that eventful evening on which +you made me certain confidential disclosures. At that time I did not +make any remark on the subject, because the state of your health was +such that, in my capacity as a physician, conscientious scruples +prohibited me from creating in you any excitement which might prove +fatal to yourself and to another being. You will not refuse to bear +witness that I have paid you all the care and attention which your +condition required, and that I have done everything that was possible, +under the circumstances, to save you from emotions which might be +injurious. I have nursed you conscientiously, and omitted nothing which +I thought necessary to your health and that of your child. But now your +health is fully established, your child is christened, and I have given +him an honourable name and a good nurse, which is all that he requires +for the present. Now the time has come when I may express my real +sentiments to you. I shall even now forbear to reproach you. In this +whole baneful connection between us the fault has been mine alone. It +was my boundless vanity, my absurd conceit, which led me to believe that +a beautiful, wealthy, and high-born young lady would choose me, of all +men, for her husband, without any secret motive or hidden reason to +prompt her. I ought to have known my own worthlessness better, and not +yielded to a flattering self-conceit. You see, I acknowledge my fault +fully, and I own that I have deserved my punishment. I have no +accusation against you. You were desperate; you had to save your +reputation, and you did not stop to consider what it might cost me so +long as it served your purpose. Of course, the pride and honour of +Countess Vernöczy were of much higher importance than the life, the +honour, of an insignificant fool like myself. Move over, you paid for the +services you had procured with admirable magnanimity. You placed your +whole dowry at my disposal. But now your honour and reputation are +saved; so is that of your child. There is no need of my suffering longer +for a fault for which I have bitterly atoned. Now, pray, let me restore +to you the money which you placed in my hands on that memorable night. +Let me beg you to take slate and pencil, and convince yourself of the +entire correctness of the amount."</p> + +<p>She looked at me as if mesmerised, and mechanically she obeyed me. I +opened the chest, took out the papers, and, as she had done on the night +of our wedding, I dictated to her the titles of the various deeds and +securities, and she wrote as I dictated.</p> + +<p>The amount was correct. "You see that the coupons are inside," I said; +"those of last year and those of this year also. Not one has been +touched."</p> + +<p>"And our household expenses?" asked she, breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"Were liquidated by me with my own money. Now, pray, take the property +out of my hands, for this is the last time that we shall ever speak with +or behold each other as long as we live." She gazed up at me, trembling +in every nerve. I continued—</p> + +<p>"I shall leave you to-day, and you will never learn whither I have gone +or where I am. Like the criminal escaping from jail, I shall change my +name, and deny the term which I have served at your side. I shall +possess no name, no home, no family. I shall be a stranger and an +outcast, wandering to and fro for fear that the acquisition of a settled +residence might betray my abode to you. And now, there are three roads +open to you. You may return with your child to the old home of the +Dumanys, my poor Slav kingdom. There you may live, secluded from the +world, bringing up your child and teaching him virtue, honesty, and +useful employments. You may dole out alms to the poor, and in this +mournful solitude pray to God for happy oblivion or the still happier +news of my death. This is one of the roads open to you; it is the stony +path of virtue, dreary and tiresome. The second path is the flowery one. +You may throw yourself upon the waves of life, drink deep of the cup of +pleasure, not troubling yourself with scruples as to what is allowed and +what forbidden. Your youth, beauty, and wealth will carry you up to the +pinnacle of pleasure—only beware of the consequences! I, the husband, +shall be separated from you by whole oceans perhaps, and shall not be +here to legitimatise the result of a <i>faux pas</i>. There is still a third +way—a divorce; and I authorise you to commence your suit. Only, you +know, this way is tedious, and requires great sacrifices. Monetary +sacrifices also, for we cannot get a divorce without being converted to +Protestantism, and in that case, according to your grandfather's will, +you are obliged to give up your dowry—this million. But you have also +to give up the Church and the religion in which you were born and +brought up, and which has given you consolation in despair, and the +saints whom you are accustomed to invoke to your aid. Still, the road is +open to you, and I will give you four hours to make your decision. If it +should be for a divorce, I am ready to go with you to Transylvania to +procure a divorce under the Unitarian laws."</p> + +<p>As I finished she rose from her seat, her cheeks aglow, her eyes +burning. "I know a fourth way," she said, catching her breath.</p> + +<p>"And that is?"</p> + +<p>"I will not let you go!" she cried, taking hold of my arm with both +hands, and clinging to me with her trembling body.</p> + +<p>I broke out into a bitter, scornful laugh. "Countess," said I, "do you +believe that there is in the world an interest, a sentiment, a spirit of +magnanimity or of cowardice, which is powerful enough to hold me in jail +now that the time for which I have sentenced myself has expired? That +there is any power existing which could tie me to your side, if but for +another day? Well, I have read the hate, the contempt, the scorn in your +eyes, and you were justly entitled to those feelings; but you cannot +wish me to endure these daily pangs and lacerations of my wounded +self-esteem for ever. You cannot ask of me to live on at the side of a +woman who hates me, despises me, and scorns me, simply because it would +suit that woman to retain her present position. No, my lady! Even my +ample stock of weak foolish indulgence is at an end. I go, and I go for +ever! Not even in Paradise do I wish to meet you again. And if you go to +salvation, I shall go to perdition to avoid you!"</p> + +<p>The effect of my cruel, insulting words were marvellous. They did not +seem to hurt or offend her; she seemed to delight in them, drink them in +like some sweet, delicious nectar. Her face, her eyes, her attitude +spoke of exultant admiration, of triumphant joy, of ecstatic delight.</p> + +<p>"True!" she said, "it is all true that you have said. Only what I have +felt for you was never hate; it was love warring against contempt, and +contempt fighting against love. Yes, I have despised you; for I was +told, and I believed it, that money was all that you cared for, and your +own words have confirmed me in this opinion. Do you remember, after you +had told Cenni and me the story of your friend, you spoke of the +qualities of the girl whom you might marry? She must be young and +beautiful, and wealthy and luxurious. Young and beautiful—I thought—to +suit your vanity; wealthy and luxurious—because you loved wealth and +luxury; and your conduct after our marriage hourly convinced me of the +correctness of the supposition. You accepted your position without a +murmur. I was burning with shame and humiliation, ready at a word to +fall at your feet, and make you a confession which would cleanse me from +the burning stigma, remove from me the brand of shame. But you accepted +the money, and asked no questions, and I left you in despairing +contempt. Our married life was much too luxurious to undeceive me, and I +believed that you were making use of my money to feed your appetite for +pleasure. When you protected me against danger, nursed me in my odious +condition, I thought, 'All is well to him as long as he can keep the +money. He fears for my life, because, in case of my death, he would have +to restore the money.' The comfort, the splendour, the costly presents, +dresses, and jewels which you bestowed upon me were so many accusations +against yourself. And yet how I longed to be able to respect you! When +the newspapers spoke of your undaunted courage, of your disinterested +and indefatigable activity, your self-denial, generosity, and discreet +modesty, how my heart yearned for you! How my soul cried out to you, +'Why are you not the same to me as to the world? Why are you brave, +generous, disinterested, and self-denying to them, and not to me? Why am +I, of all persons alive, condemned to know you for a cowardly, +avaricious, and selfish man, when, in spite of all that, my heart burns +for love of you?' And now you have thrown off the hideous mask you wore, +have shown me your real face, shown me how much I have misjudged you, +how I have sinned against you! You give me back that money untouched. +You have not even spent the interest of it, and now I see how I have +wronged you in accusing you of greed. All your tender care, your +delicate attention, your patient indulgence were given to me out of your +magnanimous sense of duty, the heavenly generosity of your soul! And now +that I know you in all the glory of your goodness, now that I have found +my ideal in you and my love has grown into worship, now you tell me +that you are lost to me for ever, that you will not be mine, and I must +choose the paths you point out to me. No, sir; that is impossible! You +cannot cast me off, now that I love you! I have sinned against you, +caused you insufferable pains, infinite tortures; but my whole life +shall be given to atone for those sins by meek submission, dutiful +obedience, ardent love. I cannot choose between those paths you have +shown me. I do not want to be consumed by the fires of sinful love, nor +to freeze in the ice of solitude and self-abnegation. I want to be +happy, and to make you happy. I want to love, and I do love you!"</p> + +<p>"You have a child."</p> + +<p>"That child! That living stigma which was branded into my flesh by a +miserable assassin! I hate it so much that I will never kiss it, never +pray for it. Its very sight is loathsome to me! I have given birth to +it, but shall never love it as a mother!"</p> + +<p>After this tempest of her emotions she threw herself against the door, +barring it against me as though to say: "The way through this door, the +way that separates you from me, leads over my body."</p> + +<p>I looked at her, and the sight of her deep and real agitation summoned +me to a silent condemnation of my base hypocrisy. What was I but a +cunning dissembler, coming here to play a great part before her, making +believe that I had not touched her money, when I had time and again +risked it in speculations? And the very house she lived in, the comfort +and splendour that surrounded her, were the result of the profits her +money had acquired. How dared I make a parade of my generosity, when all +the time I had been scheming for her ruin and dreaming of revenge? Truth +and sincerity were all on her side; the halo of virtue around my head +was false.</p> + +<p>And she loved me! She confessed that love with the frank truthfulness of +her nature—confessed it in words that sent a thrill of delight through +my whole frame! And I, who am burning for love of her, I stand here like +a pagan idol, in stony indifference, looking down at the bleeding heart +which is held up as a sacrifice to me. No, I am no stone! Avaunt, +Hathor, Mylitta, Baaltis, I am none of yours! And thou too, vile, +wretched Dissimulation, I cast thee forth! Depart from the presence of +this true woman!</p> + +<p>I went to her and took her hands. "If your boy is not to have the love +of a mother, he shall have that of a father instead. I shall love him +dearly and be a true father to him."</p> + +<p>As I said this, she broke into passionate sobbing, and, crouching down +at my feet, she threw her arms around my knees and wept bitterly.</p> + +<p>"No," said she, "do not lift me up, for my confessions are not yet +ended. I have asked you for mercy heretofore. I now ask you for justice; +for a righteous judgment! I have never been the degraded wretch you +believed me to be, have never been the mistress of another man, never +listened to his words of love, so help me God! Siegfried was not my +betrayer, he was my assassin! He made use of Diodora's and Cenni's +absence from the house, at a time when a slight illness had prevented +me from accompanying them, to drug my wine at the table, and during the +lethargy caused by the soporific potion he slew my soul! Devil as he is, +he took a devilish revenge, because I had shown him my contempt and +abhorrence."</p> + +<p>Before this I was down on my knees, covering her eyes, her hair, her +face, and her mouth with my kisses; weeping in the excess of my love and +happiness. "Why did you not tell me this before? Why not on the night of +our wedding?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I intended to! Do you remember that I asked you if you had no other +question to address to me? You said 'No,' and pointed to the door. For a +few moments only your eye had rested with a fiery glare on a two-edged +dagger which lay upon the table. If you had carried out the wild +promptings of your wrath, if your hand had raised the dagger against me, +if only a single word or action had given me proof that you were the man +I wished you to be, and not the wretch who accepts the money which is +offered in return for his name and honour, I should have spoken. Oh, how +I have longed to do it!"</p> + +<p>I pressed her to my heart and kissed her again. "You are innocent," I +said: "as innocent as that poor child himself. You have not sinned; +others have sinned against you. And now that you have confessed to me, +let me also confess to you, and, if you can, forgive me!" I told her +all—my evil designs, the monetary speculations, my suicidal purposes, +my moral cowardice. She listened, shuddering, but, when I had finished, +she nestled close to my heart and kissed me passionately. She had +forgiven.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>After this we decided to leave Europe and go to the New World—to +America. My old Slav kingdom I did not care to keep; it was best to give +up everything, and wipe out all memory of myself. So I left it to be +sold in payment of the debts I had accumulated. In the New World fortune +clung to me with the same persistence. Whatever I undertook was sure to +succeed, and all my enterprises were fortunate. So, in course of time, I +became the "Silver King." We came to Europe on account of little James, +who all at once ceased speaking and became a mute. We tried American +physicians, but to no purpose, and so we came to Europe in order to +consult the best professional talent. Now you know all. You know how it +was possible for the little son of a South American nabob, after +regaining his lost speech, to speak Hungarian, and you know who taught +him to speak that language. The child has never loved anyone but me, and +no one has loved him but myself. And I love him truly and with all my +heart. For to him I am indebted for all my present happiness; not only +for my wealth, for wealth alone is not happiness. A man may be happy +without wealth, and be very unhappy with it; but I owe him this.</p> + +<p>He took a photograph from his pocket-book, and showed it to me—four +laughing little cherub heads, peeping out of a bath-tub, like birds from +the nest. "These my little James has brought me," he said, with tears of +joy in his eyes; "if he had not come, these would not have come either. +So, you see, my dear friend, I was thrown into Hell and fell into +Paradise."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," said I to Mr. Dumany, as he finished his story, +"but I am curious to know what became of Siegfried? Would you mind +telling me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he is a very famous man at present, and fills a very honourable +position. He is engaged as horse-tamer in the Paris Hippodrome, and they +say that he is excellent in 'jumping.' I have not seen him yet, but I +hear he has a good salary, and is a general favourite. He is very much +praised and admired by those who have seen him. I think it highly +creditable in a man when he lives honourably by means of his ability and +talent."</p> + +<p>By this time the dawn had greeted us. Through the chinks of the closed +shutters the rising sun was stealing, decorating the wall-tapestry with +rings of golden red, adding radiant circles to the smoke-wreaths of our +cigarettes, and sending long glittering darts into all the corners and +behind the curtains.</p> + +<p>Presently, breaking the monotony of our voices, which punch and cognac +had made hoarse, a sweet, silvery voice chimed in, "Apácska! Apácska!" +("Papa! Papa!") and a little unfledged cherub was peeping out from the +bed-curtains. "You may come to me," said Mr. Dumany, smilingly, and, in +an instant, little James was out of bed, and, barefooted, in his little +nightgown as he was, he ran to his father, shouting with glee, climbing +up into his lap, and throwing his little arms caressingly around his +neck, laughing mischievously the while. At the noise of this babbling +and laughter, similar sounds were heard in the next room, just as in a +bird's nest when one little fledgeling chirps all the rest join in, +lifting the little heads and trying the winglets.</p> + +<p>"Reveille is sounded," said my friend, with a happy smile. "I have to go +and muster my troops; this next chamber is their bedroom."</p> + +<p>But the muster was postponed, for the commander-in-chief arrived—the +mother. She was in a plain, dark dress, but her beautiful face bore a +soft expression of happiness which I had not seen the day before. "You +are up yet?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"And you are up already?" asked her husband.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I have been out to my confessor's. You have made a clean breast to +your friend at home; I have done the same in the confessional, and I +have come home much happier than I went, and I truly hope much better." +With that she bent down to the child, and kissed it tenderly.</p> + +<p>"I have been an unnatural and undutiful mother," she said, in a low, +trembling voice, "and if you, in your generous pity, in the overflowing +kindness of your nature, had not taken this poor innocent to your heart, +it would not have known the tender love, the sweet care of a parent. +Father Augustin has shown me the great, black sin in my breast. How can +I hope for mercy from Heaven if I mercilessly lock my heart against my +own innocent offspring? How can I hope for love and respect from my +other children, if I withhold a mother's love from this one? Oh, my +dearest husband! here in the presence of your friend, whom you have made +cognisant of our past sorrows and trials, I thank you from the bottom of +my heart for the love you have borne my child!" And before he could +prevent the action she had bent down and pressed her lips to his hand.</p> + +<p>"Flamma! dearest!" he said, overcome by his emotion, "you have been the +truest, the most considerate, most loving, and most dutiful of all wives +and mothers; but this day you have filled my cup of happiness to the +brim. This one drop, the mother's kiss to the sweet innocent, was +wanting. This day shall henceforth be kept as a high holiday, as this +little darling's real birthday, for it has given him a mother."</p> + +<p>He held up the boy to her, and at the sweet, inviting smile and the +opened arms the little one threw open his arms also; one of them he drew +around his mother's, the other around his father's neck, and then he +showered a volley of kisses and caresses on both. Never in all my life +have I seen a picture more lovely and beautiful than this.</p> + +<p>"Come, my little one," said the mother, after a while, to the child, "it +is too early yet for you to rise. Come to your little brothers and +sisters and sleep awhile longer," and, nodding sweetly to us, she +disappeared, with the child on her arm, through the tapestry <i>portière</i> +that led to the children's bedroom.</p> + +<p>The "Silver King" silently pressed my hand as I said—</p> + +<p>"Sir, you are the happiest man on earth, nor can all the crowned +monarchs of the world compare to you in wealth!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, after a while, "I am very happy. But I owe you an +explanation, before I take leave of you. You may think it singular that +a man who is the father of a family should disclose such intimate +secrets to a friend of whom he knows beforehand that he will make public +use of the disclosure, and relate to his readers the events he has +learned. But, you see, so much has already been said about my wife and +me—the fantastic imagination of one half of our fellow-creatures has +invented so much to feed the idle curiosity of the other half, that the +plain truth will serve in general as a cooling sedative. There are +different versions afloat as to how we got our money. Some say that I +was a general spy of the Prussians, and that my money was a fee for the +information furnished, or, in plain words, the betrayal of the positions +of the French forces. Others say that my wife had been the mistress of a +King, and was enriched by him, and that she still draws a life-pension +from the Civil List; while superstitious fools will have it that I have +sold myself to the Devil, and am supplied by him with infernal lore. +Against all of these the disclosure of the plain truth will be the best +defence. Human I am and have been, and human have been the temptations +and trials that have beset me. The only Devil to whom, for a time, I +sold myself, was the demon in my own breast—a poor, feeble spirit, and +long ago subdued by the more potent angel of love and peace."</p> + + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">Transcriber's Note:<br /> </p> + +<p>The following typographical errors in the original +text have been corrected.</p> + +<p>In Part I, Chapter V, "religous monomania" has been changed to +"religious monomania".</p> + +<p>In Part I, Chapter VIII, "Yes, I wan you immediately" has been changed +to "Yes, I want you immediately".</p> + +<p>In Part I, Chapter XIII, "photograpers" has been changed to +"photographers".</p> + +<p>In Part II, Chapter IV, "siezed" has been changed to "seized".</p> + +<p>In Part II, Chapter X, a missing quotation mark has been added to the +sentence,</p> + +<blockquote><p>Upon the steel blade was graven, in golden letters, "<i>Buona notte</i>; +and "<i>Buona notte! buona notte</i>," I kept incoherently murmuring.</p></blockquote> + +<p>In Part II, Chapter XII, "distinguised" has been changed to +"distinguished".</p> + +<p>In Part II, Chapter XV, an extra "are" has been deleted from "you are +are mistaken in this house".</p> + +<p>In Part II, Chapter XVII, "Moveover" has been changed to "Moreover".</p> + +<p>In Part II, Chapter XVII, "infernal ore" has been changed to "infernal +lore".</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DR. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/18708.txt b/18708.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..19834db --- /dev/null +++ b/18708.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8691 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Dr. Dumany's Wife, by Mór Jókai, Translated +by F. Steinitz + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Dr. Dumany's Wife + + +Author: Mór Jókai + + + +Release Date: June 28, 2006 [eBook #18708] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DR. DUMANY'S WIFE*** + + +E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and Project Gutenberg Distributed +Proofreaders + + + +Works of Maurus Jokai +Hungarian Edition + +DR. DUMANY'S WIFE + +Translated from the Hungarian by F. STEINITZ + + + + + + + +New York +Doubleday, Page & Company +1891 + + + + +PUBLISHERS' NOTE. + + +This, the latest story from the pen of Hungary's great man of letters, +Maurus Jokai, was translated directly from the manuscript of the author +by Mme. F. Steinitz, who resides in Buda-Pest, and was selected by him +for that purpose. + +Maurus Jokai is now sixty-six years of age, having been born at Komarom, +in 1825. He was intended for the law, that having been his father's +profession but at twelve years of age the desire to write seized him. +Some of his stories fell into the hands of the lawyer in whose office he +was studying, who read them, and was so struck by their originality and +talent that he published them at once at his own expense. The public was +as well pleased with the book as the lawyer had been with the +manuscripts, and from that tender age to the present Jokai has devoted +himself to writing, and is the author of several hundred successful +volumes. At the age of twenty-three he laid down his pen long enough to +get married, his bride being Rosa Laborfalvi, the then leading Hungarian +actress. At the end of a year he joined the Revolutionists, and buckled +on the sword of the patriot. He was taken prisoner and sentenced to be +shot, when his bride appeared upon the scene with her pockets full of +the money she had made by the sale of her jewels, and, bribing the +guards, escaped with her husband into the birch woods, where they hid in +caves and slept on leaves, all the time in danger of their lives, until +they finally found their way to Buda-Pest and liberty. This city Jokai +has made his home; in the winter he lives in the heart of the town, in +the summer just far enough outside of it to have a house surrounded by +grounds, where he can sit out of doors in the shade of his own trees. He +is probably the best-known man in Hungary to-day, for he is not only an +author, but a financier, a statesman, and a journalist as well. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +PART I. + + I. THE DUMB CHILD + II. THE DARK GOD + III. THE ENGLISHMAN + IV. THE NABOB + V. A REPUBLICAN COUNTESS + VI. DUMANY KORNEL + VII. THE DEAD MAN'S VOTE +VIII. MY UNCLE DIOGENES + IX. A SLAVONIC KINGDOM + X. "DEAD" + XI. MY DEAR FRIEND SIEGFRIED + XII. THE DEVIL'S HOOF +XIII. THE VALKYRS + + +PART II. + + I. THE SEA-DOVE + II. "WHAT IS THE DEVIL LIKE?" + III. THE FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER + IV. THE HISTORY OF MY FRIEND + V. HOW ROSES ARE INOCULATED + VI. MR. PARASITE + VII. A BRILLIANT GAME +VIII. A BITING KISS + IX. WHO IS THE VISITOR? + X. AFTER THE WEDDING + XI. MY SCHEME + XII. SEEKING FOR DEATH +XIII. MY DISCHARGE + XIV. HOME! SWEET HOME + XV. VOX POPULI + XVI. DAME FORTUNE +XVII. LIGHT AT LAST + + + + +DR. DUMANY'S WIFE. + +Part I. + + +I. + +THE DUMB CHILD. + + +It was about the close of the year 1876 when, on my road to Paris, I +boarded the St. Gothard railway-train. Travellers coming from Italy had +already taken possession of the sleeping-car compartments, and I owed it +solely to the virtue of an extraordinarily large tip that I was at last +able to stretch my weary limbs upon the little sofa of a half-coupe. It +was not a very comfortable resting-place, inasmuch as this carriage was +the very last in an immensely long train, and one must be indeed fond of +rocking to enjoy the incessant shaking, jostling, and rattling in this +portion of the train. But still it was much preferable to the crowded +carriages, peopled with old women carrying babies, giggling maidens, +snoring or smoking men, and hilarious children; so I made the best of +it, and prepared for a doze. + +The guard came in to look at my ticket, and, pitying my lonely +condition, he opened a conversation. He told me that the son of an +immensely wealthy American nabob, with an escort well-nigh princely, +was travelling on the same train to Paris. He had with him an attendant +physician, a nursery governess, a little playfellow, a travelling +courier, and a huge negro servant to prepare his baths, besides several +inferior servants. These all occupied the parlour-car and the sleeping +compartments; but the little fellow had a parlour, a bedroom, and a +dressing-room all to himself. + +I did not pay much attention to the talk of the gossiping guard, and so +he departed, and at last I could sleep. On the road I am like a miller +in his mill. So long as the wheel turns, I sleep on; but the moment it +is stopped, I start up and am instantly wide awake. We had reached a +smaller station where the train usually stops for a few minutes only, +when, to my surprise, there was a great deal of pushing and sliding of +the cars backward and forward, and we halted for an extraordinarily long +time. I was just getting up to learn what was going on, when the guard +entered, lantern in hand. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," he said, "but there is something amiss. The +linch-pin of the parlour-car has become over-heated, and we had to +uncouple the car and leave it behind. Now we are obliged to find a +convenient place for the little American, until we reach some main +station, where another parlour-car can be attached to the train. I am +really sorry for you, sir, but this is the only suitable place we have, +and the little fellow and his governess must be your travelling +companions for a while." + +"Well, when a thing can't be helped, grumbling is unreasonable, so +good-bye sleep and quiet, and let us prepare to pay homage to the +illustrious youth and his lady attendant," said I, smiling at the +guard's earnestness. But still he hesitated. + +"And pray, sir, what is your religion?" stammered he; "I have to tell +the governess." + +"Indeed!" My good-humour was rising still, and I continued smiling. +"Tell the lady that I am a Swiss Protestant, and I hope she will not +object, as I shall not try to convert her or her charge if they are of a +different creed. Is there anything else you want to inquire into?" + +"Yes, sir. The little gentleman's physician would also like to accompany +his charge, and stay at his side." + +"But there is only room for three." + +"I know; but, sir, the doctor is a very liberal gentleman, and he told +me that if anybody would be willing to exchange places with him, he +would gladly repay his whole travelling expenses." + +"That's liberal, certainly, and I have no doubt the fireman of the +engine will thankfully accept his offer. You can tell him as much. And +now go!" + +The man went out, but right after him came the doctor--a very pleasant +and distinguished-looking young man. He apologised for the guard's +bluntness and his misinterpretation of his message. He had not meant to +offend a gentleman, and so forth. He introduced himself as Dr. Mayer, +family physician at the house of the so-called "Silver King," Mr. +Dumany, the father of the little "Silver Prince." After learning that I +did not smoke, and had no objection to children, he inquired my +nationality. My astrachan fur cap and coat-collar made him take me for a +Russian, but, thanking him for his good opinion, I stated that as yet I +was merely a Hungarian. He did not object; but asked if we were free +from small-pox, diphtheritis, croup, measles, scarlet-fever, +whooping-cough, and such like maladies in our country at present. After +I had satisfied him that even the foot-and-mouth disease had by this +time ceased, he finally quitted me, but immediately returned, assisting +a lady with both hands full of travelling necessaries to climb up into +the carriage. After the lady came a grand stately-looking negro servant, +with gold-braided cap and overcoat of white bear's fur, and on his arm, +bundled up in rich velvet and costly fur, he carried a beautiful +five-year-old boy, who looked like some waxen image or big doll. + +The lady seemed very lively and talkative, and had a host of languages +at command. With the doctor she conversed in German; to the guide she +spoke French; the negro she questioned in English, and to a maid who +brought in some rugs and air-pillows she spoke Italian. All these +languages she spoke excellently, and I am certain that if a dozen +persons of different nationalities had been present she could have +talked to them in their various dialects with the same ease and fluency. +Of her beauty I could not judge, for she wore a bonnet with a thick +veil, which covered her face to the chin. + +Taking her seat at the opposite window, she placed the child between +us. He was a pale, quiet little boy, with very red, thin, +tightly-compressed lips, and great, melancholy dark-blue eyes. As long +as the negro was occupied in arranging the rugs and pillows, he looked +wholly unconcerned, and the smiles from the great black shining face did +not impress him at all; but when the swarthy giant caught the two fair +little hands in his own great black palm and wanted to kiss them, the +boy withdrew his hands with a quick gesture and struck the ebony +forehead with his tiny fist. + +At last we were seated. The negro was gone, the guide went out and +locked the door after him. Seeing that the open window was disagreeable +to the lady, I volunteered to close it. She accepted gratefully, and at +the same time expressed her regrets that, in consequence of the accident +to the parlour-car, she had been compelled to disturb me. Of course, I +hastened to say that I was not in the least incommoded, and only +regretted that it was not in my power to make her more comfortable. She +then told me that she was an American, and pretty well used to railroad +accidents of a more or less serious character. Three times she had been +saved by a miracle in railway collisions at home, and she assured me +that in America about 30,000 persons were every year injured in railway +accidents, while some 4,000 were killed outright. + +We conversed in German, and, as the lady became more and more +communicative, talk turned upon the subject of the child between us. +She told me that Master James was deaf and dumb, and could not +understand a word of our conversation; hence restraint was unnecessary. +I asked her if he was born with this defect, and she said, "No; until +the age of three he could speak very nicely, but at that age he was +thrown out of his little goat-carriage, and in consequence of the shock +and concussion lost his power of speech." + +"Then he will possibly recover it," I said. "I knew a young man who lost +his speech in the same manner at the age of five, and could not speak up +to his tenth year; then he recovered, and now he has graduated from +college as senior wrangler." + +"Yes," she said. "But Mr. Dumany is impatient, and he has sent the boy +to all the deaf-and-dumb boarding-schools in Europe. Even now we are +coming from such an institution in Italy; but none of all these +different masters has been able to teach more than sign-talk, and that +is insufficient. Mr. Dumany wants to give the German Heinicke method a +trial. That professes to teach real conversation, based on the +observations of the movements of the lips and tongue." + +Of this method I also knew examples of success. I was acquainted with a +deaf and dumb type-setter, who had learned to talk intelligibly and +fluently, could read aloud, and take part in conversation, but in a +piping voice like that of a bird. + +"Even that would be a great success," she said. "At any rate, little +James will be taken to the Zuerich Institute, and remain there until he +acquires his speech." + +During this whole conversation the little fellow had sat between us, +mute, and, to all appearance, wholly indifferent. His little pale face +was dull, and his great eyes half closed. I felt sorry for him, and with +a sigh of real compassion I muttered in my own native Hungarian tongue, +"Szegeny fincska!" ("Poor little boy!") At this I saw a thrill of +surprise run through the child's little frame; the great blue eyes +opened wide in wonder and delight, and the closed cherry lips opened in +a smile of joy. + +I was struck with surprise, and did not believe my own eyes. The lady +had not noticed anything, since she still kept her bonnet on and the +thick veil tightly drawn over her face. + +I took pity on her, and offered to go out into the corridor to smoke a +cigarette, so that she might make herself a little more comfortable +until we arrived at some large station, where she would enter another +parlour-car. + +She accepted thankfully, and, to my utter astonishment, the little boy +raised his tiny hand, and caressingly stroked the fur collar of my coat. +I bent down to kiss him, and he smiled sweetly on me; and when I got up +and signed to him that he could now occupy both seats and stretch +himself upon the little sofa, he shook his head, and crept into the +corner which I had quitted. And there, as often as in my walk up and +down the corridor I threw a glance into his corner, I could see the +child's large dark-blue eyes following all my movements with an eager +curiosity; the white little face pressed to the window-pane and the tiny +hand never losing hold of the edge of the curtain, which he had +purposely lifted, for the governess had pulled the curtain down the +moment I left, possibly to take off her bonnet. + +Mine was not a very pleasant situation in that corridor. I watched the +rising and sinking of the moon, which phenomenon repeated itself about +twice every hour, according to the serpentine windings of the road. I +looked at the milky mist which surrounded the icy pinnacles of the great +mountains, and grumbled over the intense darkness in the many tunnels, +in which the roar and noise of the train is tremendously increased, +thundering as if Titans were breaking out of their prisons below Mount +Pelion. + +As if they had not broken through long, long ago! What if the old +Grecian gods should come to life? should leave their marble temples, and +gaze about on the world as it is at present? If Pallas Athene were told +of America? If Helios Apollo could listen to Wagner's operas, and Zeus +Jupiter might look into the great tube of the London Observatory, +wondering what had become of that milky way which had been formed out of +the milk spilled by Amalthea? If we could show him that we had caught +and harnessed his heavenly lightning to draw our vehicles and carry our +messages, and that, with the help of fire-eyed leviathans, we break +through the rocky womb of his great mountains? And yet, how easy it +would be for them, with a simple sneeze of their most illustrious and +omnipotent noses, to raise such a tempest that earth and sea would rise +and destroy man and his pigmy works at one fell stroke! I wonder if they +never awake? I rather think they sometimes get up and shake their mighty +fists at us. These cyclones look very suspicious to me! + +The huge iron leviathan turns and twists itself like a Gordian knot; +disappears and reappears, almost on the same spot, but higher up on the +mountain, and then glides rapidly on along the brinks of fearful +abysses, over long iron bridges looking like some fanciful filigree +work, some giant spider's web, extending across great valleys, chasms, +and precipices, over which great mountain rivers splash down, roaring +and foaming in gigantic falls. What giant power has cleft the way for +these waters--Vulcan or Neptune? Or was it laid down in Euclid's +adventurous age, when the Titans went into bankruptcy? + +The train increases its speed to regain the time lost in uncoupling the +disabled parlour-car, and this increased speed is chiefly felt at the +tail of the great iron dragon. I have to cling tightly to the brass rod +in front of the windows. We pass the central station without stopping, +the locomotive whistles, the lamps of the little watch-houses fly past +like so many jack-o'-lanterns, and all at once we are enveloped by a +thick fog rising from beneath, where it had rested above the sea, and +when the train has twice completed the circle around the valley, the +noxious, dangerous mist surrounds us entirely. + +But once more the creation of human hands conquers the spectre, and, +puffing and whistling, the locomotive breaks through the dark haze. Once +again the iron serpent disappears into the bowels of the rock, and as it +emerges it crosses another valley and is greeted by a clear heaven and a +multitude of brightly-glistening stars. + +We are on the Rossberg. A devastated tract of the globe it seems. Our +eyes rest on barren soil devoid of vegetation. Beneath a large field of +huge boulders, imbedded in snow and ice, the Alpine vegetation thrives. +The whole valley is one immense graveyard, and the great rocks are giant +tombstones, encircled by wreaths of white flowers meet for adorning +graves. At the beginning of the present century one of the ridges of the +Rossberg gave way, and in the landslide four villages were buried. This +happened at night, when the villagers were all asleep, and not a single +man, women, or child escaped. This valley is their resting-place. Was I +not right to call it a graveyard? + +Above this valley of destruction the train glides on. Upon the side of +the mountain is a little watch-house, built into the rock; a narrow +flight of steps hewn in the stone leads up to it like a ladder. The +moon, which had lately seemed fixed to the crest of the mountain, now +plays hide-and-seek among the peaks. A high barricade on the side of the +Rossberg serves to protect the railroad track against another landslide. + +On the high ridges of the mountain goats were pasturing, and not far +from them a shepherd's fire was blazing, and the shepherd himself sat +beside it. I remember all these accessories as well as if they were +still before my eyes. I can see the white goats climbing up and pulling +at the broom-plants. I can see the shepherd's black form, encircled by +the light of the fire, and the white watch-house with its black leaden +roof, the high signal-pole in front of it, above which all at once a +great flaming star arises. + + + + +II. + +THE DARK GOD. + + +I was gazing at that shining red light, when all at once I felt a +concussion, as if the train had met with some impediment. I heard the +jolting of the foremost cars, and had time to prepare for the shock +which was sure to follow; but when it did come, it was so great that it +threw me to the opposite wall of the corridor. + +Yet the train moved on as before, so that it could not have been +disabled, as I at first thought. I heard the guards run from carriage to +carriage, opening the doors, and I could see great clouds of steam arise +from the puffing and blowing engines. The friction of the wheels made a +grating noise, and I leaned out of the window to ascertain the nature of +the danger. Was another train approaching, and a collision inevitable? I +could see nothing, but suddenly I beheld the figure of the shepherd, and +saw him raise his staff aloft. I followed the motion of his hand, and +with a thrill of horror I saw a great ledge of rock sliding downward +with threatening speed, while at the same time a shower of small stones +crashed on the roof of the cars. + +I did not wait for the guards to open my door. I had it open in an +instant. From the other carriages passengers were jumping out at the +risk of life and limb, for the train was running at full speed. + +I hastily ran into the coupe to awaken my travelling companions, but +found them up. "Madam," I said, "I am afraid that we are in danger of a +serious accident. Pray come out quickly!" + +"Save the child!" she answered; and I caught the little boy, took him in +my arms, and ran out. + +The train was gliding perpetually on, and I bethought myself of the +recommendation of one who is jumping from a running vehicle, to leap +forward, because in jumping sideways or backward he invariably falls +under the wheels. So I followed the recommendation and leaped. +Fortunately, I reached the ground, although my knees doubled up under +me, and I struck the knuckles of my right hand a hard blow. The child +had fainted in my arms, but only from fright; otherwise he had received +no harm. I laid him on the ground in a safe place, and ran with all my +might after the train to help the lady out. She was standing on the +steps, already prepared for the jump. I extended my hand to her, +impatiently crying "Quick!" But instead of taking my proffered hand she +exclaimed, "Oh! I have forgotten my bonnet and veil," and back she ran +into the coupe, never again to come forth. + +At that moment I felt a tremendous shock, as if the earth had quaked and +opened beneath me, and this was followed by a deafening uproar, the +clashing of stones, the cracking of wood and glass, the grating and +crushing of iron, and the pitiful cries of men, women, and children. +The great mass of rock broke through the protecting barricade and rushed +right upon the engine. The huge, steam-vomiting leviathan was crushed in +an instant, and the copper and steel fragments scattered everywhere. +Three of the wheels were shattered, and with that the iron colossus came +to a dead stop, the suddenness of which threw the carriages crashing on +top of each other. This fearful havoc was not all. Through the breach +which the great rock had made in the barricade, an incessant avalanche +of stones, from the size of a cannon-ball to that of a wheelbarrow, +descended upon the train, crushing everything beneath into fragments, +pushing the unhappy train into the chasm below, into the valley of death +and destruction. Like a huge serpent it slid down, the great glowing +furnace with its feeding coals undermost, and then the whole wrecked +mass of carriages tumbled after, atop of each other, while cries of +despair were heard on every side. Then I saw the rear car--that in which +I had been sitting--stand up erect on top of the others, while on its +roof fell, with thunderous violence, the awful shower of stones. Mutely +I gazed on, until a large stone struck the barricade just where I stood, +and then I realised that the danger was not over, and ran for shelter. + +The stones were falling fast to left and to right, and I hastened to +gain the steps which led to the little watch-house. Then I bethought me +of the boy. I found him still insensible, but otherwise unharmed, and I +took him up, covering him with a furred coat. I ran up the steps with +him, so fast that not a thought of my asthma and heart disease +slackened my speed. + +There was nobody in the house but a woman milking a goat. In one corner +of the room stood a bed, in the middle was a table, and on one of the +walls hung a burning coal-oil lamp. + +As I opened the door the woman looked up, and said in a dull piteous +moaning-- + +"It is none of Joerge's fault. Joerge had shown the red light in good +season, and yesterday he specially warned the gentlemen, and told them +that a ridge of the Gnippe was crumbling, and would soon break down; but +they did not listen to him, and now that the accident has come, they +will surely visit their own carelessness upon him. It is always the poor +dependent that is made to suffer for the fault of his superiors. But I +will not stand it; and if Joerge is discharged and loses his bread, +then--" + +"All right, madam!" I said, "I saw the red light in time, and I shall +testify for Joerge in case of need. Only keep quiet now, and come here. +You must try to restore this child. He has fainted. Give him water or +something; you will know best what to do." + +In recalling these words to my memory and writing them down, I am not +quite certain that I really spoke them; I am not certain of a single +word or action of mine on that fearful night. But I think that I said +the words I am relating, although I was so confused that it is possible +I did not utter a word. I had come out of the house again, and saw a man +running up and down on the narrow rocky plateau, like one crazy. It was +Joerge the watchman; he was looking for the signal-post, and could not +find it. + +"Here it is, look!" I said, turning his face toward the high pole right +in front of him. He gazed up wistfully, and then all at once he +blubbered out-- + +"See! See, the red light! I gave the warning. They cannot blame me; they +dare not punish me for it. It is not my fault!" + +Of course, he thought of nothing but himself, and the misfortune of the +others touched him only in so far as he was concerned. + +"Don't blubber now!" I said. "There will be time enough to think of +ourselves. Now let us learn what has happened to the others. The whole +train has been swept down into the abyss below. What has become of the +people in it?" + +"God Almighty have mercy on their souls!" + +"Yet perhaps we could save some of them. Come along!" + +"I can't go. I dare not leave my post, else they will turn against me." + +"Well then, I shall go alone," said I, and hastened down the steps. + +I heard no screams, no cries, not a sound of human voices. The poor +victims of the catastrophe were exhausted or frightened out of their +wits, and gave no utterance to the pain they felt. Only the +never-ceasing clatter of the falling stones was heard, nothing else. +Awful is the voice of the elements, and dreadful their revenge on their +human antagonists! The thundering heavens, the roaring sea, are awful +to behold and to listen to; but most fearful of all is the voice of the +earth, when, quivering in wrath, she opens her fiery mouth or hurls her +rocky missiles at pigmy men. + +From the wrecked train a great many travellers had jumped like myself; +but not all with the same happy result. They had mostly reached the +ground more or less bruised, but at the moment of escape from the clutch +of death we do not much feel our hurts. These unhappy victims, +frightened as they were, had managed to creep and hide behind the +untouched portion of the bulwark, and happy to have escaped from +immediate death, sheltered from the tremendous cataract of stones, they +remained quiet, trembling, awaiting the end of the catastrophe and the +ultimate rescue. But what had meanwhile become of those who had stayed +in the falling carriages? + +There came a terrible answer to that question, and out of the old horror +arose a new and still more terrible spectre. A demon with a cloudy head, +rising from the darkness below, and with a swift and fearful growth, +mounting up to the sky--a demon with a thousand glistening, sparkling +eyes and tongues, a smoke-fiend! + +The great boiler of the locomotive had gone down first. There it fell, +not on the ground, but on a large fragment of rock, which pierced it +completely, so that the air had free access to the fire. Upon the top of +both boiler and tender, the coal-van had been turned upside down, and +these had pulled all the carriages one on top of the other in the same +way, so that the whole train stood upright, like some huge steeple. This +dreadful structure had become a great funeral pile, the altar of a black +pagan idol whose fiery tongues were greedily thrusting upward to devour +their prey. + +Then, as the smoke became blacker and blacker, a heart-rending, almost +maddening sound of shrieking and crying rang out from that devilish +wreck, so loud and piercing that it drowned the clatter of stones, the +crackling of the fast-kindling coals, and the crushing noise of the +metals. At the cry for aid of the doomed victims, all who had escaped +and hidden behind the bulwark came forth, creeping or running, shrieking +and gesticulating, forgetful of their own danger and pitiful condition, +thinking only of those dear lost ones there in that abode of hell, and +maddened at the impossibility of rescuing them. It was a wild +hurly-burly of voices and of tongues, of despairing yells, hysterical +sobs, heart-rending prayers; and as I stumbled over the twisted and +broken rails, that stood upright like bent wires, and stooped over the +bulwark, I beheld a spectacle so terrible that every nerve of my body, +every heart-string, revolted at it. Even now they quiver at the ghastly +recollection. + +As the fire lighted up the horrible pile I could see that the first +carriage atop of the coals was a shattered mass, the second crushed +flat, while the third stood with wheels uppermost, and so forth to the +top, and out of all of them human heads, limbs, faces, bodies, were +thrust forward. Two small gloved female hands, locked as in prayer, were +stretched out of a window, and above them two strong, muscular, +masculine arms tried with superhuman force to lift the iron weight +above, to break a way at the top, until the blood flowed from the nails, +and even these strong arms dropped down exhausted. Half-seen forms, +mutilated, bleeding, were tearing with teeth and nails at their dreadful +prison. Then for a while the smoky cloud involved everything in +darkness. A moment after, the red fiery tongues came lapping upward, and +a red, glowing halo encircles the fatal wreck. The first and second +carriages were already burned. How long would it take the flames to +reach the top? How many of the sufferers were yet alive? What power in +heaven or earth could save them, and how? + +The hollow into which the train had fallen was so deep that, in spite of +the erect position of the ill-fated pile, the topmost car--that +containing the poor foolish American governess, who had lost her life in +running back for her bonnet--was ten metres below us, and we had not +even a single rope or cord with which to hazard the experiment of +descending. A young man, one of those few who had come forth unharmed, +ran up and down the embankment, shouting madly for a rope, offering a +fortune for belts, shawls, and cords. His newly-married bride was in one +of those carriages, and hers were the tiny gloved hands that were +stretched out of the window. "A rope!" cried he; "give me anything to +make a rope!" But who heeded him? + +A young mother sat on the tracks, fondly hugging a plaid shawl in her +arms. Her babe was there in that burning pyre, but horror had +overpowered her reason. There she sat, caressing the woollen bundle, and +in a low voice singing her "Eia Popeia" to the child of her fantasy. + +An aged Polish Jew lay across the barricade wall. His two hands were +stretched downward, and there he muttered the prayers and invocations of +his ancient liturgy, which no one there understood but himself and his +God. The ritual prayer-bands were upon his thumbs and wrists, and +encircling his forehead. His forked beard and greasy side-locks dangled +as he chanted his hymns, while his eyes, starting almost out of their +sockets, were fixed upon one of the carriages. What did that car +contain? His wife? His children? Or his worldly goods, the fortune +hoarded up through a life-time of cunning and privation? Who knows? +Forth he chants his prayers, loudly yelling, or muttering low, as the +ghastly scene before him vanishes in smoke and darkness, or glows out +again in fearful distinctness. + +Every one shrieks, cries, prays, swears, raves. + +No; not every one! There, on the barricade, his logs doubled up +Turk-fashion, sits a young painter with Mephisto beard and grey eyes. +His sketch-book is open, and he is making a vivid sketch of the +sensational scene. The illustrated papers are grateful customers, and +will rejoice at receiving the sketch. + +But this young draughtsman is not the only sensible person in the +place. There is another, a long-legged Englishman, standing with watch +in hand, reckoning up the time lost by the accident, and eyeing the +scene complacently. + +Some noisy dispute attracts my attention, and, turning, I behold a man, +trying with all his might to overcome a woman, who attacks him with +teeth and nails, biting his hands and tearing at his flesh, as he drags +her close to him. At last he succeeds in joining both of her hands +behind her back, she foaming, writhing, and cursing. I ask indignantly, +"What do you want with the woman? Let her alone!" + +"Oh, sir!" he said, showing me a sorrowful and tear-stained face, "for +Heaven's sake, help me! I cannot bear with her any more. She wants to +leap down and kill herself. Pray help me to tie her hands, and carry her +off from here!" + +By his speech I knew him for a Pole, and the woman's exclamations were +also uttered in the Polish language. She was his wife; her children were +there in that infernal pile, and she wanted to die with them. + +"Quick! quick!" gasped the man. "Take my necktie and fasten her hands +behind her." I obeyed; and as I wound the silken strip tight around the +unhappy woman's wrist, her despairing gaze fixed itself in deadly hate +upon my face, and her foaming lips cursed me for keeping her away from +her children. As her husband carried her away, her curses pierced the +air; and although I could not understand the words, I understood that +she spoke of the "Czrny Bog," or, as the Russians say, "Cserny Boh," the +"Black God" of the Slavs--Death. + +By this time the horrible tower was burning brightly, and the night was +all aglow with the glaring light, and still those terrible shrieks from +human voices resounded to and fro. + +The young artist had a picturesque scene for his pencil, and kept making +sketch after sketch. The burning wreck, the flying cinders, the red mist +around the black pine woods on the rocky wall of the mountain, and that +small span of star-lit heaven above; all those frightened, maddened, +running, crouching, creeping men and women around, with the chanting +Jew, in his long silken _caftan_ and dangling locks, in the midst of +them, made a picture of terrible sublimity. + +But still the god of destruction was unsatisfied, and his fiery maw +opened for more victims. The unhappy young husband had succeeded in +tearing up his clothes and knotting the strips together. A compassionate +woman had given him a shawl, which he fastened to the bushes. On this he +descended into that mouth of hell. The perilous attempt succeeded so far +that, with one mad leap, he landed on the top of the uppermost car with +its pile of stones, and then, with cat-like dexterity and desperate +daring, he scrambled downward to the third carriage. Quickly he reached +the spot, and the poor little gloved hands of his darling were thrown in +ecstasy around his neck. Someone had drawn up the cord on which he had +let himself down, fastened a stout iron rod to it, and suspended it +carefully. Happily it reached him, and with its aid he made a good-sized +breach, widening the opening of the window; he worked with desperate +strength, and we gazed breathlessly on. Now we saw him drop the rod +again. The tender arms of his bride were around his neck, a fair head +was thrust out, the whole form was emerging, when with a tremendous +crash, and a hissing, spluttering, crackling noise, the whole fabric +shook and trembled, and husband and wife were united in death. + +The great boiler had burst; the explosion had changed the scene again, +and the young painter might draw still another sketch. + + + + +III. + +THE ENGLISHMAN. + + +That long-legged son of Albion whom I had previously observed, strolled +up to my side and asked-- + +"Do you understand German, sir?" + +"Yes, sir, I do." + +"Then call for that shepherd. I want him." + +I obeyed, and the shepherd, who had complacently eyed the scene as +something that was of no consequence to him, came slowly and wonderingly +up. + +He was in no hurry, and my coaxing "Dear friend" and "Good friend" did +not impress him at all; but when the Englishman showed him a handful of +gold coins he came on quickly enough. + +"Tell him," said the Englishman, "to run to the next railway station, +give notice of the accident, and return with a relief train for succour. +Tell him to be quick, and when he returns I will give him two hundred +francs." + +"Yes," said the man; "but who will take care of my goats meanwhile?" + +"How many goats have you?" + +"Six." + +"And what is the average price of a goat?" + +"Fifteen francs." + +"Well, here is the price of your goats in cash. I give you one hundred +francs--ten more than your goats are worth. Now run! How far is it?" + +"A good running distance, not very far." The man pocketed his money and +turned, when an idea struck him. "Could you not take care of my goats +anyhow, till I return?" he asked. + +Smart fellow! He kept the money for his goats, and tried to keep the +goats into the bargain. + +"All right," said the Englishman, "I will take care of them. Never fear. +Go!" + +"But you must take my stick and my horn; the goats will get astray when +they do not hear the horn." + +"Then give it to me, and I will blow it," said the Englishman, with +admirable patience, and, taking the shepherd's crook and horn, he gave +the man his red shawl to use as a signal-flag. + +As the shepherd at length trotted on and disappeared, that unique, +long-legged example of phlegm and good sense sat down by the shepherd's +fire, on exactly the same spot where the shepherd had sat, and began +watching the goats. + +I returned to the mournful scene which I had quitted when the Englishman +came up to me. It was a terrible one, and no marvel that even the +painter had closed his sketch-book to gaze upon it in silent awe. The +entire valley below showed like a giant furnace, or some flaming ocean +of hell. Huge fiery serpents came hissing and snarling up to the +barricade, and great flakes of fire were flying about everywhere, +scorching and kindling as they fell. The chill, keen, mountain air had +become heavy and warm in spite of the winter, and a loathsome, +penetrating odour arose and drove us away from the horrible place. No +one remained but the Polish Jew. He did not move away. He had risen to +his knees on the barricade wall, and his hands, with their prayer-bands, +were uplifted to heaven. Louder and louder he chanted his hymns, raising +his voice above the thundering roar of the crackling fire, the rolling +stones, and the last despairing cries of the doomed ones. The fur on his +cap, his forked beard and dangling locks were singed by the falling +cinders, and his skin scorched and blistered, yet still he chanted on. +But when at last he saw that his prayer was in vain, all at once he +sprang up, and seemed to strike at the flames with both palms; then, +spitting into the fire "pchi!" he fell down senseless. + +By this time the heat was so oppressive that it was dangerous to stand +anywhere near the barricade, and even for the sake of saving a man's +life from such a horrid fate, it was impossible to venture among the +falling cinders and rolling stones. All that the few of us who had +escaped with sound limbs and bodies could do was to carry our less +fortunate, wounded or maimed fellow-travellers up into the little +watch-house. + +This we did, and then came those seemingly endless minutes in which we +waited for the relief train. Once the Englishman blew the horn for the +goats, and we thought it was the whistling of the expected train. How +terribly that disappointment was felt! and what sinful, subtle, and +sophistical thoughts crowded into our heads, burdened our hearts, and +oppressed our spirits in those awful minutes! + +What terrible thing had these poor victims done to deserve such fearful +punishment? What heinous crime had they committed to be sentenced to +death and destruction by such a painful, torturing process? Whose sin +was visited on the guileless heads of little infants and innocent +children who had perished in those flames? Could not they have been +spared? or that loving and beautiful young couple, just on the brink of +life and happiness, and now sent to eternity together by such a fearful +road, into the mouth of hell when they had thought themselves before the +open gate of Paradise? What had that unhappy mother done? or all these +old and young men and women, in full health and spirits, enjoying life +and happiness, surrounded by happy relatives, full of happy plans and +hopes? What had they done to deserve this fate, those poor servants of +the public convenience, the guards, the engineer, and the other +officials, who could have saved their own lives easily, and in good +time, if they had abandoned their fatal posts, and had not preferred to +die in doing their duty? Why had not these been saved for the sake of +their wives and children, now widows and orphans, abandoned to the +charities of a merciless world? Who and where is that awful Deity into +whose altar-fire that conjuring Jew had spat, because He would not +listen to his invocations? What dreadful Power is it which has pushed +down that rock-colossus to destroy so many human lives? Is it the Czrny +Bog of the Samaritans, the Lord of Darkness and Doer of Mischief, whose +might is great in harm, whose joy is human despair, and who is adored +with oaths and curses? + +But if such a power exists--if there is a Czrny Bog, indeed--then his +deeds are befitting his name--dark and black. But why should I, who am +human myself, and have a heart for my brethren and a sense of their +wrongs, why should I in this fatal instant, although full of pity and +commiseration, yet inwardly rejoice that this misfortune has fallen upon +others and not upon me? Why should I feel that although others have +perished, all is well as long as I am safe? + +Is this not shameful? Is it not an everlasting stain and disgrace upon +my inner self? What right have I to think myself the chosen ward of some +guardian angel or tutelary spirit? In what am I different from those +lost ones? In what better, worthier than they? And if not, why had I +been saved and not they? Here! Here was the Czrny Bog, the dark god, in +my own breast. + +At last day was dawning, and, in the grey morning light, the horrible +picture looked ghastlier still, when, to our intense relief, the +long-expected train came, and physicians with their assistants, firemen +with their manifold implements, police, and all kinds of labourers, +arrived upon it. The train stopped at a safe distance, and then the work +of rescue began. Wounds were dressed, the insensible restored, watchmen +and travellers were interrogated by officials. Ropes and rope-ladders +were fastened and suspended, and brave men, magnanimously forgetful of +the threatening danger, went down into the flames, although the hope of +success was small. True, the two or three uppermost cars had not as yet +caught fire; but who could breathe amid that suffocating smoke, that +lurid loathsome atmosphere, and yet live? + +The labourers set to work at the breaches of the barricade and the line +of rails. The engineers discussed the best way in which a protecting +barrier ought to be built so as to shut out every possibility of such an +accident; and from the plateau before the watch-house some men were +incessantly calling for a "Monsieur d'Astrachan." + +At last one of the labourers called my attention to these repeated +shouts, and, turning in their direction, I observed that this title was +intended for me. The watchman's wife, not knowing my name, had described +me as wearing an astrachan cap and coat-collar, and accordingly I was +called "Monsieur d'Astrachan." Now for the first time I remembered the +child I had carried thither. I had completely forgotten it, and the +occurrence seemed such an age away that I should not have been surprised +to hear that the boy had grown to be a man. + +I hastened up the steps, and observed that some official personage in +showy uniform was expecting me quite impatiently. "Come up, sir," he +said; "we cannot converse with your little boy." + +"To be sure you can't!" said I, smiling, in spite of the dreadful +situation. "Neither can I, for the boy is deaf and dumb; but I have to +correct you, sir. The boy is not my own, although I took him out of the +carriage." + +"That boy deaf and dumb? About as much as we are, I judge. Why, he is +talking incessantly, only we can't make anything out of his prattle, as +we do not understand the language," said the officer. + +"Well, that's certainly a miracle!" I exclaimed, "and it bears witness +to the truth of the old proverb, 'It is an ill wind that blows nobody +any good.' Assuredly, the shock of the accident restored his power of +speech. What is he saying?" + +"I told you we can't make it out. It's a language that none of us +understand." + +"Then I hardly suppose that I shall be cleverer than all of you." + +"Whose child is it, if not yours?" + +"Some rich nabob's. I can't at the moment recall his name, although the +governess told me, poor soul! We were thrown together by chance, and the +poor woman perished in the flames. Has no one of his many attendants and +servants escaped?" + +"It seems not. But pray come in and listen to him; perhaps you will +understand him." + +I went in, and found my practical Englishman beside the child, but +incapable of arriving at a mutual understanding. The injured travellers +and the hysterical women passengers were already snugly stowed away in +the ambulance carriages and well taken care of. The goats were again +under the protection of their legitimate shepherd, and that temporary +official, the long-legged son of Albion, was addressing all kinds of +questions in English to an obstinate little boy. + +As I entered, and the child caught sight of me, the little face lit up +at once. He extended both his little arms in joy. "Please come," he +said; "I will be a good boy. I will speak!" + +It is marvellous enough when a dumb child speaks; but what was my +surprise when I recognised these words, uttered in my own native +Hungarian tongue! Just imagine the five-year-old son of a wealthy +American, whose entire _cortege_ had been German, French, Italian, and +English, speaking Hungarian! + +I took the little fellow up in my arms, and he put both his little arms +around my neck, and, leaning his soft cheek on my bearded face, he said +again, "I will be good, very good; but please take me to my papa. I am +afraid!" + +"Who is your father, my child?" I asked. "What is his name?" + +As I uttered these questions in Hungarian, he clapped his hands in +gladness, and then, after a little meditation, he answered-- + +"My father is called the 'Silver King,' and his name is Mr. Dumany. Do +you know him?" + +"Oh!" said the Englishman, as he heard the name, "Mr. Kornel Dumany, the +Silver King; I know him very well. He is an American, and very rich. He +lives mostly in Paris. If it is more convenient for you to get rid of +the child, I can take care of him and bring him to his father." + +"No, no!" protested the little one, clinging tightly to me. "Please, do +not give me to him! I want to stay with you; I want to go with you to my +papa!" + +So he knew English well enough, since he understood every word of the +Englishman's. In this case he could not have been deaf at all, but +obstinate, hearing and refusing to talk. Was not such unheard-of +obstinacy in a child of such tender age some malady of the mind or soul? + +"I wonder how this child comes to speak Hungarian?" said I, turning to +the Englishman. "Ours is not a language generally spoken by foreigners, +least of all by the young children of American nabobs." + +"I never wonder at anything," said he, coolly. "At any rate, I should +advise you at the first station to telegraph to Mr. Dumany; I will give +you his address. So you will be expected when you arrive in Paris, and +have no further trouble. Since you are the only person able to talk to +the boy, it will be certainly the best thing for him to remain with you. +Now I think it is time for us to take our seats in the carriage, or else +the train will start and leave us behind. Come on, gentlemen!" + + + + +IV. + +THE NABOB. + + +The train from Zuerich arrived at the Eastern Railway Station at seven +o'clock in the morning. In Paris the day has at that early hour not yet +begun, and but very few persons, mostly travelling foreigners and +labourers, are seen on the streets. Since it has become the fashion to +use the moving train for suicidal purposes, the perron is locked, and +only those travellers admitted whose luggage is undergoing examination +by the customs officials. + +I was lucky enough to have sent my luggage one day ahead of me to Paris, +and so it had not been lost in the accident. I had nothing with me but a +small satchel, which I had saved, but which contained nothing to +interest the custom-house officers, and so, taking my little charge in +hand, I stepped out into the hall. I had hardly gone two paces, when the +child dropped my hand, and crying, "Papa! dear, darling papa!" ran to a +gentleman who, with a lady at his side, stood by the turnstile. + +I had never before seen the lady, yet I recognised her at once as the +mother of my little charge, so striking was the resemblance between +them. She had the same large, dark-blue eyes, the same dimpled chin, +aquiline nose, and pretty, shell-shaped, little mouth as he, and she +could hardly have been more than four-and-twenty, so young and girlish +did she look. The husband was a large-made, well-shaped, and +distinguished-looking gentleman. His bronze complexion had a healthy +flush, and he wore side whiskers, but no moustache. His head was covered +with a round soft beaver, and a long, rich fur coat was thrown lightly +over his shoulder. In his scarf I saw a large solitaire. The lady at his +side was very plainly attired in black, and wore no jewellery at all. +The age of the gentleman was, according to my judgment, about forty. + +As the child ran toward him, with both his little arms stretched out, +and crying, in Hungarian, "Apam! Drago edes apam!" ("Papa! dear darling +papa!") the gentleman hastened to meet him, caught the boy up in his +arms, and covered the little face, hands, eyes, and hair with a shower +of kisses. The father sobbed in his joy, while the child laughed, +caressed his father's cheeks, and called him "Edes jo apam!" ("My good, +sweet father!") in Hungarian, and the father called him, crying and +laughing, "My dear little fool"--in English. + +Then I saw the father whisper something to the child, and in an instant +the whole little face became rigid and dull, all child-like mirth and +sweetness had vanished. He looked around, and then clung tightly to his +father, as if in dread of something, and I saw his lips move in appeal. +The father kissed him again and carried him to the lady, who all the +while had given no sign of animation or interest, but had looked on, +cool and indifferent. + +"Look, my pet, here is your mama!" said the gentleman to the boy, +approaching the lady and holding the boy toward her. Now, according to +the law of nature, according to all human sentiment and experience, we +should expect a mother who receives back her own offspring, saved from a +fate too horrible even to contemplate, her own child who had gone from +her mute and comes back to her speaking, I say we should think it +natural in such a mother to seize this child, and, in the ecstasy of her +love and joy, half suffocate it with her kisses and caresses. Not so +here. I could see no glad tear in the lady's eye, no smile of welcome on +her face. Her hands were snugly stowed away in a costly little muff, and +she did not think it necessary to extend them to her child. She breathed +a cold, lifeless kiss upon the boy's pale forehead, and the tiny hand of +the child caressed the fur trimming on her jacket, just as he had done +with the astrachan lapel of my coat. What a strange behaviour in mother +and child after such a reunion! + +I had watched this family scene out of a strange curiosity, which was +wholly involuntary. Presently I recollected the situation, and turned to +leave the perron. Perhaps, if I had saved some honest cockney's son from +a like danger, I should not have avoided him, but, with a friendly +pressure of the hand, expressed my pleasure at having been able to be of +service to him. Then we should have parted good friends. But to +introduce myself to an American nabob as the rescuer of his child was +impossible! Why, the man was capable of offering me a remuneration! + +No, I would have nothing to do with aristocrats like these. They have +their child; it is safe; and so good-bye to them! + +However, as I turned to leave, I was surprised to hear some one +pronounce my name, and, to my astonishment, I found that it was Mr. +Dumany. He still held the child on his arm, and, coming toward me, he +said in French, "Oh, sir! you do not mean to run away from us, surely?" + +"Indeed I must!" said I, bowing. "But, pray, how is it that you know my +name? You cannot know me personally?" + +"Well, that is a question which must remain to be answered later on. At +present it is sufficient to tell you that the telegraph service has been +very full and exact, even in personal description. However, I beg you to +revoke that 'I must,' for indeed I cannot allow you to depart. To the +great favour you have done me, you must add the additional favour of +being my guest for the time of your sojourn in Paris. Promise me to +accept of my hospitality--nay, to regard my house as your own. I shall +be ever so happy! Come, pray, do not hesitate, and give me leave to +introduce you to my wife!" + +With that he took my arm, and holding it tight, as if in fear I might +break loose and run off, he led me to the turnstile, where the lady was +standing as quiet and composed as before. He introduced me to her by my +proper name and title, naming even the district which I represented in +the Hungarian Parliament; and all these he pronounced perfectly and +correctly, as I never heard them pronounced by a foreigner before. How +could he know all that? True, I had shown my passport to the frontier +officials; but were these also subject to the Silver King? + +The lady bowed politely as her husband said, "This gentleman has saved +our little James from being consumed by the flames at the Rossberg +catastrophe"; and for a moment I felt the slight pressure of a little +gloved hand in mine. It was a very slight pressure, the faintest +possible acknowledgment of a duty, and if I had saved her little pet +monkey or dog, instead of her child, she might well have afforded me a +warmer recognition. Indeed, I had seen women go into raptures on account +of such animals before this, but never before had I seen a mother value +the life of her own child so cheap. She did not hold it worthy of a +single expression of gratitude; she had not a word to spare for him or +me. Was this woman a human monstrosity and void of all natural feeling? +or else was it part of the American etiquette to suppress all outward +signs of emotion? + +What puzzled me most was the boy. He was so different from the happy, +talkative little fellow he had been with me and with his father some +minutes ago, and he looked just as dull and inanimate as when I had seen +him first on the railway. Was it because he could only speak Hungarian? +But then, how could he speak to his father? Who had taught the boy to +speak that peculiar language, dear to me and my compatriots, but wholly +unintelligible and of very little use or advantage to the world at +large? + +I observed that Mr. Dumany held a short conversation with a tall +liveried footman behind him, and I understood that he ordered him to +take out my luggage. I protested and tried to escape. I like hospitality +at home; but when I come into a foreign country, I prefer the simplest +inn or the obscurest hotel to the most magnificent apartments of a +palace of a prince of the Bourse, because independence goes with the +former, and of all slavery I fear that of etiquette the worst. + +But Mr. Dumany did not mean to give way to my polite protestations. +"Just surrender nicely, pray!" he said, smilingly. "It saves you +trouble. Look! If you insist upon going to some hotel, I promise you +that all the reporters of every paper we have, daily and weekly, will be +sure to pester you day and night with interviews, besides the reporters +of foreign papers here, of which we also have an abundance. Every word +you speak will by each reporter be turned into a different meaning, and +by to-morrow the papers will be full of your intimations, although you +do not say anything at all. And then the photographers: how will you +escape them? Don't you know that every penny paper will appear with your +picture in front to-morrow, and, wherever you go, it will be thrust +before your eyes? You will hear your name pronounced in all languages, +and in every way, and you will not know how to escape this unsought-for +and unwelcome notoriety. But if you accept my invitation, nobody will be +able to stare at you or interrogate you, and you shall live as quietly +and peacefully as if you were in some herdsman's hovel in Hortobagy at +home." + +I stared at him quite stunned. How, in the name of all that was +wonderful, could he have learned of the existence of a herdsman's hovel +in Hortobagy? How could he know that it was my favourite spot? And how +he pronounced that Hortobagy! Just as I myself! He smiled at my +astonishment, but offered no explanation. But now he had caught me in my +weak point--a writer's curiosity--and I gave in, willingly enough. + +Mr. Dumany ordered the carriages. In one magnificent landau Mrs. Dumany +was to go with little James, in the other Mr. Dumany and myself. But the +child obstinately refused to leave his father's arms, and clung to him +more tightly than ever. So the lady was obliged to go alone, and we two +men took the boy with us. + +I confess that the gentleman puzzled and interested me very much. Not +because people had given him the name of "Silver King." I do not covet, +and I do not admire wealth alone, pure and simple. I know how to +describe a vine-embowered cottage, or even a thatch-roofed hut, with a +garland of gourd blossoms around its small windows, and I can appreciate +the beauties of a picturesque church or castle. But all my descriptive +faculties desert me before the marble and gold luxury of a modern +palace, and its gorgeous splendour has no charm for me. The interest I +felt was due to the man himself, and, most of all, to the connection +existing between him and my own home. How came this American Croesus to +be acquainted with the nomenclature, customs, and topography of my own +country and language? How came the latter upon the lips of his +five-year-old boy? In my childhood I had known a five-year-old boy, the +son of a count, who could speak only Latin, and not a word except Latin. +But, then, Latin is taught throughout the world, and no education is +considered as finished without a more or less perfect knowledge of +Latin. But where in a foreign country is the professor who teaches the +Ugro-Finnish tongue, even if there were some whimsical parent who wished +that his son should learn to speak it? + +During the drive Mr. Dumany acquainted me with some particulars +regarding the customs of his house. He told me that the hour for +breakfast was nine, and that for lunch one o'clock. Dinner was +invariably served at six, and I was entirely at liberty to put in my +appearance or stay away. They would not wait for me, but my place at the +table would be kept reserved; and if I was late, I should be served +afresh. The cook should be entirely at my disposal. If the excitement +and fatigue of the journey should make me wish for a day's rest, I was +free to retire to my rooms at once, and should not be disturbed by +anybody. + +In answer to all this I said that I had no habits whatever; that I was +able to eat, drink, and sleep at will; was never fatigued, and would +with pleasure put in my appearance at his breakfast-table that very +morning. + +"That will be nice, indeed!" he said. "But I must beg your pardon in +advance for my wife. On ordinary days she is up and presides at +breakfast; but to-day she bade me apologise. She has been up all night +from excitement, and now I have told her to lie down and rest a few +hours. After that she usually spends some time in the nursery, +superintending the children's ablutions, prayers, and breakfast, and +only when all these matters are accomplished is she ready for her duties +as hostess and mistress of the household." + +"So little James is not your only child?" I ventured to ask. + +"Not by many; we have two more boys and two beautiful little +girls--quite a houseful." + +"But the lady looks almost too young to be the mother of so many +children. Little James is the eldest, of course?" + +"Yes, he is her first-born, and she is not yet twenty-four. We have been +married six years, so christening has been an annual event with us." + +Well, I was more puzzled than ever. I had met with a good many English +and American gentlemen before, but all had been rather reserved in +speech and manner, quite different from this Croesus; and, regarding the +lady, I was altogether at a loss, as all my conjectures were entirely at +fault. She was not without feeling; she was apparently a good mother, +and little James was her own child and not a stepson, as I had guessed. +Her behaviour at the station was still an enigma to me. + +At last we arrived at the Silver King's residence--a large, well-built, +and rather comfortable than brilliant mansion, filled with a host of +servants, of whom each knew and fulfilled his particular duty. A _valet +de chambre_ showed me into a very splendid and comfortable suite of +rooms, consisting of a reception-room, sitting-room, work-room, bed-, +dressing-, and bathroom, all furnished in the choicest and most +practical way, and I was delighted to see that, although all was rich +and costly, none of the offensive and pretentious pomp of the ordinary +millionaire's house met my eye. + +The valet, an Alsacian, who talked to me in German--perhaps with the +notion of paying me a compliment--informed me that he was entirely at my +own service. He showed me a beautiful escritoire in the work-room, with +everything ready for writing purposes, and told me that, in the +reading-room attached, I should find an assortment of newspapers. He +then quickly and skilfully prepared me a bath, unpacked and arranged my +things, and helped me to dress. He was altogether a wonderfully nice +fellow. + +When the valet left me, I went into the reading-room, and looked at the +newspapers. I found quite a number of them--French, English, Italian, +and one German; but still I was a little disappointed. I had half +expected to find a Hungarian paper, and there was none. + +The library contained a choice collection of books; works of science, +philosophy, history, poetry, and fiction--of the latter, only a small +and select number. Here also was no Hungarian author to be found; not +even the translation of a Hungarian book could I detect, although I +looked into every one--French, German, English, and Italian, and even +some Spanish and Danish ones. + +From the reading-room opened the billiard-room, a handsome apartment. +Its walls were covered with beautiful frescoes, betraying the French +school of art in the delicate colours, and in the Norman, Basque, +Breton, and Kabyle scenes and types represented. Of Hungary I could see +nothing. The Hortobagy herdsman's hovel, of which my host had spoken, +was not to be found. + +In another room I found a sort of ethnographical museum, full of relics +and rarities from all countries except Hungary; and yet, if that man had +ever been in my country, he would certainly have brought some token of +remembrance with him. Hungary is more rich in curiosities than a good +many of the countries represented here. + +Mr. Dumany came in to see if I was ready for breakfast, and I followed +him into the tea-room, passing a little, semi-circular, ship-cabin-like +apartment, with small, round windows, between which, in +beautifully-sculptured, round frames, of the size of the windows, hung +very handsome landscapes, apparently American. + +In the breakfast-room I recognised a tiny Meissonier, in a gold frame of +twice its size, and an Alma Tadema. Mr. Dumany, observing my interest in +the pictures, informed me that these two were there only temporarily, +pending their shipment to New York. There, in Mr. Dumany's real home, +was his picture gallery, containing works of art of the highest +standard. + +I ventured to observe that we Scythians, barbarians as we were held to +be, had also some painters worthy the interest of a Maecenas, and not +without fame, too. + +"I should think so," he said, smiling. "And in my New York gallery you +will find Munkacsy _genres_, Zichy _aquarelles_, a Benczur, and some +other equally fine Hungarian pictures. Here I keep only French and +German pictures of lesser value." + +Our conversation turned to art in general, and Mr. Dumany surprised me +again by an allusion to the Hungarian witticism that when we speak of +Hungarian art we cannot omit Liszt (for the name of the great musician +is also the Hungarian word for _flour_); and Mr. Dumany remarked that +Americans travelling abroad have learned to appreciate both the +Hungarian specialties. The great artist, and the product of the soil and +mill converted into fine cake, are equally esteemed by them. + +We talked about commerce and exports, and he observed that although +American wheat was sure to inundate the European market, yet Hungarian +flour was unrivalled in quality, and would increase in consumption +throughout the world. Then we spoke of financial matters, and here Mr. +Dumany was completely at home. The Hungarian rente had at that time just +been introduced into the market, and Mr. Dumany predicted for it a fair +success. He prophesied the rente conversion scheme and the four per +cent. bonds, and from this topic we diverged to politics. He was a very +fair politician, and I was pleasantly impressed by the apparent interest +which he took in Hungary. He admired Andrassy, and spoke well of his +Bosnian policy. Of Tisza he entertained great hopes, and he felt sorry +for Apponyi, because he had allied his great talents with the +Opposition. He spoke of Kossuth, and said it was a pity to see the grand +old man's name misused by the extreme faction. I tried to turn the +conversation to Hungarian literature, but on this point I met with but +little interest. Still, I noticed that he knew more about us than +foreigners in general do. He did not think the Gypsies the ruling race +in Hungary, and he did not believe us to be a sort of chivalrous +brigands, as some foreigners consider us; but he did not show any +particular sympathy with either the country or the people, and certainly +used no flattery on the subject of our special virtues. + +Our conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Dumany's valet, +who handed his master two letters. "Will you give me leave to read them +at once?" he asked, turning to me. "They are of some importance, being +answers to two dinner invitations I sent out this morning." + +"Certainly," I answered; "pray do as you wish." + +He opened and read the letters, and, replacing them again on the silver +salver upon which the servant had brought them, he ordered him to hand +them over to the chambermaid so that Mrs. Dumany might receive and read +them. + +After the valet had left, Mr. Dumany said to me-- + +"I have invited these two gentlemen to meet you at dinner. One of them +is secretary of the Department of the Interior, the other an old +Catholic priest, the parson of St. Germain l'Auxerrois. It is very nice +and pleasant that both of them accepted, and so I hope you will not +object to make the acquaintance of two whole-souled and intelligent +gentlemen." + +"Quite the contrary," I hastened to say; "I shall be very happy to meet +them." + +Just then the valet returned, and, deferentially bowing, he said to me-- + +"Madame la Comtesse begs to inform monsieur that she would be grateful +if monsieur would be kind enough to see madame in her apartments." + + + + +V. + +A REPUBLICAN COUNTESS. + + +"Madame la Comtesse!" A Peruvian or Argentine countess? Or have these +plutocrats of the great republic some special distinguishing titles, +such as "Silver King," "Railway Prince," etc., and was this exotic +countess the daughter of some such lord of the money market? At any +rate, I had to obey her polite commands, so, throwing away my cigar, I +bowed to Mr. Dumany and followed the lead of the valet. + +In crossing a long suite of tastefully-furnished rooms, I noticed the +entire absence of family pictures. They had no ancestors, or did not +boast of them. No farthingaled, white-wigged ladies in hooped skirts and +trailing brocade robes; no mail-clad, chivalrous-looking gentlemen, with +marshals' staffs, keys, and like emblems of rank and high station; or +else these, too, had gone over to New York to subdue with their haughty +grandeur the eyes of less high-born mortals. + +There was something else I missed in these beautiful chambers--the usual +obtrusive, caressed and pampered pet animal of a great lady. No +paroquet, no monkey, no little, silken-haired lap-dog, no St. Bernard or +Newfoundland dog, no cat, not even a little canary bird, was to be met +with; and not a single flower, real or artificial, greeted the eye. + +At last we came to a room with beautiful heavy brocaded draperies, +evidently veiling the entrance into some other apartment. As the servant +stepped up and drew the hanging aside, I could not suppress an +exclamation of admiration and surprise; and for a moment I stood +transfixed at the lovely and exquisite scene, deeming that fairyland had +opened to me, and that Queen Mab was expecting me in her own enchanting +bower. + +The room which I now entered resembled to some extent the Blue Grotto of +Capri. It was flooded with a magic blue light. Just opposite to the +entrance was some kind of bower, with honeysuckle, woodbine, and other +blooming and fragrant vines intertwined. This bower was prolonged in the +rear into a spacious and seemingly endless tropical garden, with +wonderful blooming exotic plants and trees; and in this East Indian +paradise, gaily-plumed, sweet-voiced birds of different size and colour +were chirping, hopping, and hovering above their nests, among evergreen +bushes and glorious flowers. The whole winter-garden received its light +from above, and this light, falling through large panes of blue glass, +threw that peculiar, fairy, grotto-like hue over the little boudoir in +front. + +To prevent the luscious odour of the winter-garden from pervading the +air of the boudoir and becoming oppressive, a fine, translucent film +separated the bower from the garden. But this film was not of glass or +any other transparent but solid substance; it consisted of a beautiful, +clear waterfall, transparent as a veil, and noiseless as a fine summer +rain. At the touch of a spring, this softly-pouring waterfall might be +shut off and the entrance into the winter-garden thrown wide. + +In the little boudoir, at the opening of the bower, stood a couch, and +opposite this a little settee and two small gilded and embroidered +chairs; while two large sculptured frames, one containing a splendid +mirror, the other a life-size portrait of Mr. Dumany, completed the +appointments. + +Mrs. Dumany, or, as she was called, the countess, wore a loose +morning-dress of raw silk, with rich embroidery. Her rich, dark hair was +uncovered and wound around her head in three thick coils, like a tiara. + +Her graceful figure was as slender as that of a girl, and she looked so +young and childlike that no living man would have supposed her to be the +mother of five children. + +In the peculiar blue light of the boudoir her naturally fair face +appeared so white that I was almost startled. It was just as though some +marble or alabaster statue had moved, looked at me with those large +dark-blue eyes, spoken to me with those finely-chiselled, ruby-coloured +lips. + +"Pray pardon me for troubling you to call on me," she said, in fluent +and precise French, although with a somewhat foreign accent and manner +of speech; "I should not have done it were you not the only trustworthy +person from whom I can learn the necessary particulars of the terrible +Rossberg accident. My husband, as perhaps you already know, has invited +two gentlemen to dine with us. One is a government officer of high rank, +the other a kind and benevolent priest. My husband's intention is to +spend a considerable sum of money for distribution among those who were +injured in the Rossberg catastrophe, or their destitute relatives. They +shall at least not suffer actual want, and although I daresay that money +is a poor compensation for a lost or crippled husband and father, or son +and brother, still it is the only possible consolation we can offer +them, and in providing for their own future and that of their +dependents, we at least relieve their hearts of one burden. Of this my +husband wants to talk to the government official. The priest was invited +by me, and I want him to hold a requiem for the souls of those who +perished, and to superintend the erection of a memorial chapel at the +place of the terrible accident. Mr. Dumany is ungrudging in his charity, +and ready for any sacrifice of money; but, you see, we know really +nothing about the particulars. How many were lost, and how many died +afterward in consequence of their injuries? Who were they? Of what +nation, faith, quality, and circumstances? How many were saved, and in +what condition? Have they somebody to attend to them, to support them in +case of need? And then those belonging to ourselves, our dutiful +servants, I might call them our true and faithful friends, has not one +of them escaped? Have they all perished together? You can tell me best, +and therefore I made bold to call you to me. Do not hesitate, pray, but +tell me all that happened, and in what manner it happened, from the +dreadful beginning to the pitiful end--the whole catastrophe, with all +the particulars you can recall to memory." + +"Madam," said I, "pray do not wish that. These particulars are much too +dreadful to relate--much too horrible for the ear of a lady. It requires +strong nerves and an iron heart to listen to such a tale as that." + +"And what that?" she replied. "True, my nerves are not a bit less +sensitive than those of any other woman, but I have learned to suppress +them--to hold them down. Never fear me! Never spare me! If the scourge +hurts me, I shall think it a penance. Go on! You hold the +scourge--strike! Go on, I say!" + +There was an impatient, almost fierce resolution in her voice, and I +obeyed. + +If this woman regarded the act of listening to the dreadful tale I had +to tell as a penance, then, indeed, she allowed it to become a torture. +I was obliged to recount the smallest incident of the ghastly event, and +she drank in every word, shuddering as at some deadly poison. Again and +again she questioned me with the skill and zeal of a professional +cross-examiner. Nor would she let me omit a syllable. And when at the +most fearful and heartrending point, her soft, dimpled chin sunk down on +her breast, and her fair, babyish hand knocked at the tender bosom "_Mea +culpa_! Oh, _mea culpa_!" + +When she heard that the uncoupling of the parlour car had caused a +delay, she groaned. "Then all this terrible mishap is due to our own +vanity?" she cried. "A consequence of our own presumptuous pride! If our +dependents had sat with the boy in a common carriage with other decent +travellers, the train would have passed the fatal spot long before the +landslide was in motion! But, of course, the Silver King's son is far +too precious a creature to breathe the same air with other creatures of +God's making. He must needs have a separate parlour to himself! And this +sinful, detestable vanity of ours must cost the lives of so many good, +brave, happy, and useful persons. Oh, hell itself must mock at our +folly!" + +Now this commination, unexpected as it was from a lady of wealth and +position, was not altogether unwarranted, and so I went on. + +As I drew near to the catastrophe I could hear the beating of her heart, +and her breath came short and gasping. When I related how I had caught +hold of the governess's hand, she was trembling, and an almost deadly +pallor overspread her white face. "Alice! oh, Alice!" she cried; and +when I told her how the lady ran back to the coupe for her bonnet, just +at the last moment for escaping, she broke out into a painful hysterical +laugh. "Just like her! Her bonnet! Yes; ha! ha! She would have come down +to dinner in her bonnet, the foolish pride! She was so afraid to show +her bare ears to a man! Oh! oh! Alice!" + +At last the tears came to her relief, and she sobbed pitifully. "If you +had only known her goodness," she cried, "her self-sacrificing devotion, +her pure, kind heart! She was the best friend I ever had, and how she +loved that unhappy boy! She was more his mother than I, for she gave him +all a mother's love and all a mother's care and attention. Why did I let +her go with him? Why did I not keep her back from him?" + +I told her how the poor woman's first thought had been the safety of the +child. + +"And you have not seen her again? You do not know what has become of +her?" + +I denied having seen her again. I could not describe to her the horrid +spectacle of the poor woman as I had seen her last, when taken by the +brave firemen from that infernal pile; for, strong as she forced herself +to appear, this would have been more than she could bear; so I told her +that the relief train started with the rescued before we could learn +anything of the rest; but of the certainty of their death there could +not be the slightest doubt. + +"What a misfortune!" she sighed, wringing her hands. "Why, that boy had +an escort with him like a prince royal! The honest Dr. Mayer, such a +refined, generous young man; and Tom, the negro, my best servant, and +the truest! He saved me from an alligator once, and killed him with an +iron bar. He was severely wounded by the ferocious reptile, yet he +laughed at his pains." + +I remembered the grin on his broad black face in the moment of death, +as I had seen him at the carriage window. He had laughed then also. + +"And poor little Georgie?" she asked again, "James's playfellow and +foster-brother? Georgie's mother was James's nurse. How she begged of me +to take care of her darling, to bring him up well, to make a priest of +him! And how well I have kept that promise! I have made more of him than +a priest: he is a saint, and a martyr. Oh, _mea culpa_! _mea culpa_!" + +When I had explained to her the circumstances which had made all +attempts at rescue impossible for us, and afterward futile, she nodded. +"I know it," she said. "On that evening I had not said my prayers. We +dined out late, and spent the evening there. I could not come home to +pray with my children, and I could not say my prayers there. I felt the +heavy load on my heart, and once for a moment, when I was not observed +by anybody, I heaved a sigh and said, 'God bless us!' It must have been +at the moment of the catastrophe, for my heart ached with some vague and +gloomy presentiment. Oh, me! our neglected prayer, and such a fearful +chastisement! Tell me! Who is that terrible being that watches us so +relentlessly, and if he catches us napping but once, hurls down those we +love into death and destruction?" + +Her marble-white face, her large wide-open eyes, gave her the look of a +spirit. + +"Perhaps," said I, "the single blessing you asked saved the life of +your dear child. Let this thought comfort you." + +"James?" she said. "This child of sin and misfortune? Why, it was +because he was on that train that all those pure and good people had to +die! Oh, accursed was the hour of his birth! No, no; he is not accursed. +I--I, his mother, that gave birth to him, I am guilty! He is innocent; +he could not help it. Oh, _mea culpa_! _mea culpa_!" + +She was beating her breast, and rocking herself to and fro, uttering her +incessant "_Mea culpa_!" "Tell me more," she said again, presently; +"show me more dreadful sights, that I may suffer more. I yearn for it; +it will do my soul good--it is like purgatory. Go on!" + +I took good care not to feed this religious frenzy further. On the +contrary, I spoke of the practical Englishman and his performances, and +of the artist who had sat there among all the terrible havoc and had +drawn sketch after sketch. + +"That picture we must secure, at whatever cost," she said, eagerly. "It +shall be the altar-piece of the chapel which we are about to raise in +memory of the tragic event and of the souls of the slain." + +I had formed my own opinion of Mrs Dumany's state of mind. No doubt she +was mentally deranged, and her special craze was religious monomania. +From this arose the deep melancholy which held her own innocent babe +responsible for the misfortune of others. This made the child repugnant +to the mother, and, no doubt, this was at the bottom of that remarkable +mutual estrangement between mother and child. + +I tried to quiet her. I told her that in a very short period a great +many serious catastrophes, such as frequent earthquakes, great +inundations, and similar unfortunate and most terrible events, had +shocked the world and buried whole cities, destroyed the lives and +fortunes of thousands upon thousands of happy and innocent persons. Even +this Rossberg catastrophe had been preceded by another at the same spot, +about the beginning of the present century. Such catastrophes were by no +means to be considered as a punishment from God Almighty, Who is far too +magnanimous to visit the sins of the guilty upon the heads of the +innocent, but simply as the outcome of geological and meteorological +phases of our globe, depending upon natural laws. If anybody was really +to be blamed for the present misfortune, it must be the engineer who had +planned and erected that insufficient barrier instead of a strong +bastion. + +Mr. Dumany's entrance interrupted our painful conversation. He came on +the pretence that letters and newspapers had arrived for me, and with +that he handed me a copy of the _Hon_. + +"But I had them addressed to the Hotel d'Espagne," I said. + +"They have been already informed that you are here," he answered; and +then, turning to his wife, he said-- + +"Have you drunk deep enough of the bitter cup? or do you thirst for +more of its contents?" + +His voice was soft and tender, and the wife threw both her arms around +the husband's neck, and, burying her face on his breast, she wept +bitterly. + +I took my journal, and, without making my excuses to the lady, I +silently stole out of the room. + + + + +VI. + +DUMANY KORNEL. + + +At dinner I was punctual, but nevertheless the two gentlemen of whom Mr. +Dumany and his wife had spoken were already present and discussing the +question of Mr. Dumany's munificent offer. After a hurried introduction +I was soon informed of all that had been agreed on. The Secretary of +State had received bonds for 1,000,000 francs, to be taken by the two +Governments, the French and the Swiss, for distribution among the +injured or maimed of the Rossberg catastrophe and the poor dependents of +the slain. The old railroad watchman, who had been discharged by the +company, and the canny shepherd, who both sold and kept his goats when +he ran for the relief train, each received 10,000 francs, and a +considerable sum went to the officials of the relief train as a +remuneration for their services. The rest of the million francs was set +aside for a memorial chapel on the site of the accident, and for the +celebration of masses and a grand requiem in the church of St Germain +l'Auxerrois on the following day--a ceremony which was to be repeated +annually. + +I have forgotten to mention that although the dinner was sumptuous, and +the dishes and wines were excellent, yet it was as stately, solemn, and +unsociable a meal as a funeral banquet, and Mrs. Dumany presided in +deep mourning. The only jewel she wore was a large cross studded with +dark-blue diamonds, only recognisable as such by the rays of blue, +yellow, red, and green light which darted from them. This cross was +suspended on a chain of black beads resembling a rosary, and giving to +the black-robed figure the appearance of an abbess. The Spanish lace +mantilla which she had thrown over her beautiful hair served as the +veil, and made the resemblance perfect. + +At nine o'clock the government official and the priest took their leave, +and Mrs. Dumany retired, to put her babes to bed, as she said--a duty +which she always fulfilled herself, saying her prayers with them, and +watching them until they slept. After the lady had retired, Mr. Dumany +told me that even when he and his wife dined out, or were going to the +opera, my lady invariably went home at nine o'clock to put her children +to bed--a duty which she never omitted; but on the evening of the +catastrophe she had been compelled to stay by the company present, and +this had given rise to her self-accusations. She was nowhere happy but +in the company of her children, who afforded her the greatest delight +and amusement. I sighed, and, yes--I think I was actually guilty of the +remark that Hungarian ladies of quality were equally good and dutiful +mothers. + +We went over to Mr. Dumany's bedroom for a cup of tea and a cigar. It +was a grand room, lofty and spacious as a church, and if I had been a +Chauvinist, I should have said that the rays of light in this room +composed a tricolour of the same hues as the Hungarian flag. The +beautiful hanging-lamp shed a green light, the glowing coals in the +grate threw a reddish tint over the surrounding objects, and the large, +richly-sculptured bed-canopy was all ablaze with white electric lights, +arranged like a chain of diamonds above the heavy purple velvet hangings +which encircled the couch and gave it a cosy and well-shaded effect. + +We had hardly finished our first cigar, when Mrs. Dumany, or, as I +should call her, the countess, came in. She wore a white wrapper, +covered with costly lace and leaving her beautiful arms bare below the +loose lace-trimmed sleeves. She led little James into the room, and, +turning to her husband, she said--"This boy obstinately refuses to sleep +anywhere but with his father, just as before we sent him to the +Institute." + +The little fellow was simpering, and tottered drowsily to and fro. He +was evidently very sleepy. Mr. Dumany took him up on his lap, unbuttoned +his little boots, and pulled off the tiny socks. The mother stood there, +looking on unconcerned, and presently she said, "Good-night!" and went +out of the room. + +The father undressed the child, and put him to bed; then he drew the +curtains aside; the child knelt in bed, folded his little hands, and +evidently said his prayers, for I saw his lips move; but I could not +hear a word. After he had finished, his father kissed him tenderly, +covered him up with the angora rug, and, letting down the curtains, +returned to me. + +He had hardly sat down, when the bed-curtains moved, and the cherubic +little head peeped out. "Papa! Papa!" said the child. + +"What is it, darling?" his father asked, going back to him. + +"I want you to kiss me again," he said, with a little mischievous smile. + +After the boy had had his wish, he crept below the covering, and was +soon fast asleep. Mr. Dumany observed that my cigar had expired, and +that I looked rather drowsy. "You are tired," he said; "let me lead you +to your room." + +"I have not slept for the last two nights," I replied; "but I shall not +trouble you, as I can find my room easily, or else I can ask the valet. +Pray stay and rest yourself." + +"Well then, good-night and sleep well!" + +But however sleepy I had been the moment before, these few words were +enough to drive sleep from my eyes for ten nights to come, and to raise +my curiosity to the highest pitch, for they were spoken in clear, +well-pronounced Hungarian. + +I gazed at him in utter astonishment, and he smiled. "You did not +recognise me," he said, "but I knew you at once. I knew you very well, +too--at one time: we have been colleagues once." + +"Indeed? And how is that possible? Pray where was that?" + +"In Budapest, in the Sandor Uteza Palace, the House of Commons." + +"You have been a member of the Hungarian Parliament? When? And what +name did you then bear?" + +"The name I bear now, which is my own. Only I used to write it in +Hungarian, Dumany Kornel." + +"Still I don't remember. Neither your name, nor yet your face is +familiar to me." + +"Naturally enough. I was in Parliament for only one day; the next day +they conducted me out again." + +"Ah, now I know you! You were the dead man's candidate." + +"Yes, you have hit it; I was the man." + +Well, this was indeed a surprise. All the drowsiness had entirely gone +from me, and, turning back into the room, I asked, eagerly-- + +"Sir, have I some claim on your generosity?" + +"Oh sir! my dear friend!" he cried, extending both hands to me, "I am +your most grateful and obedient servant for ever. I hand you a blank +sheet, and, whatever you may be pleased to write upon it, I shall most +willingly subscribe to." + +"Then tell me how the right honourable Dumany Kornel, a member of the +Hungarian landed gentry, and also of the medical profession, if I +rightly remember, a rather fast-living bachelor, and rejected Commoner, +has been metamorphosed into Cornelius Dumany, the Silver King, the South +American nabob, the matador of the Bourse, husband of a beautiful +countess, and father of five children, within such a short period. Tell +me this, for it is the only gratification I shall accept." + +"And let me tell you, dear friend, it is the highest I could give," was +his reply. "In fact, you have presented me such a draft that, in spite +of all my wealth, I am unable to pay it at sight. I have to ask my +wife's permission first. The story you want me to tell is but one half +my own, the other half belongs to my wife, and you must allow me to ask +her leave;" and, bowing to me, he left the room. + +I was alone. No, not alone. From behind the bed-curtains issued a heavy +groaning, as if the little sleeper were troubled with bad dreams. I went +to him and lifted the hangings. The glare of the light awakened him, and +he cried out, "Apa!" ("Papa!") + +"Papa will come presently, my little one," I said in Hungarian, and he +smiled happily. + +"Oh, the Hungarian uncle!" he said, "that's nice;" and, taking hold of +my hand, he caressingly laid his little, soft cheek on it. + +"Have you been troubled in your sleep?" I asked. + +"Yes," he said; "I was dumb again, although I wanted to speak and tried +very hard. A snake was coiled around my neck, and choked me. There is no +snake in this room? Or is there?" + +"No. Don't be afraid of anything. Try to sleep again." + +"You will stay with me?" + +"Yes, until your papa comes back." + +"Stay always. Papa would like it. He always used to say, 'Speak to me, +my boy, only to me! I have nobody but thee to speak to me in our own +Hungarian;' and now he has you also. How glad he must be of it! You will +stay?--promise!" + +I promised him to stay a long time, and, holding fast to my hand, he +fell asleep again. + +When Mr. Du Many, or rather Dumany, returned to me, I was sitting before +the grate, musing over what the child's innocent prattle had revealed to +me--the tender, loving recollection this man had of his home and the +sweet sounds of our beloved mother tongue. + +He came in with an animated face. "My wife has consented," he said. "She +told me that it was confession-time. To-morrow she will confess to +Father Augustin, and this evening I shall make you my confessor. Now +that I have made up my mind to it, I really think that, even from a +practical point of view, it would be much better if the truth should be +known about us, rather than those wild, fanciful stories reported by +gossiping American newspapers." + +With that he rang the bell for the servant, and gave his orders for the +night. Tea with mandarin liqueur at once, at twelve o'clock punch and +fruits, at two in the morning coffee _a la Turque_, and at five o'clock +a cold woodcock and champagne, were to be served. + +"I hope you will be able to stand being up all night?" he asked. + +"I think so. I am chief of the campaign committee at home." + +"I beg your pardon. Then I know your quality. But it will possibly +interest you to learn that the bill of fare I have issued consists +entirely of products of my own raising. The tea comes from my own garden +in Hong Kong. The mandarin is decocted from the crop of oranges grown in +my Borneo orchard. The coffee comes from my Cuban plantation, as well as +the 'gizr' spirit, obtained from the coffee bean. The woodcock is from +my own park; and it is only the flour for the cakes that I have to buy, +for that comes from Hungary, and there I own nothing." + +"How is that? If I remember rightly, you had a handsome property there." + +"Have you not heard that it was sold to pay my debts?" + +"And you consented to that?" + +"Well, first hear my story. However, I have told you an untruth. I am +yet a landed proprietor at home; I own a cabbage-garden in the rear of +my former castle. That garden is the only bit of soil I kept, and in +this garden fine cabbages grow. Year after year the whole crop is sliced +up, put into great barrels, and converted into sauer-kraut. This they +send after me, wherever I happen to be--whether at New York, Rio de +Janeiro, Palermo, or Paris--and from this, after a sleepless night, my +wife prepares me a delicious 'Korhely-leves'" (a broth made from the +juice, and some slices of cabbage, with sour cream and fresh and smoked +ham, and sausages. This broth is in Hungary frequently served after a +night of dissipation; hence its name, "Korhely-leves," which means +"Scamp's-broth"). + +"And the countess understands how to prepare the old-fashioned Hungarian +delicacy?" I asked. + +He laughed. "Ha-ha-ha! Why, she is as good a Hungarian as you or I. If +she speaks French, she only imitates our ladies at home, who think +themselves so much more refined when they speak bad French instead of +good Hungarian." + +This was another revelation, and upset the other half of my fictitious +combination. I had imagined that my countryman had won the love of some +South American magnate's daughter, and in this way had become the +possessor of his innumerable millions. Mr. Dumany might have read my +thoughts in my face, for he smiled and said-- + +"You will presently understand that I did not rob, did not cheat, and +did not marry for money, and yet I did not acquire my present great +wealth by my own good sense and management, either. I'll show you by +what road I have reached it, as a warning to others. May no other man +ever do as I did! But I do not believe that such events are ever likely +to happen again. I do not believe that there can ever be born another +such a pair of thick-skinned, iron-nerved human beings as the heroes of +this story, or two other persons able to endure what we endured. I will +venture to say that the worldly wealth I have won is not worth the price +I paid for it; but I have gained another prize, whose value can never be +expressed in figures." + +Thereupon we sat down at the little tea-table. Mr. Dumany threw a few +logs of odorous cedar wood upon the fire and began his tale. So, from +this point, the present romance is not written by me, but by him. + + + + +MR DUMANY'S STORY. + +VII. + +THE DEAD MAN'S VOTE. + + +I do not think it necessary to particularly describe the borough for +which I was nominated as a candidate for Parliament. If you know one, +you know all. There were factions, of course, ranged into parties, one +of which drank deep, while the other drank deeper still. There are a +good many nationalities in this particular district, and they are +distinguished by the liquor they prefer. The Slavs drink whiskey; the +Suabians or Germans, beer; the Ugro-Fins or Hungarians, wine; and the +more intelligent and cultivated of all the races show their agreement in +matters of taste by drinking, alternately, wine, beer, or whiskey, with +equal relish. Jehovah's own chosen people, considering it much more +prudent and hospitable to serve the liquid to others than to drink it +themselves, furnish all parties with the wished-for fluid, according to +individual taste, and find the transaction even more satisfactory and +profitable than drinking in itself. + +If Dante had visited Hungary, and had seen my particular borough in +election-time, he would not have omitted it in his description of hell. + +Yet the highly respectable voters expect a substantial confirmation of +their patriotic convictions, and some of them are not fully persuaded +until four or five angels (golden, of course) come to enlighten their +minds. Others refuse to listen even to the sweet voices of these angels, +and wait obstinately for the mightier spirits, emblazoned on fifty and +one hundred florin bank-bills. Others, again, are to be had only _en +bloc_--that is, in company with their friends and connections, and only +just at the last moment, when the bidding is highest; and so tender is +their conscience that they listen to the persuasions of all parties with +equal earnestness, and it takes much to convince and win them over. + +It is a matter of course that the nominated candidate of each party is +far above such negotiations, and, although he owns that it has come to +his knowledge that his antagonist actually stooped to bribery in order +to defend his weak cause, yet he himself will never condescend to meet +the man on that ground. If his own moral integrity, the lofty standing +of his party, and his party's principles, will not secure the victory +for him, why, then there is no honesty and patriotism in this decayed +age, and the patriotic cause is lost! + +At every election, as you well know, are a number of kind, +disinterested, active, and zealous party members, indefatigably busy in +securing and collecting votes, or, what is more essential, trying to win +over the votes of the enemy. These very useful and highly respectable +gentlemen are leaders or drum-majors, and they have a number of +subalterns, not less useful, painstaking, and persuasive, only a little +less gentlemanlike and less scrupulous, and perhaps not wholly +disinterested as regards pecuniary gain. These are the election +drummers, plain and simple. + +Now at the election of which I am speaking there were two factions. I, +as the champion of the Clerical-National-Conservative party, stood in +opposition to the champion of the Panslavonic-Liberal-Reform party, and +you may believe that we did all that was possible to defeat the opposing +faction. My own party emblem was the red feather, that of my adversary +the green feather; the national cockade we sported in common. + +At six o'clock p.m. the green feathers were one vote ahead of us. "This +is not to be endured!" shouted my head drummers, and "This is not to be +endured!" was the war-cry of the subordinate drummers. But how could +they help it? The lists were scrutinised again, and it was found that +Toth Janos, the potter, had not voted. "Where is Toth Janos, the potter? +and why did he not vote?" added my chief drummer. "Beg pardon," said one +of the subalterns, "but the man was buried the other day." + +"Well, that was a calamity. Is there no other Toth Janos in the village? +The name is rather a common one." + +"There is indeed, and he happens to live in the same house with the +deceased, only he is not a voter, as he does not pay taxes; he is only a +poor poultry-dealer. Still he is on the list as a carter, and the thing +could be managed." + +Toth Janos, the poultry-dealer, was sent for, but his voting in his own +right was out of the question. So the drummers talked with him a long +time, and they had glib tongues, and the aid of the ever-welcome angels. +Toth Janos the poultry-dealer, who could not vote in his own name, voted +as Toth Janos, the potter, but he had a great sacrifice to make. The +deceased potter was nick-named the "gap-toothed," because he had lost +his front teeth in a brawl. Now the poultry-dealer's front teeth were as +sound as ivory, yet so great and effective were the persuasions of the +"angels" that, in half an hour's time, Toth Janos, the poultry-dealer, +so closely resembled Toth Janos, the potter, in outward appearance that +no question concerning his identity was raised, and his vote was +recorded. + +Still, this was insufficient. True, we were now even with the foe, but +we were compelled to show a majority, even if it consisted only of a +single vote. If Richard III could offer "a kingdom for a horse," why +should not we offer "1,000 florins for a vote?" + +Somebody made the discovery that on the outskirts of the village, in an +old tumble-down shanty of his own, lived a poor Jew with a lot of +half-starved, forlorn-looking children, and a half-crazed, careworn, +hard-working wife. The husband and father had been laid up with +consumption for the last few months, and was daily expected to die. This +poor wretch, who never in all his life had been the owner of an entire +suit of decent clothes--for when he had a hat, he invariably lacked +shoes, or when in possession of a coat, he was in sore want of a pair of +trousers--this poor fellow had yet a fortune at his call, for he could +bequeath to his family the 1,000 florins which we were willing to pay +for his vote. All his life he had been as honest as he was poor, earning +a miserable livelihood by setting glass panes in the village windows. +Nobody had ever thought of getting his vote, still less had he himself +thought of attaching any importance to the right he possessed as a +taxpayer. Our drummers found the poor fellow just in the act of taking +leave of this vale of care and sorrow; but they would not have been the +smart fellows they were if they had not succeeded in defeating Death +himself, and robbing him of his prey for as long as they needed. The +dying man stared vacantly into their faces when they offered him this +enormous sum of ready money, while his wife and children broke into a +howl of despair that the offer had not come earlier, for how could a +dying man leave his bed to vote? But my drummers were not to be beaten. +They caught up the bedstead with the sufferer on it, and hastened with +it to the tent where the votes were collected. The dying man had been +made to understand that the bill of 1,000 florins which he saw would be +given to his wife, if he would only pronounce my name when asked to whom +he gave his vote, and he hold tight to his wife's hand, and met her +appealing glance with something like assurance. Happily, he was still +alive when brought to the urn, and the drummers announced that "the poor +man was troubled in his conscience, and could not die unless the +opportunity of fulfilling his patriotic duty was afforded him, so that +he had begged them to bring him to the tent and allow him to vote." This +touching little piece of news was received in the spirit in which it had +been given, and just as the poor fellow in his agony was asked the name +of his chosen candidate, Death came to claim his own. With a last look +of sorrow and affection at his wife he sighed with his dying breath, "Du +mein liebel"[1] ("Thou, my love!"), and expired. + +[Footnote 1: The Jews in Hungary usually speak German among themselves.] + +"'Nelly Dumany! Dumany Nelly!' he said," cried my drummers--"Nelly" +being an abbreviation of Kornel, my Christian name--and since the "Du +meine" really sounded like "Dumany" and not at all like "Belacsek," the +candidate of the other party, and since the dead man could not be made +to repeat his vote, whereas my drummers were ready to take their oath of +the correctness of their assertion, the vote was credited to me, and I +was declared elected by a majority of one vote, my suffrages being 1,501 +in number, whereas my adversary had received only 1,500. + +The case was afterward contested, and some witnesses endeavoured to +prove that the dying man had not said, "Dumany Nelly," but "Du mein +liebe"; yet there was the sworn statement of my drummers to the +contrary, as well as the evidence of his wife and children that the man +had been a devout and religious Jew, incapable of offending Jehovah by +uttering German words with his last breath. He had simply pronounced my +name in Jewish fashion, and eased his patriotic heart by voting for me. +Itzig Maikaefer's vote was as sound as a nut and could not be rejected. + +Not quite so sound, however, was the other dead man's vote--that of Toth +Janos, the potter. We had sent his substitute, the poultry-dealer, with +a cartload of odds and ends to Galicia, just to have him out of the way. +We managed to make it difficult to prove which of the two men named Toth +Janos had been buried two days before election-day by providing for the +dead man's family, and sending them off to a remote place; and as the +poultry-dealer (who was a widower without any family) did not return +from Galicia for many weeks to come, everything seemed secure. But we +had reckoned without our host, and did not take into consideration a +possible treachery. The barber, a miserable wretch, whom we thought to +be a true red-feather man, and who had been more than liberally paid for +extracting the poultry-dealer's front teeth, and trimming his hair and +beard into the semblance of those of the dead potter, went and blabbed +of his work. A strict examination followed, the body of the potter was +exhumed, and his identity proved to a certainty. Of course, no one dared +to accuse me of foul play, but a new election was found necessary, and +the day after I had first taken my seat as a member of the Hungarian +Parliament, I was politely but firmly given to understand that I had no +legal right to its possession, and had better go. This is the story of +how I became to be called "the dead man's representative," and how I was +a colleague of yours for a single day. + +Yet this story I have told you cannot give anyone a fair or true +estimate of me, or my character, or ability. Anybody who heard or read +this story would suppose me to have been a vain, good-for-nothing sort +of fellow, who had missed his degree at college and lacked the ability +to fill any decent position, and therefore plunged into politics to make +his living, or perhaps to squander the inheritance he had received from +his ancestors. But, in reality, I had already, at the age of +six-and-twenty, occupied the position of a well-qualified assistant +physician, and at two-and-thirty the newspapers spoke of me as a famous +specialist and a great light of the profession. As I was established in +Vienna, where the competition is great, and Hungarians are pushed into +the rear if possible, my reputation could not have been without some +foundation at least. I was respectable and respected, very much in love +with my profession, and did not care a straw for politics. So, in order +to make you understand the change--nay, the entire revolution--which my +outward and inward man, my entire existence, had experienced, I must +acquaint you with a portion of my family troubles and domestic +relations, and I shall have to speak of my Uncle Diogenes. + + + + +VIII. + +MY UNCLE DIOGENES. + + +First of all, I must inform you that my father was a very zealous +patriot, and mingled largely in state and political affairs. Of course, +in the great insurrection of the year 1848 he took an active share, and +after the catastrophe of Vilagos he was seized and imprisoned at Olmuetz. +At that time I was a lean, overgrown youngster of sixteen. I was +compelled to take charge of the household, and behave as head of the +family, for which dignity I had no inclination and but little talent. +Study was the great object of my life. After my father's release from +prison I was just of an age to decide as to my future career; but that, +at the time, was rather a difficult thing for a Hungarian youth, all +offices and positions being filled by Germans and Bohemians. I did not +wish to follow in my father's footsteps, for I saw that what with his +neglect of business matters, what with his liberality in furnishing all +patriotic enterprises out of his own pocket with the necessary means, +and in extending a wide hospitality to all political refugees, our own +circumstances were getting worse and worse, and we were deeply in debt. + +So one day I took courage to speak to my father upon the subject, and +told him that I thought it was time for me to select a profession. + +"Oh! you are going to hunt for some paltry office in the district +courts?" he said, with a snarl. + +"No! I am going to study as a physician," I replied. + +"What? Do you want to be a barber or a veterinary surgeon, or one of +those curs who pretend to look after the wounded so that they themselves +may keep out of danger when their betters fight? Imagine a scion of the +Dumanys, and the last one, too, wanting to be a sick nurse instead of a +man! I have a notion to shoot you on the spot!" + +"That you can't, for our present ingenious Government takes precious +good care that such dangerous persons as my father shall not be left in +possession of a rifle or any other shooting-iron; and surely you will +not butcher me? Come, father, be reasonable! You know well what I mean +to become, and that the calling I have selected is honourable and +respected." + +"It is not fit for the son of a gentleman and a Dumany. If you dare to +follow such an insane course, you may be sure of my malediction, and, +besides that, I'll discard you--disinherit you!" + +"I am very much afraid, papa, that if our present course lasts awhile +longer, there will not be much left to bequeath to your heirs. So I am +not afraid of that threat; and as to maledictions, you are much too kind +and good-natured to utter such stuff; and, besides, curses are just as +harmless and useless as blessings. The Frauenhofer lines tell us all the +secrets of hell, and so I am not at all afraid of them. But I am +terribly afraid, dear father, that the road which you have pursued will +lead us to ruin in a very short time." + +I had taken precise accounts of all that we possessed and all that we +owed. I had computed these accurately, and showed him the result, which +was rather alarming; but he waved the document away with his hands, and +said, "Don't be foolish; don't worry about these little inconveniences, +which can't be helped, and will soon cease to trouble us. Why, there is +your uncle Dion, with eighty-seven winters on his head (may God rest +him!) and not a soul to leave his large fortune to, but you, his only +nephew! Bless my soul! what a nuisance is this boy! Instead of going to +this paragon of an uncle, and trying to get into his good graces, as his +next of blood and kin, he talks of becoming an apothecary, smearing +plasters, mixing poisons, and setting sprained joints. Go to thy uncle, +I say, like a dutiful nephew, and doctor him, if doctor you must!" + +"I have been to him already, and have told him of my intentions." + +"'Pon my word! And then?" + +"He gave me the money to pay my preliminary expenses, and I hope to get +along afterward by myself." + +"Well, to think of Dion giving away anything but advice! It's a treat! +And what did he say?" + +"That I was right and sensible in providing against the future; for he +knows of your difficulties." + +"Stuff and nonsense! He can't last for ever, and then where is the need +for your troubling yourself about my difficulties or studying for a +profession?" + +"You are mistaken: he will not leave us a penny; neither do I care for +his money. All I wanted of him I have got, and there is an end of it." + +"Then don't say that I am an unnatural or unfeeling father. I'll give +you thir--no, twenty florins!" But he never said whether these twenty +florins were meant to be given monthly, or only once for good and all. +However, as I did not ask for them, I never got a penny, and soon +learned to do without my father's money by giving lessons, coaching less +diligent and capable fellow-students, and contriving to live upon almost +nothing. + +But I wanted to speak to you of my Uncle Diogenes, as he was generally +called, although his Christian name was Dion. He was my father's +brother, but by no means like him. Rather an odd sort of a fellow, and +as keen as a razor. He went even beyond the old classical types; he was +more cynical and more of a philosopher than they. Not the oldest +inhabitant remembered the time when the cloak that covered his stooping +shoulders on the street was new. Daily he went to church, never into +church. There, on the sacred threshold, among the beggars and outcasts, +he paid his homage to his Maker, and then returned to his desolate home. +There was a large public well in the village. To this he himself went +with a large pitcher for his drinking-water. This water he poured into a +large boiler, boiled and strained it, and then drank it, because then +he was sure of the bacilli. He kept no attendant or housekeeper, for +fear of being murdered; and he was so much in dread of poison that he +never ate cooked food or anything made of flour, not even bread. He +lived on baked potatoes, nuts, honey, raw fresh eggs, and all sorts of +fruits and vegetables which might be eaten raw, and which grew in his +own orchard and garden. Out of his large herd of cattle he selected a +cow for his stall. This cow he attended to with his own hand, carefully +examining each stalk or haulm she ate, in order that no poisonous weed +might be consumed by her, and thus poison the milk. Each morning and +evening his own hands milked her, and he churned all his butter, and +made all his cheese himself. He never ate anything but what I have +mentioned, and he never went out without two loaded double-barrelled +pistols in his boots. He never read any other newspaper than the +Slavonic _Narodne Novine_, which he got from the village parson; but, +before reading it, he held it over a charcoal fire, on which he had +thrown some juniper berries, to kill possible malarial germs. His land +was all farmed out, and the rent had to be paid to him in gold or +silver, which he locked away in a great old iron chest. Occasionally, +through auctioning off some poor debtor's effects, he came into +possession of bank bills, 50, 100, 1,000 florin notes. These he rolled +up separately, and pushed one by one into a hollow reed. Of those +stuffed reeds he made bundles, which he stowed away in a corner of his +room. He never lent a penny of his money; he never put a penny into any +savings-bank, for he called them all humbugs; and he never gave a penny +for charity or friendship. Such was my Uncle Diogenes or Dion; and now I +will tell you what he had given me. You remember I told my father that +my Uncle Dion had furnished me with the means of paying my preliminary +expenses. That was true, but I had earned the money, little as it was, +in ciphering, writing, and riding about to my uncle's tenants at a time +when he was ill with a cold, and would have been obliged to pay a +stranger for the work which I did for him. I said it was little he gave +me. I have not told the whole truth, for he gave me his advice, and put +his own example before me, and that made a small sum go a long way. + +Well, to make a long story short, let me tell you that I was an +established physician when my father died, and immediately after his +death his estate was seized in bankruptcy proceedings. + +I did not care. I was satisfied with my position in Vienna, and as I had +no mother nor sisters or dependent younger brothers, and had long ago +relinquished the hope of coming into possession of our family estate, I +tried to forget my former home and live only for my profession. + +After my efforts had made me a name as a clever and skilful specialist, +I was occasionally called to visit some wealthy patient in Hungary, and +then the papers gave accounts of the diagnosis I had given, and +mentioned the generous fee I had received. I did not approve of this +sort of advertisement, but I found that it could not be checked, and so +grew indifferent to it. One day I received a registered letter +containing money. It was stamped all over with the cheapest kind of +sealing-wax, and, on opening the envelope, I was surprised to find a +letter from my Uncle Dion, with an old, crumpled hundred-florin bill, of +a kind that had long gone out of circulation, and which showed every +mark of having issued from one of the hollow reeds. The letter ran about +as follows:-- + + "MY DEAR NEPHEW, DR. DUMANY,--Knowing well that physicians will not + move a step without being well paid, I send you the enclosed + bank-bill, and pray you to take the trouble to visit me for a few + days here in my house. + + "DUMANY DION." + +I took the bank-bill, put it into a fresh envelope, and wrote the +following lines:-- + + "MY DEAR UNCLE,--One hundred florins will not induce me to leave my + patients, and so I return the bill; but if you are really in need + of a physician, and want me in that capacity, then please let me + know, without enclosing money, for I should consider it my duty as + a near blood-relation to give you my professional assistance + without delay.--Yours, + + "DUMANY KORNEL." + +By return of post came the answer--"Yes, I want you immediately." + +I went at once. It was ten years since I had seen him last. He was +eighty-seven then; he must be ninety-seven now. A rare age, indeed! +When last I saw him, his long and thick white hair had reached to the +middle of his back, and his long untrimmed beard flowed down to his +girdle, and was the colour of hemp. His eyes were as sharp as those of +any young man, and he did his reading and writing without an eye-glass. +Even his grafting he did without an artificial help to his vision. I +remembered well the old custom for guests arriving at his house: coach +and servants had to be left at the inn, and dinner had to be ordered +there. Whoever came to visit the lord of the chateau, quite a +magnificent old-fashioned country seat, had to enter through a narrow +garden-gate, just wide enough to admit a single person. The great gate +was never opened, no vehicle of any kind was admitted to pass through +it, and a thick growth of horse-sorrel, both without and within the +great oaken wings, bore witness to the fact. There was a turnkey at the +little gate, and an old man--the only servant my uncle ever kept, who +served for porter, gardener, and all other purposes--opened the door. + +There was yet one tender spot in my uncle's heart, one sprinkle of +poetry in his nature. He adored flowers, especially roses, and he did +not even grudge money to secure rare specimens. His flower-garden was a +real fairy bower, and the old man, with the flowing snow-white hair and +beard, pruning and grafting continually, resembled some sorcerer who, +with a single touch of his withered hands, could create or destroy all +the beauty around him. + +I found him there among his roses when I came. He recognised me at +once, although the last ten years had considerably changed my +appearance. He was looking just the same as he did ten years ago; not +altered in the least. He was as dry, as wrinkled, and as white as when I +had last seen him, and his eyes appeared by no means less sharp than at +the time I speak of. + +"Happy to see you, my dear fellow!" he said. "I should have known you +wherever I met you. You look like the old boy you were." + +"So I do, because of my clean-shaven face, uncle. I do not care for the +manly beauty of a moustache and beard. But I must return your +compliment. You have not aged in the least, and I can hardly believe in +your wanting a physician at all. You do not look like it." + +He chuckled. "Well, well, I don't think you are much mistaken; but sit +down here in the bower: my room is not quite so pleasant and orderly a +place. I must call the gardener--" + +"Don't take the least trouble, uncle," I said. "I shall not stay with +you, as I ordered a room at the inn and also my dinner. I had a hearty +lunch half an hour ago, and so you need not worry about my comfort. Now +tell me what ails you, pray, and then I'll see what I can do for you." + +"Nothing in the least with regard to my health, for I am not a bit worse +than I was ten years ago, and far better than most others at my age. I +am ninety-seven, as you know, and that's no trifle. It would be foolish +to expect anything better, and you could not prevent my dying about this +time next year." + +"Oh! you are hypochondriac, I see, and give way to fancies! Come in, and +let me examine you professionally, for such fancies are always the +result of some serious disorder." + +"There you are mistaken, my boy. My heart, lungs, liver, and the rest of +it are all right, and I am not melancholy. Neither am I weak-minded or +nervous, and you need not look into my eyes or feel my pulse. I have +known these four years that I am to die at the time I mentioned, +although I am sure, when I tell you how I came to know it, you will call +me superstitious. For you fellows of the present day are so sceptical +and matter-of-fact that you refuse to believe in anything that cannot be +proved by optical inspection or by evidence. It was, as I said, just +four years ago, on my ninety-third birthday, when St. John the Nepomuc +appeared to me in a dream, and said--'Dionysius, my good fellow, make +the best of your time! There are only five more years for you in store, +and then you must die! no help for it!' Since that time he comes to me +every year regularly on the night of my birthday, and repeats his +warning, each time giving me one year less. Last week was my birthday, +and he gave me the last warning. Next time he comes I shall have to go. +So--" + +"But, my dear uncle," I said, rather vexed, "if you are so much +convinced of the certainty of your death, then it was not at all +necessary for me to come. You want the priest, and not the physician. I +can cure bodily diseases, and release you from the clutches of cholera, +or sometimes even of death; but if the saints have got hold of you, and +such a tight hold, too, then you had better go to your confessor, for it +is his business to be in close connection with all of them. I give you +up. Good-bye! I have patients in Vienna, and cannot afford to waste my +time on a pleasure trip." + +"Good God! what a hot-tempered fellow, and what admirable rudeness! +Stay, you unmannerly specimen of honesty, who don't think it worth your +while to cajole an old fool for the sake of his money! What do you think +that I summoned you for? But none of your impudence, if you please!" + +I was amazed, and must have looked so, for the old man broke into a +merry laugh, that sounded like two pieces of cracked iron rubbing +together. There was a merry twinkle in his eye even after his laugh, and +he regarded me with a humorous expression which was entirely new to me. + +"Well," he said, "I see that you are somewhat slow of apprehension; not +at all as sharp as others of the family. So I must help you out. I am +going to make my will. There!" + +"Well then, you had better consult a lawyer or a notary. I am neither of +the two, and cannot be of the least use to you." + +"That's gospel truth. But as you are the only sensible person of the +whole family, the only one who is not a prodigal, and have made shift to +live decently upon your own earnings, I rather think that I may be of +use to you. I like you, because you browbeat me and do not flatter me, +and I will tell you the truth; that bank-bill which you returned to me +strongly interested me in your favour. There was a time when I was not +the shrewd hard fellow that I am, but a true Dumany and a spendthrift. I +can show you a heap of signatures from nearly all the members of our +family--that is, the elder members--every one given me as security for +money I have lent them; but that money was never returned to me, and +although I have always believed that spirits will break their bonds and +return to their former home, I never believed in a bank-note's return +until you showed me the miracle. Therefore I have decided to make you my +heir, and I have called you to witness the will and--" + +"Not a word more," I said. "I never speculated upon anybody's death, and +do not intend to change my habit. I never took the trouble to inquire +how much of my poor father's fortune was swallowed by the lawyers, +although I know that, after paying all of his debts, there must have +been a handsome penny left, and I could have recovered that money if I +had cared to see about it. I have earned for myself a respected position +and a decent living, and I expect to do better yet. So thanks to you for +your kind intention, but I am not the man you want." + +"Yes, you are, and the more so because you do not worship the golden +calf, and do not want to hurry me into my grave as the others do. To +tell you all: I wish to settle everything on you while I live, the +estate, the house, the money, and all--no, don't run away! I am not +crazy, and you need not be afraid that I want you to live here with me +in this old hall as it is, mouldy and dirty and desolate. Neither do I +want you to share my diet of fruits and raw vegetables, eggs and milk, +and baked potatoes. On the contrary, I want you to come to me and live +like a gentleman, as a Dumany should, and let me enjoy life with you." + + + + +IX. + +A SLAVONIC KINGDOM. + + +"You see, my dear boy," continued the old man, fondly taking my hand and +pressing it, "it is a princely domain that I offer you, and a princely +income. The station I invest you with is that of a king in its way, and +not a small way, either. Now listen to me! For a great number of years I +have lived here on this spot, like one of those hermits of bygone times, +living on roots and other primitive food, and never tasting of a decent +cooked meal, because I have never ceased to fear that those who wished +to get my money would try to poison me in order to get it sooner. This +fear I know no longer. I know well that my time expires next year; but +of this one year of life I am assured, and I am resolved to make the +best of it. I want to eat nice roasts, good cakes, and other delicate +dishes, and I want to drink wine. I have not tasted wine since 1809, +when I was studying law and attached as juratus to the Personal. For +many years I did not seem to care about it; but now I long for it, and I +remember how delicious it used to taste." + +"But, my dear uncle, this would not be wise. Such a change would +absolutely kill you." + +"Tut! tut! Never fear! I am sure of the one year, and am not going to +bargain with Death for more. Give me the one year, and let me enjoy it +according to my wishes--that is all I ask for. But for a safeguard +against extravagances, should not I have a skilled and renowned +physician living with me and looking after me daily? Don't you see that +your professional attendance will prevent all evil results, so that I +shall be perfectly safe? I could not have lighted upon a better plan +than making you my heir, and letting you live with me. Of course, I +could have taken a housekeeper; but I know womankind. In less than half +a year she would have persuaded me to marry her and settle all my +belongings on her, and this would not do for a Dumany. But if you come +to live with me, everything will be different. I'll let you have the +whole mansion, and keep nothing but my old room, of which I am fond, +because I am used to it and to the old, dingy, broken furniture that's +in it. You should marry, and bring your pretty little wife into the +house, and she would sing to me and play the piano or the organ, and +would keep pretty little chambermaids that I could pat on the cheeks, +and your little wife would let me kiss her fair, soft little hands; it +would be delicious! Then I should hear a little scolding and quarrelling +in the house, and you would take care that your little lady-wife should +not spoil me by too much fondness, and you would order my dinners and +select my wearing apparel according to my health. Perhaps I might sleep +a little after meals at the open window--a luxury I always longed for, +but did not dare to indulge in. This would be life for me, and a slow +and sweet transit from the cares and troubles of this world into +heaven." + +The old man became quite excited over this ideal picture of happiness. +"I speak of heaven," he continued, "and this reminds me of the church. +Do you know why I say my prayers outside among the beggars, and never go +into the church? Not out of humility, but because at present there is +only a simple Slav minister here, and I am not over-anxious to listen to +his orations. Besides, the church is always so full of the Slav peasants +that you cannot breathe inside of it, such an infernal odour is diffused +by them. But if you would come to live here, and bring a gentle little +Hungarian lady with you, perhaps the bishop could be induced to send +some nice Hungarian priest to preach to us; and I am very fond of a good +sermon, especially if I could listen to it comfortably in my pew, as you +may wager that not one of these burly peasants would go inside the +church if the service were held in Hungarian. And then just fancy the +happiness if there should be a christening in the family, and I should +be godfather to your son! Would not that be glorious? Oh, if I could +live to see it! You must make haste and marry, or I'll put speed into +you, you may rely on that!" + +I was ready with my diagnosis by the time he had finished his last +sentence. Hallucinations born of religious frenzy; idiosyncrasies with +allotriophagical symptoms, a consequence of his ascetical mode of +living; nymphomania of old age; hypochondriacal fancies: all symptoms +that are frequently found together. To second his morbid intention of +changing his diet and habits would be sheer lunacy; nay, worse, it would +be actual murder. Yet first I must win his confidence as a physician, so +that he may trust me and take my advice. I embraced him, and thanked him +most heartily and tenderly for his kind intentions, which I should never +forget and should always feel grateful for; but I said, brilliant and +splendid as it was, I could not accept his proposition, I could not give +up the career I had entered, the profession I had embraced and which I +loved, and the independent and honoured position I was proud of. My +calling was everything to me--life, happiness, fortune, and ambition; +and to give up my profession in order to till my farm, to exchange my +study, laboratory, and dissecting-table for the petty cares and troubles +of a country squire and a county member, would be physical and mental +death to me. + +The old man smiled. "You talk so because you cannot comprehend the +importance of the position you will fill as the lord of my Slavic +kingdom, because you cannot guess the amount of the wealth I offer you. +You shall know it, and you are the only person alive to whom I have ever +spoken, or shall ever speak about it. You think this old mansion looks +as dreary and rotten inside as out; but you are mistaken. This residence +of the so-called Slav King is a princely seat, and it hides treasures +that monarchs and potentates would be proud to possess. If any one of +the family calls on me, he finds me in my dingy little hole of a room, +which, with an old rotten table, broken chairs, mutilated chest of +drawers, and coarse bed with bear-skin coverlet, looks poor and +inhospitable enough, and my visitors are generally glad to escape into +the open air again, thinking that the whole house resembles this room in +appearance; whereas, were I to throw the doors open, and show them the +splendour of the rooms and halls, they would stare in amazement. Every +one of the rooms is a perfect museum, and contains precious rarities. +One is full of carved furniture of costly woods, inlaid with ivory, +mother-of-pearl, gold and silver, and rich stones of the time of +'Ulaszlo.' The next contains all sorts of pottery of past +centuries--Roman and Etruscan, Chinese and Japanese, Sevres and Dresden, +old Hungarian, and so forth. The third room is full of weapons of all +ages--panoplies, coats of mail, shields, bucklers, saddles. In the +fourth room are gowns and trains and coats of brocade, and artistic +embroidery and tapestry. The fifth room is a picture-gallery of +unlimited value; and then comes a library that has not its equal on this +continent, nor, I may say, on any other. High up to the ceiling the +large hall is filled with precious and rare old products; books with +clasps that are themselves curiosities of rare beauty. But those books! +If your medical colleagues had the privilege of entering this library +and peeping into those books, I doubt if they would be willing to part +with them ever after. Why, there is actually a book to invoke the devil +with! I did not dare to look into it, but you young fellows are such +sceptics that you will deny the existence of God and Devil presently, +and you will take the risk of reading that book. + +"All these treasures were hoarded together by my father--may God bless +and rest his soul! He was called a miser throughout his life, and he +denied himself all comfort in order to spend his income in replenishing +his collection of rarities. Shortly after the birth of his second son, +your father, our mother grew tired of his mania and the sacrifices she +had daily to make, and left him, taking us boys with her, while he +remained alone among his beloved curiosities, which became dearer to him +on account of the high price he had to pay for them. When we boys--your +father and I--grew up, your father grew daily more like our mother, +while I became strangely infatuated with the old man and his store of +curiosities. He was also fond of me, showed me all his treasures, +dwelling upon the particular beauty of each. Miser as our father was, he +occasionally gave money to his younger son, but he never gave any to me, +and I had to consider this as an especial favour, for had I not the +privilege of sharing the main interest of his life? + +"When my father died, there was hardly enough ready money in his desk to +pay his funeral expenses, and he had left a very strange will. He had +kept minute accounts of the amount he had spent each day and year for +different objects. All the money he had given to my mother and my +younger brother was reckoned up and subtracted from their share under +his will. He wrote that, as he knew that his wife was well provided for, +having a considerable fortune of her own, he left her a life-estate in +such one of his many domains as she might select. With regard to his two +sons, one had never shown him any love, and visited him only when in +want of spending-money; the other had never asked for a penny, although +he had received less from his mother than her favourite, the younger. +Yet, as a dutiful father, he did not wish to be partial; therefore his +sons were to divide his lands, goods, and chattels in the following +manner:--One was to take all his ready money, bonds, and objects of +gold, silver, and jewellery of recent workmanship (meaning the present +century), besides his horses and cattle, and the wine in the cellars; +while the other was to take possession of all the lands and the +residuary estate, on condition that he should reside in this particular +mansion and take charge of the museum therein, that he should never +marry, never accept any public office, in order that the treasures under +his care might receive the full benefit of his resources. He was +required to pledge himself to live in exactly the same secluded and +frugal way as his father, and to take his oath that during his lifetime +and stewardship he would not sell or give away one particle of the +estate, whether real or personal, which he received under the will. +Further, he must give up all claim on his mother's estate for ever, and +must relinquish all that she might give or bequeath him to his brother. + +"To say that your father was furious would hardly express his state of +mind. I have already said that the whole amount of cash left was barely +enough for the funeral expenses. The bonds which were found proved to be +so many worthless pieces of parchment. The jewellery of recent +workmanship consisted of a set of valueless shirt-studs and a watch that +would not have fetched ten florins at auction. Of silver there was a +tablespoon, a teaspoon, a ladle, and two or three pieces of tableware, +bent, crooked, and broken, hardly worth the mentioning. Of horses there +were two lean and decrepit-looking animals, and the cattle consisted of +a diminutive black cow and her calf, neither of much value, yet forming +no doubt the most valuable part of the whole bequest. This was your +father's portion, for as to his taking the other part, giving up the +prospect of our mother's goodly store of money and other property, and +living a secluded life as guardian of a museum, that was entirely out of +the question. + +"To tell that I felt pleased or glad on taking possession of the immense +wealth my father had left me would be a falsehood. I was young, and not +altogether devoid of the passions and inclinations pertaining to that +age. But I had interpreted the true spirit of my father's will, and I +knew that all this seeming spite and injustice was really a token of his +great love for me and of his great wisdom. Had he not stipulated such +hard conditions, my brother would have taken and squandered these lands +and goods as he squandered our mother's fortune, and I should not have +been able now to say to his only son, 'Stay with me, and receive at my +hands the undiminished fortune which your grandfather entrusted to my +care.' How immense that fortune is you may guess, when I tell you that +one year's income, large as it is, was not sufficient to pay the +legacy-taxes. But come, let me show you everything, and give you an idea +of the Slavic kingdom to which I invite you." + +We entered the mansion, an old chateau built in the time of King Albert, +under the dynasty of the Mazures. Strong walls of cut stone, like the +ramparts of a fortress; great projecting, mullioned oriel windows; +everywhere the Dumany coat-of-arms hewn in stone, wrought in iron, +carved in wood. The main entrance was walled up; the middle portion of +the building contained but one storey; the wings, too, were low, but in +the rear of the house there was a large, high turret. + +A heavy oaken door, beautifully carved, gave access to this turret, and +as this was at present the only approach to the interior of the house, +we had to cross halls and corridors until we reached the floor of the +main building. As we entered, my uncle locked the massive portal and put +the key in his pocket. When, in order to do this, he lifted the lapel of +his long zrinyi dolmany (old-fashioned Hungarian coat), I could see the +butts of his pistols, which were always loaded and ready to his hands. +He noticed the smile on my lips, and said testily, shrugging his +shoulders, "What can I do? I have to think of my personal safety at all +times. Wickedness has not died out of the world, and a poor lone old man +is rather a temptation to robbers. To keep a manservant for protection +would not do. He would be the very person to kill me, having me at his +mercy all the time; and as to keeping a dog for the purpose, I could not +think of it. A dog may bite, and there is danger in that; and, besides, +his keep costs just as much as a man's. He will eat up a fortune in +time. But when you are here, you will have servants and dogs, and all +the rest, and there will be no more need of my pistols." + +My uncle took me directly to his treasures. With all he had said to +excite my curiosity, he had not said enough. For here were treasures +indeed, and I could readily believe that in these luxurious creations of +long-forgotten ages and races a strong witchcraft was pent, and that a +man might grow to give his heart and soul to them. My uncle could give +me the date of every object. This statuette is a Praxiteles; this +picture a Guido Reni; Benvenuto Cellini was the owner of this goblet; +and this sword was that of Sultan Soliman. + +It was dusk, and the shadows of night were falling fast when I quitted +the museum. My uncle and I returned to the narrow turret-room in which +he had taken up his abode for the last seventy years and more. This room +of itself was a sight to see, and I was slightly faint and dizzy from +bewilderment at what I had already beheld. "You see, my boy," said the +old man again, "I have not lied to you; and when you are once +established here, and open these rooms to your visitors, all the barons, +and counts, and princes will stare at them with open mouth, and will +cajole you, flatter you, and bring their handsomest daughters for you to +choose a wife from; for such is the power of wealth. But do not believe +that the rarities I have shown you are all that I can give. For what +would be the good of the offer if I gave you nothing else? You would +have to lead a miserable existence like mine, for you could not soil +those things--no, not to save your life. If once you come to take +possession of them, you will find that you belong to them as much as +they to you. You will cling to them and neglect the present, only to +live in the forgotten past. The beauty of women you will admire in these +pictures only; the beauty of Nature in these stones and minerals. For +politics you will not care, and home will mean to you this mansion, +which encloses your treasure. Oh, the air of these rooms is poisonous to +youth, and mirth, and love!" + +"Yes, uncle," I said, earnestly, "and to ambition and independence, and +all good and right purposes, also; and therefore I cannot stay with you, +for I have chosen my path in life, and I will adhere to it in spite of +these powerful temptations." + +"Oh, you are afraid that they will convert you into a miser and a +hermit, as I have become! But I can give you a potent antidote, which +was never given to me; that is, ready money. Come, and I'll show you +what you have never seen, and assuredly never dreamed of. You see this +large iron chest, itself a rare piece of workmanship, and stronger and +safer than any of your new inventions? Come, let me show you how to +unlock it, for it is difficult; and one who was unacquainted with the +secret of this lock might try until Doomsday to force it open, and all +to no purpose. See, it turns this way, and at this point you must stop. +If in all three locks the keys have been turned to this point, the chest +will open. The contents will rebuild this old castle, will buy you +horses and carriages, and all the home luxuries of modern times, and +will enable you to keep up with the richest and the noblest of them all. +Keep up, I say--nay, go ahead of them; and still you will have what +money cannot buy for them--your museum. Oh, the Dumanys shall be a +powerful race once more, and I shall live to see it!" + +He lifted the heavy lid of the chest, and I saw a number of linen bags +and an equally large number of bladders. The linen bags, my uncle +explained, were full of silver coins, the bladders of gold coins. + +"You see," he continued, "there are fourteen hundred acres of ground +belonging to this estate--rather a handsome piece of property in this +part of the country. It has all been leased out to farmers for many, +many years, almost a century, and it has greatly deteriorated. But this +money will help you to improve the soil also, and it will yield you more +than the twelve thousand acres of Count Vernoeczy's estate can do, for +half of that land has been turned into a deer-park, and the other half +is imperfectly cultivated. Look at the bundles of reeds there in the +corner. You have wondered at them, no doubt; and at all those pipes on +the shelf yonder. You asked me if I was a smoker. I am, but I do not +smoke out of those pipe-stems. Both they and the reeds are money-boxes, +every one of them. In them I keep the bank-notes which I have had to +take during the last seventy years. They represent a fortune in +themselves. I hardly know myself how much money they contain. You can +split them, and find out when you come to live with me. I'll settle it +all on you in legal fashion, and keep nothing but my own room. You can +do with the rest as you please; build and rebuild, buy and furnish, to +suit your fancy. Only let me live the one year that remains to me +pleasantly and in plenty, and promise me three things: Never to till +your acres after the ideas you will get from the text-books; never to do +a kindness to a great lord; and never to quarrel or get vexed with a +woman." + +"I promise you whatever you wish, dear uncle," said I; "but, since I +have listened to you for quite a while, you must now listen to me. You +have called me in the capacity of a doctor, and as such I must speak to +you." + +"Do you know a remedy for old age?" was his sarcastic inquiry. + +"I do, to grow older still. You do not look a bit older or feebler than +you did ten years ago, and there is no positive reason why you should +not live for ten years longer, or even more, provided you do not change +your course of living in the least degree. The slightest change of +habits, of diet, or of dress, may prove fatal at your age. I know that +you are not afraid of death, and that you also have taken St. John the +Nepomuc's word for the remaining year. But, my dear uncle, saints are +sometimes ambiguous, and there is something that resembles a living +death, a prospect too horrible to dwell upon, yet dreadfully near. A +single meal of some heavy, unwonted food, one glass of liquor, may bring +it on. It is called paralysis, and when it comes, St. Nepomuc may stick +to his word and give you a year, but what a year that would be!" + +He looked at me with a troubled face, and I pressed his hands and said, +"Yes, dear uncle; you have to stick to the old, long-travelled road, and +then I may hope to see you ten years hence as hearty as you are now, or +as you were ten years ago. For you are in perfect health otherwise, and +there is no need whatever of my staying with you. Only beware of +indigestion, and you will be all right. As for myself, I shall never +cease to remember your kindness and to feel grateful for it, but to +accept your offer would be moral death to me. I have to go back to my +profession, and if you, dear uncle, dislike our other relatives, and do +not want to leave them your property, then give it to such patriotic and +charitable institutions as deserve patronising, and you may be sure that +your memory will be blessed by thousands. Of me you need not think. I am +not the man to speculate on another man's death, and build my future on +a grave." + +The old man looked curiously at me; then he sighed, and embraced me. +"Thank you, my dear fellow!" he said; "I see you are a truly honest man +and no hypocrite. I won't offer you any money: on the contrary, I'll ask +a further favour. Before you leave, I'll give you a letter, which you +will personally hand to the Prefect at his residence at the county seat, +which is on your way to Vienna. I am afraid to entrust this letter to +the mail, as there are very valuable papers in it, and you will have to +take a receipt for it from the magistrate. This receipt you need not +send me, but keep it safe; and if you come to this house again, you may +bring it with you." + +With that the old man showed me out into the garden, carefully unlocking +and re-locking the door, and securing the key. "Thank you for coming to +me, my dear fellow," he said. "And since you decline to take anything of +actual value from me, let me offer you something that has only fanciful +value, yet is dearer to me than all the treasures within the house. See +these Remontan roses in their second bloom--for instance, this Sultan of +Morocco, the most perfect specimen of its kind? I gave a _Napoleon d'or_ +for the scion, and this is its first year of flowering. Here, take it!" + +With that he actually cut the blossom from the stalk, and handed it to +me. It was a magnificent flower, and almost black, with but a slight +purple tinge. It was the darkest-hued rose known at that time. Later on +the "Deuil d'Alsace" came out of Pandora's box. At the time I speak of, +that box was in Benedetti's pocket, and more is the pity that the pocket +held it so tight. + + + + +X. + +"DEAD." + + +Hardly three months after I had taken a tender and affectionate farewell +from my Uncle Dion a newspaper item informed me of his death. My +prediction that a fit of indigestion would prove fatal to him had come +true. His confidence in St. John of Nepomuc had been greater than his +prudence, and it was a mercy that the stroke of apoplexy had killed him +outright, instead of making a living corpse of him, as is so often the +case. + +About a fortnight after I had read of the death of the celebrated Slav +King, I received a package by mail, containing an official and a private +letter. The official letter informed me that the Honourable Dionysius +Dumany had recorded a last will and testament in the county archives, in +which last will and testament he nominated me, Dr. Kornel Dumany, as his +sole heir, upon condition that I should take possession of the property +and live in Dumany Castle. But if I should stubbornly refuse to fulfil +that condition, lands, goods, and chattels should forthwith pass over to +the "Maticza" (Slavic and ecclesiastical literary fund, employed for +Panslavonic ends). + +The private letter came from the Governor of the county, and referred to +the same subject. The Governor declared that it was my unmistakable +duty, as a Dumany and a son of Hungary, to take possession of the home +of my ancestors, and not to allow such an anti-patriotic and dangerous +institution as the "Maticza" to do her a mischief on the strength of +Hungarian funds, and to turn the ancient halls of my patriotic +forefathers into a meeting-place of daring conspirators. + +I shrugged my shoulders, but had not the faintest notion of accepting. I +did not care for politics, and knew of the "Maticza" as a purely +Slavonic literary society. If this society was to hold future meetings +in my uncle's museums, I could bear it; there was very little of +Chauvinism or even patriotism left in me. I was rather cosmopolitan in +tendency; and as to giving up my profession and becoming a country +squire, that was simply ridiculous. + +This happened to be the very period when, after years of degradation and +suffering, the Hungarian national spirit was first allowed to lift its +head and show its colours. Germans and Bohemians, who for many years had +filled all the public offices in Hungary, were compelled either to learn +the Hungarian language or surrender their places to natives. In most +cases the latter was unavoidable, and these aliens, furious at being +driven from their prescriptive sinecures, went up to Vienna and did +their best to make it hot for the Hungarians. As every war has its +origin in an inkstand, students are, naturally, the greatest +Chauvinists, and I was to find that out with a vengeance. All my friends +and colleagues became more and more averse to me, and even went so far +as to take my patients from me by incensing them against me in every +possible manner. Soon they began to drag my name into professional +polemics, into professional newspapers; and when I had defeated and +silenced them in one place, they began to annoy me in another. At home, +in Hungary, the reorganisation of the counties was begun. For twenty +years constitutional life in Hungary had been extinct, and now it had to +be resuscitated. This was a hard task, and at first it was not even +known who were entitled to vote at the meetings. + +And now I received another letter from the Governor, again reminding me +of my duty, clearly describing the situation of affairs, and telling me +how much good every honest and right-minded man could effect, and how +much mischief I should be able to prevent. "But," he closed, "if you +stubbornly and positively adhere to your unpatriotic resolution, and +finally decline to accept your deceased uncle's legacy, I must trouble +you to come down in person and give a definite renunciation, with the +necessary affidavit, such being your uncle's strict demand." + +There was no help. I had to go to get rid of the annoyance. Arriving at +the county seat, I paid my respects to the Vice-Governor, the same +dignitary to whom I had given the letter which my uncle had entrusted to +my care, and which, as I now learned, proved to be the very will in +question. I announced my firm resolution to adhere to my principles, and +the magistrate replied that that was all right, but before we talked +further on the subject, I had better go to the county meeting, which +was to be held that day. + +"But what right have I to be there?" I asked. + +"Why, as the present head of the ancient Dumany family, of course," was +the reply. "There is not one of us provided with a better claim." + +So I let myself be persuaded, and went. The great Hall of Meetings was +crowded to suffocation, and among the local celebrities I recognised a +few of those compatriots who had kindly assisted my poor father to get +rid of his money by feeding them and keeping their pockets full. There +were others who were quite young men, old schoolfellows of mine; +somewhat bad students at the time, but, since Providence had furnished +them with strong voices, they had taken advantage of the gift so as to +make a noise in the world, and played the _role_ of leading partisans. +One of them in particular, a good-for-nothing sort of fellow who had +never come near his degree in any school, was recognised as a bright +particular star, and quite too smart for anything. If I remember +rightly, he was the head of the Radical wing. + +After much deliberation and a good deal of talk, of which I did not +comprehend anything, it was decided to read the names of the present +county members. A long list was handed to an official, who was +instructed to pronounce each name clearly; and each name, as it was +read, was followed by a loud cheer "Eljen!" All at once there came, +instead of the "Eljen!" after one of the names, the unanimous shout +"Dead!" and the person named had to rise from his seat and leave the +room, and his name was erased from the list. This was repeated a number +of times, and behind me stood a Slav nobleman, who after each of these +utterances of "Dead," added the Slavonic word "Smrt"[2]--a beautiful +word, as bony as the spectre "death" itself. + +[Footnote 2: "Dead."] + +There was a priest, with a broad red sash, who made himself especially +obnoxious to me; for, as often as the "dead" sentence was pronounced, he +laughed, and pointed conspicuously with his fat fingers at the expelled +man, who, with bent head, made his way to the door. I inquired the +reason of these demonstrations, and was told that these men were +traitors, who had filled offices under the absolutist government of the +Austrians. + +Immediately after one of these shouts of "Dead," an old gentleman who +sat just in front of me, and of whom I had up to this moment seen +nothing but his bald head, which showed an immense scar, evidently an +old sword-cut, got up from his seat at the green-covered table, and as +he turned I beheld an aged and careworn but honest face, with two big +tears slowly rolling down the furrowed cheeks. "That is for the seven +wounds I received at Nagy Sarlo!" said he, with choking voice; and +raising his trembling hand to his eyes, he moved away. + +"Seven children the poor fellow has at home, and he had to earn daily +bread for them, somehow, so he served as surveyor, and that was his +treachery," said one of my neighbours in an undertone. As the banished +man passed out, I sat down on the seat he quitted. "It is ill luck to +sit in a traitor's chair," said a well-meaning man at my elbow; but I +smiled and kept my seat. + +"Who may that smooth-faced stranger be? and how comes it that he is +here?" I heard some of the bystanders ask, referring, of course, to my +clean-shaven visage. Nobody in the whole congregation knew or recognised +me, except the Vice-Governor, and the fellow-student of whom I have +spoken. But, of course, he kept at a distance. Presently my own name, +"Dumany Kornel," was pronounced, and "Dead! Dead! Smrt!" was the shout +of all around. I had caught the infection, and as the red-sashed priest +smilingly and playfully raised a threatening fat finger at me and said, +"He is turned into a German, an Austrian," down came my fist upon the +green cloth of the table. Philosophy, _sang-froid_, and political +indifference were blown to the winds, carrying forethought and +resolution with them. I jumped up, pushed the chair away from behind me, +and shouted-- + +"He is not dead! He is here! And what is more, here he shall stay! I am +a landed gentleman, as well as the best of you, and as pure a Hungarian +as any in this meeting, or in this country either. I am that Dumany +Kornel whose name has been read, and I am not dead, but alive, as you +shall soon find out!" + +There was a dead silence at these words, and some heads were nodded in +acknowledgment that I was right. Then there was a whispering and +consulting and questioning, until the honourable Vice-Governor said, +"Silence, gentlemen! the honourable Dumany Kornel has the floor upon a +personal question." + +"Hear! hear!" shouted all, some in good earnest, some in order to +embarrass me, and the red-sashed parson said, maliciously, "If you are a +Hungarian, sir, as you claim, where is your moustache?" + +"Out hunting for yours, your reverence," said I, with a grin. + +"I am a priest!" was the haughty reply; but that was just what I +expected, and looking around at the portraits upon the walls of the +room, portraits representing the most celebrated heroes of our national +history, I gave them then and there such a barbological sermon, _ex +tripode_, that they listened to me in mute astonishment. I told them +that the great national high-priests and patriots, Peter Pazmany, Prince +Cardinal Esterhazy, and Thomas Bakacs, there portrayed, had worn +moustaches, although they were priests; whereas Mathias Corvinus, our +glorious, never-to-be-forgotten hero-king, wore a clean-shaven face like +mine. The famous Palatinus Illeshazy had pronounced Hungary free and +independent with smooth hairless lips, and Thomas Nadasdy had carried +the Hungarian tricolour to immortal triumphs although his face was as +beardless as mine, as everybody might see by his portrait there present. +I told them that I did not speak for myself, as I did not care a straw +for their opinion, and felt sufficiently strong in my own self-respect +and clear conscience, which, perhaps, was more than a good many present +could say of themselves. But I was not going to look on when patriotism +was made the monopoly of certain people, whereas decent and deserving +men were hooted at because they had dared to earn their own bread and +that of their family, instead of living upon the bounty of friends and +driving them to ruin and death. And then I told them that it was not a +time to inaugurate a policy of jealousy and persecution. We had had +enough of that under the absolutist government; what we wanted was +honest, energetic co-operation for a common purpose, the welfare of +country and nation. + +I had spoken with all the bravery of a simpleton, who has no idea that +if he throws a glowing tinder into a barrel of gunpowder he may blow the +house up and himself also. For some seconds I ran the risk of being +thrown out of doors, or of getting my hands full of private quarrels and +duels, but the concluding sentences met with such unanimous applause +that I was heartily congratulated on the success of my maiden speech, +and had the additional satisfaction of seeing the majority of those +formerly pronounced "dead" restored to the list again, and I was able to +give back the seat which I occupied to its former owner, the old +gentleman with the seven scars and as many children. + +Among those who had congratulated me was one conspicuously handsome and +distinguished-looking young man. He fairly embraced me, and said, "You +are the man we wanted! Let me welcome you, and consider me your friend; +I am Count Vernoeczy. Siegfried Vernoeczy is my name!" + +The Vice-Governor invited me to dinner, and just as we were pushing our +way out of the hall, I heard the red-sashed priest and the Slav +nobleman, who had always added his "Smrt" to the cry of "Dead!" speaking +together in Slav, of which language they supposed me ignorant. The +nobleman said to the priest-- + +"What folly it was of you to vex and excite this blockhead by +pronouncing him dead! Had you left him alone, he would have gone off, +and left the Maticza in possession of the old miser's fortune. Now we +may go and hunt for other fools; this one has escaped us for ever." + +"Well, how could I know that the milksop had turned into a fighting +bull?" was the reply. + +The reverend gentleman was wrong. I was not a bull, but an ox; and a +moment's excitement had made me give up fame and ambition, profession +and independence, and here I was in the kingdom of Swatopluk, taking +possession of my Uncle Diogenes's legacy. It was very foolish, but if I +had to do it again--why, I should do it. I was a Hungarian and a Dumany, +in spite of my cosmopolitan tendencies and in spite of modern equality. + + + + +XI. + +MY DEAR FRIEND SIEGFRIED. + + +So I must needs call him, for dear was his friendship to me; at least, I +have paid for it dearly. At our first meeting he told me that henceforth +we should stick to each other like the Siamese twins. And the man whom +he thought worth catching was clever indeed if he could extricate +himself from the meshes which encircled him. He was altogether a +wonderful fellow. Of athletic build, striking beauty, great agility and +versatility in all bodily exercises, an unrivalled fencer, and a perfect +marksman. What a soldier he would have made! But Mr. Schmerling knew a +good many fine tricks, and one of the prettiest was the prevention of +Hungarian youths from entering the army. He took advantage of the +prevalent Chauvinistic sentiments, and put them forward as a bait. One +thousand florins, paid down, protected a Hungarian youth from serving in +the hated army, and he was free to ride his own horses instead of the +king's. Yet what a general that Siegfried might have been! He was born +to command and direct other people. All who adhered to him and did his +bidding were his soldiers; all who declined to follow his lead, he +regarded as enemies. The former he compelled to serve him, the latter he +defeated and slew. He was sometimes high-spirited to eccentricity. At +other times he was discreetly prudent. He spoke almost every existing +language, and was a brilliant orator. His addresses were admirably +delivered, and he took an independent and imperative tone. His talk was +always fluent; and if a Hungarian or a German word failed him, he +substituted for it a French, English, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Turkish, +or other foreign phrase, never stopping for a moment to consider or even +to explain. His Hungarian speeches were rhetorical gems, yet they could +hardly be styled Hungarian, for they were delivered in a perfect +Volapuek--that is, in a medley of all possible languages. He was a strong +personality, and a "grand seigneur." His purse was always open, and he +spent his money with a liberal hand. He must have been a very rich man, +for I never knew him in even a momentary embarrassment for money. When I +first felt the pressure of his iron arm, I knew at once that he would +dominate me. But such was the fascination he exercised that I submitted +at once. + +It was at the close of that memorable meeting, and after he told me to +consider him my friend. The Vice-Governor had invited me to dine with +him, and I wanted to go to my rooms for a change of attire, or at least +a white tie and a pair of light gloves. "Nonsense!" he said, "these +rustics will take you as you are, _en plein parade_. Come at once. We +will order them to lose no time, but to take up your status in your new +domain to-morrow, and have you put in possession of your rights and +privileges without delay." + +"But to-morrow I shall not be here," I remonstrated; "I have to go to +Vienna and provide for my patients." + +"What would you provide for them? _Qu'ils attendent, les pauvres betes_; +death will not escape them. 'We can wait,' is the Austrian parole; don't +worry about them. To-morrow you will have the board of commissioners +meet on your new premises, and put you in possession of your +inheritance, so that you may be placed on the list of voters. This must +not be postponed, for if you miss that you are dead indeed--'Smrt,' as +that honest Maticza champion said." + +Siegfried lost no time, and the Vice-Governor said that he was right. +"Yes," he said, "to-morrow you shall have the keys of your castle." + +"And that of the famous iron chest," said Siegfried. + +"No, that cannot be yet," replied the officer; "the iron chest is under +an official lock as yet, for the 'Maticza' has put in a claim to the +inheritance. The Slav parish priest in Dumanyfalva, as well as his +housekeeper and his sacristan, affirm that your deceased uncle, on the +eve of his death, dined with them (in parentheses, the fat pork he +partook of and the strong wine he drank brought on the fatal stroke), +and there at the table he declared that, even in case you, his nephew, +should accept of the inheritance, the Maticza should not be left +empty-handed, but should receive all the ready money found on the +premises." + +"Franca, franca! It's all a lie!" said Siegfried. + +"So I think, too. But we have no evidence to prove it. It all depends on +the decision of the court, because the Maticza has no documentary +evidence, and so the court will decide the question." + +"And where is the chest at present?" + +"There at the castle, under guard." + +"And why did you let it remain there? It ought to be here under your own +care." + +"Yes; but it is so riveted to the wall that we could not remove it +without tearing up the wall also." + +"Then why have you not taken the money into your own custody? Some +unknown person or persons may force the lock." + +"That lock? Why, we tried it in every way, for the tax-commissioner +would have liked to examine its contents to make sure as to the amount +of taxes due. But we could not find a locksmith capable of using the +three keys belonging to the locks in the proper way." + +At this I spoke out. "If," I said, "my uncle has indeed willed away his +ready money to the Maticza, he must assuredly have instructed them how +to get at their money. To me, at least, he disclosed the secret of the +lock, and I know how to apply the keys properly." + +"Bravissimo! That settles the question. A clearer piece of evidence +cannot exist. The court cannot decide otherwise than in your favour." + +"Then try to expedite the formalities. You can do it." + +"I can't. The parties must be informed at what time the court holds its +session; they have to appear before the court, and introduce testimony. +All this takes a month at least." + +"And how is he to manage until then? Is there nothing in old Diogenes's +casket to make money out of?" + +"Oh yes, a lot of old rubbish! I daresay it would bring something at +least. We have taken an inventory of it, and taxed it; here it is." + +With that he took from the shelf an official-looking document, and +handed it to me. I was curious to know at what they had appraised my +uncle's precious treasures, and looked at the inventory. I was more than +surprised--I was amused beyond everything. The contents of the two large +halls, ante-chamber, and five chambers were valued at three hundred and +seventy-nine florins and forty-five kreutzers. The kreutzers were for an +old Gobelin hanging--a rare piece of tapestry. + +"Why, this is ludicrous!" said I laughingly. The Vice-Governor smiled +knowingly, and Siegfried took the paper out of my hand, and read the +items. A Palissy-cabinet was described as a wooden chest, worth three +florins; precious old majolica as old earthenware, the suits of armour +as old iron, and so forth. "Now this is a masterpiece!" said Siegfried; +but I was indignant. "It is hyper-barbarism!" I said. "This inventory +enumerates the contents of some dime museum--not of my uncle's valuable +collections. If you had looked for it, you might have found an exact +schedule, made by my uncle, with the name of each object, statement of +cost, etc." + +"We could not find anything of the kind," said the Vice-Governor. "But I +forgot. Attached to the will was a package, sealed; and addressed to +you--'Dr. Cornelius Dumany.' Here it is." + +I took the package, opened it, found the inventory within, and handed it +to the official. "Here it is. You see I was right! Here you can see the +actual worth of my uncle's museum." + +"I have no curiosity whatever," said the Vice-Governor; "this is a +private document addressed to you, and, therefore, I have no business to +inquire into it." + +"But--" + +"But it is time for you to go," said Siegfried, slapping me on the +shoulder; "never mind that old inventory of your uncle's." + +"But I do mind it," I insisted. "I can't have something that is actually +worth two hundred thousand florins appraised at three hundred, all in +all." + +"But can't you see that on the three hundred florins the amount of tax +would be seventeen florins, and on the two hundred thousand you will +have to pay nine thousand florins as legacy taxes?" + +"Is that the law?" + +"Of course it is, clear and distinct." + +"Then I shall pay according to law. I do not intend to cheat the +Treasury." + +The Vice-Governor broke into a laugh, and Siegfried took hold of both my +ears and gave them a hard pull. "Oh! you, you, you doctor!" He would +have said you fool, or you simpleton, but he found the "doctor" more +explanatory, and a good deal more to the purpose. Why, did I not +understand that it was the patriotic duty of a Hungarian citizen to +cheat the Treasury whenever an opportunity to do so was offered? + +"Just you let him alone," said the Vice-Governor, laughing. "He is an +innocent, honest fellow, with a tender conscience, and nothing so tough +and hardened as you. Come, friend Kornel! tell me, what do you think of +the rate at which the other things are estimated? For instance, your +uncle's private room? The whole furniture is valued at twenty-three +florins. Do you think that underestimated? No? Well, here are his +pipes--old clay pipes, stuck into cane stems. They are valued at ninety +kreutzers." + +I laughed. "The pipes are hardly worth more, but the stems would be well +worth the money, for they and the old reeds in my uncle's room were his +bank-note receptacles, and for all I know they may be full of hundred- +or even thousand-florin bills." + +"Well, if you are not the greatest ass in Christendom, then I am--and no +doubt about it," said Siegfried, vexed. "Here is this fellow actually +denouncing his own money to the police. If you are such an imbecile, and +really do not care for your own profit, then at least do not talk +without being asked." + +"Hadn't you better use more civil language?" I asked. "I really am not +used to such strong expressions." + +"Oh, of course; I beg your pardon! Only I should like to know what you +will do without ready money? Because you have compelled our friend, the +Vice-Governor here, to take all the money on the premises, that is, all +the contents of the reeds and pipe-stems, of which you blabbed, into his +own custody, whereas you might have kept your own counsel, and culled +the money out at your leisure, without anybody having an idea of its +existence." + +"Yes; but that would not be honest. If anybody finds a pocket-book full +of money he cannot keep it for himself, but must give it up to the +authorities." + +"Not if it is his own pocket-book, I should think. But, as you have done +it, it is too late to quarrel about the policy of the act." + +The Vice-Governor called in one of his office clerks, and drew up a +statement containing all I had said about the reeds and pipes, and the +actual value of the museum. I had to put my signature at the foot of the +document, and then I was allowed to go. + +Next day Siegfried took me out in his own chaise, to which four +beautiful horses were attached, to Dumanyfalva, and there, with all the +ceremony belonging to the occasion, I was inducted into my legal rights +as landlord. I was conducted into the mansion, the keys were put into my +hands, then they took me out into the field and gave me a handful of +soil of each individual plot, or meadow, or pasture. After that they +split the reeds and pipe-stems, and ten bills of one thousand florins +apiece, two hundred bills of one hundred florins, and sixty-four +fifty-florin bills were found, flattened out, made into a package, upon +which each of the persons present put a seal, with his own name. Then +the Vice-Governor wrote on its cover, "Legacy of the Late Honourable +Dionysius Dumany," and handed it over to the trustee. + +"Now you see what has come of your blabbing," said Siegfried. "How will +you manage now?" + +"Well enough. I have some money in Vienna, and I am going to fetch it. I +have to go up to Vienna, anyhow, to arrange my belongings there." + +"And I'll go with you, for, thorough AEsculapius as you are, there is +danger of your escaping us yet." + +He kept his word, and we went by his own chaise and four to Nagy +Szombat, where we took the train for Vienna. In Vienna he never moved +from my side, hardly allowing me time for any business transactions, but +taking me to theatres, dinners, cafes, and all sorts of variety-shows +and music-halls. I had lived soberly and industriously up to this time, +rarely going to the opera or to private entertainments; but I was young +and naturally jovial, and did not object to a few days of dissipation, +enjoying the manifold diversions which the Austrian metropolis offered. + +On the last day, Siegfried helped to pack and send off my furniture to +Dumanyfalva, and, as I could not sleep in my empty rooms, he carried me +off to a hotel; but not to sleep, for we never closed our eyes that +night, and it was with a dizzy head and a confused brain that I found +myself in the railway carriage, travelling homeward. Happily, my +faithful old servant had gone with the furniture ahead of me, and, on my +arrival at home, I found that the practical old fellow had made the best +of his time. A bedroom and sitting-room had already been furnished and +the old dining-room made serviceable. He had also procured a cook, and +for the first time in my life I enjoyed the sensation of sitting at my +own table and playing the host, for that Siegfried did not leave me yet +will be readily understood. + +While at dinner, Siegfried laid down a plan of how the old mansion might +be renovated without and within, and I had to acknowledge that his taste +was perfect; but--very expensive, as I remarked. + +"How much ready money have you?" he asked. + +"Something over four thousand florins," I replied. + +"That is almost nothing--hardly sufficient to furnish a few rooms, and +what becomes of the building? Then there is the grange, the stable, +etc., and then you will want to buy two pair of horses; one for your +chaise, the other for work. You will have to buy cattle, and grain, and +hay, and a good many other necessaries, and you will have to take the +distillery away from the lessee, for what will you do with your cattle? +What you want is at least twenty thousand florins, and these you have +fooled away. It will take months to get hold of them again, and then +half of them will be gone, and the time for making all necessary +arrangements will have passed. I'll tell you what, you cannot sit here +and do nothing, and I am not going to let you waste time. I'll lend you +these twenty thousand florins." I was surprised at the offer. "Yes," he +said, "I have the money ready, for I intended to buy a piece of +property, but could not make a bargain with the owner. Now the money is +of no use to me at present, and you may have it until your money is +restored to you. Happily, I have the money with me now. Here it is!" + +With that he took out a portfolio, and handed me twenty bank-notes of +one thousand florins each. I wanted to give him a bond, but he would not +hear of it "The idea!" he said; "why, we are no Jews, but gentlemen. +Just write upon your card: 'Good for twenty thousand florins, which I +will pay upon receipt of my legacy.' Here, take my lead-pencil; that +will do." + +I was rather embarrassed, but his face showed so much sincere friendship +and regard that I did not venture to refuse the offer, and, considering +the circumstances, he was right, and he had behaved nobly. Still, I did +not like the obligation he had put me under, and should have preferred +to pay interest on the sum even to a common usurer. I had some faint +presentiment that the interest on such a loan as this would be much +higher than the usual percentage taken by the professional money-lender; +but I had done it, and could not undo it, as you might say. + +With the money in hand I attended to business. Siegfried, indefatigable +in his endeavours to be of use in me, assisted me with his practical +versatility in business matters, and with his good taste in the +domestic sphere. He purchased the horses for my carriage, he bargained +with the mason about the buildings, he made the contracts with my +tenants, and he bought my grain and other household necessaries. I could +never have got on without his help--at least, not so profitably--and I +was naturally very grateful to him. + +"You can't pay any visits to your neighbours until you have made your +own house fit to receive company; but, as it would be rather hard upon +you to live like a hermit until that time, you might drive over to the +county town and put in an appearance at the casino. I'll introduce you +to the whole set." + +The county town was two hours' drive from Dumanyfalva. Siegfried drove +me over, and my own brand-new and very "pshutt"-looking cab was to wait +for me at the casino door. In the casino Siegfried introduced me to +about a dozen of young and old local celebrities, and one or two great +lights of national reputation. Party divisions there were none; all +parties agreed harmoniously, and played with each other their whist, +their games of chess or dominoes. I was very cordially received, and in +the ensuing conversation I took a very lively and active share, and +stood my ground without any of the usual bashfulness of a novice. +Siegfried seconded me in all my remarks with an occasional nod and a +"Very true, my friend," or "You have hit it exactly," or "You have +expressed my own opinion;" "My friend, you are an excellent debater," +and other observations of the kind, and soon we were unanimously called +"the Dioscuri," for we were never found apart. + +At a county banquet Siegfried spoke of me, in a brilliant toast-speech, +as of a newly risen star, or rather "a great shining planet," and there +was a universal "Eljen!" and shouts of acclamation. It was wonderful how +many friends I found, and how much I was sought after! I had a dozen +different invitations at once. One invited me to his shooting-box in the +mountains, another to inspect his model farm and dairy, a third invited +me on a fishing excursion, and so forth. + +While driving home from the casino, Siegfried said to me--"I wonder you +are not vexed at my never inviting you over to Vernoecze, but I must tell +you the truth. I am not the master of my own house and home at present. +An aunt of mine is here with my two cousins, half-grown young girls, +staying until the bathing-season begins. So the lady has control of the +house, and I live in a little pavilion in the park. My aunt will be very +much pleased to make your acquaintance--too much pleased, I should say, +for she is one of those spirited women who have an opinion of their own, +and let you know it. She is never tired of arguing, and you are the very +person for her. I verily believe that the two little girls have caught +the infection from her, and you would be surprised to hear what a flow +of nonsense issues from the aristocratic little mouths. And the number +of questions they ask is astonishing! Sometimes I give them an answer in +language such as I would not venture to use to a variety singer; but +the little innocents stare at me, and laugh without the faintest blush; +they do not understand the hidden impertinence. I'll some day introduce +you to all of them, my aunt and the two girls; but your house must first +be put in order. For I find it hard, even now, to keep them from rushing +in upon you unawares, and introducing themselves. They are positively +dying for a peep at you and your museum. Well, I have done enough to +excite that curiosity. I am incessantly talking of you." + +"Then it will be your fault if their ladyships are shocked at finding +out the deception. I am too commonplace a fellow not to disappoint them +cruelly." + +"Vederemo!" he said. "The Devil is never at rest!" + + INTERMEZZO. + + The Devil? + + "Do you believe, then, in the existence of a personal Devil?" you + ask. + + "Has not this story been terribly dull and tedious up to this + moment? You have not shown us a single Devil as yet. No, not even a + woman." + + "Well, I'll show you three of the latter species presently--a + strong-minded, argumentative aunt, and two little nieces." + + "You won't say that these two little countesses or their + aristocratic aunt, or either of them, is an incarnation of the Evil + One? Or are you speaking of your dear friend, Siegfried? Why, he is + a perfect guardian angel, the personification of goodness and + benevolence!" + + "Do you know the story of St. Anthony? How he was tempted by the + Devil in the semblance of a lovely sylph, until all at once he saw + the fiend's hoof appear from under the robe?" + +That night, as Siegfried took leave of me, to drive home to Vernoecze, he +embraced me and kissed me on the cheek. It is many years since that +night, but many a night since then I have lain sleepless in my bed and +rubbed that eternally burning and smarting spot, and felt an almost +unconquerable temptation to take the operating-knife and cut out the +part which had been contaminated by that foul kiss. + + + + +XII. + +THE DEVIL'S HOOF. + + +One morning my dear friend, Siegfried, came. "My dear Nell," he said, +"we held a party meeting yesterday, and it was decided that you should +be a candidate for Parliament. In fact, we have nominated you already." + +"You are in a jocular mood, I suppose?" said I. "I do not understand an +atom of legislation and politics." + +"Neither do I; yet I fill my place in the House of Lords, so will you +fill yours in the House of Commons. You need not stare at me, for I am +not joking. I am fully in earnest, and, now that the chalice is set to +your lips, you are bound to drain it." + +"But I can't see why," said I. "I am not in the least fit for the +position, and am not going to make a fool of myself. I am a doctor of +medicine, not a legislator." + +"And what does that matter, pray? The department of public health is +very much in need of a radical reform, and you are the very man to +advocate sanitary measures in Parliament. But this is all nonsense. +Hungary is not yet in a position to have all departments represented by +experts; what she wants at present is firmness to principle, strict +party fealty. The demagogues, the heretics, and the Panslavonians of +our country are preparing for a strong contest at the coming electoral +struggle, and we Conservatives must strain every nerve to defeat them, +and cause patriotism, religion, and aristocratic rights to triumph. Our +party believes that you are the man to represent these principles, and +you can't decline to accept such an honourable mission. Do you not love +your country? Do you want her to become a prey to infidels, or +Panslavonic conspirators, or to the mob? You would not have the +descendants of the Hussites dominate Hungary? Are you not a Catholic +Christian? You are brave; you have strong principles, and you are an +excellent orator. You are the man we want, and there is an end of +arguing." + +"Very good! But there is a practical side to the question." + +"Yes. If the other parties come off victorious, the agrarian movement +will grow too fast for us. The Socialist rabble is preaching the +assessment of all land, the abolition of the congrua taxes,[3] and the +abolition of our feudal privileges. This is the prose or practical side +of the question, my friend." + +[Footnote 3: Congrua taxes are the taxes paid by the parish members to +their curates or priests.] + +"There is another still," I persisted, "and I must speak plainly. You +know that I have no money for political enterprises. My own money is in +official custody; but, even if it were not, and I had so much money at +my disposal that I did not know what to set about in order to get rid of +it, I should not waste it in buying myself a seat in Parliament. I +remember well what politics did for my father, and how much it cost him. +But, besides this recollection, the idea of corrupting the minds of the +electors and of making drunken animals out of decent and intelligent +labourers for two or three weeks is repulsive to me. It is entirely +against my conscience." + +"Now listen to me. In the first place, no one asks for a penny of your +money, so it is no business of yours to inquire or care about it. What +is the use of party funds, I might ask? Then, what have you to do with +the details of the campaign? I am head-drummer, manager of the canvass. +You need not give a single bottle of wine to anybody, unless you want to +regale your friends here in your house; but that is quite a different +thing, and has nothing to do with the election. There is one thing you +must remember. If you offer venison and champagne to your electors, it +is called a banquet, and the papers speak admiringly of your bountiful +hospitality; but if you boil a sheep and open a barrel of sixpenny wine +or beer for them, then you are bribing voters, and corrupting the minds +of the innocent. So never trouble your head with a thought about these +things. I have made a bargain with every hotel-keeper or inn-keeper in +the whole county for that one day, and the voters may revel as they +please--at their own expense; that is, a dinner may be had for two +kreutzers, a supper for three, and the wine will be included in that +price. Who can forbid an inn-keeper to sell cheap viands? You will have +nothing to do with the whole business. Only, if some decent elector gets +his head broken in the spree, you will plaster him up, or sew him up, as +may be necessary. Up to the day of election you will not show yourself, +and only put in your appearance when they come to fetch you with music +and flags and all that flummery, and beg you to come and kindly accept +the mandate, which the chairman of the party is dying to hand over to +you. Then at the banquet you offer a toast to his Majesty the King, and +afterward you will accept of the torchlight serenade, which your voters +will give you, and perhaps speak a few gracious words; but that is not +essential, and you may hold your peace. At any rate, with that serenade +all your duties are ended." + +"I should think they began with that--at least, according to my notion. +No, I can't accept. I can't afford to loiter about in Budapest, and have +everything here go to the dogs." + +"What a greenhorn you are! You need not live in Budapest at all. If the +chief of the party telegraphs you that some great division is coming on +with respect to some important question, you go up, find the seat with +your name on it, sit down, and, when your name is called, you shout +'yes' or 'no,' according to the party's views, and then you travel home +again, and make your famous 'Lipto cheese.'" + +"I have no intention of becoming a voting machine." + +"There you are right. You are too spirited and much too talented for +that. You will deliver your maiden speech amid universal applause, and +become famous at once. You will be hated by the opposite parties, hated +and feared, and that will only stimulate your courage. You will be a +great man, and a blessing to your country. You can engage a trustworthy +man to manage your estate, and do well under such an arrangement; and +you will give your talent and your faculties to your country and your +party. It is your duty, and you are not the man to shrink from an +acknowledged duty. Besides, out of friendship for me, you cannot refuse. +I have positively staked my word on your acceptance; and then there is a +request from the party, with a hundred and twenty signatures. Look +here!" + +He showed me a sheet of writing, with a long list of badly-scrawled +names underneath a few lines of writing. I still hesitated, when +Siegfried smiled, and, taking from his pocket a little bit of a letter, +perfumed with heliotrope, handed it to me. + +"My aunt sends you this." + +I broke the rose-coloured wax, and drew out a tiny piece of +bristol-board with the signature of Countess Diodora Vernoeczy. Its +contents were as follows:-- + +"Pray accept the nomination." + +That was all. But what all the persuasions, all the allusions to +country, race, patriotism, and religion had not effected, these few +Hungarian words, written in a fine, aristocratic hand, did at once. They +persuaded me, and I accepted. Yet I had never seen the lady who had +written these words, and did not even know whether she was young or old, +beautiful or ugly! She was a woman, and that sufficed. No! the Devil is +not dead; here is his hoof. + +How I triumphed and how I fell I have told you already. If I had the +gift of Virgilius Maro, and could speak or write in hexameters, in such +verses I would compose the "AEneid" of my career as a belligerent. As it +is, you can read it all, described in somewhat unflattering language, in +the Hungarian newspapers of the period. There is a whole history of +bribery, corruption, intimidation, and similar crimes committed in my +name, related in those papers, and you may read of the horrible fraud +that was practised in offering the vote of a dead man. The epithets +"cheat," "deceiver," "liar," and so forth were freely and frequently +attached to my name; and then followed the shameful annulment of the +election, and I was sent home--a broken, disgraced, snuffed-out +wretch--a dead man, indeed! + +There is something fearful, something terribly cruel and unjust, in such +a moral cudgelling to death, for those who cast the stones are not a +whit better than their victim. A common criminal, murderer, +counterfeiter, or forger may procure a pardon, and rehabilitate himself +in time; but a man that has furnished society with amusement and been +laughed to death is never again allowed to hold up his head and show his +face. I was nearly mad with shame and disgrace. What should I do with +myself now--now that I was nothing but a broken tool--I, who might have +been a scientific celebrity, a light in the profession? I could not go +back to Vienna for very shame. A flouted, ridiculed man cannot be a +doctor. A doctor must be respected, trusted, even revered, like a +priest. For me there was nothing but to hide myself in my own house, +shut the doors against everybody, and live the life of a hermit--the +life of my Uncle Diogenes. + +I need not have shut my doors; not a soul demanded admittance. I really +think my dear friends made a circuit around my chateau when they had to +pass through my village. + +The first day I remained shut up in my room; the second I paced the +garden walks in a furious rage; the third I noticed that I had +shamefully neglected my uncle's dearly-cherished garden since I had +abandoned myself to the mania of politics. The carefully tended Isabella +grapes wound their tender twigs up and around an apple tree; the roses +were full of water shoots; the American lilies choked up with dead +nettles. Wasps' nests were hanging from the branches of the trees, and +giant ants had built their pyramids on the foot-path; and the hedgehogs +boldly invaded the lawn as I passed. As I strolled, my eye fell upon a +little flower which I recognised as a favourite from my dear mother's +garden; I observed a glowing alkermes, an Oriental corn-rose, then again +an artichoke, overgrown with vile weeds. All at once I found myself +working away with garden-knife, shovel, and spade, pruning, weeding, and +tying up the twigs and branches, just as Uncle Diogenes had done. + +By night I had smoked out the wasps, put the little bower to rights, +and, hardly knowing how or why, I had gone into my uncle's +turret-chamber instead of my own bedroom. And why not be as he had been? +I asked myself. Here at least I could meet with no shame, no +disappointment, and no deception. All was well. I should be a gardener +in summer and a museum-keeper in winter, and so the time would pass with +me as it passed with him. No doubt, in time, this solitary, secluded +life would not be so irksome to me as now. The social instinct would die +out; and, left to rural pleasures and occupations, the polish would be +rubbed off me, and in appearance also I should be as my Uncle Diogenes +had been. I gave up shaving, dressed shabbily, and ordered a dinner of +pork and potatoes, which disgusted me. I ceased to drink wine, because I +was no toper to enjoy drinking alone, and in the course of two or three +days I had a hearty indigestion, which at least recalled me from my +self-tormenting course so far as my inward man was concerned. In outward +appearance I had a beard of a week's growth, wore a pair of coarse +breeches and high top-boots, because in low boots I could not ramble +about in garden and field as I did. + +My valet was in despair; the good old man had known me for years, and +was very faithful to me. Of course, he dared not ask questions, but he +threw me such appealing glances that I was strongly tempted to pour out +all my burning shame and rage to him, since I had nobody else to make a +confidant of. It was a very, very miserable time, and it lasted +something more than a week--a week, I say! I thought it a century at the +least. + + + + +XIII. + +THE VALKYRS. + + +It was about ten or twelve days after my discomfiture, and a beautiful +afternoon. I was standing in my front garden, attired, as I usually had +been of late, in coarse breeches, muddy top-boots, a not very clean +linen blouse, and a broad, rough straw hat on my head. My face was rough +and adorned with bristles. I do not think that anybody coming upon me +unawares would have taken me for anything but a Slav garden labourer. + +Presently I heard the gallop of horses, and, looking through the new and +very handsome iron trellis in front of the building, I saw three Amazons +riding up to the house. I did not know them, and supposed them to be +strangers in the country, approaching in order to admire the curious old +building. They wore long black riding-habits, all three alike, with blue +veils tied around their high beavers and entirely concealing their +faces. One of them was a real Zenobia figure: tall of stature, regal in +gait, a magnificent creature! The second was tall and slender, and slow +and stately in movement. The third was a tiny little figure, but full of +nervous vitality and energy. Opposite to the verandah of my house they +checked their horses, and looked through the trellis at me as if they +expected me to run out, and give them the desired information. The +tall, slender lady rode nearer to the gate and looked haughtily in, +while the little girl-rider cried out: + +"_Tu y serais_!" Then she beckoned the groom, who was waiting behind +them, to come nearer and hand her a little wooden case with a round +glass set in at the front--a little photograph-apparatus. + +"Well," thought I, "these are amateur photographers, and Dumany Castle +has apparently pleased their eye, and they want to immortalise it in the +pages of their albums--an interesting object!" + +I was standing near the fence, by the side of a flowering rose-bush. I +held a spade in my hand, and was just in the act of putting it to its +proper use when the lady directed her camera toward me. I thought it was +rather a clever performance for a person on horseback. + +"_Ne remuez pas, mon cher_!" cried the lady, as I lifted the spade. Of +course the Slav gardener, whom I resembled, was bound to understand her +French prattle. So there I stood, with uplifted spade in hand, until the +lady had finished her picture, and then she released me with a "_Merci, +mon garcon_!" and I, hardly able to keep my composure, answered in Slav, +"_Dobri nocz, mladi panyicska_," which means "Good night, miss!" + +The ladies broke out into a merry laugh, returned the apparatus to the +groom, and rode off, laughing because the slender lady had been included +in the picture. I laughed also as I looked after them, and I said to +myself, "Now I shall not utterly die, '_non omnis moriar_.' The Valkyrs +have come to pick up the fallen hero and carry him into their Walhalla, +which in all probability is bound in morocco leather with silver +clasps." + +The same evening I had another surprise. My friend Siegfried drove up to +my house, sprang from his barouche, and, seeing me, he ran up and +embraced me tenderly. + +"So you know me still?" asked I. + +"Know you? It would be no wonder if I had not recognised you as you look +now! Do you know that with a week's growth of beard and moustache a man +looks like a gorilla?" + +"Well then, I look like the progenitor of mankind, if Darwin is to be +believed." + +"I say, it's high time I came! otherwise you would cease to be a +Christian, and become one of those detestable naturalists." With that +Siegfried ordered his coachman to walk the horses about, feed them, +water them, and prepare for the drive home after supper. So I had to +give orders for a supper, and remember that I was not yet my Uncle +Diogenes, but his nephew and a gentleman, and this friend of mine a +veritable Count, who expected me to give him a good supper. "After +supper you must come with me," said Siegfried, decidedly. + +"I! Where?" + +"To Vernoecze, to visit me! Have you not got my letter?" + +"I received a letter. I have it in my blouse-pocket yet, but--" + +"You have not opened it, nor looked at it yet?" + +"No. I thought that if anybody wrote to me now, he either wanted to +insult me or call me to some kind of a reckoning. I thought there was +time for both." + +"Oh, you stupid fellow! Where is that letter? I want you to read it at +once!" + +I took out the letter, opened it, and read:-- + + "DEAR NELL,--Our party decided at yesterday's meeting to support + your name at all odds against the ensuing new election, and carry + you through at any cost. My aunt wants to inform you of some very + serious matter, so she begs you to pay her a visit on Wednesday + next.--Yours, as ever, + + "SIGID." + +The previous day had been Wednesday, and the letter had been in my +pocket for the last four days. I confess that I felt a glow after +reading these lines. Something like joy, like exultation, filled me, +that after all I was not dead and buried there in that house, not an +utter laughing-stock, and that my name was not hooted by friend and +enemy alike. I still had noble friends. They remembered me, acted for +me, endeavoured to avenge me, and rehabilitate me. It was an intense +feeling of relief, of pride, of happiness; but I tried to hide my +sensations and play the Cincinnatus a little longer. When Siegfried +said, "We expected you all day yesterday; but as you did not come I +concluded to come over and look after you," I replied, "I had not read +the letter; but if I had, it would hardly have been otherwise. I cannot +go from home at present." + +"Why! what is the matter with you? You are not going to play Uncle +Diogenes, are you? Simple civility might have induced you to come over +to Vernoecze. You are due there for ever so long." + +"You are very kind; but, you see, the Vice-Governor does not send his +sentinels to guard the iron chest with the money, and so I have to guard +it myself; and then, you see, I am busy budding my 'Marshal Niel' and +'Sultan of Morocco' roses--it is their season." + +Siegfried broke into a merry laugh. "The dear boy is actually trying to +live after the pattern of that exemplary old uncle of his. Now, don't +make a fool of yourself, old fellow, and don't make believe that you +like baked potatoes and curds. I tell you I want a good supper, and +after that I'll take you with me. You can take your rose-scions with +you. My gardener will be thankful for them. We have a lot of +water-shoots in our garden." + +We had a good supper, and after the first glass of wine I felt the gloom +vanish from me entirely. Siegfried had brought me good news. The new +election was to take place in twenty days. Our party was firm as a rock, +and the enemy was disheartened and short of money, as the Maticza +Society, which had given up all hope of driving me away from the estate, +would not furnish them with more funds. Now they had reunited to a last +desperate method, and their candidate was about to unfold the +anti-Semitic flag, in this way driving all intelligent, Liberal +voters--or those at least who assumed the name, and all the Jews with +their money, influence, and keenness--straight into our arms, so that +our success was undoubted. In order to silence all accusations of +bribery, of feasting the voters, and so forth, Countess Diodora, +Siegfried's aunt, was ready to keep open house in Vernoecze for our +political friends, and so there would be no need of engaging any public +restaurants or wine-shops. Siegfried told me that Countess Diodora was a +very active champion of our party, and very influential, too. Besides, +she was very much interested in me personally. + +"I am sure I am very grateful to her ladyship, and shall take the +liberty of telling her so, to-morrow," I said--"the more grateful, as I +really do not know how I could have merited such an interest." + +He smiled. "Merit is not everything," he said. "But Aunt Diodora is a +little vexed at your want of politeness. You should have come and paid +your homage long ago. Her ladyship really threatened the other day that +some day she would come over with the two little ones and fetch you, if +not personally, at least in effigy. They have photographic apparatus, +and are very clever amateur photographers." + +I could not suppress an exclamation, and then I related the little +adventure of the afternoon. He laughed. "Oh, no question as to their +identity! Sure enough, it was my aunt and the girls! That queenly Amazon +is my aunt, Countess Diodora. You are surprised? I see, you supposed +that an aunt must necessarily be some aged, corpulent lady, fond of her +game of 'patience,' and secretly indulging in a sip. My aunt is but one +year my senior, and I am barely thirty. My aunt is a classical beauty, +highly intellectual, and very talented; quite a female phenomenon. That +tall, slender girl is Countess Flamma, a miracle of beauty and virtue; +and that tiny creature was the little Kobold, Puck, or whatever else you +may call her, Cousin Cenni. She is the most skilful photographer of the +three, and it was she who told you not to move, and took you with spade +in hand. That's the best joke I ever heard! How vexed Countess Cenni +will feel on discovering the mistake! She is a little vixen, and full of +mischief. If any of the young dandies tries to court her, she bids him +go bear-hunting with her and show his valour. My woods are full of +bears. I have shot three, but there are a lot of them alive still, and +they do a deal of damage. So, if Cenni invites you, which no doubt she +will, you need not be afraid of want of game." + +I was dazzled, flattered, and surprised. What a difference between these +ladies of the high aristocracy and the daughters of our country gentry! +As if they really belonged to a different world, lived on a different +planet. One of them assuming the lead in politics, another bear-hunting +and photographing. The third, that tall, slender, somewhat haughty, but +modest girl, who had approached to admire my roses, pleased me best; and +then, too, their names--"Diodora! Cenni! Flamma!" The first domineering, +imposing; the second with a touch of the Bohemian or the gipsy; the +third bewitching, enticing, a flame! Oh, what a moth I should make! + +I did not show much further resistance, but was willing enough to go +with Siegfried. I did not even take the trouble of locking the +turret-chamber, in which the precious iron chest stood, with my own +hands, but ordered my valet to perform that duty and take care of the +key. I went out into the garden, and cut all the blooming "Sultan of +Morocco" roses and carefully wrapped them up with wet moss; and all the +way I held them in my hand for fear of injuring them. + +So the Valkyrs were indeed taking away the fallen hero to Walhalla, +their own abode. + +"Where is Walhalla, and what is it like? Does anybody know? If only +somebody might return and tell us!" + +"Well, I have been there, and I have returned, and I will tell you." + + + + +Part II. + +I. + +THE SEA-DOVE. + + +From Dumanyfalva to Vernoecze the high-road makes a circuit of a two +hours' ride, but we took a short cut by a cross-road through Siegfried's +deer-park, which is about ten thousand acres in extent. The whole park +was fenced in with high iron railings, and this fence alone had cost the +neat little sum of one hundred and fifty thousand florins. Yet it was +worth its cost, for, before its erection, the Vernoeczys had to pay +yearly about twenty-five thousand florins for damage done by their game +upon the crops in the neighbouring fields. At the big iron gate a ranger +with two loaded rifles was waiting for us. He handed the rifles to the +two servants, and then took his seat on the box with the coachman. + +It was a beautiful wood through which we drove--all of giant larch trees +of a century's growth, perfuming the air with ambrosial odours. The +bright rays from our lanterns attracted the deer, and they stood gazing +at us with their glittering eyes. One of the bucks bellowed at us, and +one of the little fawns came almost under the wheels. Pheasants, +startled from sleep by the noise of our wheels, soared above our heads. +From the depths of the forest mysterious voices met our ears: the +woodcock's hoarse call, the roebuck's deep bellow, the wild boar's +grunt, the squirrel's chatter, and the shrill cries which announce the +presence of the wild peacock. What a difference between this lordly +forest and my small twenty-acre park! Red squirrels, gray squirrels, +gambolling among the boughs, playing with acorns and hazelnuts; +thrushes, blackbirds, nightingales, and greenfinches, chirruping and +twittering, were all the game I had. + +In vain we endeavour to bring high nobility and plain gentry into one +class. They are divided by the game-park. We are only visitors there, +kindly invited, kindly received, but visitors still, and we can never +repay the compliment. Therefore I consider we should always think twice +before we accept the invitation. + +It was past midnight when we finally arrived at Siegfried's +shooting-box, a beautiful pavilion in the Swiss style, with a large +verandah to the east, facing the magnificent chateau. Between the two +buildings extended a clear, broad lake, with silvery willows on the +nearer side, and grand old lime-trees on the side toward the mansion. +Graceful white and black swans swam on the lake, and two tiny little +wherries lay ready for a boating excursion. The south side of the +shooting-box had "altdeutsch" windows of coloured glass, and wooden +shutters with heart-shaped perforations on the outside. On the nearer +side of the lodge was a beautiful green lawn and a few somewhat +neglected rose-beds. + +The shooting-box was a comfortably large and luxuriously-furnished +building, and afforded accommodation for thirty guests. The couches in +the different sleeping apartments were all covered with deerskin +spreads, and the furniture was all in harmony with the purpose and style +of the building. + +I left my window ajar for the night, so as to be up early, and my plan +succeeded. The dew still glittered upon the tender petals of the roses +when I was up and sauntering among the flowers. I had brought my +"Malmaison" and "Sultan of Morocco" roses with me, and also my +budding-knife and the sap for budding. "What a surprise for them," I +thought, "when they find these beautiful flowers instead of the wild +suckers." I had put my roses into a glass of water, and was now +preparing for the performance by cutting off the collateral shoots and +removing the inconvenient thorns. Just as I had taken one of the "Sultan +of Morocco" roses out of the water, I heard steps on the gravel, and a +musical voice cried-- + +"Gardener, do you hear?" + +I turned around, and beheld two beautiful young girls hurrying toward +me. One of them, a tiny little creature, was of the blonde type, with +long, golden curls and a face of cream and roses. One startling, +bewitching little black mole was seen on one of the dimpled cheeks. Her +eyebrows were dense, of a golden-brown, and arched over a pair of large, +glittering brown eyes. The corners of her little mouth curved upward in +a smile, and the cherry lips were always open and moving. Her little +hands were busy gesticulating, explaining, acting, and never at rest; a +picture of the entire little personage. + +The other girl was a tall, slender, willow-like figure, with raven hair +pushed high above the marble forehead. Her skin was clear and +transparent, but with hardly a tinge of colour. Her straight, black +brows and long black lashes overhung a pair of deep blue, or rather +sea-green, eyes, and her little coral mouth was so small that the idea +struck me that it must hurt her to speak, and therefore she liked to +hold her peace. + +Both were in morning dress, appropriate to the country. The blonde wore +a dress of some sort of light Japanese silk, covered with a pattern of +great painted birds and flowers. The dark girl had a Nile-blue gown of +some light material, and in style somewhat resembling the Greek. + +The verandah had prevented me from perceiving their approach. Now they +hastened toward me with the easy composure with which we meet some old +friend, or--a servant. Of course, I had no difficulty in recognising the +equestrian amateurs of the previous day, and it was easy to guess that +they repeated their mistake of that afternoon, by taking me for a +gardener. I had no intention of undeceiving them, and did not take off +my hat, but stood with the "Sultan of Morocco" between my teeth, and my +hands engaged with the budding-knife. + +"Do you hear?" said the little blonde, now coming near; "cut me a bud +of these 'Gloire de Dijons.' No! one of these 'Marshal Niels'; not this, +the other, that is just opening!" + +I was correctly dressed for the occasion, and quite in proper style for +a country visit: tanned shoes, knickerbocker jacket, Pepita waistcoat, +Madapolam shirt-collar, Bismarck _en colere_ scarf, Panama hat. "My +darling, does not that content you?" Still these girls took me for a +servant. Well, let it pass! + +I cut off one of the roses, and began to pare off the thorns with my +knife, when she angrily stamped her little foot on the grass. "What are +you paring the thorns off for? I don't like a rose without thorns, I +want a rose with thorns; this looks stripped!" and, pulling the rose out +of my hand, she held it over to her companion. + +"_Tiens! Ca m'embete_!" + +To her she spoke French; to me, German. The girl took the rose without a +word; for her it was good enough without the thorns. I prepared to cut +another bud for the capricious fair one, when she asked, "What rose is +that in your mouth?" + +"A Sultan of Morocco," I said, taking the rose from my lips. + +"Give me this," with an imperative gesture. + +"This is for grafting," I tried to explain. + +"But I want it!" was the haughty reply, and she impatiently held out her +bit of a hand for the rose. I handed it to her, and for a moment she +buried her little nose in it and then tried to fasten it to her dress. +Presently a thought seemed to strike her, for she lifted the rose to +her lips, and then, turning to me again, asked-- + +"Has the Count returned home?" + +"He has," I answered. + +"He did not come alone? A gentleman came with him, did he not?" + +I answered in the affirmative. + +"Are they asleep yet, do you think? Which is his window?" + +"Whose? The Count's?" + +"No, that I know! The stranger's?" + +"The one that is open," I said, wondering what she meant. She looked +around, and observed a double step-ladder standing in front of a tree. +"Bring that ladder," she said to me, "and put it in front of that +window." + +I began to perceive her intention, and, much amused, I fetched the +ladder. "Shall I hold it?" I asked, with seeming innocence. + +"No. Go back to your work!" + +I submitted, and went back to my roses, where the other girl was still +standing. The little blonde vixen, as Siegfried had called her, went up +the ladder, throwing me a haughty glance because I had the impertinence +to watch her movements. + +As I prepared for work again, I noticed that in the chalice of each +flower, two or more green cetonias were to be found. The cetonia beetle +is the deadliest foe of the rose, destroying it entirely, and since my +boyhood, when I used to practise gardening at home, and was taught to +kill a cetonia wherever I found it, I could not bear the sight of the +glittering, green beetle. I was just crushing one under my foot, when +the dark-haired girl near me cried out-- + +"Why do you kill that poor cetonia?" + +"Because it injures the roses," I said. + +"Well, let them alone! Who cares for the roses?" + +"Who cares for the roses?" Is not that strange? A young girl taking the +side of the harmful destroyer against the innocent victim! + +The blonde descended the ladder, and her face, her hands, and her walk +betrayed that she was vexed. I was very much amused. Was it not a joke +that she had climbed up to my window to present me with my own rose, the +rose she had taken out of my mouth? And was it not amusing to see her +angry, because I had had the sauciness to watch the movements of those +tiny slippered feet in pink stockings as they mounted the ladder and +revealed a bewitching little ankle? + +The black-haired girl turned to her and complained--"See, he kills our +cetonias!" Whereupon the little one, with a queenly mien, stepped in +front of me and said-- + +"I forbid you to do that! Do not dare to hurt my cetonias!" + +I could not repress a smile, as I answered, "I shall duly obey. I had no +right to interfere, as these cetonias do not belong to me." + +"I really think that fellow is laughing at us!" said the little one, +with arching brows, when the other, who had been watching me for some +moments, made some whispered remark, and then the fair head and the dark +one were put close together in earnest consultation. + +On one of my hands I wore an antique carnelian seal-ring, with my family +crest, and a large solitaire, the gift of a grateful patient. These +rings, rather unusual upon the finger of a common gardener, had caught +the eye of the dark-haired girl, and she could not but notice that my +hands and nails were not those of a labourer. For a while they looked +shyly at me, while they busied themselves in gathering into their garden +hats all the cetonias they could, as if afraid that, after their +departure, I should avenge myself by a general onslaught on their +_protegees_. Presently the blonde stepped up to me, and, touching the +carnelian on my hand with her finger, she said-- + +"Are you a nobleman?" + +I answered by an anecdote. + +"A German journalist had to translate an item on sea-turtles from an +English paper. He did not exactly understand what a turtle was; but he +know of turtle-doves, which are in German called _Turtel-tauben_, and, +as he did not want to trouble himself to look for the expression in a +dictionary, _turtle-doves_ it remained. He wrote of the bird, that it +comes out of the sea to the sand of the shore, lays its eggs in that +sand, carefully and safely scratching them in, and smoothing the surface +with its front paws. These front paws of a turtle-dove perplexed him, +and he did what he ought to have done before: he looked in the +dictionary and found that the sea-turtle was no dove at all." + +"Hem!" said the little one, looking with charming astonishment at the +other girl; and then she turned to me again, and, lifting a threatening +little finger at me, she said-- + +"Now, don't you go and betray us to anybody. Promise!" + +"You have my knightly word," I said; "_parole d'honneur_!" But, unable +to suppress my mirth any longer, I broke into a ringing laugh, and both +girls fled as fast as they could. + +On returning to my room, I found Siegfried there. "My aunt's footman has +already been here to invite us to breakfast," he said. "When in the +country she is always an early riser, and so are the children. I wonder +they have not been running about yet. They used to." + +I did not tell him that they had been running about already; but, +stepping up to the window, I found the rose which the fair girl had laid +upon the sill, and, fastening it in the button-hole of my jacket, made +ready to follow up the invitation for breakfast. + +"Wouldn't you rather shave before going down?" asked Siegfried, with a +disapproving look at my face. "My valet has an easy hand, and is very +reliable." + +"No, thank you!" I said, and with that I took his arm and we went down. + +Near the lake was a mass of beautiful dolomite rock, a forerunner of the +high mountains further on. The face of the rock was all overgrown with +birch trees, and wild roses and other flowers were peeping out of the +thick moss and bush. At the foot of the rock was a clearing, surrounded +with pines, their drooping foliage forming a shady roof above the little +circuit of ground. In the wall of the rock was a grotto, overrun with +henna leaves, hedge-plant, and other creepers. Out of one of the walls +of the grotto broke, murmuring and rippling, a clear mountain spring, +which, meeting with another and uniting with it to form a rivulet, +flowed across the flowery plain, emptying itself into the lake by a +series of cascades. + +In the centre of this space the breakfast-table was set--the shining +silver, the glittering crystal, and the creamy china forming a pleasant +contrast to the rural simplicity of the chairs and table and the green +roof and walls above and around. + +Countess Diodora was already there, expecting us. The two girls were in +the grotto, pretending to be busy with the preparations for breakfast. + +Countess Diodora was strikingly handsome. Tall of stature and fully +developed, her movements had all the elasticity of youth and all the +majesty of a goddess. Her Creole complexion was in harmony with the +great almond-shaped eyes, the Minerva forehead, Grecian nose, and +shell-shaped mouth with its coral-red lips. Her head was crowned with a +tiara of heavy black tresses, more precious and beautiful than any +artificial ornament. + +Siegfried led me to her and presented me with the following words-- + +"At last I am able to introduce my hitherto invisible friend. Do not be +amazed at his present resemblance to our common progenitors, the +Simians--that is, if we believe the evolutionists; but our friend here +has no intention of claiming that affinity. His sprouting moustache and +beard are a token of patriotic zeal, and a sacrifice upon the altar of +national idiosyncrasy. Henceforth he will be known as a Hungarian in +appearance also, and nobody will be justified in calling him an +Austrian." + +The lady smiled at the humorous introduction, and extended both her +hands, which were somewhat large, but magnificently shaped. Could I do +less than kiss both? The smile that flitted over her queenly features +gave her the appearance of a veritable goddess. + +"Is it not odd," she asked, "that we know each other so well, yet have +never met until this moment?" Her voice was a rich, deep contralto, and +very sweet. + +"I have already enjoyed the happiness of seeing your ladyship," said I, +smiling. + +"Indeed? And where?" + +"In my own garden. If I am not greatly mistaken, your ladyship and the +two young ladies, your cousins, were yesterday at the pains to +immortalise me by taking my photograph." + +"Impossible!" she cried. "It could not have been you! With the spade in +hand, and--oh, it is too odd!" And she broke into a loud laugh. + +A laughing Pallas! The two girls ran but of the grotto to see what the +staid Diodora was laughing at. "Come on, Cenni," said the lady to the +little blonde: "here is the gardener of yesterday; the one you have +photographed along with his garden." + +But by that time the little one knew me well enough; she had recognised +the rose in my button-hole, and, with pretended anger, she ran toward +me, took hold of the collar of my jacket, and gave it a hearty pull. + +"You are an artful and dangerous cheat and deceiver--that is what you +are!" she said. "Why did you deceive us this morning, and make sport of +us? Let us treat you as a gardener, and send you on errands? Why did not +you tell us who you were?" + +Siegfried came to my help. "How could he? He did not know you; maybe he +took you for your own maids. If you had told him who you were, he would +have returned the compliment." + +"But you won't betray us to anybody?" she said, holding up, as if in +prayer, her little hands, that looked like the delicate petals of the +white lily. "You won't tell anybody of our conversation at the rose +bushes? If you promise, I'll give you a kiss; I will, indeed!" + +"But, Cenni!" cried Countess Diodora, shocked, "what expression is that +again?" + +The little one looked like a scolded school-girl, who does not know what +crime she has been punished for, and said, poutingly-- + +"But I want him to keep the secret, and I must give him a reward." + +"You always forget that you are no longer a little girl of twelve +years, but a grown-up young lady, although, God knows, you do not look +like it!" said the countess, with a humorous shake of the head. + +"Now you great debater and future lawgiver, what do you say to this +offered reward? Answer _ex tripode_!" said Siegfried, laughingly. + +"I say that I am no usurer, and cannot take unlawful interest," I +replied. + +"Bravo! bravissimo! A usurer! Unlawful interest he calls a kiss! Oh, +what a moral fellow!" cried Siegfried; but Countess Diodora observed +that breakfast was waiting, and that we had time enough for ventilating +academic questions afterward. + +At the table I sat between Countess Diodora and Countess Flamma. The +latter turned to me, and said in her quiet and sober way-- + +"But I discovered soon enough that the sea-turtle was not a sea-dove, +did I not?" + +"What are you talking about sea-doves?" asked the countess; "it seems +you have secrets in common already." + +I opened my mouth to answer, when the little blonde opposite to me +sprang up and put her little shell-coloured hand to my lips. "No +betrayal, if you please! You have given your knightly word!" + +"I am mute!" I said, bowing to her with a smile. + +"I declare!" said the countess, "knightly word, turtle-dove! Why, what +mystery is this? Flamma was complaining something about the cetonias." + +"Oh, that is nothing," said Cenni, lightly, "and that may be spoken of; +but the 'step-ladder,' the 'Sultan of Morocco,' and the 'sea-dove' are +strict secrets, and never to be mentioned anywhere." + +Siegfried clapped his hands in surprise. "Riddle after riddle! and to +think that I myself have brought this boy to the house only last night +for the first time in his life, and introduced him not an hour ago, +and--talk of his being shy in the company of ladies!--he is head over +ears in conspiracy with both of the girls, when I thought he had never +seen them, and they did not know him at all!" + + + + +II. + +"WHAT IS THE DEVIL LIKE?" + + +"We not know him?" asked the little one. "Why, we have his photograph in +our album! Only he looks much nicer there. Such a Lord Byron face!" + +"Well, this is really audacious!" cried Siegfried, "with such a face to +appear before ladies! Coarse and stubby like that of a Slav +field-labourer, and yet such a young lady as that calls it a Lord Byron +face! Now I see that the old proverb is right, and a man has to be but +one shade handsomer than the Devil, for women will find him handsome +enough." + +"Only that the proverb is a paradox in itself. The Evil One is not ugly; +on the contrary, he is beautiful!" said Diodora. + +"_Quien sabe_?" answered Siegfried. "I have seen his portrait in the +Greek churches, in a large wall-painting, and there he is represented as +a bandy-legged, ox-tailed, black-faced monster, with a pair of big horns +on his forehead. Then, again, I have seen the Devil in the opera, as +Goethe and Gounod's creation of Mephistopheles in _Faust_, and there he +wore a goat's-beard and red-feathered cap, was a little lame in one leg, +and had a baritone voice. He was not in the least beautiful." + +"You ought to read Klopstock, then, and Milton," said Countess Diodora. +"Their Devils are enchantingly handsome men, with pale faces, and deep, +sorrowful eyes; and that is the real demon-type as given by the +classics: for, originally, the Devil was not known as an evil spirit, +but was an angel. Only he was haughty and ambitious, and tried to rival +and dethrone the Almighty. It was after he was defeated, and due +punishment was dealt to him, that he became the representative of Evil, +and, after the creation of man, the tempter and seducer." + +"So part of the Devil's corruption is due to man kind," said Siegfried, +ironically. + +"If you read the Cabalists and Gnostics you will learn how sinful pride +had its downfall, and the angel fell. Still, in all his humiliation and +his banishment from grace and glory, he never lost his beauty, and this +is natural; for who would listen to the temptations of an ugly monster? +A seducer must needs be handsome. In the old Jewish Scripture, from +before Moses' time, the Evil Spirit is represented by a woman, Lilith, +the ideal beauty. In the same manner Menander has painted Sybaris, and +of Socrates it is said that he lived in intimate friendship with the +demon." + +Siegfried had made a desperate onslaught on the sandwiches; now he +turned in comical vexation to me, and said-- + +"Friend, brother, help! for this learned woman is slaying me with +pandects, and, if the Devil has such a champion, what can poor I do +against him?" + +It was a difficult task. If I said that she was right, she would scorn +me as a simple, empty-headed flatterer. If, on the other hand, I tried +to contradict her, she was sure to conquer me with arguments. So I +thought I would plead scepticism. + +"Indeed, I can't," was my reply. "All I have to say is that I do not +believe in the existence of an actual Devil at all. I positively deny +the existence of evil spirits or devils." + +"Ah!" said the countess, astonished and seemingly dismayed, "do you know +that such a negation includes a denial of the fundamental truths of all +religion also? Turn wherever you will, and you will find that the Roman +Catholic faith expressly commands us to believe in the Devil. The +Protestants, with Martin Luther at the head, have in speech and writing +gone so far as to compose a whole Shamanism of the Devil's special +qualities; and so on in all positive religions. Are you an infidel, a +so-called Freethinker, and not a Christian?" + +At first I smilingly referred her to Becker's "Bewitched World," which +made all belief in an actual Devil completely ridiculous, showing to +demonstration that such a being is simply impossible. She answered me +with Spinoza. I again spoke of Thomasius, whereupon the countess +declared me a Rationalist. + +Siegfried smiled, and smoked his cigarette complacently, and the two +girls listened innocently and wonderingly to the strange dispute. + +"You see, my lady," said I at last, "I am a physician, and I know of no +bodily or mental ailment that is without some foundation or reason. I +know of miasmata, spores, bacilli, as sources of bodily diseases, of +inherited or fancied maladies, infections, contagions, and their proper +remedies: vaccination, disinfection, prophylactics; but an invisible, +immaterial spirit, which we ought to know by the title of Devil, has +nothing to do with any of these. All evil-doers, murderers, etc., are +prompted to the mischief they do by some abnormity in their brains, or +by some powerful egotistic motive, as jealousy, revenge, greed, +ambition, etc.; but the temptation is always material--a benefit they +want to secure by their crime--never a spiritual Devil. We may fairly +say that all crimes committed without a visible motive are founded upon +lunacy, a disorder of the brain. I do not believe in one being, either +corporal or spiritual, that would do mischief purely for mischief's +sake, out of evil principle, of pure malice. I do not believe that any +being exists which would inflict sorrow on others just in order to +rejoice at the despair of the victims. The so-called hellish passions +and inclinations in man are really created by that which is beneath him, +the animal part of him, the material element, and it is superfluous to +look to that which is above him, a spirit, for a motive." + +As I pronounced this conviction, the four persons present looked at each +other and then at me, in wonder and defiance, but without a word. For a +moment a chilly presentiment crept over me--a shadowy warning that the +declaration I had just made would prove the _fatum_ of my life. + +As a physician, I had given very much attention to disturbances of the +mind; nervous distractions, diseases of the brain. In lunatic asylums I +had had frequent opportunity of observing the different manifestations +of extravagances of the mind diseased. There are cases in which +simulation is identical with the symptoms of actual insanity, others in +which it is mistaken for such; but still the simulator is never quite +sane. I had speculated about the hidden motives of apparently motiveless +crimes. I had seen a gallant youth, whose noble, manly features inspired +love and confidence, and who yet had murdered many victims of his +bestial desires; had lured them on, and killed them. + +I had seen a tender, innocent, pleasant-looking young girl, with a +winning smile on her ruby lips, after she had poisoned all the members +of her family in turn; and I had known a miracle-working virgin, who had +for years and years befooled and deceived aged and experienced men. All +these and more I had seen, but all had possessed one common peculiarity +which betrayed them as belonging to that large and unhappy class we term +lunatics, and their mental disorder was revealed in a clear, glittering +glance, cold and keen as a steel blade. The moment that unlucky +assertion had escaped me, I saw my companions stare at each other and +then at me, and in the eyes of all four of them I clearly discerned and +recognised the same cold, keen, and gloomy expression. I felt a shock of +terror, and then I laughed at my own folly. A professional habit of +mentally examining and distinguishing all persons as sane and healthy, +or diseased, I thought, and I tried to joke the matter away. + +"Let us make a bargain, countess! We will leave the demon to those who +cannot spare him; for there are people who would greatly protest against +being robbed of their devils--as, for instance, some Western nations who +worship him instead of God. They say God is good, and won't hurt them, +anyhow, but the Devil must be bribed by compliments to keep him from +doing mischief. Therefore they raise altars to him, and set up his +images with many ceremonies. The Yakoots and Chuckches believe in a +double creation, and think that all good things are created by God, and +all bad things by the Devil." + +"It would not hurt you to be of the same creed," said Countess Diodora. + +"For instance, to believe that the rose was created by God and the +cetonia by the Devil," I replied, smilingly. + +"And why those?" she asked. "My niece has complained to me that you +crush these beautiful little beetles to death. In what have they +offended you?" + +"Offended me? Do you hold me capable of such petty malice? I kill the +cetonias because they are the deadliest foes of the rose; or, rather, as +they love the rose, and in loving destroy the flower, I must call the +cetonia the most dangerous friend of the rose." + +"However, the beetles are necessary to my nieces, and therefore they +must live." + +"Necessary?" I cried. "How so?" + +The blonde girl went into the grotto and, returning, brought with her a +large teak board, upon which a Chinese sun-bird was enamelled. The bird +was only half finished as yet, but it was the most artistic, tasteful, +and delightful enamel-work I had ever seen, and all of it was composed +of the delicate lids of the beetle-wings. The cetonias vary in colour: +some of them are red with a tinge of gold; others green and gold; others +again the colour of darkened copper, and still others in a metallic +blue, like steel. All these were carefully arranged and pasted upon the +teak board in a wonderful mosaic, the sun-bird's head and wings +consisting of red, its neck of blue, and its breast of green +cetonia-wings. I looked admiringly at the work. So, then, they had not +protected the cetonias out of some sentimental fancy for them, but for +industrial purposes. This changed my conception of the matter entirely; +for the better in some respects--in some for the worse. + +"So you save the life of the beetle in order to rob them of their +wings?" I asked them, reproachfully. + +"These are only their winter wings which we take off; their summer wings +they keep, and we give them their liberty again. It is summer now; they +have no need of their winter wings at present." + +Well, this was girlish logic and philosophy: I have taken what I wanted, +you must make the best of what I have left you. Rather a striking piece +of egotism! + +"Do you know that the cetonia contains poison?" asked I. + +"What kind of poison?" was the inquiring response, given with great +quickness. + +"The poison," I said, evasively, "that gives the motive to the Bank-Ban +tragedy." + +At these words Siegfried puffed a whole cloud of tobacco-smoke full in +my face, and at any other time I should have strongly resented the +insult; but this time he was right. The explanation was, even as an +allusion, objectionable in the presence of girls. Nevertheless I could +perceive through the cloud of smoke that the pale face of Flamma had +coloured violently, and that Cenni pouted and pushed the sun-bird away. +The innocents were not so very innocent, after all. + +"Is not this beetle identical with the holy scarabaeus of the Egyptians?" +asked Countess Diodora. + +"No. Because the cetonia lives on roses; and of the holy scarabaeus +Herodotus tells us that he dies of the odour of roses. As soon as the +roses begin to bloom the scarabaeus vanishes." + +This interested the girls, and we continued the subject. I told them of +the South American Hercules-beetle, that is as fond of liquor as any +human tippler, and I really thought that I had succeeded in turning the +conversation from the horned devil to the horned beetle, when Countess +Diodora said-- + +"You are too much of a naturalist. This won't do, and you must try to +amend. To deny God is bad enough, but He is kind and forgiving, and the +infidel may yet be saved; but to deny the Devil is sure destruction, for +the Devil knows no mercy, and he takes his revenge on the insulter." + +I looked up astonished and met her eyes. Again I detected that +bewildering cold glitter, and with an involuntary shiver I turned away. + + + + +III. + +THE FOUR-LEAVED CLOVER. + + +The same day our political friends and partisans came, and we held a +conference. From that day on I was a daily guest in Vernoecze, and when +occasionally I spent a night at home in my own house, next morning I was +sure to feel restless and uneasy, and persuaded myself that political +reasons required my presence in Vernoecze, and that I must make haste to +go there. + +A number of times the illustrious ladies of the Vernoecze castle +descended from their lofty situation to pay a visit to my lowly house, +and on these occasions I played the host, and set before them what my +cellar and buttery afforded. Then I conducted them through the chambers +in which were stored my late uncle's beloved curiosities, and I told +them of the horrors of the olden time, and the history of this ancient +seat of my family. There was the story of a walled-up wife and murdered +lovers, and we had our "Woman in White" and our "Red Templar," who, at +the stroke of midnight, duly stalked through locked rooms and corridors, +and performed all the actions that could be expected of real and +respectable ghosts. These phantoms the countess rather envied me, for +Vernoecze could boast of no such token of old nobility; yet the +Vernoeczys were counts and the Dumanys only plain gentry. + +Of course, I was an ardent admirer of the three fairies, only I could +not exactly tell which of the three I admired most. Countess Diodora's +philosophical intellect impressed me as much as Countess Cenni's unruly +activity; and Countess Flamma's pensive silence affected me none the +less, and I looked at her with the reverential awe of the priest before +the Holy Virgin. + +Only one thing puzzled me. Here were three beautiful, gifted, high-born, +and wealthy young women, and not one of them had a real, earnest, and +sincere suitor. Of course, there were a number of young aristocrats +paying court to them, and very much inclined to carry on a little bit of +flirtation; but all in an easy-going, although certainly very respectful +and distant way; but of a real, true attachment I could perceive no +sign. Once I had ventured a remark to this effect in Siegfried's +presence, whereupon he explained that the two younger countesses were +mere school-girls yet, and nobody would have the audacity to think of a +serious courtship in that quarter as yet, while, as to Countess Diodora, +she would never marry at all. She repudiated the very idea of marriage, +and would no doubt, sooner or later, enter a convent as abbess. + +This explanation, to tell the truth, did not satisfy me. If the two +young ladies were such forbidden fruit at present, why bring them in +constant contact with young men? And, as to Countess Diodora's +intention to become a nun, I had my strong doubts. True, she was +religious, even to bigotry, but she was not averse to the pleasures of +the world, and I did not believe in her inclination to give them up of +her free will. I rather believed that men were afraid of her, for such +learned and strong-minded women can be only the wives of yet wiser and +more strong-minded men, or else of fools, who willingly become their +slaves. + +To me Countess Diodora was conspicuously kind, and showed me an +exceptional preference--that is, she did me the honour to select me as +her antagonist in debate. + +When she supported one paradox, I would support the opposite, and we +kept up a constant battle with intellectual weapons. She was a great +reader; so was I. She had travelled a good deal; so had I, and, as it +chanced, we had observed the same countries and scenes. On art, +architecture, literature, I gave judgment with the same startling +audacity as she, only that my opinions were in direct opposition to +hers. + +Still in matters of politics our views were harmonious. I had the same +Conservative principles as she, and I heartily agreed with all that she +uttered on that point. This was the first step to our mutual +understanding. The second step was taken when we joined each other in +defence of our principles against persons of opposing views; and the +third step, which lifted me not only to a level with my new and +beautiful ally, but even above her, was gained by me in a controversy +on professional science, with especial relation to physicians. The +countess, in a very spirited bit of banter, ridiculed the whole +profession and its science, stating that, in her belief, our entire +pathology, therapeutic, etc., was not worth the sand strewn over the +prescriptions. She declared that in the treatment of internal maladies +medical science has made no progress since Galen's time, and our most +renowned professional celebrities are no wiser than Paracelsus. Our +medicines, according to her opinion, were either baneful poisons, or of +no higher sanative power, at the best, than the waters of Lourdes. She +also was afflicted with bodily pain at times, but never yet had she +submitted to any professional treatment. No physician had ever entered +her bed-room or parted the tapestry hangings around her bed, and never +yet had she tasted of any kind of medicine. + +I listened complacently to her talk, and did not interrupt her with a +word. After she had finished, I said-- + +"Allow me to contradict, and, at the same time, convict you. You have +never spoken of your special ailment to me up to this moment. I have +never heard of it before this, and I need not put any questions either +to you or to others in regard to it. Yet, by simply looking at you, I +can tell you from what you are suffering--that you are a victim of +occasional nervous attacks of greater or less severity, and I can tell +you exactly how these paroxysms commence, what symptoms they show, and +all the particulars of your ailment." + +She stared at me, quite perplexed. "You are right!" she said at last, +and there was not a man alive who could boast that she had ever said as +much to him. She asked me how I came to know or to guess the nature of +her sufferings, and I told her that I had had great experience in the +treatment of nervous disorders, and that her case was by no means +hopeless. That although it was impossible to entirely and permanently +cure the disease and drive away its attacks, yet it might be greatly +diminished. The paroxysms might be reduced in duration and violence, and +that without administering any poisonous drugs--simply by proper +massage. + +"Then I am sorry that we have no female physicians as yet; for I would +never submit to that treatment from a male physician." + +"And do you know that this shrinking is one of the symptoms of the +malady, and at the same time its main foundation?" + +"How so?" + +"Because, if your views of propriety were not distorted, you would apply +for help in time, and not wait until you are past cure; but you grow up +with the conviction that it is a shame and a degradation to confess your +physical weaknesses to a male physician, yet you are by no means +ashamed--nay, you consider it a duty and a virtue--to confess your +mental and moral failings to a priest, although he is a man as well as +the physician, and the sins you confess are sometimes more degrading and +shameful than the sores of your body." + +She looked at me for quite a while. "Again you are right," she said, and +with that broke off the conversation. + +At that period, every day brought some political meeting or party +conference, and the leaders of the coming elections, head-drummers, and +subalterns swarmed into Vernoecze, bringing all sorts of news, asking for +all sorts of information, and Countess Diodora was at the head of +everything--presiding at the councils, assisting them all with her +advice, never tired, never slackening in spirit or courage, and never +forgetting her position as hostess--and a bountiful hostess, too. + +When the discussion approached the financial question, she said to me +with rare delicacy-- + +"This is no affair of yours; leave that to us. You can meanwhile go and +look for the girls in the park." + +And I, in spite of my professional sagacity, in spite of the knowledge +and experience I had gained, I was such a greenhorn--such a simple +fool--that I actually believed in the existence of a fund raised for the +especial purpose of sending such shining political stars, such rare +celebrities, as the Honourable Cornelius Dumany, into Parliament, there +to enlighten the minds of his compatriots, and to be a blessing to his +country; although, if any one had asked me how I had deserved to be held +in such high esteem, I could not have found an answer! Oh, vanity and +conceit! How easily you are caught in the meshes of cunning deception! + +The "girls," as they were invariably called, were on the lawn looking +for four-leaved clovers, and the little blonde declared that she was +bent on finding one, for whoever found it first was sure to be married +first. I laughed, and, looking down, I saw one little quatrefoil just at +my feet. I gathered it, and presented it to the little blonde countess, +but she refused to accept it. "No," she said, "everybody must keep his +own fortune. You have found the leaf, and you will get married first, +and within the year." + +"Ought not I to know something of the coming happiness in advance?" I +asked, smilingly. "Surely I can't get married without my own knowledge!" + +"Just you keep quiet. Mockery is not becoming to you; but tell us in +good earnest, why don't you marry? You ought to." + +"Why, then, in good faith, I do not marry because the girls that would +not reject me I do not care for, and those that I might care for would +not accept me." + +"How do you know? First tell us what qualities a girl must possess to +make you care for her." + +"Well, I suppose I must obey your ladyship's wishes. In the first place, +then, she must be young and pretty; then she must be intellectual, +prudent, and well educated; and, finally, she must have a kind heart +and a sweet disposition; if she is merry and bright also, I shall like +her the better. Yes, there is something else: I should like my future +wife to be always elegant and stylish, and I should like to give her a +splendid home and keep her in luxury; but, as my own little Slav kingdom +is not sufficient for my notion of the term, therefore she must also +have a fortune of her own. Yet, if a woman, or let me rather say a young +girl, should possess all these qualities at once, which I think +unlikely, I would not take her if I were not fully convinced that she +married me for love. So, you see, with these pretensions I am likely to +live and die a bachelor." + +"Not necessarily. I, for instance, know a lady who answers to your +description as if you had drawn her portrait." + +"Indeed? You seem bent on proving that the four-leaved clover was a true +prophet of marriage. You want to make the match?" + +"Why not? But, indeed, I am speaking in good faith. Why don't you marry +Aunt Diodora?" + +"Because I have more sense than those poor birds who shatter their heads +and beaks in flying against the reflected rays of the lighthouse." + +"I don't understand the simile." + +"Do you know the story of Turandot?" + +"No. Novels and comedies I dare not read yet; but I should like to know, +for Aunty Diodora is nicknamed 'Princess Turandot.' I have often heard +her spoken of by that name. I think that Turandot must be a fictitious +creature, who tortures all her suitors to death, for aunty is also very +unkind to them. Only that is no fault of hers; it is her misfortune to +have nobody sue for her hand except simpletons. All these sweet-spoken, +flattering, aping, thought-snatching, cajoling, empty-headed wooers my +aunt calls monkeys, and not men. A man must have the courage to oppose +her, defend his own opinion against her and all the world, to gain her +respect and her confidence. This you have done. Oh, we girls know well +enough what impression a man has made on another girl!" + +This was a startling confession. Here was a little girl, who was treated +and spoken of as quite a baby; yet, in spite of her unacquaintance with +novels and comedies, she seemed to be very well versed in all matters of +love and matrimony. + +"Yes," she continued, "I have noticed it plainly enough, and quite +frequently. Whenever you are away she is gloomy, and melancholy, and out +of spirits; but, as soon as she sees you or hears your voice, she +brightens up and is good-humoured and pleasant. When, the other day, +Flamma and I had made some remark about you--some light jest--she gave +us such a sermon! telling us that men were all so different, and that +you were, among them, like a real diamond among coloured glass. Oh, if I +could tell you all! But you are proud and disdainful, I see. Perhaps you +want to wait until Countess Diodora Vernoeczy makes you a humble offer of +her hand, and then maybe you would be proud, and consider about it." + +"Perhaps I should. Give me leave, ladies, to tell you a story--the +history of a very intimate friend, and from beginning to the end true to +the letter. I shall invent nothing." + + + + +IV. + +THE HISTORY OF MY FRIEND. + + +As soon as I promised them a story, the two young girls sat down on a +low bench beneath a jasmine bush, and I sat down on the bowling-green at +their feet; or, rather, I kneeled there before them. Do not think that +we were left without a proper guard, for we could be seen from the +balcony of the house, and on the mountain-ash tree was an old +missel-thrush that kept on chirruping and twittering, "Take care, you +boy! take care!" + +The young ladies had stripped a heap of the slender Pimprinpare stalks, +from which they began to braid chains and other ornaments, while I +related the following story:-- + +"My friend is a descendant of the noblest families of Hungary, and a +count by birth. During the Revolution of 1848 he was one of the bravest +and most heroic defenders of the national cause, and his great personal +attractions, manly beauty, athletic strength, intellectual power, and +high moral integrity, united with an iron will and the tender heart of a +woman, made him distinguished above many. Of him it was said that, even +as a man, he obeyed every command of his mother, but could never be made +to obey that of any potentate of the world." + +"Is that paragon of a man alive yet?" asked Cenni. + +"He is. Only he is an old eagle now, for our friendship dates from the +time when he gave me a ride on his knees, while I blew the whistle he +had brought me. During our national struggle for liberty in 1848 he +served as a captain of the ---- Hussars, and, after the Russian +invasion, and the final overthrow of the national cause, he made good +his escape to England. Of course, his lands and goods were seized, and +he was sentenced to death; but, as he could not be caught and hanged in +person, he was hanged in effigy--that is, his portrait was nailed to the +gallows. + +"The same high qualities which had distinguished him at home +distinguished him abroad. A great many Hungarian refugees had found a +home in England, especially in that gigantic metropolis, London; and it +is said of them, in general, that of all political emigrants they +behaved best. They never quarrelled, never grumbled, and never +conspired. Everyone hastened to find a mode of earning a decent living +for himself, and none of them were too proud or too lazy to work. Every +one of them was honestly and diligently engaged in some business. + +"My friend had some acquaintances among the English nobility, and he was +soon introduced, and speedily became at home in English high life. Among +those aristocratic families with which he had frequent intercourse was +one in which there was a young girl, an orphan and an heiress. She was +beautiful and intellectual, like Countess Diodora, and competition for +her hand was naturally high among the young and old bachelors, and +marriageable men of their set. Singularly enough, the young stranger, +who never thought of such good fortune, at last felt compelled to +believe that the open preference the lady showed him was more than +common courtesy, and more than the friendly, even sisterly regard with +which most ladies of his acquaintance honoured him. He could not but +admire her beauty, her grace, and accomplishments, and he was ready and +willing enough to fall in love with so much charm and loveliness. His +courtship, if so it must be termed, although the lady was doing the +greater part of the wooing, was short and successful, and they were +married. + +"The marriage took place on the Isle of Wight, at that time the +favourite haunt of the Hungarian refugees. Two of the latter, the one a +renowned politician, the other a famous general, were witnesses, and the +wedding breakfast was quite an event. But when, after the bridal cake +had been cut and the toasts drunk, the guests retired, and the young +couple were left alone, the fair young bride said to the happy groom:-- + +"'I beg your pardon for leaving you to your own company, but I must +retire to change my dress, for my yacht is waiting, and I shall start +for France in two hours.' + +"He gazed at her in utter amazement 'Why, dearest,' he said, 'don't you +know that Louis Napoleon denies us Hungarians even the privilege of +passing through France, and that for me to go there is equivalent to +imprisonment, possibly death?' + +"'I know it, and I do not ask you to accompany me. I shall go there +alone. I yearned for independence and liberty, and for the coming years +I could get it only as a married woman. I was in need of a husband, or +of his name, and my choice fell upon you, because I did not dare to play +this trick on one of our English Hotspurs. Of you I know that you are +too gentle and too noble withal to injure a woman. So good-bye to you, +count, for I do not think that we shall ever set eyes on each other +again!' + +"With that the fair goddess left her husband of two hours' standing, +humiliated, stunned, without money, bereft of his former occupation, to +which, as her husband, he could not return; left him for ever; and he +was such a gentle fool that he did not even for a moment think of +revenge upon the woman who had robbed him of the last and only treasure +he possessed, his spotless name and honour, and had ruined him for ever. + +"For twenty-five years the poor victim of the fair deceiver could not +with decency extricate himself from the meshes of the net which she had +thrown over him. After some years he found a good, pure, and true heart +that was full to the brim with love for the unhappy man--so much so that +she sacrificed position, family, and reputation for his sake, and +accompanied him from country to country, through danger and poverty, +sharing his cares and troubles, and consoling him with her love and +fidelity. To this woman, who was his real wife, he could not give the +legal name and position she merited, and the curse that had been laid on +his own life was heavy upon his innocent children, for he could not +carry them to the baptismal font, could not christen them as his own. In +England he could not secure a divorce, to France he could not go, and +home to Hungary he dared not come. For twenty-five years he dragged +these heavy chains on his weary limbs, until Hungary had risen from her +prostration, had become a constitutional state with a free Parliament, +and had crowned her king, and called home her banished children from the +nooks and corners of the world. Then only, when again at home and in +full possession of his ancestral castle and estates, then only a legal +divorce set him at liberty and left him free to bestow his name upon his +faithful, loving companion and their children. But when that time had at +last arrived, my friend was an old man with silvery beard and a bald +head. The fairy that was the cause of so much suffering had taken +nothing of him but his name, of which she was in need; but what is a +name? Nothing but the lid, the tender coverlet of the beetle's wing. She +did not kill the poor beetle, and she set him free; he was allowed to +live with his winter wings." + +During the recital of this story, Cenni's rosy countenance was crimsoned +through and through, while Flamma's pale face was overspread with an +almost deadly pallor, and, as I spoke the final words, the girls looked +at each other in silence. "So, you see," I continued, "if such a thing +could happen to a man like my friend, the bearer of a great name, noble, +brave, accomplished, and handsome, what would be my fate if I should +attempt to do what he did--marry a beauty and an heiress? I, that am +nothing but a runaway doctor, an expelled Member of Parliament, and a +Slav King! one who, from his appearance, is mistaken for his own +subject." + +"No! no!" said Cenni, taking hold of both my hands, "there you are +mistaken, and--and I am sure you do not know your own worth!" + +At that moment the jasmine-bush was parted, and Siegfried's voice asked, +"May I take the liberty to interrupt these tender confessions?" + +At the sound of Siegfried's voice we all sprang from our seats, and +Cenni, throwing the chain she had braided on his neck, said, "You are a +great, naughty, good-for-nothing fellow! What do you want?" + +"This noble and gallant knight of yours. He is wanted by his +executioners--that is, by the election leaders that are to be." + +The two young girls laughed, and ran to the little lake for a boating +trip, and I asked Siegfried, "What do these men want from me? What is +their business with me?" + +"Oh, nothing!" he said, coolly. "They have not come; it is I who have +business to speak of with you, and quickly, too, for I may be too late +already. My dear boy, even a friend has something that he wants to keep +for himself and does not want to share with his dearest friend--his +love! You are making love to Cenni, although you must have seen that I +am over ears in love with her myself." + +"I have seen nothing of the kind, and I give you my word that I never +thought of making love to her." + +"Possibly so; but then she makes love to you, and that renders matters +worse yet." + +"I assure you that your jealousy leads you into error." + +"Oh! Do you think we have no telescopes in the house? I have witnessed +the last interesting scene as if I were on the spot." + +"Then I can only wish that your hearing might have been as much +increased by some instrument as your vision by the telescope, so that +you might have heard our discourse, and not guessed at it by sight." + +"Did you not find a four-leaved clover, and offer it to Cenni?" + +"Yes, here it is; take it, my boy, and marry your Cenni, with my +blessing!" + +"Take care! I may take you at your word!" + +"And welcome! I'll be your best man." + +"That's a bargain. And, now that I see that you are really not going to +play the traitor with me, I'll tell you the whole truth. I am mad with +love for Cenni; and then, too, she has a million florins from her +grandfather, and this money would come in well to help me carry out my +plans. But my aunt does not consent to give the girl to me. She says I +am a libertine, a _frivol viveur_, etc., and she won't take the +responsibility of trusting me with the dear child." + +"Tell her you will reform, you will change after marriage." + +"That I have repeatedly tried, but she refuses to believe me. Then +there is that million. As long as the girl is unmarried and a minor, my +aunt takes her revenues, and, among her other accomplishments, my aunt +is a very fair accountant. She has found out that the girl cannot eat +figs and candies in a year to the amount of sixty thousand florins, so +she is not over-willing to part with her at all. But I am not going to +play the Tantalus for years, and run the risk of having the girl +snatched from me by some jackanapes or rascal or another. Pardon!" + +"Never mind! I shan't pick up the 'jackanapes' or the 'rascal.' They do +not belong to me." + +"Then help me carry out my plan. Do you promise?" + +"By all means." + +"Thank you. But let me unfold my plan. Cenni and I will be married +clandestinely behind Aunt Diodora's back. My aunt is sometimes subject +to severe neuralgic attacks, and, as she never calls a physician and +never takes any remedies for her pains, she suffers all day. During +these paroxysms of her nerves she remains all day in a darkened room, +and will not allow anybody to stay with her but Flamma. That kind soul +is with her at such times, administering to her comforts, smoothing her +pillows, etc., and in return she is allowed to read Flammarion, or one +of Verne's harmless fictions, in the adjoining sitting-room. On such +days Cenni is entirely at liberty, and not watched by anybody, because +that sleepy governess the girls have is hardly worth mentioning. Now +listen. I keep here, concealed in my shooting-box, a priest--a Capuchin +monk--Father Paphuntius. He seems to be a jolly good fellow, and he has +an open hand. In the park there is a little memorial chapel, erected by +one of my ancestors in honour of St. Vincent de Paul. In that chapel we +will exchange vows. You and Muckicza shall be my witnesses. Now you have +given me your promise, will you stick to your word?" + +"By all means! Only after the marriage is perfected give me leave to run +away as fast as possible; for I should not dare to look your aunt in the +face after such perfidy on my part." + +"_Au contraire_, you shall not run, for you must stay and help me out +further. I have chosen you in your capacity as physician to persuade +Diodora to swallow this bitter medicine. She will take much if it comes +from you, and I really believe you have magnetised her. It will be your +mission to break the fact of the accomplished marriage to her, and +persuade her to give her consent, since the matter is irreparable. You +see, we cannot afford to quarrel with her, for she has four millions, +and is not likely to marry at all." + +I hesitated, but he begged and prayed--"My dear friend," "My own Nell," +and so forth--until I gave way, and promised to do all that he wanted. + +When I had finally promised him he pressed my hands, and then turned +away and buried his face in his silk pocket-handkerchief. Was this to +hide his tears or--his laughter? _O sancta simplicitas_! + + + + +V. + +HOW ROSES ARE INOCULATED. + + +The same day, after luncheon, Countess Flamma turned to me with the +question-- + +"Would you mind teaching me the process of inoculation? I am greatly +interested in roses, and should like to see how the scion is set into +the stock." + +"With ever so much pleasure," I said, pleased that the pale, silent girl +showed an interest in my favourites, the roses, and turned to me for a +favour. Countess Diodora gave the required permission for the lesson, +which was to be given and taken while the others were playing +lawn-tennis on the adjacent grounds. Flamma was a bad player, anyhow, so +she might take to horticulture meanwhile. + +When the whole company were on the grounds, Flamma and I stepped up to +the rose-beds, and I began to explain to her how, in the first place, a +T-shaped incision has to be made on the stock, when presently she said, +in a low whisper, "Take care of yourself." + +I thought she meant that I should cut my fingers with the knife, when +she repeated her warning again, mid more explicitly, "Take care; they +mean to play a bad joke on you." + +I looked up amazed. What could she mean? + +"Who?" I asked. + +"Don't look at me, but continue the explanation and demonstration. Never +forget I am taking a lesson, for we are closely watched." + +"Thank you. So now we take a carefully chosen scion. Tell me, pray, who +wants to play that jest on me?" + +"This scion is beautifully developed, let us take it--Siegfried." + +"Siegfried? What does he intend to do?" + +"Keep your hands busy, and do not look surprised. That clandestine +marriage, of which you are to be a witness, is a comedy. The Capuchin +monk, who is to perform the ceremony, is Seestern, the famous German +actor, who is here under an assumed name, as he does not want to be +pestered to play or amuse the others." + +My hands trembled, but I kept on and said-- + +"Siegfried has sworn to me that he is madly in love with Countess Cenni, +and that he will marry her, come what may." + +"What for?" + +"What a question! For love, and--because--he wants the million florins +of her grandfather's which the countess has." + +"Hand me the knife, for you will assuredly cut your finger, and give me +that scion, so that I may try to insert it. Cenni is no countess at all, +but the niece of Leestern and daughter of an actress, who at one time +did my aunt a great service, and, when dying, made Aunt Diodora promise +to take care of her little girl. Aunt gave her at confirmation the name +of Cenerentola, which we have shortened to Cenni. Her real name is +Klara. She has no other money or dower but what Aunt Diodora will give +her, which will not be much, for in money matters she is not very +liberal, and Cenni is called 'comtesse' because it suits Aunt Diodora's +whims. That million of which Siegfried spoke exists; but it is mine, and +not Cenni's. Is this scion well inserted?" + +"No. I will show you the whole process again. What is Siegfried's object +in the deception?" + +"You show too much agitation. Show me how to cut out the germ properly. +This is the plan. After the ceremony, on the day when Diodora is +confined to her room and I am with her, a festival banquet will be +spread in the shooting-box. It will be a noisy, dissolute company that +meets there, and Siegfried will drink most, be the loudest and least +well-behaved of the set. The bride will pretend to be afraid of the +groom, and at last she will break away from his hands, and ask the +protection of the only sober, sensible, and decent man present, namely, +yourself. The bridegroom will have lost all self-control through drink. +He will swear, and use all sorts of bad language, and the bride will sob +and entreat you to take her away, protesting that she hated the sight of +the vulgar wretch she had just married, but had been forced to do his +will, although he knew well that in reality she loved you, and you +alone. At last, growing desperate, she will attempt to leap out of the +window to escape from this place, even at the risk of her life. You will +take pity on her; her tears and charms will conquer your resistance, +and you will tell her to dispose of you for ever, and take shelter in +your own castle from the ruffian who was not worthy of the treasure he +had obtained. You will order your carriage, and take Cenni with you; +but, as soon as you have left, the fellow-plotters will mount their +horses, and, by a short cross-cut, arrive there before you, discover the +intended elopement of the bride, and carry off you and her as criminals. +You will of course offer to fight every one of them, until all, the +bride included, will burst out into Olympian laughter, and you stand +stunned and bewildered. But, pray, show me how to insert the germ +properly into the T-shape?" + +My whole frame trembled with excitement. + +"What is his object in all this?" I asked. + +"To give you the usual 'jump,' as they call it in our set. If, for +instance, a member of some other class of society--in your case a simple +nobleman--is pushing his way into high aristocracy, he must be 'jumped,' +each in his own different way. One is made to drink until he makes +himself obnoxious even to his nearest friends; another is made to gamble +until he either wins or loses a fortune, generally the latter; but all +must 'jump,' and if they break their necks, well and good! It was +proposed to 'jump' you in courtship; you refused to aspire to Diodora. +In a duel you are not afraid of a fight, and so this course was decided +on. You had been 'jumped' already--at the election--but the triumph and +your downfall were not complete. Your vanity--don't start--was not yet +wounded to death, and you will have to 'jump' once more--once in private +and once at a second election. But this time you will not rise again. +Hopp! Hopp! That's the design. Don't look at me--that's all!" + +I was fairly choked with emotion. "But why do they play that trick on +me? I did not want to enter their society; in fact, never valued it at +all; but I cared for Siegfried, and he lured me on with protestations of +friendship. What was his reason for that? What have I done to him to +merit this?" + +"What have you done? You have provoked him--called him out. You said you +could not believe in the existence of a spiritual or corporal being who +would do mischief without a material motive, simply for the sake of +mischief and the pleasure he found in the despair of a fellow-being: you +did not believe that there are men who will afflict the innocent with +pain and sorrow, who will degrade, socially and morally humiliate you, +and then laugh you in the face and make game of you. Stay here, move in +our society, and you will find out your mistake! Why, what a sight it +will be to have the great debater, the candidate-elect, the sage and +learned doctor, and heir of old Diogenes caught in the act of robbing +another man of his bride! They will have a painter there to take a +sketch of the fine situation '_en plein air_.'" + +At that moment one of the lawn-tennis players throw the ball just in +front of my feet, and Siegfried came running to fetch it. + +"Well, have you profited at all by this lesson on inoculating?" he +asked the girl, and he added a remark which was so vulgar and +impertinent that he would not have dared to use the expression in a +variety theatre or any other low place of common entertainment. + +"I have," said the girl, with low emphasis, and laid down the knife. + +I was in such a state of anguish that I did not know for certain whether +the spot I was standing on belonged to this earth or was part of the +infernal kingdom, for the soil actually burned my feet. Countess Mamma +thanked me for the horticultural lesson I had given her, and I was so +much embarrassed that I repeated her own words verbally, instead of +giving her a courteous reply. Siegfried laughed. + +"What an exemplary, bashful young fellow you are! Evidently you are not +used to teach young ladies such delicate lessons. Come! come! Don't +blush. Try your hand at lawn tennis." + +And I went with him and played. + + + + +VI. + +MR. PARASITE. + + +I have never given way to paroxysms of temper; not exactly because I was +naturally cool and collected, but because my profession had taught me +presence of mind and self-control. Violent wrath, violent terror, and +violent love could not attack me. + +Countess Flamma's singular disclosure had made a twofold impression. My +first feeling was a painful regret that my most intimate friend, in whom +I had placed infinite trust and confidence, was a faithless deceiver; +and my second emotion was that of a burning curiosity as to why that +girl, a close relative of my cozening friend, had betrayed him to me--a +stranger. What reason had the one to hurt me, and what was the motive of +the other in warning me? For, as I refused to believe in evil spirits, I +also refused to believe in protecting angels. + +"My dear friend, take care!" said Siegfried, throwing the ball at me. +The ball I did not catch, but the "dear" epithet I picked up; for it +struck me that the same phrase was often attached to my name as well as +to that of other less intimate acquaintances, and sometimes with a +special, humorous playfulness. Now I caught it. Of course I was their +"dear" friend, for did not I sit there and do nothing, and let them +waste their money on my election? + +In Hungarian society, and I think in most other societies as well, +there is a certain person whom we call "Potya ur"--"Mr. Parasite." He +feeds at every board, sleeps in other men's rooms, is served by other +men's servants, uses other men's horses and carriages, and smokes other +men's cigars. When playing cards, he has invariably left his money at +home; so when he is a loser it does not matter, for he is not accustomed +to pay his losses; but, when a winner, he complacently pockets his +gains. He never pays for the flowers he sends to his hostess, never pays +anything or anybody; yet he is well lodged, well fed, well clad, and in +excellent spirits, for he needs them. His wit is his only resource, his +sole capital. + +Such a Mr. Parasite, I thought, was I to these men, and I determined +that I would be so no longer. Surely I, who was formerly a physician in +Vienna, had no right to accept a nomination for Parliament in +Hungary--at other men's expense. They were right, and I had been an ass +and a coxcomb. When Siegfried told me that the party had decided not to +take a penny of me, but to secure my election out of party funds, I +should have remembered Chinese etiquette. If two Chinamen meet on the +street, Tsang will invariably invite Tsing home to dinner, and Tsing +will invariably refuse. Tsang will use all possible persuasion, and +finally fairly drag the invited one to his house, although the man +protests and struggles as much as possible. And well he knows why; +because if he should give way to the pressing invitation and go with +Tsang, the moment he entered the house his host would call him a rude, +unmannered peasant; for he must remember well that it becomes the one to +courteously invite, and the other to respectfully refuse. This is the +law of civilisation in China; and I had forgotten that law the second +time. + +So, about Siegfried's motive I felt pretty sure; but what was that +girl's motive in betraying the whole plot? More! She had not only +betrayed Siegfried, her own cousin, to me--a stranger: she had betrayed +Cenni, her origin, her real name, and her kin; and, finally, what motive +had she in informing me that the million of florins was her money, and +not Cenni's? What was her motive in confiding to me such a secret in +such a mysterious and secret manner? Was it only kindness, generosity, +compassion, that prompted her, or--? No, I durst not go farther--as +yet--only I knew now beyond a doubt that, from the first, of all the +three fairies of the castle Flamma alone had aroused my interest and +sympathy. Her clear, transparent, pale face, her deep, sea-tinted eyes, +and her silent, cherry lips, so lovely when parted in speaking, had +attracted me from the first. + +We were called indoors to partake of some iced coffee, and strawberries +with cream; but this time I had not forgotten Tsang and Tsing. I +refused, saying that I had a letter from the Vice-Governor, and was +expected by him; so I could not return until next day in the afternoon. + +My excuse was accepted, and I took my leave. For a second the thought +flashed through my mind that I ought not to return at all, and that +this should be my last visit to the place; but, somehow, to that +rose-scion which I had taught Flamma how to inoculate I had +involuntarily and unconsciously tied that particular part of my being +which is known as the "soul." + +Next morning I drove over to the county seat, and paid a visit to the +Vice-Governor. + +Of course, he was as cordial as ever, and welcomed me as a dear friend. +"Well, what have you brought me?" he asked finally. + +"This time a sensible resolution," I said. "I have come to give in my +resignation as a candidate for Parliament." + +The Vice-Governor embraced, nay, fairly hugged me in his arms. "My dear +boy, that's a sensible thing, indeed: not from the view of the +Government party only--I don't believe that your party could have +carried the day with you--but in consideration of your own welfare. Just +sit down, and let me inform the President of the Board of Elections of +your resolution. I shall do that at once. Not for a world would I let +you reconsider this excellent idea. Perhaps you might be over-persuaded, +and 'jumped' again by your good friends." + +Again I heard the expression "jumped," and I sat down to meditate over +it. "Have you told Siegfried yet?" asked the Vice-Governor. + +"Not yet," I said; "but I think he won't greatly object." + +"Who knows? But you will pledge your word that you will stick to your +resignation against all persuasion?" + +"Certainly. I'll give you any oath you want, and--well, here is my hand +on the promise. My resignation is final." + +"Then allow me to congratulate you, and to convince you, by action, what +a sensible conclusion you have come to. I should have withheld your +property from you until after election, for I feared that generous +nature of yours, and was afraid that, if you had free access to your +uncle's iron chest, your companions would soon enough have their fists +deep in it. But, now that you convince me of your good sense, here are +the papers which make you lord of the real and personal property of your +late uncle, and here is the package with the bank-bills. Pray open and +count them over. The county sheriff will go over with you to take off +the seals from everything, and put you in legal possession." + +I thanked him, and put the money, uncounted, in my coat pocket. Then I +returned to our former theme, and asked the Vice-Governor if he really +thought that my nomination had put my party to very great expense. + +"Think so?" he exclaimed, "of course, I think so! Why, my dear friend, +you are a new man, and considered almost as a foreigner and a scholar, +not a patriotic politician! But, if you are really interested in the +question, you can find out the exact figure which your nomination has +cost your party. Just go straight to the County Savings Bank here, and +ask the amount which Siegfried has drawn on bills signed with his own +name and that of his political friends as security." + +I was stunned. "I never thought of such a thing," I said. "Siegfried +told me that he had money at home which he did not want for himself at +present, and could easily spare." + +The official laughed. "Siegfried, and spare money! Why, what an innocent +you are! If he had money at all, he would leave it on the card-table, he +is such a gambler. The fact is, he is on such a sandbank, just at +present, that it will be fortunate for him if his barque ever gets +afloat again." + +"How is that possible? I thought him very well off." + +"He is more than that; he is very rich. His domains are large and +beautiful, and his income is princely; only he is of the opinion that it +is mean to keep money, and he spends in six months the income of a year, +and in this way he runs into debt. He has practised that for a +considerable time, and it cannot go on that way much longer. His only +resource is his maiden aunt, Countess Diodora. It is said--at least, +Siegfried says--that she hates men, and will take the veil to become an +abbess. In that case her estates will revert to him as next heir." + +"H--m; and do you think Siegfried would feel insulted if I should go to +the Savings Bank and pay those bills of his? Or do you believe that his +friends would be offended if I took up all the bills, and paid all the +expenses I have caused them?" + +"No; although they would pretend to be so for a while, in reality I +think they would be only too glad. But I will tell you something: you +are just such a generous, large-hearted, noble, free-handed fool as your +father was, and, if you go on the way you have begun, old Diogenes's +hoard will go after your father's fortune. Do you know what the two Ms +in the palm of your hands signify?" + +"_Memento mori_," I said, smilingly. + +"No. Mind money. It means 'Always mind your own money.' It is the best +advice I can give you, and the one you stand most in need of." + +I thanked him, and took my leave: no more Mr. Parasite, but on the way +to earn the title he had given me--that of a fool. + + + + +VII. + +A BRILLIANT GAME. + + +If I had had a particle of good judgment or common sense, I should have +taken the bills I had paid for at the bank to the solicitor who acted +both for Siegfried and myself, should have authorised that gentleman to +pay the twenty thousand florins Siegfried had lent me when I came into +possession of my house, and I myself should have written two pleasant +letters--one to Countess Diodora, thanking her for her great and +disinterested kindness and hospitality, and the other to Siegfried, +notifying him formally of what I had done, and, at the same time, +telling him that my resolution was firm, and that no persuasion on his +part would shake it. Then I should have thanked him for his friendship, +and finally have taken myself off with all possible speed to Heligoland, +Ostend, or some other remote watering-place. After an election campaign, +or, as in my case, nearly two campaigns, such an invigorating of the +system is very commendable. + +All this I should have done as a man of good judgment, but, alas! I was +not such a man--at any rate, no longer. My judgment had left me, and it +would need a whole pathologico-psychological dissertation to explain how +the process of inserting a rose-scion into a stock can, in a period of +hardly an hour, convert a cool, sensible, and collected man into a +stark raving madman. + +For a lunatic I was--no doubt about that. Now it was I who wanted to +play the game to the end, and to show to those five companions of mine +which of us could "jump" best. An angel had come to warn me, and had +given me a weapon against my adversaries; now I was bound to show her +that I could make proper use of the weapon. There was already a sweet +secret bond between us--her warning, and I was burning to find out the +cause, the fountain-head, of that significant partiality shown to me. +Why was the angel an angel? The question was all-important to me. + +On arriving at home with the sheriff I found a letter from Siegfried, +and on the envelope the inscription, "_Ibi, ubi, cito, citissime_. N.B. +Dr. Cornelius Dumany, Esquire." + +The contents of the letter were as follows:-- + + "DEAR FRIEND,--Aunt Diodora has her nervous attack, and is + dangerously ill. Pray make haste! _Periculum, in mora_. Bring your + electro-magnetic apparatus with you, and come at once.--SIEGFRIED." + +The gamekeeper had brought the letter, and said that he had strict +orders to wait for me, if it was until midnight. So I despatched my +business with the sheriff, gave orders for refreshments for him, and, +going into my museum, I took out a watch of the Apafy period, with which +I presented him, and made him perfectly happy. Then I picked out an +antique opal bracelet, which Cenni had found exceptionally beautiful, +and put it into my pocket as a present for the bride. I would take the +ceremony _bona fide_, and play my part as naturally as possible. + +We drove through Siegfried's game-park, and at the cascades I was +expected by Baron Muckicza, the other witness. "You are expected like +the Messiah by the Jews," he cried, and leaped up to me without stopping +the vehicle. "Cenni and Siegfried are in the chapel already." + +On arriving in front of the chapel, an old Gothic edifice, situated in a +large clearing in the park, we alighted, and I ordered my coachman not +to unhitch the horses, but to drive about, and wait for me at the gate +in about an hour or more. + +We opened the little gate that led to a large stone crucifix in front of +the chapel, and found the vestry-clerk and a boy ministrant waiting for +us in the entry. Now they tolled the bell hurriedly and briefly, and +gave way to us. + +Siegfried and Cenni met us in the chapel. He pressed my hand in evident +excitement, assuring me of eternal friendship and gratitude for standing +by his side at this turning-point of his life, whereupon I returned his +protestations with equal feeling. The bride, in a dove-coloured +travelling-dress, with a wreath of orange flowers in her blonde locks, +and a costly lace shawl as a bridal veil, was an exquisite image of love +and modesty. On seeing me she bashfully hid her face in her hands, +exclaiming, "Oh! what will you think of me?" and to Siegfried, +imploringly, "Pray let me go back to the house! My God, what a step you +have persuaded me to! Pray let me go back; oh, pray do!" But Siegfried +tenderly held her hands, and persuaded her to go to the good Father +Paphuntius, who was awaiting her in the shriving-pew to receive the +confession of her sins; for, as a good Catholic, she could not marry +unshriven. So she simpered and blushed a good deal, and went away to +where the Father, with clean-shaven face--evidently a Ligorian, not a +Capuchin--received her with a benediction. + +It was a splendid farce, and admirably acted by almost all the parties. +There were two bridesmaids with somewhat rural complexions, and hands +which seemed to swell out of their number seven white gloves, as did +their robust waists from the tightly-laced silk bodices. Of course, we +called them "Milady," and spoke French to them, although it was easy to +guess that they were dairy and garden wenches, and the only language +they understood or spoke was the Slavonic. They blushed and giggled a +good deal, and did not feel very much at ease on our arms. + +The ceremony took place in the most solemn and decorous way. Father +Paphuntius delivered a very impressive sermon on domestic virtues and +the fear of God leading to earthly happiness and eternal bliss. Bride +and groom kneeled down before the altar and exchanged their vows, +whereupon the priest bound their hands together and gave them his +benediction. + +My hand itched, and I could hardly keep from loudly applauding the +acting priest or the preaching actor; but I did not forget that at least +the place of comedy was really sacred, although profaned by a parcel of +blasphemous roysterers, and so I held my peace and looked on. + +After the ceremony, of course, everybody congratulated the new couple, +and I added the opal bracelet to my compliments, and received in return +a sweet smile from the fair bride. "You have robbed your collection of +its most precious treasure," she said, and "It will be made more +precious by your ladyship's acceptance" was my answer. + +We wrote our names in an old register which was in the vestry. I +presented the excellent Father Paphuntius with six gold eagles, and the +vestry clerk was made happy with as many brand-new and shining silver +florins, while the boy received six glittering quarters--all in the +fashion of a real wedding. After that, the new Benedict gave his arm to +his bride. Baron Muckicza and I bowed to the red-faced damsels, with the +German phrase, "_Darf ich Ihnen meinen Arm bieten, mein Fraeulein_," to +which they answered in classic Slavonian, "_Gyekujem peknye mladi-pan_," +which means, "Thank you very much, young master." Then we went, _per +pedes apostolorum_, to the shooting-box, Father Paphuntius, of course, +accompanying us, to feast at the wedding banquet. + +The table fairly groaned under the sumptuous meal. The newly-wedded +couple took the seat of honour. I was placed to the right of the bride, +and Musinka, the dairy-wench, sat next to me, as became her position as +bridesmaid. Next to the groom sat the priest, then Anyicska, the +garden-wench and second bridesmaid, and at her side, between the two +damsels (the table was round), sat Baron Muckicza. + +We were in excellent humour and rather hilarious, and the affair was a +very lively one. At all such revels I have the peculiarity of never +drinking anything but champagne. All other wine I despise and scorn to +drink. Siegfried knew this well, and had given orders that, after the +trout, champagne should be served. The cork was drawn with a loud noise, +the wine foamed and sparkled in the glasses, but, when the servant came +to help me, I took the bottle from his hands to look at the label; for +there is a difference in the fluid, and Roederer and Roederer is not +always alike. There are certain symbolical marks on the bottles, well +known to connoisseurs. On some is a bee, on others an ostrich or an +elephant. On this particular bottle was a fly, and I threw the bottle to +the wall with such force that it broke into shivers, and the foaming +contents went splashing into the faces of the company. The reverend +Father had just risen, glass in hand, to drink a toast to the happy +couple, and Siegfried said, reproachfully-- + +"My dear fellow, you begin it too early; the bottle-breaking business +comes after the drinking, not before it." + +"All right," said I, grumbling, "but if you have a physician as your +marriage witness, don't treat your wedding company with wine marked with +a fly. I know the effect of that poison." + +He smiled mischievously, and, turning, he said in Hungarian, which the +Father did not understand, "Don't spoil the game. You'll have another +mark; this is for the Capuchin. I want to 'jump' him." + +"Indeed!" I thought. "Well, I'll 'jump' you both." The mock priest was +standing with his glass in hand to begin his toast, when I turned to him +and asked-- + +"Is it not you, my dear Seestern, that plays the Capuchin in Schiller's +_Wallenteins's Camp_?" + +The man stared at me, and fell back into his chair, with the classical +quotation "_Ha, ich bin erkannt_!" The bride shrieked, and, bounding +from my side, ran out of the room. The rustic bridesmaids stared at each +other, and asked, "_Csoeto_?" ("What does that mean?") and Siegfried's +fist came down hard on the table. "_Sacre de Dieu_! This is treachery!" +and taking hold of my arm, he asked, "Who was it? Who has betrayed this +little joke?" + +I looked him innocently in the face. "Why, my dear Siegfried, it would +be unnatural if an old Vienna theatre-goer like me did not know +Seestern, the famous comic actor. I am no country cousin to be cozened +in that way." + +"Well, evidently we have made the reckoning without our host," said he, +grumblingly. "But it is a pity. Such a capital joke it would have been, +and you would have laughed most. Still, it can't be helped, so we'll +make the best of the spoiled game. I see the prima donna has thrown off +her _role_, so you had better go after her, Seestern, and see her safe +to the chateau. Your monk's cowl is a protection in itself. Don't look +disconcerted; you can come back. Our revel does not end yet; it has +hardly begun. You, Muckicza, my dear boy, go out and get in the boys. +Tell them the hunt is over; the game has broken fence." + +By this time one of the Slav girls had stuffed her pockets with French +candies and confectionery from the table, and the other drank off the +champagne from all the glasses near. Now Siegfried looked at them, and +imperatively motioned to the door. They hurried out, and "my dear +friend" Siegfried and I were face to face, alone. His face wore a gloomy +expression, and he said, in a courtly manner-- + +"Sir, I am at your service. Do you feel offended by this joke?" + +I laughed outright. "I offended? Why should I? Nothing has happened to +me." + +"But it would have happened. We intended to give you a little 'jump.'" + +"And why?" + +"Oh, for nothing! Only you look so funny with that gorilla beard you +wear on your face." + +"Indeed? And pray how should I 'jump' as your marriage witness?" + +"Has not the person who warned you betrayed the whole scheme?" + +"Never you mind. I am not offended; quite the contrary. I like such +practical jokes, and have taken my revenge beforehand. I have played you +an equal trick: I have given my resignation as a candidate this +morning." + +"You cannot mean it! Tell me, are you in earnest?" + +"Dear me, no! I am joking; I told you so! But the thing is irrevocably +done, all the same." + +"But how could you do it without consulting the party!--without telling +me! Thunder and lightning! this is no child's play, but a high game; and +there are thousands staked on it! How dare you play fast and loose with +us, after all the expenses you have caused us?" + +"Oh, if I have a hand in such a game, I generally play it in the proper +way!" I said, taking out the wallet with Siegfried's bills, and putting +them all in a row on the table. "You see, this is the way I ventured to +do as I did." + +He tried to play the offended man. "Sir, it seems you do not know--" + +"Oh, everything, my dear count!" I said, laughingly; "only don't let us +make much ado about nothing. We have both had our joke, and now allow me +to beg you for my piece of pasteboard, on which you had the kindness to +lend me twenty thousand florins. Here, pray, let me hand you your money. +I have it ready for you." + +He gave me my card, but refused the money. "It is paid already," he +said. "The amount is included in these bills." + +At that moment Countess Diodora's footman came in, and Siegfried asked +if he had come to look for Countess Cenni. "No," said the man, "Countess +Cenni is in the chateau"--("What a good runner she is!" I thought)--"but +her ladyship, the Countess Vernoeczy--Diodora--is very ill, and begs his +honour, the Dr. Dumany, to be kind enough to come and see her. The +ranger has saddled his horse, and is waiting for the prescription to +take it to town at once." + +That was an honour indeed, and I lost no time in following the man, and +left Siegfried utterly amazed. "Why, Nell," he said, "you can work +miracles! You are a Cagliostro, and exercise some powerful, mysterious +influence! You must be congratulated on this victory. Fancy Aunt Diodora +consulting a physician! having a man enter her maiden sanctuary! It +would not be believed if I told it!" + +At the portal of the chateau I hesitated for a moment. I had grown +suspicious, and suddenly it occurred to me that this might be some other +little practical joke, and part of the programme; but I dismissed the +thought as base. The countess was a woman--a sick woman; deception in +that line was impossible, at least in my profession. I could not be +"jumped." + +In the chateau everybody went on tiptoe, as usual when Diodora had her +nervous attacks, but I did not heed that. My step was as firm as ever; +the reverberation of the physician's step is soothing to the patient, +and fills him with hope and assurance. + +The servant conducted me to the room in which Countess Flamma sat; the +adjacent room was that of the sufferer. Flamma sat reading before the +lamp when I entered. She laid down the book, got up, and extended her +hand. "Diodora expects you impatiently. She is more excited than ever, +and has just driven out Cenni because she smelt of wine." + +"So Cenni was here already, possibly for the sake of an _alibi_." + +"Don't speak of that! She told me all that has occurred. Have you drunk +wine also, or is your breath pure? Bend down a little, so. You are all +right, and I'll take you to Diodora; only wait here a little." + +She went in, but returned instantly, and beckoned me to follow her into +a boudoir lighted by a lamp with a shade of green glass. Rich tapestry +hangings divided the apartment. Flamma drew the hangings partly aside, +motioned me to go near, and left the room, softly closing the entrance. + +So I was here on that sacred spot, the first and only male being alive +who had ever been granted the privilege of seeing the sublime Diodora on +her couch. Only her head and arms were visible--such arms as might have +been lost by the Venus of Milo and found by this, her divine sister. The +thick tresses of raven hair were uncoiled and scattered in rich skeins +on the pillows and the coverlet. One of the silken coils fell down +heavily to the carpet, and another was thrown high over the sculptured +ornaments of the mahogany bedstead. It was an _embarras de richesses_ +rarely met with; and in the rich and precious braids the ivory fingers +were clutched, dishevelling them, tearing at them, in the excess of +pain. The beautiful face was pale and lustrous, the eyes bright and +glittering, surrounded by broad, dark blue circles; the lips were +parted, and the breath came short. Her hands were hot and dry, and the +pulse beat intermittently. When I laid my hand on her head and my thumb +pressed against the crown, she groaned--"Yes, there it is. Hell itself, +with all its tortures!" + +My hands went down on her neck, between the _musculus cucullaris_ and +the _sternocleido mastoideus_. "Ah, that is the way the pain goes down," +she sighed; and when I asked, "Will your ladyship give me leave to make +use of my skill?" she answered, "Don't call me 'ladyship'! I am no +countess now; I am nothing but a suffering animal, and you may call me +what you please. Give me the title of dog, so you can help me." + +"Then pray sit up first, and let me gather and secure your hair; it +hinders my movements." + +She obeyed; and, while I gathered the loose tresses and coiled them +around the head, the coverlet slipped down unnoticed, and the lace +nightgown, torn open by the restless fingers, revealed the marble bust +and shoulders; but for the physician, in the execution of his +professional duty, female charms do not exist. The warm, soft, creamy +skin is nothing to him but epidermis, _stratum mucosum Malpighii_; the +white, sculptured neck only the _regio nuchae_, and then comes the _regio +scapularis_, the _deltoidea_, and then the _sacrospinalis_. + +What a fuss they make about that ascetic who resisted the temptations +of the flesh when tried by the evil spirit in the shape of Lilith! What +would that famous saint have done, how would he have behaved, if he had +been called to rub this soft, velvety, odorous flesh, the fascinating, +peerless body, with his hands? Who knows if then the Catholic Church had +not boasted of one saint less? Indeed, indeed, we modern physicians have +more of the saint in our disposition--in general, of course. + +The effect of the treatment appeared at once in soft, voluptuous sighs +of relief, deep and long-drawn; in the magnetic showers of the body I +recognised a sure token which that mysterious disorder in the veins, +lymphs, and nerves reveals in the ganglia. A firm pressure of the biceps +with full fist, a pressure of the thumb against the _rhomboideus_, made +her exclaim, "Oh, that has done me good!" Then she began to shiver, the +body ceased to be hot and dry, and perspiration set in. She laughed +involuntarily, her teeth chattering with cold, and then she sighed +again, and said, gratefully, "I feel as if you had saved me from +drowning in an ocean of hot oil." I was at the _regio palmarum_, rubbing +her hands and fingers, cracking each of them. "Thank you," said she; +"that will do. I feel much better." + +But I told her that my work was only half done as yet and had to be +finished, or else the attack would return. The object was to gain +regular circulation of the blood throughout the whole body. This is no +witchcraft, but plain mechanical aid to the action of the live organism. + +But now that her sense had returned, her bashfulness returned also. +"Could not the remaining part of the treatment be executed by a woman?" +she asked. + +"Yes, if she has studied anatomy, visited the dissecting-room regularly, +and knows every particle in the structure of the human body; otherwise, +a quack may do just as much mischief with the pressure of her unskilled +hands on the outside of your body as with a bottle of quack medicine to +your inner system. It is hard to make you open your eyes to the fact +that the organic structure of the human body is a more wonderful, much +more admirable work of creation than the starry heaven. When, at a word, +the muscles of your face move to a smile of pleasure, or your eyes are +filled with tears of joy, sorrow, or compassion such a complicated +machinery is set in motion that no mechanical iron structure on earth +can be found half as involved or half as complete; and a person not +thoroughly acquainted with the qualities and parts of this wonderful +apparatus will prove a tormenting executioner, not a healing physician, +to the sufferer. Be patient, milady, the physician at the bed of his +patient is of the neuter gender--just as the angels are." + +"Then--be an angel!" + +I did my duty. The _musculus risorius_ was moving already. A happy smile +played on her face, the pale face regained its colour, and then the +involuntary smile gave way to involuntary tears. After this she fell +asleep; so deep, so peaceful was her sleep that the _aponeurosis +plantaris_ did not disturb her, although there are few or none who are +able to undergo the process of having the soles of their feet rubbed. + +She slept, and there she lay in all her sublime beauty, like some +wonderful marble statue, the image of a goddess. I took the coverlet, on +which the Vernoeczy crest--a nymph rising out of a shell, holding apart +her long, golden hair--was embroidered, and covered up the fair sleeper, +folding the blanket well on the feet to prevent evil dreams. Then I let +down the curtains to shut out the lamplight, and left the room. + +On the thick, soft carpet, my step was noiseless, and Countess Flamma +was not aware of my presence. I entered the room in which she sat before +a little table, her palms clutched together, her pale, beautiful face +bent over a book. It seemed to be a very interesting book, for she was +entirely lost in the contents. I waited until she finished the page, but +she did not turn the leaf, but re-read the same page again and again. +"Countess!" I said, deferentially. She looked up and hastily closed the +book. The silver filigree cross on the purple velvet cover betrayed the +prayer-book. What prayer was that of which she did not tire, but read it +over and over repeatedly? + +She gazed at me in evident wonder, and her eyes sparkled like two +shining orbs. "You have returned?" she exclaimed, as if in doubt of my +bodily reality. + +"Countess Diodora is asleep," I said, "and will not wake until the +morning. Pray, take care not to disturb her." + +"And--you--you--did not remain--there?" pointing to the room I left. + +"I have done all I could, and my staying would be of no use to her. To +watch her sleep would do no good to her and be tiresome to me." + +From the shooting-box shouts of revelry reverberated up to us. "You are +going back to them?" she asked. + +"No. I have finished my business with Siegfried, and told him that I had +revoked my nomination." + +"You have really done it?" + +"Certainly. I have also paid the election expenses up to date, and +thanked Siegfried for his good intentions. Henceforth we shall be +friendly neighbours, but not friends. Now give me leave to say +good-night to you. To-morrow morning I'll drive over to pay a +professional visit to Countess Diodora." + +"Don't go home now," she said, holding my hand; "the night is dark, and +something might happen to you. I have prepared a room for you here in +the chateau, with auntie's permission, and you will stay. Henceforth, +whenever you come to Vernoecze, you will come straight here, not to the +shooting-box." + +The blood rushed up to my face, and then back to my heart with a +throbbing sensation. A tingling noise like the sound of bells was in my +ears, and for a moment the whole universe seemed to have but one real +fixed star--the fair, pale face before me. "Will you stay?" she asked, +with a sweet smile and a pressure of her hand; and I ask, Is there on +earth a Cicero or a Demosthenes so eloquent as the pressure of a +woman's hand when it speaks? + +I thought I knew all. I had sounded the mystery of her warning to me, +and in that moment of overwhelming bliss I do not know what I did. Had I +kissed her hand? Had I said anything? given a promise or received one? I +do not know; but that my head was dizzy, and my heart filled with a +world of joy, that I remember. + + + + +VIII. + +A BITING KISS. + + +The valet conducted me to the room assigned to me, and carried my orders +to my coachman to unhitch the horses, and send up my necessaries. "Will +it please your honour to take some tea?" asked the valet. + +"Thanks," said I, "I won't take anything. But you will greatly oblige me +if you will send me a bowl with warm water; I want to shave." + +"Certainly, sir. The chambermaid will fetch it at once." + +I had resolved to shave. Good-bye to Chauvinism and national +peculiarity! I wanted a smooth, clean face, as I had had before I had +given way to vanity and political ambition. From this day on I ceased to +be a clay figure in the hands of juggling quacks. I was Dr. Dumany +again, and would remain so for life. + +As I sat before the mirror, looking at my own face, I could not repress +a smile. That beard of a few weeks' growth lent me an appearance that +was nearly akin to that of a gorilla. I took a pair of scissors and +clipped off the hair; then I prepared the soap and razor for shaving the +bristles. A woman, whom I took to be the chambermaid, set a bowl of +water before me, and, as I am not in the habit of looking closely at +chambermaids, I said, "Thank you," prepared the lather, and commenced +shaving. + +The woman was yet standing beside me, and, as I thought she was waiting +for orders, I said, without turning-- + +"Much obliged, my dear; you need not wait. I shall not want anything +this evening." + +"May I not send you a cup of tea?" + +I started, and the razor in my hand gave a great jerk, happily not into +my face: the woman I had taken for a chambermaid was Cenni. + +"Oh," I said, "it is you!" + +She laughed, and said, with a mock obeisance, "Yes, sir." But, looking +at me in the mirror, she laughed again, and said--"Only go on. I am +waiting for the Byron face to appear again, when these stalks are swept +off. We can talk a little meanwhile." + +"Indeed? But, you see, there is one more forbidden subject between us. +There are four now: the step-ladder, the Sultan of Morocco, the +sea-dove, and now Father Paphuntius." + +"It's astonishing how sharp you are; almost as keen as your razor. Only +take care, you may cut your own skin!" + +"Not likely. My hand is skilled in using knives. Am I mistaken in +supposing that you have come to ask for secrecy on my part?" + +"Not altogether. That was a part of my motive in coming." + +"You magnanimously promised me a kiss for keeping the other secrets. +What will be my fee for this?" + +"A bite, and yet a kiss. It will hurt you, and yet it is meant as a +caress--like those biting kisses which some over-fond mothers bestow on +their little ones, and make them cry." + +"Thank you, I am ready to accept it, and shall do my best not to cry." + +"Don't be too sure of that. Take care of the blade in your hand! I half +think I ought to postpone my revelations, because as long as this +shaving process serves you as a pretext for making grimaces, I cannot +clearly detect the real impression my words are making on you. Would you +mind laying down that razor for a while, and leave off making faces and +holding the tip of your own nose?" + +"Impossible. I have heard of Janus having two different faces--one for +peace, smooth and smiling sweetly; the other for war, frowning and +threatening, and clothed with a grizzly beard. But I myself always show +an honest impartiality to friend or foe." + +"Oh, I daresay that you condemn and despise me, for, foolish and +conceited as you are, you scarcely know how to distinguish between +friend and foe. You think the misfortune that little pleasantry would +have brought upon you highly important, whereas, if carried out as +intended, it would have saved you from real harm and real degradation." + +"What? If I had played that game to the end and had caused you, the +pretended bride of another man, to elope with me, it would have been to +my advantage? Is that the quintessence of cynicism, or sublime +_naivete_?" + +"No. It is plain truth, and you will find it out with a vengeance! Only +then it will be too late for repentance. You have been told that I lent +my aid to play a trick which would have made you the laughing-stock of +all your acquaintances. I tell you if you had only gone on, +unforewarned, you would have come out a hero and the master of them all. +Only then you would have known me as I truly am, and not as I choose to +appear. I have been slandered to you, and you think me a she-devil at +least, because I like a joke, and look everybody in the face, and not up +to heaven like a saint, or down to earth like a sinner. I also look like +a bold word, and am no more a hypocrite in words than I am in deeds; +and, first of all, I never make use of calumny to gain my own ends. I +know who has told you that I was a Satanella. Flamma, the--'angel.' Of +course, everybody who is acquainted with us will tell you that she _is_ +an _angel_, and that I am a devil at least, because I have cat's-eyes, a +sharp tongue, and a quick temper, whereas she has the face of a Madonna, +the disposition of a nun, and--she knows how to keep her own counsel. +Her mouth is only opened when necessary to her own purposes; in such a +case she does not recoil from the basest slander. Do you think I did not +watch you two at that rose-bed? That I did not notice the glitter in +your eye, the excited shaking of your hands? And do you know why she did +it? Because the day before I had boldly told you to win Diodora. That +she could not forgive me, and do you know why? You remember your answer. +It was when you told us the tragic story of your friend and the moral, +that you were wary of the caprices of aristocratic heiresses. Now--she +thought--if this is so? Here is a girl without a penny of her own, with +a mock title which does not belong to her; if he disbelieves in +heiresses, he may believe in her, and that is a state of things not to +be endured. Let us spoil that little private game of Miss Nobody, +because we have a reason for wanting the light-headed, easily-deceived +fellow for ourselves. But do you know that reason? Can you guess it?" + +The knife was at my throat literally; but she laughed a short, harsh +laugh, and continued-- + +"Ha! ha! You come from them. You have been called to the divinity to +admire her in her sublime loveliness, and you have treated her as clay, +and played the _role_ of the Messiah, Who drove out the demons by the +touch of His hands. How she must despise you--nay, hate you--for that +proof of your preference for Psyche over Anadyomene! How that +sweet-winged creature, Psyche, must have pressed your hand, and looked +up to you with a sweet, promissory smile as you kissed her hand and +professed yourself her most obedient slave for ever after! Although you +ought to remember your friend's story well enough! When you told it, you +said, 'I am nothing but a runaway doctor, an expelled Member of +Parliament, and a Slav king'; now you shave your face and say, 'I am a +marvellously powerful man, and endowed with magical charms. I shall be a +king of hearts!'" + +My face was smooth and clean. I poured some _eau de Cologne_ in the bowl +of water, dipped a sponge into it, and washed my face, drying it with a +soft towel. "Oh, you are quite handsome enough!" she said, mockingly; +"you can show your Byron face; 'I come, I see, I conquer,' is written on +your forehead. But now I am not jesting; and listen to me, or repent it +until your dying hour! If you succeed in winning the divinity you may be +a slave, but a cherished slave. You will not know the blessing of love, +but you will also be free of the pangs of jealousy and of shame. But +beware of the angel! I tell you, if that rose-scion which you both +inserted the other day germinates and comes to bloom, deadly despair +will be your lot, and the angel's rose will kill you with foul poison! +Beware, I say! Cut that scion while you have the opportunity, and then +go to the end of the world to be safe from the angel's revenge! +Remember, I have warned you!" + +She had gone to the door, but at the threshold she turned and said--"I +have given you the biting kiss I promised. Much good it may do you!" + +With that she went out, but her biting kiss had not hurt me. My heart +was full of hope and joy. This girl's impotent jealousy had convinced me +of the reality of my happiness. I was beloved, and I loved again; and +could the venomous tongue of a jealous woman incense me against an angel +like Flamma? True love is like pure gold, and the acid of calumny does +not destroy it, but gives new proof of its value. I loved Flamma, and +Flamma loved me. This was enough of bliss, enough to keep me all night +in a waking dream, in a transport of exquisite joy. + + + + +IX. + +WHO IS THE VISITOR? + + +I waited impatiently for the daybreak. At the first dawn I was up and +dressed, and taking long strides on the garden path. How long would it +be until the ladies were up, and willing to receive me? Even the +servants were asleep yet. I strolled on aimlessly until I found myself +unexpectedly at the dairy, which was quite a grand establishment, where +twenty milch cows of the Aargau breed were milked daily, and a delicious +cheese manufactured. Siegfried had told me some time before that, as +soon as the railway was extended to the neighbouring town--a prospect +which was expected to be realised shortly--he would have a branch laid +on, at his own expense, to his dairy. Anyicska and Masinka, the two +bridesmaids of last evening, met me at the gate, and were very officious +in showing me in, and while Anyicska brought me a cup of excellent sweet +milk, Masinka brought some spongy rye bread, fresh from the oven, upon a +salver. Of course, this was offered as a bribe for my secrecy on the +topic of last night, and I promised them not to tell Countess Diodora +how they had been employed at the mock wedding. Poor things, why should +I betray them for obeying orders? So I graciously accepted my +hush-money, which was less subtle and more substantial than that offered +by the fair bride herself; and they told me that the revelry had lasted +almost until cock-crow. They all had capital fun. The Father had sung +highly amusing songs. The girls had been called back after my departure, +and then, with the other companions who were called in, the merry-making +had reached a very high pitch. Of course, Cenni had not returned to +them. + +As I gave them my promise of silence they thanked me, and in return they +told me that, with my smooth face, I was a much handsomer-looking fellow +than last night, with that beard on my cheeks and chin; and I was +conceited enough to pocket the compliment and believe in its truth. + +Breakfast was served to me in my room. The ladies were up, but Countess +Diodora was too weak to preside as usual at the breakfast-table. I +requested the honour of paying her a professional visit, and was told +that she would be glad to see the "doctor." + +The room in which she received me was a magnificent _salon_, with a +balcony in front. When I entered, the doors and windows were wide open; +the rays of the sun darted through the filmy lace curtains; it was a +"_tableau en plein air_" that met my eye. Countess Diodora, in a +mauve-coloured silk dressing-gown, rested on a settee. Before her was a +little Venetian mosaic table, and on it a tea-tray. Diodora seemed to be +in excellent spirits, and looked beautiful; the suffering of last night +had not told on her complexion the least bit. She wore a black lace +scarf to conceal her hair, which was still in the state in which I had +coiled and pinned it, except that a great ornamental tortoise-shell +comb, of yellow hue, had been thrust into it. Opposite to the countess, +on two embroidered stools, sat the two girls, engaged in finishing the +Japanese sunbird; and in the balcony door stood Siegfried, smoking a +cigarette, and blowing the smoke--in consideration of his aunt--out of +the door. I thought it would have been more considerate still if he had +not smoked at all. As I entered, the thought seemed to occur to him that +the business of smoking would be best despatched on the balcony, so he +escaped the difficulty of looking me in the face. Cenni also found a +pretext for retiring; she took the tea-tray from the little table and +left the room with it. Countess Diodora, Flamma, and myself remained in +the room. I asked the countess how she felt, and whether she had enjoyed +a peaceful sleep, and she answered, with rapture-- + +"I slept deliciously, as I never have before since my childhood; and I +had such delightful dreams! I fancied I was a child again, and rambled +in the garden chasing butterflies. You have worked miracles, and +henceforth I shall believe in you as in an oracle. I revoke all I have +said against your profession and science, and confide myself entirely +into your hands. The first touch of your hand had a magic effect on me, +and afterward I felt as if you had taken my vile body of clay from me, +joint by joint, with the witchcraft of your fingers, and given me a new, +better, and more perfect form. I felt as if you had lent me wings, and +that now I could rise with you up above the clouds, captivated by your +mesmeric influence upon me. Moon and stars seemed to remain far below +me, and you were guiding me up to a strange world, full of unknown and +eternal bliss. Oh, why cannot this transport of exquisite pleasure last +for ever? Indeed, indeed, I do not know how to express the gratitude I +owe you!" + +Diodora said this to me in the presence of Flamma, and in the hearing of +Siegfried, who, on the balcony, could hear every word through the open +door; and, as she said it, her great Juno-like eyes rested on mine with +an expression of enthusiastic admiration. Yes! such might have been the +look which the goddess bestowed on poor, silly Ixion as she lured him on +and then--left a cloud in his arms. + +But do you know why that look failed to infect me as it had Ixion? +Because I had been inoculated against the infection by another look last +night--a look from the violet eyes of Flamma. + +I rose from my seat, and, throwing myself into an attitude befitting a +ceremonious announcement, I said-- + +"Countess, to be of service to you is a happiness to me. Pray dispose of +me. If I can convert your pains into pleasures, I shall consider the +happy result as the highest reward. Your ladyship's gracious words at +this moment inspire me with boldness; so much so that I feel encouraged +to lay the hidden secret of my heart, the cherished wish of my life, in +your hands. If you deign to accept my confession and grant my desire, +you will bind me to your service for life, in attaching me to your +family." + +I shall never in life forget that proud, repellent lifting of her head +as I spoke. Diana might have looked so at Actaeon, although, poor fellow, +he had never come so near to the virgin charms of that Olympian lady as +I to those of the queenly virgin before me on the preceding night. Her +forehead seemed to gain in height, her eyes retreated behind the lashes, +her lips were pressed together, and her nostrils dilated. In looking at +me her chin doubled, and she seemed the personification of haughty +disdain. + +"My dear doctor," she said, with proud emphasis on the "doctor," "it +seems you have misinterpreted my words. I have never thought of +encouraging you in desires such as you this moment expressed." + +I bent my head deeper still. "Dear countess, allow me to say that the +misconstruction is on your side. I did not intend the bold request which +you seem to impute to me; I simply beg leave to ask for the hand of your +niece." + +Her whole disposition seemed to change on hearing this, and she broke +into a long, ringing, scornful laugh--the laugh of offended vanity, of +angered pride; such a laugh as women use to mask their disappointment +and jealousy, and the rising of their temper. + +"Ha! ha! ha! Ah! ha! ha! The little Cenni! Ha! ha! So it is true, and I +have guessed right? Ha! ha! ha! And the little fool has run out; she +guessed the object of your visit. Ha! ha! ha! It's wonderful! My niece, +the little Cenni--Countess Cenni! Oh, what a perfect match! Ha! ha! ha!" + +I did not disturb the explosion of her mirth. As a physician I knew that +it impaired the health of a nervous woman if she was interrupted in her +vagaries. At the sound of her laughter Siegfried re-entered and asked, +"What is it now?" + +Diodora explained, laughing hysterically, that their dear, common +friend, Dr. Dumany, had just now asked for the hand of little Cenni. + +"Very well," said Siegfried, "serves him right. Let him have her, by all +means!" + +"I beg both your pardons," I said, "but it seems to me as if the +misunderstanding between us is becoming chronic. I very much admire, but +have no intention of marrying--Miss Klara." + +"Ah!" Like Semiramis she stood before me. "Who has told you that there +was such a person--a Miss Klara--existing in this house?" + +Retreat was impossible. I looked at Flamma, and she answered with an +encouraging nod; so I replied to the countess's imperious inquiries-- + +"Lady Flamma." + +"Yes, it was I," said Flamma, rising from her seat, and stepping to my +side. + +"You shall pay dear to me for this!" cried Siegfried, with a threatening +look; but I took her hand, and said-- + +"Pray compose yourself. This lady stands under my protection. I have +done myself the honour to ask for her hand, and I wait for your +decision." + +"Show the Devil your finger, and he will take your hand; treat a peasant +with kindness, and he will think himself your equal," said he, with a +sneer. + +"Siegfried!" said Diodora, "I beg you not to forget that this is my +room, and that my guests are not to be insulted in my presence. This +affair does not concern you in the least." + +"But if he is impertinent?" growled he. + +"Perhaps the count might be more careful in his choice of language," +said I, proudly, "if he would consider that a Dumany fought as a knight +and a soldier under the national tricolour at Mount Thabor, while the +first Vernoeczy was still serving as a humble shepherd on the Verhovina." + +I was sorry for this as soon as I said it, for I had offended Flamma +also; but the bitter pill had the desired effect, inasmuch as the whole +aristocratic family regained their usual lymphatic composure. + +"Flamma," said Diodora, coldly, "have you given this gentleman the right +to claim your hand?" + +"Yes." + +"Then--I do not object," and she motioned with her hand. I understood +the gesture, and extended my hand to Flamma. She accepted it, and I +bowed and kissed her hand. That was our betrothal. Siegfried took out a +cigarette, lighted it, and blow the smoke at the chandelier. + +"I had other intentions concerning Flamma's future," said Diodora again, +"but, since her choice has fallen on you, I am satisfied--at least, I +do not object. Only I beg of you not to delay your nuptials. Have them +celebrated as soon as possible, for I intend to go to Heligoland--to try +the baths." + +To Heligoland!--that was the place I should have gone to, if I had +listened to good sense--and to Cenni. + +"Certainly," I said; "I am only too happy in the prospect. If you will +give me leave I shall hasten to Szepes-Varalja, to the bishop, for a +dispensation, and, as soon as I am in possession of that document, I +shall return, and we can have the ceremony performed the day after my +return." + +"Then I should also wish," said Diodora again, "that the wedding might +be altogether a simple family affair, with no strangers as witnesses." + +"Your ladyship expresses my own wishes." + +"If so, we might have the ceremony performed here, in our chapel." + +I remembered Father Paphuntius. "No, I'll have nothing to do with that +chapel." + +Siegfried smiled as he guessed the reason of my embarrassed silence, and +then Flamma smiled, and Diodora also. At last, as a smile has a soothing +effect on everybody, we all laughed. "No," said Diodora, "I was not +speaking of the park hermitage. We have a chapel here in the chateau, +and if we do not invite too many we shall have room enough." + +"I shall invite no one but a single witness as my best man." + +"But do not ask me to fill that position," said Siegfried; "for I am +invited to go buffalo-hunting in Volhynia, and shall start to-morrow." + +"There is something else," said Diodora. "After the wedding ceremony I +shall hand you over Flamma's dowry, which she has inherited from her +grandfather. It consists of a million of florins in good bonds." + +I bowed in silence, looking at Flamma. + +"No; this is a matter which concerns you as well as her, and you must +know that her grandfather laid down the condition that if she, guided by +whatever motive, should release herself from the bonds of the Catholic +religion, she should lose everything, and surrender the inheritance to +collateral relatives." + +"I cannot think that such an event could take place at any time." + +"Time will show." + +There was a long pause, and I thought best to take my leave. I turned +first to Flamma, who laid both her hands in mine, and, looking up to me, +asked me softly to return soon. Then Diodora languidly extended her hand +to me, and I bowed over it with cool, studied politeness, and as I +looked up I saw that Siegfried thought fit to shake my hand in honour of +the new relation between us. He even went so far as to embrace me. "God +bless you, my dear--cousin," he said, laughingly; but, thank God, he did +not think it necessary to kiss me! + +A week later Flamma and I were married. Everything went on in the +regular way. No objection, no obstacle was raised. The ceremony was +held in Vernoecze in the afternoon, and the same evening I was free to +take my bride home to Dumanyfalva. From one of the great portals I drove +with Flamma; from the other, Diodora and Cenni started on a trip to +Heligoland. Siegfried had gone to Volhynia six days before. + +If you think that with this marriage my story is at an end, you are +mistaken; it has hardly begun. It is a strange story, and not pleasant +to dwell on; but you shall judge for yourself. + + + + +X. + +AFTER THE WEDDING. + + +So overwhelming was my happiness that I sometimes fancied that it was +all a dream, and that I should wake to find myself in my former +condition. In one short week I had had my old mansion refurnished in a +style worthy of the high-born and gently-reared bride who was to inhabit +it; and I thought what joy it would give me if she should walk through +the halls and chambers of her new home, and find everything arranged to +suit her own delicate and refined taste, and answering all her +requirements as to beauty and comfort. + +And then I had dreamt of the first supper we should eat at home at our +own table; each dish an inviting delicacy, deliciously prepared; and yet +we should hardly taste of it, our palates thirsting for different +feasts. + +And now this dream had become a reality, and I looked at my beloved, and +tried to catch a glance of her beautiful, downcast eyes. I had as yet +never enjoyed the privilege of a kiss from her lips, and I was longing +for one; but when I tried to draw her close to me, she whispered, +"Don't, we shall be observed by the servants!" + +At last the meal was over, and we rose from the table. + +"Pray lead me to your work-room. I have yet to hand you over my dowry." + +I laughed. "Time enough for that a week or more hence. No? Well, any day +you please; but not now." Still she persisted. + +"It has to be done this evening. I can't keep it any longer. You did not +accept of it from Diodora, so you must take it from me. It is no longer +my own--it is yours." + +"Dearest, there is no such distinction existing! Since this blessed +morning neither of us can claim possession of anything that is not +common to both alike. What is mine is all yours, and what is yours I +claim all for myself! For the marriage tie has made us one for ever!" + +"But pray come," she said again; "I have the chest with the securities +here with me, and I should like to have it all over." + +I sighed and obeyed. At the door of my study she left me for a moment, +returning instantly with a rosewood chest, richly ornamented with +silver. On one of her bracelets a tiny filigree key was dangling; with +this key she opened the chest, and then, stepping back, she said-- + +"Convince yourself. The contents must amount to exactly one million of +florins." + +"I am quite convinced," I said, "and accept it as correct." + +"That you shall not. Let us take out everything, and reckon up the +amount." With that she took the papers out herself, and I had to sit +down, take slate and pencil, while she dictated to me the value of each +bond, its title, and, looking into every one, she satisfied herself that +the coupons were attached to it. + +In the abstract it may seem rather a pleasant occupation for a married +couple to reckon up a million of money as their joint property; but, in +this concrete instance, to spend the wedding-night in a study, making +pecuniary computation, is the pinnacle of pedantry. + +At last it was done; and, as I computed it, I made the total to be one +million and twenty-five thousand florins. + +"How is that possible?" she asked. + +I had to explain to her the fluctations of the market price in relation +to the nominal value, which was the basis of our computation. + +"Then let us look for the market-price of the bonds as it is at present. +I know it is to be found in every newspaper," and with that she took one +up from the table, looked for the exchange report, and dictated again, +"Hungarian real estate bonds, 85; Lower-Austrian, 88; Transylvanian, 82, +etc." + +This time we have thirty thousand florins less than the million. + +"How is that possible?" she asked again. + +"Dearest," said I, "let that be! What does it matter if--" + +"But it does matter. My grandfather left me exactly one million; neither +more nor less. So I must find out this balance of thirty thousand, +also." + +"Maybe, at the time when he bequeathed this money to you the price of +these securities was higher than at present," I suggested. + +"That is possible. But then there ought to be some list, or something +else relating to it. Let me look it over again." + +Great heavens! she took everything out again, and searched for a last +year's exchange list. A crumbled yellow newspaper clipping was found, +and then the whole process had to be repeated again; and now thank God, +the million came out even! I drew a great sigh of relief; but I had +triumphed too soon. She asked for pen and ink, and, as I got up from the +seat before the writing-desk, she sat down and wrote on each of the +bonds, deeds, obligations, mortgages, etc., her own name--"Flamma Maria +Dumany of Dumanyfalva, _nee_ Countess Vernoeczy of Vranicsa," in a clear, +almost masculine hand. + +"What is the use of this, dearest?" I asked. + +"You know," she replied, "all these papers, as yet, bear the name of my +grandfather, and we could not realise upon them as they are. I must +first write my own name upon each." + +"But we do not want to realise on them." + +"That you don't know--at present." + +"But there would be time for this on some future day." + +"No. Pray compose yourself. I have to finish this now." + +And she did finish it. On two hundred different securities she wrote, in +bold, large letters, her full name, and I stood there and looked on in +helpless despair. + +At last there was an end of it. She put the papers in the chest again, +handed me the key, and begged me to lock everything up in the safe. I +obeyed, in the ardent hope that at last I had done with papers and +accounts. + +"There is something else I have to hand over to you," said Flamma, as I +stepped nearer; and, drawing from the pocket of her dress an envelope, +she handed me an official-looking document, fastened with tri-coloured +tape, with a large official seal upon it. It was a power of attorney +from Flamma Maria, Countess Vernoeczy of Vranicsa, to her husband Dr. +Cornelius Dumany of Dumanyfalva, giving him full authority over her +dowry, consisting of real estate, bonds, etc., to the amount of one +million of florins, and authorising him to sell or retain or use the +aforesaid securities according to his own need or pleasure, and without +previous consultation with any person, his wife included. + +"Dearest," I said, "this is very generous of you; but there is no need +of any such document to give me proof of your confidence." + +"I did not intend it as such a proof." + +"Then what was your intention?" + +"To give you no cause to accuse me of meanness. You shall not say that I +left you on your wedding-day without a shilling in your pocket, as your +friend was left on the Isle of Wight." + +I gazed at her, at the pale face that was even paler than usual, and +cold and inanimate as a block of ice. + +"Flamma!" I cried, "what does it mean? How am I to take this?" + +"As a confession. That other man has made me--his--wife." + +"Flamma!" + +She stood there, pale, cold, statue-like, and her voice sounded like +that of an automaton. I felt like one stupefied, like one who had meant +to enter the gates of paradise and found himself in a sea of fire and +brimstone. + +"Who is the man?" I stammered. + +"Siegfried." + +"And why did he not marry you, if--" + +"Because he is married already. His wife lives in Egypt, and he cannot +get a legal divorce from her." + +"And why have you married me? For we are married. The ceremony of this +afternoon was real, not a comedy like that other?" + +"No; we are married. When that--misfortune--happened to me Siegfried +promised to marry me to some distinguished gentleman who might give me a +good name and an acceptable position, so that the marriage should need +no explanation." + +"When was that?" + +"Three months ago." + +"At the time I arrived from Vienna?" + +"Yes." + +"Was that the reason for his instantaneous proffer of friendship?" + +"Yes." + +"And for that reason I was nominated for Parliament?" + +"Yes, but that also was the cause of your first failure. It was +Siegfried who bribed the witnesses against you. He wanted to crush your +pride, draw you closer to him, bring you into close connection with and +dependence upon our homes and us." + +"So it was all a conspiracy?" + +"Yes." + +"And Cenni's mock-marriage and your betrayal of the scheme?" + +"Were meant to win your confidence." + +"So Cenni co-operated with you?" + +"She had to. At first she opposed it, and meant to win you for herself. +She is a poor girl, and dependent on Diodora's charity; and she had to +give way." + +"And Diodora?" + +"It was she who designed the whole plot. Her sickness that night was +simulated in order to bring you near me, and to encourage you to the +proposal." + +This whole discourse, so closely resembling a cross-examination, had +altogether the appearance of such an interrogatory as a magnetiser would +address to his subject; and the answers I received were given with the +plain, involuntary precision characteristic of hypnotised persons. She +stood there before me, with her hands clasped in each other; that +seraph-face of hers, that seemed the type of innocence and purity, +without a tinge of colour, although her dreadful confession was enough +to paint the cheeks of the most degraded woman with the colour of shame. +She seemed to have no bashfulness, no sense of shame, and to be wholly +incapable of realising her offence. And I had not believed in a Devil! +Here he was before me, in the shape of this fair woman, who had tempted +me with her angel's mien to sell my soul for her, and now she was +dragging me down with her to eternal damnation! And the other one had +warned me! She had told me with that "biting kiss" of hers that this +seeming angel was no angel, but a Devil to kill me body and soul. She +had told me that this fair rose was full of foul poison, and her warning +had filled me with vain conceit and enhanced my love for my executioner. +I saw it now. Cenni had meant to make that elopement real; and if I had +taken her she would have given me her love, as this one had given me her +accursed million. Money to pay for my honest name, money for my lost +life and happiness, money to bribe me to the endurance of these hellish +tortures! + +Impossible! I cannot believe that human nature can be so vile, so +miserably cunning and treacherous. This is some evil dream, some test, +perhaps, of the sincerity of my love and trust in her. + +"Flamma!" I said--"dearest! do not continue this ugly jest. I cannot +hear foul words come out of your pure mouth;" and I tried to take her +hand. But she drew back. + +"I have told you the truth," she said, with a repellent gesture. + +The truth! The truth! This shameful, horrid confession was the truth? +Like an idiot or a lunatic I stared, gazing before me, with scarcely a +thought in my stunned, aching head. A Calabrian dagger lay before me on +the table. I had taken it from the museum, and used it for +paper-cutting. Upon the steel blade was graven, in golden letters, +"_Buona notte_;" and "_Buona notte! buona notte_," I kept incoherently +murmuring. + +"Have you no other question to address to me?" she asked, in a tremulus +voice. + +I shook my head, and pointed to the door, and, like a wooden puppet, she +turned and disappeared through it. At the moment when her back was +turned something like a flame flashed through my brain and body. For an +instant I felt a mad impulse to rush after her, and with one bound bury +this two-edged knife in her heart. Yes, in her heart; but from behind, +just as they had stabbed me unawares, like assassins. My better self +kept me back. My Uncle Diogenes rose before me. "Never quarrel with, +never hurt a woman!" and my professional instinct was awakened. I should +then have destroyed two lives; with the guilty I should have slain the +innocent--a life which was in God's keeping as yet. Now the door closed +behind her, and I had let the only opportunity for a deadly revenge upon +the woman who had tricked me pass by neglected. Had I killed her at that +moment I should have washed off the stain she had brought on my name in +her own blood. "Look," I might have said, "she was led astray by another +man, and I have killed her; it was my right and my duty!" This I could +no longer do. She had escaped, and would live on safe and unharmed, and +I should be dead and buried alive. I remembered now how confused they +looked, Cenni and she, when I related to them the story of my friend, +and how I had prided myself on my own prudence and good sense! And the +trap was already laid for me, and I, who had thought myself safe from +every such danger, here was I, on my wedding night, left alone, +insulted, degraded as he was. No, not quite. He had had no money, and I +had received a million. I had been paid for my disgrace, bribed for my +infamy with money! + +Great Jehovah, Whose vengeance is mighty, lend me Thine ear! No! Thou +art too just and upright, I'll have nothing from Thee! Turn from me! I +will none of Thy advice, none of Thy heavenly patience and magnanimous +mercy! That marble-hearted woman had said to me, "If you deny God, He +will forgive you, for He is infinitely good and merciful; but if you +deny the Devil, he will be revenged on you!" and I had seen the devilish +light in their eyes. I had shuddered and shunned them, and yet I had +plunged headlong into the abyss which they had opened at my feet. + +But now they had conjured up the Devil before me, I felt that in my own +breast they had awakened a demon quite as cunning and wicked as their +hoofed and horned idol; and we would see whose teachings would prove +more destructive! Only, cool blood! Let me not betray myself; let me +consider how to act, and then keep my own counsel. Shall I go to +Volhynia after that man? Hold him to account, invite him to face the +muzzle of my pistol or the edge of my sword? He is a ruffian and a +notorious duellist. I am a bad shot and an indifferent fencer. He is +perfect in both; it is his profession. Naturally, he would kill me, and +where would be my revenge? Should I kill myself? Die the death of a +suicide, and be spoken of as a lunatic who had crazy fancies because his +fortune had turned his head? And what would be the result? Flamma would +perhaps faint away for a few seconds, have bad dreams for a week, wear +mourning for six months, and--would be none the worse for being a widow, +whereas I should be laughed at as a silly fool. Shall I sue for a legal +divorce? "_Si fuerit dolus_?" Had I not had enough of notoriety? Enough +of laughter, calumny, and ridicule? Must I drag my honest and hitherto +respected name through the mire, and become the laughing-stock of every +fop throughout the country? No, anything but that! Help me, thou worser +self, thou Devil in my own breast, help me to find some revenge worthy +of a Devil's teaching! Give me death, for it is death I crave; but such +a death as will give me peace and rest and honour in my grave, and to +those others remaining here on earth, shame, sorrow, and remorse! I am a +dead man from this accursed night forward, but I can, at least, choose +the manner of my corporal death, and woe to her who has driven me to the +choice! + +When the morning dawned my scheme was complete, and it was a scheme that +did honour to my special demon. I would die, but fame and glory should +write my epitaph; and dead, I should be remembered by this woman with +lifelong sorrow. She shall never be happy; and in remembering me, her +soul shall be filled with bitter repentance for the misfortune she +brought on me. She shall yearn for me, shed bitter tears for me, and +fret away her life in despair. This should be my revenge. + + + + +XI. + +MY SCHEME. + + +Next morning I said to my wife--"We cannot stay here. Our next year must +be spent in travelling in foreign parts, and we shall start for Paris in +three days. You had better make arrangements accordingly." + +"My arrangements are made, for I have not unpacked my things yet. So +everything is at your command," was her answer. + +I left her, and drove over to the county town to my solicitor, and told +him to borrow as much money on my property as he could possibly get from +the financial institutions. As a pretext I told him that I had the +intention of buying lands. He advised me to wait, for he had learned for +certain that in a year's time Siegfried would have to sell out. His +estates were mortgaged over and over, and matters were going very ill +with him. If, then, I should add to the million my wife had brought me, +the money I had and the money I could at any moment raise on my +property, I should be able to purchase the Vernoeczy estates. + +This was a revelation that for a moment made me hold my breath. It would +be something to tear that water-nymph on the Vernoeczy crest from over +the portals of the chateau into the mire, and erect the Dumany crest on +the front of the proud old castle. But that feeling passed, and with it +the temptation. It would be no revenge on her to let her live as +mistress on the estates of her forefathers, and, first of all, I craved +revenge on her. More than that scoundrel who had betrayed her and then +flung her to me, I hated her, Lilith, the tempting devil in the guise of +a seraph! But I said to the lawyer, "Very well"--that I would consider +about it, and not buy anything at present; but that he should raise the +money, all the same, and send it for me to Paris, as well as the funds I +had inherited. Perhaps I might have use for the money there--at any +rate, he must send it. Then I took the rosewood chest with my wife's +dowry, and sent it by mail, and under the usual guarantee, to a +well-known banking firm in Brussels as a deposit. + +Three days after, we were on our journey to Paris. I had taken the Swiss +route, for in those days it was the safest way to escape the obstacles +and annoyances which on the road through Germany were thrown in the way +of travellers to France. War was, so to speak, floating in the air, and +was each moment expected to break upon the two leading nations of the +Continent. At such a time the railroad termini are naturally the centres +of exciting scenes and noisy demonstrations; but the Swiss republic was +neutral, and the southern part of France was quiet. So we arrived in +Paris unmolested; and the great crowds in the boulevards, and the +multitude of detectives among the people, gave us the first notion that +something extraordinary was occurring. + +At first the demonstrations were all in favour of peace. Labourers in +blue blouses were marching up in compact masses on the Place de la +Concorde, carrying white flags and signs with the inscriptions "_A bas +la guerre_" and "_Vive la paix_!" Public speakers delivered long +orations on the horrors of war, and protested against the ambitious, +fame-hunting tyrants who drove their innocent, peace-loving subjects +into bloody combats to feed their own greed for glory and power. But +their speeches were all blown to the winds. Bellona is a fair woman, and +the more she is slandered to her admirers the more ardent and +impassioned is their love for her. In vain did the orators protest that +France was all for peace, and would not be dragged into the perils of +war. The soil was thirsting for blood, and the day after our arrival in +Paris the declaration of war which Napoleon had issued against Prussia +was publicly announced. + +I had been informed of these events long before they happened, and on +them my whole scheme was built. When the public enthusiasm was highest, +and the shouts "_A Berlin_!" loudest, when throngs of people crowded +through the streets, singing the "_Marseillaise_" and "_Le Depart_," I +mingled with them, bent on business. + +During our journey I had shown my wife all those polite little +attentions which are due to a bride on her wedding tour from her +husband. Now I was looking for a residence for her. I found a handsome, +palatial-looking house, exquisitely furnished, which had been hastily +abandoned by a German diplomat at the first rumour of the war, and was +now in the market, with its carriages and horses, servants, and +everything. The bargain was made, and, as I took my wife to her +temporary home, she seemed to be struck with the delicate consideration +which I showed her. I saw by her face that she wished to protest against +this excess of luxury, which was not in keeping with our means. But +perhaps something in the expression of my face warned her to be silent; +perhaps it occurred to her that as she had given me full power to do +what I pleased with her dowry, I had acquired the right to squander +it--if it suited my whims--on herself. + +When she was comfortably established I said to her--"I have offered my +services as an army physician to the French Government, and they have +been accepted. I have received my commission from the Duke of Palikao, +and shall start this evening for my destination." + +"If it is your wish, I cannot oppose it," was her answer. What a meek, +obedient wife she was! Whatever I said or did, it was, "Pray please +yourself. Whatever you think best will satisfy me." She never showed the +slightest increase of temper, never offered the least resistance to my +arrangements. She was the same quiet, pale, silent, sylph-like being as +she had been when I first knew her, and I wondered that she had not +changed. We had been married only two weeks, but to me it seemed as if +seven hard winters and seven fierce tropical summers had passed since +that time, and had taken the marrow from my bones and every spark of +hope and brightness from my soul. + +"I have left you forty thousand francs in the safe; they will last you +until the time of my return. You need not deny yourself anything you +wish," I said. + +"Thank you. I shall manage the money carefully, and shall not spend more +than is strictly necessary. I am of a saving disposition." + +These were our parting words, and we exchanged no others. I went to +H----'s banking-house to draw the money my solicitor had sent me, and +when they inquired whether I wanted checks or bills of exchange, I asked +for the latter, because, as I said, in time of war the Government might +bring in a _moratorium_.[4] "What," they laughed, "the Napoleonic +Government bring in _moratorium_? _Tete carree_!" The latter was meant +as a compliment for me. + +[Footnote 4: A governmental act of mercy in regard to the payment of +debts.] + +By the next express train I went to Brussels, and then straight to the +banker to whom I had sent Flamma's million. I opened the chest in his +presence, and convinced him that it actually contained good +security--bonds and deeds for the sum of one million and twenty-five +thousand florins par--and asked him for an advance. The banker put +seventy-five per cent of the nominal value at my disposal, and I handed +him the power of attorney from my wife, and a written authorisation +permitting him to sell the securities without notice in the event of my +failure to repay the loan at a certain date. + +This money, with a part of the funds which my solicitor had sent me, +amounted to two millions of francs. With this sum I went to a well-known +and trustworthy stockbroker, and instructed him to speculate with the +whole amount in French Government bonds for a fall. + +"Do you intend to throw this money in the gutter?" said the man, eyeing +me critically. + +"That is my own business, I presume," said I, calmly. + +"Have you ever speculated on the Exchange before? Are you versed in +these manipulations?" + +"No! Never!" + +"Do you know the situation of the Money Market at present?" + +"No." + +"Then grant me leave to inform you by giving you a few data. All French +securities are rising in value. Paris is enthusiastic for the war. The +money-chests of the financial ring are open to the Government. The +French military force is fully equipped, ready to begin hostilities, and +stationed at the Rhone, whereas the Prussians are caught unprepared. +Bavaria will remain neutral, and the Danes are preparing to break into +Schleswig-Holstein. The sequel of the war can be foretold with such +certainty that a Paris financier offers, to any one who will accept it, +a wager of two hundred thousand francs against one hundred thousand that +on August 15 the French will march into Berlin." + +"Well, you may take up that wager, also, for me." + +The agent shrugged his shoulders, and accepted my offer for a bear +speculation. We agreed that from time to time we should communicate with +each other in cipher. Telegrams were to be forwarded through H----'s +Bank. + +From Brussels I returned to Paris, and procured all the necessary +surgical instruments at my own expense. Next I bought three waggons with +strong Trakene horses for my own transport and that of the invalids, +furnished myself with all utensils requisite for camp hospitals, and +then, under the protecting ensign of the Geneva Cross, I joined the +regiment of the French army in which I had enlisted as volunteer +camp-surgeon. My scheme was clear now. I was a dead man. I was seeking +Death in his own realm, where he reigned supreme, and it was impossible +not to find him there, if one really sought him. So I should die, but +not the death of a suicide, despised, misjudged, forgotten, but a death +on the field of honour and glory, as a hero and a martyr of science and +philanthropy. And that accursed money which was given me as a fee for my +disgrace would be blown to naught, as my body would be by a merciful +Krupp shell. When the news of my death reaches that woman in Paris, she +will try hard to discover what I have done with her fortune--and mine! +But let her search ever so thoroughly, she would find--nothing! I had +left no trace of my operations, nothing from which she could regain one +penny. Then she would be compelled to come down from her height, return +to Hungary, and live a lonely, miserable, poverty-stricken existence on +my Slav kingdom, which I had mortgaged and ruined. She would have to +struggle against poverty and want, and, by daily care and close economy, +would have to pay from her scanty crops the heavy debts I had incurred. +All day she would pine and toil, all night she would sigh and grieve. +And in her dreams she would call me back, and ask me where I had buried +the treasures. Her priests would fail to console her, and she would +become superstitious, and resort to clairvoyants and mediums for the +solution of the torturing mystery. But no prayer or curse will reach me, +no incantation of conjurers or spirit-rappers will call me back. The +dead do not return, either for promised kisses or for promised bites. + + + + +XII. + +SEEKING FOR DEATH. + + +To tell the truth, on my arrival at the camp I felt like an apprentice +in the presence of his masters. French surgery in general occupies a +foremost place. French camp-surgeons have acquired skill and experience +in their great military expeditions; there their studies receive the +finishing-touch, whereas the little skill and practice which I had came +entirely from the clinic and the dissecting-table. + +But, nevertheless, I was very cordially received by the old, experienced +masters of the profession, to whom I stated that I had come, as a +voluntary apprentice, to aid in the work of philanthropy as best I +could. My immediate superior was old Duval, who had served as +camp-surgeon at Sebastopol, and I succeeded in acquiring his good +graces. He asked me if I had ever been on a battle-field before, and I +answered, a little ashamed, that I had never had that opportunity. In +spite of my descent from the chivalrous Hungarian nation, I know the +sound of the cannon only from hearing the salutes fired on our King's +birthday, or other occasions equally peaceful. + +"It does not matter," said the old man, encouragingly. "You will get +over your first irritation at the noise, and then you will feel as much +at home and as safe as in your own study. There is not the least danger +for us. We hoist the Geneva flag with its red cross, and every civilised +foe respects that ensign. After the battle is over, and the enemy has +fled, beaten, shattered, and in disorder, we carry our ambulances to the +gory field, and take up the wounded, friend and foe alike. The severely +injured we attend to at once, dressing their wounds on the spot, and +then we place them all on our beds, and take them to our hospital-tents +for treatment." + +This had been the old man's practice in many wars. The French had +invariably been victors and masters of the field; the enemy had +retreated, and then the French had taken up the wounded and nursed them +faithfully, whether friend or foe. That a time could come when the +French would be driven from the field, and the enemy would take up the +wounded, was deemed preposterous and out of the question. + +We were attached to Marshal Douay's corps, but, unfortunately, I did not +receive the privilege of participating in the first battle at +Saarbruecken, where old Dr. Duval's experience was confirmed; the +Prussian advance was repulsed, and the victorious French gathered up the +wounded. + +The first wounded soldiers whom we treated were foes; one an Englishman, +the other a German from Baden. Both were officers in the German army. +Three daring officers from the German camp, on horseback and in full +uniform, had galloped into the heart of the French camp in broad +daylight; there they had cut down the sentinel, ordered food and drink, +taken notes as to the camp, the position and order of the forces, the +number of the batteries, etc., until at last the French awoke from their +illusion, and recognised them as foes. They retreated firing, cutting +their way through the French lines, killing two French officers, one of +whom, as he expires, finds strength enough to return the fire, and one +of the three, the Englishman, falls shot in the abdomen. A second, the +Badener, is hewn down from his horse; but the third escapes unhurt, and +cuts his way back to the German camp. + +This incident I regarded as a bad omen. The French were so confident, so +presumptuous, that they neglected the outpost service. Next day the +Germans attacked Marshal Douay at Weissenburg with three times his +force. This was the fault of the French, who ought to have attacked the +Germans with an overwhelming force, instead of waiting to be attacked by +them. + +The French fought heroically against the crushing superiority of the +Germans, vainly hoping that the report of the cannonade would attract +assistance from a corps stationed in the neighbourhood of the +battle-field; but in this heroic fight their lines were sadly decimated. +At first they fought in the village, then they were forced out by the +Germans, and had to defend themselves among the vineyards and the +thickets. The soil was saturated with blood, and the dead and wounded +were lying about in ditches, copses, and everywhere. + +"Sir," said I to Dr. Duval, "to-day the enemy will be master of the +field, and he will gather up the wounded, unless we prevent this by +picking them up while the fight lasts. Now, while the balls are flying +about, is our chance! Give me leave to go there with the ambulance." + +"With all my heart! Try it if you have a mind to." + +"If I had a mind to?" Why, of course, I had come for that; it was the +opportunity I had craved, the chance for the immortalising cannon-ball +to send me up to heaven and glory! So, taking the twelve men who were +given me as aids, I started off with the ambulance to the scene of the +battle. + +There is not the slightest braggadocio about this. Soldiers, even in the +hottest ardour of battle, will carefully avoid firing at the life-saving +corps, which is distinguished by the sign of the red cross. But it is +impossible to prevent an exploding shell from sending its splinters +among them, and on that eventful day I had occasion to watch the course +of these splinters. + +The firing did not cease for a moment. The roar of the artillery, the +cracking of the rifles created a deafening noise; the hoarse, grating +sounds from the French mitrailleuses, in particular, made a horrible +accompaniment to the dying groans of the wounded. But the French +mitrailleuses had found their match in the Krupp cannon. These fire no +balls, but some fiendish contrivances, longitudinal, cylindrical +projectiles, which explode as they alight, and scatter their deadly +fragments far and near. + +All the injured men whom we took from the field were wounded by these +splinters. As we toiled, the hellish projectiles were flying over our +heads; but my experienced aids worked with the coolness of the harvester +when he hastens to save his crops from the threatening rain. They knew +well that these messages of death were not sent to them, but to the +French artillery, which was opposing the advance of the Germans. All +this while I felt that indescribable intoxication which is sure to +overtake every novice. I stood there in the terrible realm of death, in +the presence of the awful Moloch, Hamoves, the angel with the scythe. I +felt a chill, a shudder, and I bowed down before the omnipotent Lord of +life and death, the Almighty Ruler of the universe. + +This short-lived sensation of terror every novice has to overcome. Nor +is anyone spared the humiliation of this experience. The eye can hardly +perceive anything of the effect of the shots, for the cannon-smoke +envelopes the surrounding objects in a thick cloud of fog. The Prussian +infantry were crouching down, and, while creeping and cringing thus, +they were pressing forward. Nothing but the smoke of their rifles +betrayed the level of their faces, and the French infantry were hidden +in ditches, behind bushes and trees, and firing from these +vantage-grounds. Only the Zouaves and the Turcos might now and then be +recognised by their red caps. + +While the artillery was pealing, the bugle was sounding the commands. +All at once a strange drumbeat was heard from beside us, and the +veteran sergeant at my elbow said-- + +"Sir, we must get out of this with our beds at once. Cavalry is +advancing." + +"Cavalry of the enemy?" I asked. + +"Brother and enemy is all one in such a case. If we are in their way +they will crush us under their horses' hoofs, without observing what +body we belong to." + +So we hastily picked up our beds with the wounded, and retreated with +all speed behind the line of battle. We had hardly reached security +when, from both sides, the cavalry advanced, both friends and enemies. +The earth shook with the stamping of the hoofs, "_Quadrupedante putrem +crepitu quatit ungula campum_." + +Avoiding our right wing, a regiment of Prussian hussars was galloping +towards us; a regiment of French chasseurs on horseback, under command +of the commander-in-chief, Marshal Douay, in person, was dashing from +the hills to meet them. The strong west wind was blowing clouds of dust +in the faces of the French, the backs of the Germans. All at once the +Prussian regiment divided itself, wheeling to right and left; behind +them a whole battery of artillery appeared, and a powerful discharge +saluted the chasseurs. + +The shells made a fearful gap in the French horsemen, but still they +dashed bravely on, shouting wildly, and giving the enemy's artillery no +time for a second shot. The Prussians wheeled swiftly, and hussars, +battery and all, fled before the lines of the French chasseurs. We +thought this wild retreat meant victory for the French, but we +discovered that it was only a ruse. + +When the clouds of dust had dispersed, we saw that on the battle-field +horses, struggling in deadly convulsions, and men in the throes of +death, were strewn thickly around. We hastened thither to save whom we +could, but, oh! what an awful sight it was! Man and beast piled in +confusion and crushing each other. The neighing of the wounded horse +mingled with the last prayer, or the death-groan, of its rider. Maddened +horses, with their dead or wounded riders hanging in the saddle, were +galloping on, while the less-injured soldiers, who had been thrown from +their slain horses, or were struggling to extricate themselves from +beneath them, were cursing and swearing, and invoking God and Devil for +vengeance on the Prussians. + +Among those who were fatally injured was Marshal Douay himself. As the +old sergeant drew him out from under his horse, the blood rushed from an +awful gash on his neck. "_O, mon general_!" sobbed the old soldier, +trying to close the gash with his pocket-handkerchief. + +"Don't cry!" said the dying chief, hoarsely. "Go shout to them '_En +avant_!' in my place." + +It was a fatal command, this "_En avant_!" The French chasseurs had +pursued the German hussars to a hop plantation, which proved to be full +of concealed Prussian sharp-shooters. At this point the hussars +attacked the chasseurs in the rear, while the sharp-shooters received +them with a volley from their quick-firing rifles, and a general +onslaught was begun upon the brave corps. The chasseurs endeavoured to +break into the hop field, but such a plantation is a terrible +fortification, with its walls of vines fastened to other walls of stout +poles, and behind each a hidden foe with a quick-slaying weapon. The +whole fine corps of cavalry was destroyed then and there. + +The fall of the commander-in-chief, Marshal Douay, had decided the fate +of the battle. When finally, all too late, MacMahon arrived with his +troops, Douay's unfortunate command was shattered, and the battle of +Weissenburg lost. + + + + +XIII. + +MY DISCHARGE. + + +In spite of this terrible disaster, the retreat of the French troops was +accomplished in good order, and but few prisoners fell into the hands of +the Prussians; even those few were mostly Zouaves and Turcos, not real +French soldiers. + +That we had really been beaten was not believed by anybody. Everybody +was inspired by the conviction that the Weissenburg disaster was nothing +but an incident. A comparatively small defensive force had been attacked +by an overwhelmingly large force of Prussians, and was compelled to +retreat for the moment; but the fight had been only a trifling prologue +to the great battle to come, or else was part of a deep-laid plan which +would secure to us the final victory. So it had been at Solferino, when +Benedek had been allowed to attack and disperse the French-Italian +troops on their left wing, while at Solferino itself the Austrian army +was destroyed. So it would be here. It was supposed that this slight +victory was allowed to the Prussians, so as to divert their attention +from the movements of MacMahon and Bazaine, who were certain to crush +them all at their first encounter. + +Next day the Emperor himself and his young heir-apparent appeared among +us, presenting to each of those who had distinguished themselves at the +battle of the preceding day some badge of honour. At the recommendation +of old Dr. Duval, the Chevalier Cross of the Legion of Honour was pinned +to my breast, and the reporter of a Paris newspaper wrote a flourishing +item about the heroic and self-sacrificing Hungarian surgeon. When I +read it, I thought of that woman in Paris, and what she would think of +these reports. Perhaps she would say to herself, "So he is not +everywhere the same coward as he was here! He has some pluck, some +physical courage at least." + +But in vain did we wait for our revenge upon the Prussians. After +Weissenburg came Spicheren, then Woerth. Everywhere the German force was +stronger than the French, and it turned out that their artillery was +better than ours. MacMahon was cut off from Bazaine, and in the gigantic +battles at Bezonville and Gravelotte, Bazaine, with his force of one +hundred and fifty thousand men, was driven back into Metz. Strasburg was +besieged, and MacMahon cut off from the road to Paris. + +In every battle that was fought the Prussians remained masters of the +field, and it was always they who took charge of the wounded. Of course, +each corps was in ignorance as to the fate of the others, and if one was +beaten or repulsed, it was fully convinced that the other had meanwhile +been victorious elsewhere. The Paris newspapers and the Bourse supported +and increased that belief. One evening, after a forced march that very +much resembled a regular flight, we arrived at a certain town. I entered +a cafe, and being very curious to learn something of the present state +of the Money Market, I looked for a newspaper, and here it was:--"Paris. +Extraordinary Upward Movement! Rate of interest raised to 68-15, and +rising rapidly. News of great victories!" + +"Well," I thought, "my two millions are nicely exploded by this time." +Underneath I read in large letters, "The Prussians severely beaten by +MacMahon! The German Crown Prince captured and made prisoner by +MacMahon!" + +That very day we had been compelled to leave our entire baggage in the +enemy's hands and run for our lives, so to speak, and here they are +talking of the German Prince having been captured. That is how they +create upward movements on 'Change. But could this last? Surely such +lies would soon be exposed! How long was it possible to keep on in this +way? + +How long? For ever. + +After the massacre at Mars-la-Tour, MacMahon's forces were practically +scattered to the winds, running aimlessly about, and, when coming into +contact with the enemy, hardly thinking any longer of resistance. If a +Prussian Uhlan was seen far off on the road every man took to his heels. +The infantry threw down their rifles, the cuirassiers their helmets and +breastplates; the gunners cut the traces of the horses, jumped upon +their backs, and dashed on, without thinking of the fate of the rest. On +horseback, with a loaded revolver in hand, I had to keep guard at the +side of the ambulance carts, to keep the marauders away from the +wounded. Once I had a narrow escape from being captured by the +Bavarians. It was at a skirmish of artillery. A couple of French and a +couple of German pieces were in position. The French were quickly +disabled by the Germans, and even the head gunner was severely wounded. +I took him on my shoulders, and got him out of the line of fire. The +Bavarians sent another shrapnell shell after us, and, as the projectile +burst over our heads, I felt a blow on the leather rim of my kepi. "A +shrapnel splinter!" I thought, scornfully: "could it not have hit me a +little more to the right, and have done with me?" + +After I had hastily placed the wounded officer on the waggon, I jumped +on horseback, and hastened after the flying troops. Upon a wooden bridge +that led over a shallow rivulet the soldiers were crowded. I did not +stop to consider, but dashed on with my waggons to the water. A +detachment of Bavarian hussars, guessing at my intention, was there to +prevent its execution. A young lieutenant of hussars was leading the +detachment, and, placing the muzzle of his revolver to my forehead, he +shouted: "_Rendez-vous: demande pardon_!" + +"At last!" I thought, "here is my opportunity for the glorious end. This +fellow is the man I want," and, turning my face full toward him, I +looked coolly into the barrel of his weapon. "Shoot, comrade!" I said. +"You'll get neither me, nor my charges, as long as I am alive." + +He gazed at me, as if scrutinising my features. "You are not French?" he +asked. + +"I am a Hungarian," I answered. + +"Kornel, and no doubt about it!" he exclaimed, taking hold of my hand +and shaking it. "Don't you know me? I am Plessen." Sure enough, he was +my favourite chum from the University; but we had not seen each other +for years, and the last three months of camp-life had done more to +change a man's outward appearance than whole years at home. "Go on, +comrade," he said, with a farewell shake of the hand, "and may our next +meeting be a pleasanter one! Good-bye!" With that he let me take my +charges safely across the water and over the fields, avoiding the open +roads, until finally, as night fell, I reached with my patients the camp +at Chalons, and found my way to the camp hospital. + +What a cursed, vile task old Duval had had all day! Nothing but sore +heels and slight shrapnel scars in the rear!--and he embraced me and +kissed me all over for bringing him now three cart-loads of real wounded +men, with wounds got from sword-cuts, rifle-bullets, and gun-shots. +"What an invaluable, brave fellow you are!" he said to me, handling each +of my charges with the tenderness of a loving father; "but now you shall +share the privilege of dressing their wounds, and assist me in the +necessary operations." This was a privilege indeed, and for a while we +were very busy. When we had finished, he put his hand into his pocket +and said, "Now, my boy, I will also present you with something." + +I thought he meant to give me one of his utterly wretched cigars; but +no--it was a paper, and, on handing it over to me, Duval said, "It is +your discharge, my boy; you are free." + +"My discharge?" I asked, offended, "and why, pray? Have I not done more +than my duty? And if so, how have I merited this disgrace?" + +"I am afraid that it was just your extraordinary ardour that brought it +on you; that's it, you have done more than your duty; and as you are a +foreigner, it is natural to ask, Why have you done it? Why have you +exposed your own life, contrary to custom, picking up the wounded where +the fight was the hottest and the balls flying thickest? True, you have +by this course saved the lives of many that would have bled to death, or +been otherwise lost; but it is a marvellous thing that you could do all +that and escape unhurt. The fact is, you have always come back with a +sound skin. Can you explain this miracle? Can you tell me, why you, a +foreigner, took the risk of such imminent danger for--Hecuba--that is, +for wounded French soldiers?" + +The old man was right. I could not explain it, for I could not tell him +that I had regarded their great national calamity as a means of carrying +out my petty suicidal designs and giving them a decent cloak. I never +thought of it before; but now I had to acknowledge that my conduct +looked suspicious to strangers. What will be their suspicions, I +thought, when they learn that I have talked German with a Prussian +officer, and shaken hands with him? Would this not give new matter for +their suspicions, and was it not natural in the vanquished to believe in +treachery? + +And then I thought what a self-conceited fool I had been to think I +could command God Mars to afford me a disguise for self-murder. "Why," +he said, "do you suppose these great national conflagrations are kindled +to cook your meals on? What do I care for your family quarrels? If you +are tired of life, take a rope and hang yourself on that willow, and +there is an end of you and your paltry complaints." + +As I stood there musing, old Duval turned my face around and +exclaimed--"Look! look! Your forehead is wounded." + +"A mere scratch with a shrapnel splinter," I said, bitterly, "not worth +plastering." I took from him the letter with my discharge, presented him +with my camp outfit, instruments, horses, etc., and kept nothing but one +of the waggons and a pair of horses for my journey homeward--that is, to +Paris. This was now the speediest way of travelling, for the railways +were all occupied with the transport of troops. + +Before I left Chalons, I entered a cafe and drank a cupful of some black +beverage that was called coffee, although I think it tasted of soot, and +read one of the Paris newspapers--the last that had arrived the same +day. + +A dazzling glare of light was visible through the windows, arising from +the valley. It was the burning camp. The Emperor had given orders to +burn all tents, since there was not time enough to strike them and carry +them off. So everything was left to be consumed by the flames, while the +men fled for their lives. + +The newspapers in the coffee-house were going from hand to hand, and +were eagerly devoured. At last I obtained one. I found the following +report in large letters-- + +"The Prussian army scattered! Two hundred Krupp guns remaining as +captures in the hands of the French! Commander Moltke a prisoner! +Bismarck fatally wounded! Price of rentes, 1 franc 25." + +If this were true, one part of my scheme had succeeded. The two millions +were annihilated. But what of the other part? I was still alive, and +death would not come to me without disgrace and ridicule. What a +position to be in! + + + + +XIV. + +HOME! SWEET HOME! + + +It was damp, disagreeable, dirty weather when I arrived in Paris. It had +rained for the last few days, for usually after great battles stormy +weather sets in. The poets will have it that heaven washes away with +tears the blood spilt by man. Scientists say that the gas freed by the +combustion of so much gunpowder, together with the detonations at the +explosions, brings on the rain. The fact is that after all great battles +rain is sure to follow. + +As I alighted from the one-horsed vehicle that had brought me to the +door of my residence, my own porter asked me whom I was looking for at +this house? I answered "Myself," but found it difficult to convince him +that I was his master. At last he let me in, and rang the bell three +times as a signal that the master of the house had arrived. + +The valet met me at the ante-chamber, and stared at me with mouth and +eyes wide open; but no wonder. I must have cut a handsome figure, with, +that torn and perforated red kepi on my head, and the dirty, +blood-smeared cotton handkerchief around my forehead. My face was +blackened by exposure to the sun and wind, and had a grizzly beard of +three months' growth upon it. My uniform was dirty and torn, and above +it was a rubber cloak with a hood, while on my feet were a pair of +rough, high top-boots, with spurs. By my side I had a sabre, a revolver, +and a bag for bread and bacon--not a very gentlemanly appearance, by any +means. + +"Is madame at home?" I asked. + +"Yes, sir. Madame is in her boudoir." + +"Then tell her, monsieur has come home, and afterward see that a fire is +kindled in my room. I am cold and damp." + +The valet was a very humane and obliging fellow. He asked me to step +into the _salon_, where a fire was burning already. I was forcibly +struck by this proof of democratic condescension. Fancy his allowing a +fellow with such a robber's look, who had unexpectedly intruded into the +house, to enter the luxurious, polished, gilded _salon_ of--his own +wife! + +The fire was burning in the grate, and I went up to it to warm myself, +when the door opened, and, with quick steps, there entered--my wife. She +had entered hastily, but, on seeing me she faltered, and stood +motionless at the door. + +Well might she start at my strange appearance; but, if I looked dreadful +to her, her appearance was positively loathsome to me. I had not seen +her for three months, and she had visibly changed since then. + +To another man his wife looks charming in that condition, but to me my +wife seemed perfectly disgusting, horrid, abominable! I cannot find a +phrase to express the detestation that filled me as I looked at her. + +"You have come away from the camp?" she asked, in a low tone. + +"I have been discharged," I answered. + +"You? How could that be?" + +"They believed me to be a Prussian spy." + +"Nonsense! I have read so much of your courage and daring, of the +self-sacrifice which made you risk your own life to save that of others. +The papers were full of praise of your magnanimous conduct." + +"That's it exactly. They think a respectable surgeon has no business to +risk his hide or exhibit sentiment. So they told me to pack off." + +"But you are wounded!" she cried out, as I took off my kepi. + +"A mere scratch, and already closed. It's nothing." And, throwing the +rubber cloak from my shoulders, I stepped nearer to the gate. + +"You have been decorated!" she said, pointing to the "_legion +d'honneur_" on my breast. + +"Trash!" I said, tearing it off, and with an angry gesture throwing it +almost into the fire. + +She ran up to me, and held my hand. "No! no!" she said: "I shall not let +you! Leave it on your breast!" and, snatching it out of my hand, she +pinned it in its place again. + +"Well, let it be," I thought. At least there would be one spot on my +body that was honourable. But it was time to change the subject. For a +soldier coming home from the gory field of honour might speak to his +wife of his wounds and his deserts, but I? As I was no real soldier, so +my wound was no real wound, this badge of merit not really merited, +and--my wife--was not really my wife. So I changed the subject, and, +like a conscientious family physician, I questioned her about her +health. My questions were purely professional, and she gave her answers +in confidence, as patients usually answer the questions of their +_ordinarius_. I advised her as to the best way of avoiding +inconveniences connected with her present condition, and so on. After +the consultation was over, I asked her if no letters had arrived for me +during my absence. + +"Only one--in the last day or two, and that has been opened." + +"By whom?" + +"By the police, I think. For a short time back all letters coming from +foreign parts are opened by the police." + +"Have you also read the letter?" + +"I looked into it certainly; but I have not read it. It is written in +cipher." + +"Ah!" I thought, "the communication from my agent to say that the +millions have disappeared." But I did not show any impatience to get at +the contents of the letter. I listened politely as she related to me the +events of her life in my absence. + +After a while the valet announced that my room was ready for me, and +then she asked if I would not dine with her? "No, thank you!" said I, +with an inward shudder; "I am quite unfamiliar with your civilised +customs, and will thank you if you will permit me to retire to my room." + +In my room I found the letter upon my writing-desk. As I had expected, +it came from my agent in Brussels. The key to the cipher code was in my +pocket, rolled up in a cigarette; so that in case of my death on the +battle-field some soldier or nurse might smoke the cigarette and +unwittingly destroy this last clue to the mystery which surrounded my +money transactions. The letter ran as follows:-- + + "SIR,--The two millions which you entrusted to my care have doubled + themselves, and I hold four millions of francs for you. The decline + is continuous, and will hold good for a considerable time to come. + The Paris Bourse created an enormous rise by fictitious reports of + victories; but the decline was all the sharper in consequence. The + French are beaten everywhere, and if you will consent to let me + continue in the present course, I shall double your money again on + short sales." + +Camp life had taught me to swear, and I was furious. Fate was mocking +me, tantalising me. Instead of taking from me the accursed money which I +had received in exchange for my life, my soul's salvation, and my +honour, it doubled that money, and threw it back at me. But I would see +if I could not get the better of blind fortune. I did not want that +money, and would have none of it. + +I sat down and wrote an answer on the spot I gave the agent fixed +instructions to speculate with the whole amount for a rise, and that +immediately. As soon as I had translated this into cipher, I gave it to +the valet to be posted. + +Then I took out the rough fare I had been accustomed to during my camp +life, the rye bread and bacon, and, slicing it up, I toasted it at the +grate fire. Surely a man who had thrown four millions out at the window +a few minutes before had a right to indulge in such luxuries. + +But the cognac which I had been used to drink I could not relish at +home. For three months I had drunk nothing but cognac. It is a powerful +stimulant, good for fever and ague, hunger and thirst, influenza-cold, +and, yes, the tremor before a battle. But here, at home, I wanted +something I could not get there--a glass of clear, fresh water. + +Oh, how I enjoyed it! How deliciously refreshing it was after so long a +craving! Home had still a great treasure to offer me--a glass of clear, +fresh water. + +What a precious, sweet, home it was! + + + + +XV. + +VOX POPULI. + + +The street was very noisy, and a tumult of loud voices, shouts, etc., +penetrated through the blinds, shutters, and doors into the room in +which I sat. I took that to be the normal condition of a Paris street, +for in large cities there is always some spectacle afoot to set the mob +shouting. But I was mistaken. The valet, whom I had sent to the +post-office to mail my letter to the broker at Brussels, entered +hastily, his face livid with fear. + +"Monsieur, save yourself!" he cried. "The mob is coming." + +"Coming where?" + +"To this hotel. A German diplomat lived here before you, and the people +think this is his house still. Someone has given them a hint, and they +have taken it up, and they are coming to storm and plunder the house. +The residences of two bankers have been demolished in this way, only +because their names had a German sound." + +"Let them alone," I said; "I will talk with their leaders. Now go to +madame, and tell her I beg she will retire to the winter-garden, and not +come out of it in any case or for any noise." + +The valet obeyed, and I girded on my sword again, put on my kepi, and +went downstairs. + +The porter had locked the entrance, but a loud muttering and battering +noise was heard from the outside. + +"Open the door!" I said to the porter, and, sword in hand, I stepped out +What I beheld was the usual spectacle upon such occasions. A mob of all +classes; labourers in blouses, dandies in tall hats, college youths, +street boys, market women, and veiled "ladies" in flashy dresses and +with painted cheeks, all huddled pell-mell in picturesque disorder. + +The man who was battering at the door was a gigantic locksmith, with +hammer in hand, and I believe that the only object he had in his +battering operations was to make use of his hammer. As I appeared, those +who were near the door, retreated a little, and some of them called out, +"See, see! An officer of the army." + +"_Citoyens_!" said I, in a loud voice, "in this house there is a sick +woman, and whoever tries to break into this house will have his skull +split in two." + +Most of the _gommeux_ retreated at these words, but the locksmith seemed +to think resistance a provocation to an attack. "Ho, ho!" said he, +beating his breast and swinging his hammer, inviting me to try the edge +of my sword on his skull, while around him sticks and umbrellas were +upraised against me with threatening gestures of all sorts of people, +male and female. + +I had to make an end of this, and that was only possible by showing them +that I was not afraid of them, and, first of all, I had to silence that +burly smith by a smart cut on the hand that held the hammer. I had just +lifted my arm with the sword, when someone caught it from behind, +seizing tight hold of both hand and sword. + +It was Flamma. + +"What do you want here? Why did you come out?" I asked her. + +She stepped close to my side, and addressed the people. I could never +have believed that that tiny, silent, shell-mouth of hers could be +capable of such eloquence. "_Citoyens_!" she said, with a perfectly +dramatic intonation and gesture, "you are mistaken in this house and in +us. We are no Germans, no enemies, but Hungarians, and friends to the +French. Look at my husband! He has just arrived from the battlefield, +where he has served the French army. He has repeatedly risked his own +life to save that of your brethren. Look at his forehead! That wound +upon it he received in the service of your country! Look at his breast! +It is decorated with the star of the Legion of Honour! He--" + +I was furious. What business had this woman, who, in her heart of +hearts, despised me as an abject, greedy, dishonourable coward, a base +wretch, who had accepted the most degrading position on earth for a +money consideration--what business, said I, had she to speak fair of me +before this crowd? + +"Madame," I shouted, "go into the house! I do not want your speeches! +Let go my hand, I say! I want to drive this rabble away!" But she clung +tightly to me, and, seeing that I could not free myself of her, I +caught her up in my arms, and carried her to her room. There I threw her +upon her couch and said--"Don't move from this bed. You are trifling +with your life!" + +"Then stay here with me," she said, beseechingly; "don't go back among +them!" + +"Nonsense, I am able to protect and save you from a drunken mob, but +from an attack of convulsions I could not save you! This might cost you +your life." + +At this word I fancied I saw a smile of contempt on her lips, and it +occurred to me that she thought I feared for her life, because, in case +of her death, I should have to return her money. "I wish they would come +and tear me to pieces in her very presence," I thought, in the +bitterness of my heart; but, to my surprise, no one came. The next +minute or two furnished an explanation. I heard the sound of a bugle, +then the clatter of horse-hoofs; the Imperial Guard itself had cleared +the street of the mob. In a few minutes the shouts and threats were +silenced, and the crowd had moved on to other quarters. Immediately +afterward I heard voices in the _salon_, and, telling the woman to keep +quiet and not stir, I entered the _salon_. + +A police officer was talking with the valet. I thanked him for ridding +me of my unpleasant visitors, who would undoubtedly have done harm to +the furniture of the house, if not to our persons. + +"Oh, that is past," said he, "but there is something else amiss; and I +may tell you at once, sir, something that is very serious!" + +"Serious to me?" I asked. + +"Yes, the police have certain knowledge of the fact that you keep up a +cipher correspondence with somebody in Brussels. You have received a +letter a day or two ago." + +"I know it. The letter had been opened by the police." + +"Exactly. You have answered that letter, also in cipher, and the letter +was posted not quite an hour ago." + +"And the contents of this letter are already in the hands of the +police?" + +"Yes. Will you have the kindness to give me the key to the cipher?" + +"Sir," said I, "you know well that every correspondence has secrets +which cannot be disclosed to a stranger!" + +"I assure you that the Police Department is just as silent with respect +to the secrets that are entrusted to it, as the tongueless stone lions +on St. Mark's Square in Venice." + +"And what will be the consequence if I refuse to give you the key?" + +"If they offer to shoot me," I thought, "I will not tell." + +"If you refuse, you will be conducted to the Belgian frontier without a +moment's delay." + +"No, thank you," I thought; "I'll have none of that." + +So I invited him into my room, and together we solved the contents of +both letters. + +The first was that of the agent, the second was my answer, which +consisted of the following words:-- + +"The French will be victorious; invest my whole fortune, all the money +you hold of mine, in buying for a rise." + +The tears rushed down the cheeks of the police officer. That a foreigner +had so much confidence in the French cause as to stake his whole fortune +on it was completely overpowering to him. He pressed my hands in silent +acknowledgment, when I could have laughed in his face, and was silently +applauding myself on the comedy I had played. + +"It is all right, sir," said he, taking his leave; "but since you are a +true friend of the French, let me give you a bit of honest advice. Don't +stay in Paris beyond to-day at the utmost. To-day we command; to-morrow, +God knows who may fill our place. Go to-day, while you are free to go; +to-morrow it is possible that I shall follow your example." + +I thanked him heartily, and gave him my passport for revision. In an +hour the passport was returned to me in proper order, and at daybreak we +were sitting in a railway carriage. My wife confessed that she felt very +happy in being able to leave Paris; she had been very uncomfortable and +ill at ease there. + + + + +XVI. + +DAME FORTUNE. + + +It took us two whole days to reach Brussels. All the railway trains were +crowded with soldiers and refugees fleeing from Paris, and at every +station there was some delay. Special trains had to be waited for, and +at every town the passengers had to leave the carriage, show their +passports, answer all questions, and open all trunks and valises for +examination by the police. + +For me this exasperating procedure was rendered more difficult still. +The wound on my forehead betrayed me for a soldier of some sort, and a +strict command of General Trochu expressly forbade soldiers to leave the +country. Of course, I had my discharge; but, when I showed the document, +it took them always a good while to consider which command of General +Trochu should be respected--the one which bade me go, or the other which +directed me to stay. + +At the border I was detained for exactly four hours. Again my luggage +was searched; again I had to convince them that I was no runaway +soldier, no foreign spy, but a lawfully-discharged volunteer +camp-surgeon of foreign birth; and I had to give my word of honour that +the lady with me was really and legally my own wife. + +When we finally arrived at Brussels, late at night, we could hardly find +a lodging. All the hotels were crowded to the doors, and only with +difficulty, and by the aid of a very liberal tip, was I enabled to +procure a back room on the third storey. I took my wife to the elevator, +to be carried to the room, gave orders for her supper, etc., and went +down to the cafe to drink a glass of hot punch. + +The place was crowded to suffocation, in spite of the lateness of the +hour. Every newspaper was being read by five or six readers at once. +Something very important seemed to have happened, but the noise was so +deafening that it was utterly impossible to catch a word of the news. + +I begged the waiter to let me have one of the papers. + +"Never mind, sir," he said, smilingly; "these are all afternoon +editions. If you will wait till your punch is ready, I will manage to +get you a fresh paper moist from the press." + +I rewarded his good offices with the expected money gratification, and +some minutes later the hot punch and a moist copy of the morning +_Independance_ were before me. The price of the copy was five francs. + +As an experienced reader of Continental newspapers, I began my reading +on the last page, devoted to the telegrams. I found one from Arlon, +stating that MacMahon's position was very good. He was posted behind +fortifications, which were stored with provisions for three hundred +thousand men. Yesterday's engagement had ended in a triumph for the +French. + +Another telegram came from Mezieres, according to which yesterday's +battle had ended fatally for the French, who had been forced to the +Belgian frontier by the Prussians. The Emperor was with MacMahon. The +line of battle extended from Bazille to La Chapelle. Three thousand +French soldiers, with five hundred horses, had been driven across the +Belgian frontier, and had there surrendered. + +A gentleman sitting near me, evidently a Frenchman, politely begged me +to show him the telegrams. "Oh," said he, "these are old ones, brought +over from the evening papers. Let us look at the front page," and, +turning the leaves, he pointed to a few lines printed in large letters, +"Sedan, September 2, 8 p.m. MacMahon's army has surrendered and laid +down its arms. MacMahon is severely wounded, and General Wimpffen has +taken command in his place. The capitulation was signed by him. Napoleon +has personally surrendered to the Prussian King." + +The French gentleman had fallen from his chair in a swoon. He was +carried out into the fresh air to recover. This incident caused a +sensation in the room; everybody inquired for the cause of the swoon, +and I gave them the newspaper, which was eagerly devoured, until one +gentleman leaped upon a billiard-table and read the news aloud to all. + +I went up to my wife. She had thrown herself on the bed, without +undressing, for, as we had only this single apartment for both of us, +she could not undress before the stranger who was--her husband. I begged +her pardon for disturbing her, but I thought she would be interested in +the important news. Of course she was! All the sleep was gone from her +eyes in a moment. She sprang from the bed and came to me. "See how kind +Providence has been!" she said. "If you had not been dismissed, you also +would be a prisoner now. So what seemed an evil has been converted into +a benefit." + +At the first moment I felt inclined to share her views. For, indeed, it +would have been a ludicrous end to my little private tragedy if, instead +of the coveted death, I had experienced a few years of tedious inaction +at Mainz or some other German fortress. + +So that, considered from this point of view, I had indeed had a +fortunate escape, and out of the fancied evil had come a certain good. +"But if evil may change into good," I thought, "I wonder who can repair +my marred and blackened life? Is there any Providence powerful enough to +convert this evil into a benefit?" + +I gazed at Flamma, and wondered how she would look if I were to tell her +that her million had ceased to exist, that this catastrophe, which had +dragged a monarch from his throne into captivity, had also cost her her +sole fortune, the inheritance of her grandfather, and had thrown her +upon my mercy? "Good-night!" I said to her. "Try to sleep a little. I +will go and look for some private lodgings. We cannot stay in this +place." She thanked me, and, if I remember rightly, she extended her +hand to me; but I contrived to avoid taking it, and left her to her own +company. + +I descended again to the cafe. Nobody was there except the staff of +waiters. Everybody else had gone to the Bourse, I learned. 'Change open +at four o'clock in the morning! is not that extraordinary? Certainly, +but so are the events which are occurring. The spacious halls and +corridors of the Exchange were brilliantly lighted all night long, and +were filled with a throng of brokers and "matadores." Curiosity took me +there also; but I had literally to fight my way in. My fists had to +procure admission for me. In the large hall this lighting for room was +general; and as for the noise and uproar of voices, the blockade of +Spicheren must have been a symphony in comparison. + +I promised twenty francs to one of the servants of the establishment if +he would fetch me Mr. X., my broker, from the _coulisses_. I handed him +my card. It was an hour before the good man could emerge from the crowd. +His silk hat was crushed, his coat-collar torn off, the bow of his +necktie was dangling at the back of his neck, and his waistcoat had lost +four buttons; but he was radiant. As he caught sight of me, he ran to +meet me, shook my hands, embraced and kissed me, and fairly went into +ecstasies over me. Was this man mad? + +"Sir!" he cried. "My friend! my hero! You are a sage, a prophet! At the +news of the catastrophe of Sedan a tremendous rise has set in on +'Change!" + +"Rise!" I exclaimed, astonished. + +"Certainly, and what a rise! If the French had simply been vanquished we +should have had a tremendous fall, but at the news of the surrender +values are rising enormously. You are a wonderful man! How you have +scented it all! Let me go back to make millions! Your money is all +invested for a rise. To-day we shall take lunch at Tortoni's at twelve +o'clock sharp. I shall bring you home eight millions. Let me go, or I +shall leave the lappet of my coat in your hands." + +With that he ran back to the orgies around the golden calf. I let myself +go with a crowd that was thronging out--possibly the beaten +speculators--and was borne by the current into the street. I was +completely stunned at the results of my determined efforts to lose that +money, and felt for my head to make sure that I was not dreaming. Could +all this be true? Could ice be kindled into flames, and could flames +freeze to ice? How was I to believe that all my curses could be turned +into blessings, and that out of misfortune Fortune herself should arise? + +By this time the morning had dawned, and I went into a cafe to get some +tea. With the tray a newspaper was laid before me, and, sure enough, I +read--"General rise! French values mounting and greatly in demand! Money +in abundance!" + +So it was no dream. + +Until noon I sauntered about in order to kill time. At precisely twelve +o'clock I was at Tortoni's, and found my broker already expecting me. He +had ordered lunch: Four dozen oysters, woodcock, artichokes, +giardinetto. Wines: Chablis, Chateau Lafitte, Grand Vin Mumm, etc. + +"Wonderful victory!" said he, taking my hand. "_Ecrasant_ defeat of the +_contremine_! Sir, Napoleon has capitulated before King William; I +capitulate before you. You know more of the psychology of the Money +Market than I!" + +I to know the psychology of the Money Market? was not that excessively +absurd? + +"It is easy to understand," he continued. "You are home from the French +camp. Evidently you have not gone there to plaster sores or set broken +bones, but to have an opportunity for watching the development of the +situation, and the movements of the forces. Oh if all 'matadores' would +only be as prudent! But this course requires pluck, courage, and perfect +coolness. You already knew that MacMahon was hemmed in, and that the +Emperor shared the same fate. It was easy to foresee the ensuing +surrender, and you made use of the means provided for your escape. You +gave me instructions; I have carried out your order, and here is the +result. Four millions are the prize of this one day." + +"But how is it possible?" asked I. + +"Pray don't try to play the simpleton before me. Of course, you had +calculated that, with the capitulation and the capture of the Emperor, +the war was at an end. The French have no organised armies left, and +are, therefore, compelled to make peace. The Stock Market anticipates +the conclusion of peace, and forces up French securities. What shall I +do with your eight millions?" + +What? I hardly knew. Throw it into the ocean; it would come back to me, +like the ring of Polycrates. Nay, not like that, for it kept hatching, +and came back like a hen with a brood of chickens--that is, millions. +This odious money sticks to me like so many burs, and I cannot get rid +of it. Fortune is called a goddess. To me she was a "She-devil;" her +gold was choking me. + +"Did you come from Paris alone?" asked the broker. + +"No; my wife is with me." + +"Have you found comfortable quarters to live in?" + +"A back room on the third storey. I am looking for private lodgings." + +"Well, I will tell you something. A banker, who was on the bear side, +offers his residence for sale, in order to pay his differences. His +house cost him four hundred thousand francs. We could get it for half +the amount, and you could move into it at once." + +"Take it, by all means." + +"But what shall I do with the balance of the money? This glass to the +new landlord!" + +We clinked glasses. What a powerful agent money was! Only last night I +could not find a room to sleep in, and now I was practically the owner +of a palatial residence in Brussels. But what should I do with the rest, +the seven million eight hundred thousand francs? + +"Speculate with the whole amount for a fall," said I to the agent, +determined that this time the hateful money should be lost for ever. Mr. +X. set down his glass and looked at me. "I beg pardon, sir, but--perhaps +you are not accustomed to spirits? The champagne was rather strong." + +"Wine does not affect me. I am quite sober." + +"Then, in all politeness, I would advise you to consult a specialist; +perhaps you are suffering from the mania of contradiction or some other +mental disease." + +"This is my own affair. You do with my money as I instruct you. Put all +the money left, after paying for the house, on a bear speculation at one +week." + +"Then, pray, give me permission to take out my percentage first; for in +this transaction I take no share. You have pulled out the devil's +forelock and shaved off his beard, but he won't give you his hoof and +tail also. Give me my percentage, and handle your money yourself." + +"Your percentage you may take when you please, but with the rest do as I +tell you; speculate for a fall at the end of a week. I have no time to +go on 'Change, as I must be off to Paris." + +"Paris? You are going back to Paris? Sir, your reason must be disturbed. +Why, revolution has broken out in Paris. Don't you know of it?" + +"That's exactly the reason for my going. My wife has left her whole +wardrobe, her silver, jewellery, pictures, and tapestry in Paris, and I +am going to take everything away before it is destroyed." + +"But, sir, this is foolish! Here are eight millions. Surely you can buy +a new wardrobe and jewellery for your wife with this money without +carrying your head to the guillotine." + +"Will you allow me to judge of my own affairs?" said I, angrily. "I must +know best what I ought to do." + +After that my man put the tip of his forefinger to his nose, and +exclaimed: "Oh, so!" + +I looked at him with tight-shut lips, giving vent to a slight "H--m, +h--m!" + +At that he raised his eyebrows, lifted his fat finger with a warning +gesture, and smiled mischievously; whereat I shrugged my shoulders, and +the mutual understanding was perfect. Of course, it was natural in the +owner of eight millions to have, besides his legal wife, another illegal +wife, or mistress; and as in case of danger an honest man's first duty +is to save his own wife, I had of course done so; but, like a real +gentleman, I was returning to the place of danger in order to save my +other wife as well. + +That was the meaning of the mysterious winking and smiling and hemming, +and I did not think it worth my while to undeceive him. Let him believe +whatever he likes; what do I care for his opinion? + +The same day I obtained possession of the house, and took my wife to it. +She was greatly astonished at its splendour, but ventured no remark. I +asked her if she had any money left out of the forty thousand francs, +and she answered that she had only spent half of it. That showed good +economy. Not to spend more than twenty thousand francs in three months +was the quintessence of thriftiness. I told her that the house was at +her disposal, and that she might arrange everything to please herself. I +was compelled to leave her on urgent business. She did not ask me what +business I had, nor where it would take me. Neither would she persuade +me to stay. + +I reached Paris much sooner than I had expected. As soon as I had passed +the frontier I had donned my uniform again, and was very wise in doing +so. All those who had hindered me when leaving the country were now +very officious in assisting me to reach Paris. The sight of my uniform, +my wounded forehead, and the _legion d'honneur_ was enough to put them +entirely at my service. In Paris I was surprised at the change of the +appearance in the public streets. Over every porch, on every house, a +large tricolour flag was displayed; the military embraced and +fraternised with the people. I saw the Imperial Guard hacking at the +imperial eagle over the barrack-gate with their swords--the same swords +which they used two days before to drive off and disperse the mob at my +door. + +My own residence had undergone a similar change. Like the caterpillar +which has developed into a gay butterfly, it had put on wings, and from +the balcony, above the porch, on all sides, great tricolours were +hanging, with the legend "_Vive la Republique_!" + +So it was already a Republic, and only the other day it had been an +Empire. And all this had occurred without the shedding of a single drop +of blood, without the least disorder! It was just as though a handsome +widow should remarry the day after her husband's funeral. The new +Government was already established, and the satisfaction over this +performance was enough to sweeten the pang caused by the catastrophe of +Sedan. + +In the streets no policeman, no detective could be seen. The National +Guard watched over the public order, and the foreigners, who, under +Palikao's reign, had been the victims of so many molestations, were left +in peace. Yes, large placards, in big red letters, invited all +foreigners who were true friends of liberty to enter the volunteer +corps, which was called into existence for defence against the tyrants. +It was enough to show some exotic trait of dress or appearance to be +literally embraced on the streets by fair ladies. + +So it was in vain that I had come to this place to get rid of my head. +There was no guillotine, no barricade, not the slightest opportunity for +cheap martyrdom; and as for the volunteer legion, why, that was a +veritable life insurance corps. + +I could not get myself killed. But my millions had another chance of +annihilation. The rise was lasting for days, and all Europe believed in +a restoration of peace. + +On the sixth day, the limit I had given to my broker, appeared that +manifesto of the French Republican Government which proclaimed that the +war would be continued until all resources were exhausted. France would +never rest until she had driven her enemy from her soil. + +This proclamation was a deathblow to all hopes of peace, and destroyed +all calculations and expectations. That a tremendous decline in values +was the consequence will be readily understood. + +So my Hell-born millions had hatched again, and returned to me doubled. +Dame Fortuna insulted me! She was a demon--a Devil! + + + + +XVII. + +LIGHT AT LAST. + + +At this I gave up that Quixotic fight against windmills, and said to my +own familiar spirit, my little inward devil-- + +"My dear little demon, I find you are a much more cunning little devil +than I thought you to be, and I shall begin to listen to your advice. +What the devil shall I kill myself for, when I have got sixteen million +francs of ready money? Is there any need of my final surrender to you as +yet? First, I'll see what services you'll do me still. The money I got +by following your suggestions, but the suicide speculation was a +failure. Evidently there are other devils more potent than you. Now let +me see. If I judge correctly, I can spare you altogether, dismiss you +with good references, such as, 'A fine little demon, very cunning, very +devoted and submissive.' It would be easy for you to find another +master, and I could well spare you. Why, with sixteen millions there is +no need of my being unhappy, and giving way to despair; with so much +ready money, I have Fortune at my command. She will come at my bidding. +If every husband in France who is not beloved by his wife were to enlist +against the Prussians, daring Death and Devil alike, the Prussians would +very soon find their way home again. And if she has insulted, betrayed +me with another man before she became my wife, I can revenge myself now, +and why not? When Father Adam quarrelled with Mother Eve, he found +consolation with Lilith, the dark-skinned Hashor, the almond-eyed +Anaitio, the silent Mylitta. So, my dear little demon, I can't see of +what use you can be to me any longer. I am tired of going death-hunting, +and not fool enough to play a game of shuttlecock with a lump of gold. +Then what's the use of my keeping you?" + +"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" laughed he. "Fancy your sending me off when you stand +most in need of me and my advice. My dear boy, you were never so much my +own as at this moment. You are tired of death-hunting? Very good; live +on, drink deep of the fountain of life, drain it to the dregs, and much +good may it do you! You have wealth and therefore power, and you will +become just such a dare-devil villain as the man who has caused all this +pother. You will betray innocent, confiding maidens, deceive loving +friends, ruin families, and beget unfortunate, ill-starred beings. You +will become a heartless libertine, a selfish sensualist. You will mock +at God, mock at the Devil; and when you are all alone, you will dread +and despise yourself. You will do evil for evil's sake, and rejoice at +the despair of your brethren. Oh, you can't spare me now, my boy; you +want me more than ever!" + +I did not enter the Franc-tireur legion, although its captain was a +countryman of mine, a chivalrous Hungarian: if I am not mistaken, his +name was Varjassy. I returned to Brussels, and remained there. + +My broker, Mr. X., came to me, quite submissive, doing penance in +sackcloth and ashes. Again he called me sage and prophet, and finally +asked me, "What next?" + +"Nothing," I said. "We will not go near the Bourse again. We have made +our booty; don't let us run the risk of losing it." + +"You are certainly wise!" he said, admiringly. He took his own +proportion, and bought property with it. The last time I had heard of +him he had established a great dairy and was manufacturing an excellent +cheese. + +I had become a fashionable dandy. I was a member of the Jockey Club, was +seen at the theatres and at all fashionable places of public +entertainment. I opened my palatial residence to fashionable society, +and took my wife to all social amusements fitted to her station in life. +I took pride in the elegance of her toilette, and was jealously careful +that her equipage should outshine all others. + +Still I cannot say that this constant, tender consideration and +attention to her affected her in my favour. On the contrary, I found +that of late her glance had a troubled, I may say, puzzled expression +when it rested on me; and when occasionally I entered her room +unexpectedly I saw that she hastily concealed in a drawer a small and +well-worn note-book. I supposed she was calculating what this expensive +rate of living might cost. If she only computed what I spent officially, +so to speak--that is to say, on herself and the household--she must have +made it some four hundred thousand francs. The income on her million of +florins would amount, at the utmost, to one hundred thousand francs, so +she must naturally have come to the conclusion that her securities were +scattered to the winds. + +At that time the rosewood chest with the bonds, in exactly the same +condition as when she had given them to me on our wedding night, was in +my own possession again, and locked up in my safe. It had been my first +care to take it home from the banking-house where it had been deposited. +I had repaid the amount of the loan, received the securities, and found +them all in excellent order. + +By this time the period of Flamma's confinement had arrived, and a son +was born. I had made her a proposition to postpone the christening for a +month, and only then to give our aristocratic family connections at home +information of the happy event. She consented, and by the time the +christening took place she had fully recovered her health and beauty, +or, rather, she had become more beautiful than ever; for, from a girlish +maiden, she had developed into a blooming woman. + +The little boy we christened William James. He was a well-formed, +healthy child, and I myself had conscientiously selected a nurse for +him. + +When at last no harm was to be feared from excitement, and Flamma's +health was fully established, I wrote her a line that I should like to +have some conversation with her on money matters that afternoon. She +wrote me in reply that I had anticipated her own wishes, and that she +would be ready to receive me. + +At the appointed time I carried the rosewood chest with her dowry to her +room. I found her engaged with the same worn-looking note-book that I +had already noticed, but this time she did not hide it upon my entrance. +She offered me a seat, but I set the chest on the table in front of her, +and, looking her in the face, I said-- + +"Madame, to-day it is seven months since that eventful evening on which +you made me certain confidential disclosures. At that time I did not +make any remark on the subject, because the state of your health was +such that, in my capacity as a physician, conscientious scruples +prohibited me from creating in you any excitement which might prove +fatal to yourself and to another being. You will not refuse to bear +witness that I have paid you all the care and attention which your +condition required, and that I have done everything that was possible, +under the circumstances, to save you from emotions which might be +injurious. I have nursed you conscientiously, and omitted nothing which +I thought necessary to your health and that of your child. But now your +health is fully established, your child is christened, and I have given +him an honourable name and a good nurse, which is all that he requires +for the present. Now the time has come when I may express my real +sentiments to you. I shall even now forbear to reproach you. In this +whole baneful connection between us the fault has been mine alone. It +was my boundless vanity, my absurd conceit, which led me to believe that +a beautiful, wealthy, and high-born young lady would choose me, of all +men, for her husband, without any secret motive or hidden reason to +prompt her. I ought to have known my own worthlessness better, and not +yielded to a flattering self-conceit. You see, I acknowledge my fault +fully, and I own that I have deserved my punishment. I have no +accusation against you. You were desperate; you had to save your +reputation, and you did not stop to consider what it might cost me so +long as it served your purpose. Of course, the pride and honour of +Countess Vernoeczy were of much higher importance than the life, the +honour, of an insignificant fool like myself. Move over, you paid for the +services you had procured with admirable magnanimity. You placed your +whole dowry at my disposal. But now your honour and reputation are +saved; so is that of your child. There is no need of my suffering longer +for a fault for which I have bitterly atoned. Now, pray, let me restore +to you the money which you placed in my hands on that memorable night. +Let me beg you to take slate and pencil, and convince yourself of the +entire correctness of the amount." + +She looked at me as if mesmerised, and mechanically she obeyed me. I +opened the chest, took out the papers, and, as she had done on the night +of our wedding, I dictated to her the titles of the various deeds and +securities, and she wrote as I dictated. + +The amount was correct. "You see that the coupons are inside," I said; +"those of last year and those of this year also. Not one has been +touched." + +"And our household expenses?" asked she, breathlessly. + +"Were liquidated by me with my own money. Now, pray, take the property +out of my hands, for this is the last time that we shall ever speak with +or behold each other as long as we live." She gazed up at me, trembling +in every nerve. I continued-- + +"I shall leave you to-day, and you will never learn whither I have gone +or where I am. Like the criminal escaping from jail, I shall change my +name, and deny the term which I have served at your side. I shall +possess no name, no home, no family. I shall be a stranger and an +outcast, wandering to and fro for fear that the acquisition of a settled +residence might betray my abode to you. And now, there are three roads +open to you. You may return with your child to the old home of the +Dumanys, my poor Slav kingdom. There you may live, secluded from the +world, bringing up your child and teaching him virtue, honesty, and +useful employments. You may dole out alms to the poor, and in this +mournful solitude pray to God for happy oblivion or the still happier +news of my death. This is one of the roads open to you; it is the stony +path of virtue, dreary and tiresome. The second path is the flowery one. +You may throw yourself upon the waves of life, drink deep of the cup of +pleasure, not troubling yourself with scruples as to what is allowed and +what forbidden. Your youth, beauty, and wealth will carry you up to the +pinnacle of pleasure--only beware of the consequences! I, the husband, +shall be separated from you by whole oceans perhaps, and shall not be +here to legitimatise the result of a _faux pas_. There is still a third +way--a divorce; and I authorise you to commence your suit. Only, you +know, this way is tedious, and requires great sacrifices. Monetary +sacrifices also, for we cannot get a divorce without being converted to +Protestantism, and in that case, according to your grandfather's will, +you are obliged to give up your dowry--this million. But you have also +to give up the Church and the religion in which you were born and +brought up, and which has given you consolation in despair, and the +saints whom you are accustomed to invoke to your aid. Still, the road is +open to you, and I will give you four hours to make your decision. If it +should be for a divorce, I am ready to go with you to Transylvania to +procure a divorce under the Unitarian laws." + +As I finished she rose from her seat, her cheeks aglow, her eyes +burning. "I know a fourth way," she said, catching her breath. + +"And that is?" + +"I will not let you go!" she cried, taking hold of my arm with both +hands, and clinging to me with her trembling body. + +I broke out into a bitter, scornful laugh. "Countess," said I, "do you +believe that there is in the world an interest, a sentiment, a spirit of +magnanimity or of cowardice, which is powerful enough to hold me in jail +now that the time for which I have sentenced myself has expired? That +there is any power existing which could tie me to your side, if but for +another day? Well, I have read the hate, the contempt, the scorn in your +eyes, and you were justly entitled to those feelings; but you cannot +wish me to endure these daily pangs and lacerations of my wounded +self-esteem for ever. You cannot ask of me to live on at the side of a +woman who hates me, despises me, and scorns me, simply because it would +suit that woman to retain her present position. No, my lady! Even my +ample stock of weak foolish indulgence is at an end. I go, and I go for +ever! Not even in Paradise do I wish to meet you again. And if you go to +salvation, I shall go to perdition to avoid you!" + +The effect of my cruel, insulting words were marvellous. They did not +seem to hurt or offend her; she seemed to delight in them, drink them in +like some sweet, delicious nectar. Her face, her eyes, her attitude +spoke of exultant admiration, of triumphant joy, of ecstatic delight. + +"True!" she said, "it is all true that you have said. Only what I have +felt for you was never hate; it was love warring against contempt, and +contempt fighting against love. Yes, I have despised you; for I was +told, and I believed it, that money was all that you cared for, and your +own words have confirmed me in this opinion. Do you remember, after you +had told Cenni and me the story of your friend, you spoke of the +qualities of the girl whom you might marry? She must be young and +beautiful, and wealthy and luxurious. Young and beautiful--I thought--to +suit your vanity; wealthy and luxurious--because you loved wealth and +luxury; and your conduct after our marriage hourly convinced me of the +correctness of the supposition. You accepted your position without a +murmur. I was burning with shame and humiliation, ready at a word to +fall at your feet, and make you a confession which would cleanse me from +the burning stigma, remove from me the brand of shame. But you accepted +the money, and asked no questions, and I left you in despairing +contempt. Our married life was much too luxurious to undeceive me, and I +believed that you were making use of my money to feed your appetite for +pleasure. When you protected me against danger, nursed me in my odious +condition, I thought, 'All is well to him as long as he can keep the +money. He fears for my life, because, in case of my death, he would have +to restore the money.' The comfort, the splendour, the costly presents, +dresses, and jewels which you bestowed upon me were so many accusations +against yourself. And yet how I longed to be able to respect you! When +the newspapers spoke of your undaunted courage, of your disinterested +and indefatigable activity, your self-denial, generosity, and discreet +modesty, how my heart yearned for you! How my soul cried out to you, +'Why are you not the same to me as to the world? Why are you brave, +generous, disinterested, and self-denying to them, and not to me? Why am +I, of all persons alive, condemned to know you for a cowardly, +avaricious, and selfish man, when, in spite of all that, my heart burns +for love of you?' And now you have thrown off the hideous mask you wore, +have shown me your real face, shown me how much I have misjudged you, +how I have sinned against you! You give me back that money untouched. +You have not even spent the interest of it, and now I see how I have +wronged you in accusing you of greed. All your tender care, your +delicate attention, your patient indulgence were given to me out of your +magnanimous sense of duty, the heavenly generosity of your soul! And now +that I know you in all the glory of your goodness, now that I have found +my ideal in you and my love has grown into worship, now you tell me +that you are lost to me for ever, that you will not be mine, and I must +choose the paths you point out to me. No, sir; that is impossible! You +cannot cast me off, now that I love you! I have sinned against you, +caused you insufferable pains, infinite tortures; but my whole life +shall be given to atone for those sins by meek submission, dutiful +obedience, ardent love. I cannot choose between those paths you have +shown me. I do not want to be consumed by the fires of sinful love, nor +to freeze in the ice of solitude and self-abnegation. I want to be +happy, and to make you happy. I want to love, and I do love you!" + +"You have a child." + +"That child! That living stigma which was branded into my flesh by a +miserable assassin! I hate it so much that I will never kiss it, never +pray for it. Its very sight is loathsome to me! I have given birth to +it, but shall never love it as a mother!" + +After this tempest of her emotions she threw herself against the door, +barring it against me as though to say: "The way through this door, the +way that separates you from me, leads over my body." + +I looked at her, and the sight of her deep and real agitation summoned +me to a silent condemnation of my base hypocrisy. What was I but a +cunning dissembler, coming here to play a great part before her, making +believe that I had not touched her money, when I had time and again +risked it in speculations? And the very house she lived in, the comfort +and splendour that surrounded her, were the result of the profits her +money had acquired. How dared I make a parade of my generosity, when all +the time I had been scheming for her ruin and dreaming of revenge? Truth +and sincerity were all on her side; the halo of virtue around my head +was false. + +And she loved me! She confessed that love with the frank truthfulness of +her nature--confessed it in words that sent a thrill of delight through +my whole frame! And I, who am burning for love of her, I stand here like +a pagan idol, in stony indifference, looking down at the bleeding heart +which is held up as a sacrifice to me. No, I am no stone! Avaunt, +Hathor, Mylitta, Baaltis, I am none of yours! And thou too, vile, +wretched Dissimulation, I cast thee forth! Depart from the presence of +this true woman! + +I went to her and took her hands. "If your boy is not to have the love +of a mother, he shall have that of a father instead. I shall love him +dearly and be a true father to him." + +As I said this, she broke into passionate sobbing, and, crouching down +at my feet, she threw her arms around my knees and wept bitterly. + +"No," said she, "do not lift me up, for my confessions are not yet +ended. I have asked you for mercy heretofore. I now ask you for justice; +for a righteous judgment! I have never been the degraded wretch you +believed me to be, have never been the mistress of another man, never +listened to his words of love, so help me God! Siegfried was not my +betrayer, he was my assassin! He made use of Diodora's and Cenni's +absence from the house, at a time when a slight illness had prevented +me from accompanying them, to drug my wine at the table, and during the +lethargy caused by the soporific potion he slew my soul! Devil as he is, +he took a devilish revenge, because I had shown him my contempt and +abhorrence." + +Before this I was down on my knees, covering her eyes, her hair, her +face, and her mouth with my kisses; weeping in the excess of my love and +happiness. "Why did you not tell me this before? Why not on the night of +our wedding?" I asked. + +"I intended to! Do you remember that I asked you if you had no other +question to address to me? You said 'No,' and pointed to the door. For a +few moments only your eye had rested with a fiery glare on a two-edged +dagger which lay upon the table. If you had carried out the wild +promptings of your wrath, if your hand had raised the dagger against me, +if only a single word or action had given me proof that you were the man +I wished you to be, and not the wretch who accepts the money which is +offered in return for his name and honour, I should have spoken. Oh, how +I have longed to do it!" + +I pressed her to my heart and kissed her again. "You are innocent," I +said: "as innocent as that poor child himself. You have not sinned; +others have sinned against you. And now that you have confessed to me, +let me also confess to you, and, if you can, forgive me!" I told her +all--my evil designs, the monetary speculations, my suicidal purposes, +my moral cowardice. She listened, shuddering, but, when I had finished, +she nestled close to my heart and kissed me passionately. She had +forgiven. + + * * * * * + +After this we decided to leave Europe and go to the New World--to +America. My old Slav kingdom I did not care to keep; it was best to give +up everything, and wipe out all memory of myself. So I left it to be +sold in payment of the debts I had accumulated. In the New World fortune +clung to me with the same persistence. Whatever I undertook was sure to +succeed, and all my enterprises were fortunate. So, in course of time, I +became the "Silver King." We came to Europe on account of little James, +who all at once ceased speaking and became a mute. We tried American +physicians, but to no purpose, and so we came to Europe in order to +consult the best professional talent. Now you know all. You know how it +was possible for the little son of a South American nabob, after +regaining his lost speech, to speak Hungarian, and you know who taught +him to speak that language. The child has never loved anyone but me, and +no one has loved him but myself. And I love him truly and with all my +heart. For to him I am indebted for all my present happiness; not only +for my wealth, for wealth alone is not happiness. A man may be happy +without wealth, and be very unhappy with it; but I owe him this. + +He took a photograph from his pocket-book, and showed it to me--four +laughing little cherub heads, peeping out of a bath-tub, like birds from +the nest. "These my little James has brought me," he said, with tears of +joy in his eyes; "if he had not come, these would not have come either. +So, you see, my dear friend, I was thrown into Hell and fell into +Paradise." + + * * * * * + +"I beg your pardon," said I to Mr. Dumany, as he finished his story, +"but I am curious to know what became of Siegfried? Would you mind +telling me?" + +"Oh, he is a very famous man at present, and fills a very honourable +position. He is engaged as horse-tamer in the Paris Hippodrome, and they +say that he is excellent in 'jumping.' I have not seen him yet, but I +hear he has a good salary, and is a general favourite. He is very much +praised and admired by those who have seen him. I think it highly +creditable in a man when he lives honourably by means of his ability and +talent." + +By this time the dawn had greeted us. Through the chinks of the closed +shutters the rising sun was stealing, decorating the wall-tapestry with +rings of golden red, adding radiant circles to the smoke-wreaths of our +cigarettes, and sending long glittering darts into all the corners and +behind the curtains. + +Presently, breaking the monotony of our voices, which punch and cognac +had made hoarse, a sweet, silvery voice chimed in, "Apacska! Apacska!" +("Papa! Papa!") and a little unfledged cherub was peeping out from the +bed-curtains. "You may come to me," said Mr. Dumany, smilingly, and, in +an instant, little James was out of bed, and, barefooted, in his little +nightgown as he was, he ran to his father, shouting with glee, climbing +up into his lap, and throwing his little arms caressingly around his +neck, laughing mischievously the while. At the noise of this babbling +and laughter, similar sounds were heard in the next room, just as in a +bird's nest when one little fledgeling chirps all the rest join in, +lifting the little heads and trying the winglets. + +"Reveille is sounded," said my friend, with a happy smile. "I have to go +and muster my troops; this next chamber is their bedroom." + +But the muster was postponed, for the commander-in-chief arrived--the +mother. She was in a plain, dark dress, but her beautiful face bore a +soft expression of happiness which I had not seen the day before. "You +are up yet?" she asked. + +"And you are up already?" asked her husband. + +"Yes. I have been out to my confessor's. You have made a clean breast to +your friend at home; I have done the same in the confessional, and I +have come home much happier than I went, and I truly hope much better." +With that she bent down to the child, and kissed it tenderly. + +"I have been an unnatural and undutiful mother," she said, in a low, +trembling voice, "and if you, in your generous pity, in the overflowing +kindness of your nature, had not taken this poor innocent to your heart, +it would not have known the tender love, the sweet care of a parent. +Father Augustin has shown me the great, black sin in my breast. How can +I hope for mercy from Heaven if I mercilessly lock my heart against my +own innocent offspring? How can I hope for love and respect from my +other children, if I withhold a mother's love from this one? Oh, my +dearest husband! here in the presence of your friend, whom you have made +cognisant of our past sorrows and trials, I thank you from the bottom of +my heart for the love you have borne my child!" And before he could +prevent the action she had bent down and pressed her lips to his hand. + +"Flamma! dearest!" he said, overcome by his emotion, "you have been the +truest, the most considerate, most loving, and most dutiful of all wives +and mothers; but this day you have filled my cup of happiness to the +brim. This one drop, the mother's kiss to the sweet innocent, was +wanting. This day shall henceforth be kept as a high holiday, as this +little darling's real birthday, for it has given him a mother." + +He held up the boy to her, and at the sweet, inviting smile and the +opened arms the little one threw open his arms also; one of them he drew +around his mother's, the other around his father's neck, and then he +showered a volley of kisses and caresses on both. Never in all my life +have I seen a picture more lovely and beautiful than this. + +"Come, my little one," said the mother, after a while, to the child, "it +is too early yet for you to rise. Come to your little brothers and +sisters and sleep awhile longer," and, nodding sweetly to us, she +disappeared, with the child on her arm, through the tapestry _portiere_ +that led to the children's bedroom. + +The "Silver King" silently pressed my hand as I said-- + +"Sir, you are the happiest man on earth, nor can all the crowned +monarchs of the world compare to you in wealth!" + +"Yes," he said, after a while, "I am very happy. But I owe you an +explanation, before I take leave of you. You may think it singular that +a man who is the father of a family should disclose such intimate +secrets to a friend of whom he knows beforehand that he will make public +use of the disclosure, and relate to his readers the events he has +learned. But, you see, so much has already been said about my wife and +me--the fantastic imagination of one half of our fellow-creatures has +invented so much to feed the idle curiosity of the other half, that the +plain truth will serve in general as a cooling sedative. There are +different versions afloat as to how we got our money. Some say that I +was a general spy of the Prussians, and that my money was a fee for the +information furnished, or, in plain words, the betrayal of the positions +of the French forces. Others say that my wife had been the mistress of a +King, and was enriched by him, and that she still draws a life-pension +from the Civil List; while superstitious fools will have it that I have +sold myself to the Devil, and am supplied by him with infernal lore. +Against all of these the disclosure of the plain truth will be the best +defence. Human I am and have been, and human have been the temptations +and trials that have beset me. The only Devil to whom, for a time, I +sold myself, was the demon in my own breast--a poor, feeble spirit, and +long ago subdued by the more potent angel of love and peace." + + +THE END. + + + + * * * * * * * + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + The following typographical errors in the original text have + been corrected. + + In Part I, Chapter V, "religous monomania" has been changed to + "religious monomania". + + In Part I, Chapter VIII, "Yes, I wan you immediately" has been + changed to "Yes, I want you immediately". + + In Part I, Chapter XIII, "photograpers" has been changed to + "photographers". + + In Part II, Chapter IV, "siezed" has been changed to "seized". + + In Part II, Chapter X, a missing quotation mark has been added + to the sentence, + + Upon the steel blade was graven, in golden letters, "_Buona + notte_; and "_Buona notte! buona notte_," I kept incoherently + murmuring. + + In Part II, Chapter XII, "distinguised" has been changed to + "distinguished". + + In Part II, Chapter XV, an extra "are" has been deleted from + "you are are mistaken in this house". + + In Part II, Chapter XVII, "Moveover" has been changed to + "Moreover". + + In Part II, Chapter XVII, "infernal ore" has been changed to + "infernal lore". + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DR. 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