("Aha!" I murmured, "poetic justice with a vengeance; I myself could not have devised a happier _denouement_.")

"Everything became green and blue before my eyes. My throat contracted.

I was incapable of uttering a word. But the tongue of the little peasant woman wagged all the brisker. No sooner did she see me than she bounced from her place, c.o.c.ked her _haube_ on the side of her head, stuck her arms akimbo, and fell foul of me.

"'Ah, ha! my dear precious lady! I suppose 'tis Carnival time, since you come masquerading hither like that! Perhaps you've come because you've lost something here, eh? A shawl, perhaps? A very pretty little ladyship, that I _will_ say! Haven't you got a nice enough lord and master of your own at home? Must you befool the poor peasant also? Or if your lawful husband is not enough for you, can't you go and choose another from among the cavaliers of your own rank? You hanker after laying your little stuck-up noddle on my patch-pillow, eh? You ought to be ashamed of yourself!'

"I was dumbfoundered. This face of a fury, with the eyes sticking out of its head, robbed me of all my pluck. In my despair and doubt I looked at Peter.

"He all this time was sitting with his elbows on the table and swallowing one dumpling after another.

"'Is this justice, Peter?' stammered I, half-sobbing; 'will you let me be treated like this?'

"At this he struck the table with his fist a mighty blow and roared at his wife: 'Woman! Shut up! Hold your tongue! Sit down at that table and fill your stomach! I'll speak now.'

"The woman sulked in silence, but, even while her husband was speaking, she could not forbear putting in a word or two here and there, such as: 'She has worn out my dress, too!--I didn't steal that! My lovely chintz dress! How she has rumpled it! Just as if she had been tumbling it about in every pot-house!'

"But Peter spoke very sagely.

"'My lady, I beg pardon! I know what honour is. I was once a soldier. I know my duty. What won't match can't match. A horse and an ox won't draw together. A peasant woman's meet for a peasant, a lady's meet for a gentleman. Now did I ever so much as raise my little finger to your ladyship? You know I didn't. And yet how many times haven't you ruined the b.u.t.ter? You never moistened the maize. The pigs wouldn't eat it because it set their teeth on edge, for you threw them hard raw grain.

This won't do, you know! When the cows calve, who'll be there to see to them? And who is there to clean out the furnace? The mice have gnawed away the sleeves of my jacket, it's all in rags. Besides that, I have got into the way of saying, "Hie, you Jutka! d'ye hear?" and then she knows very well what her duty is; and when I strike her she makes no bones about it, either. I couldn't live without thrashing her occasionally; it does my back good, which would else grow double; and she always knows how to come round me again.'"

I threw my sketch-book and my palette out of my hand, and flung myself down on my back, I laughed so much. How could I help laughing? Bessy laughed too.

"I can laugh mightily at it now, but situated as I was then, his words were so many lashes. At last I flew into a rage and attacked Peter.

"'Can't you say straight out that Muki Bagotay has bribed you to take back your wife, whom you drove away on his account?'

"'Oh, I humbly beg your pardon, you must not say that I am bribed. I am an upright man. His honour, my lord Bagotay, gave me ten head of oxen as a gift, but he didn't bribe me.'

"My heart was ready to break at these words.

"Ten head of oxen indeed! For the sake of this peasant I had sacrificed my whole existence, the world in which I had hitherto lived, the respect of my acquaintances, my ease and comfort. I had made the earnest resolve to become a peasant woman for his sake, to work, do without things, suffer penury, and when once I had recovered my property, to give it all to him, make him a gentleman according to _his_ notion of a gentleman, and the wretched creature had bartered me for ten oxen!"

I hastened to explain to Bessy that this was really the legally appointed fine for adultery in case the affair came to be settled.

Verboczy[74] says: "_Raptor solvat decem juvencos._"--"The seducer must pay ten oxen."

[Footnote 74: The great Hungarian jurist (1460-1541), and one of the most eminent statesmen of his day. His _opus magnum_, ent.i.tled "Tripart.i.tum opus juris consultudinarii inclyti regni Hungariae," was first published in 1517.--TR.]

Bessy then proceeded:--

"Peter next began to give me counsels worthy of a patriarch.

"'My lady, I've only one thing to say. Go back to his lordship. G.o.d's my witness that nothing will befall you. Say now, Jutka--come, on your soul be honest--have I so much as touched you with my little finger since you came back? His lordship, too, knows all about it. He will close one eye.

Let's look upon the matter as if he and I had been wrestling together, and first one had had a fall and then the other. One box on the ears deserves another. So it is among men of honour!'"

"Oh, don't make me laugh so, or I cannot go on sketching!" said I to Bessy, with the tears in my eyes.

"I don't know what you can find to laugh at, I could cry for vexation even now."

"Why, that of itself is enough to make one laugh!"

Bessy continued:--

"But then the woman began talking nicely to me, which was ever so much worse. 'Come, come, my dear, good, pretty lady, have respect for your nice, handsome, lawful lord. Why, what a fine gentleman it is! Why, if I hadn't my Peter ...'

"'You manage to forget that, though, pretty often!' intervened Peter.

"The long and short of it all was that I had to resume the clothes I had left behind me, and restore to Jutka the draggle-tail rags which she had charged me with spoiling. But what objection could I make? What belongs to another is his, so I began to strip off my frock and neckerchief before the pair of them straightaway.

"The other woman then got a bit ashamed on my account. 'Let us go into the inner room,' said she; and drew me into the little chamber, and took out of her wardrobe the lordly raiment I had left there, and then helped me to dress. And all the time she was so mild, so friendly, and quite lost herself in rustic caresses and flatteries: 'Why, what a nice slim waist! What a shame that a mere clown should clasp it round! What lovely white shoulders! What a sin to ruin them by carrying about heavy loads!

And how swollen the little feet are from much walking! Why, they'll scarcely go into the old dress-boot, I do declare! Why fly into such tantrums about such trifles! Good gracious me! suppose every lady who caught her lord with a little milkmaid were to carry on with the first clown that fell in her way! Things like that should not be taken so seriously. A man is but a man, especially if he is a gentleman! Why, I've seen _countesses_ even, whose husbands went on the loose. You expect too much, my dear! Chocolate is the nicest dish in the whole world; but if one were to give one's husband nothing but chocolate every day, he would soon loathe the very sight of it. Come, come! go home, dear heart, my darling ladykin, to your dear good lord and master, and you'll see how heartily he'll receive you!'

"I replied that I would never go back to him again. I wept for shame.

The woman guessed the cause of my tears.

"'Come, come, good heart! Why, my lady, we'll all of us agree to deny that this little holiday ever happened. We were talking about it just now. We'll lie the thing away, and say that your ladyship only wanted to frighten the good gentleman, and that you were hiding the whole time at the house of the local magistrate.'

"And how about the flower-selling in the market-place, and the promenade through the waters?'

"'We'll say that that was only done out of spite. How should a dirty clown like my husband presume to cast his eyes on such a precious treasure as your ladyship? Why, anybody who could believe such a thing would be called a downright fool. We'll put it all to rights finely.'

"'But a separation suit is already going on?'

"'Your ladyship needn't trouble your head about that. His honour has withdrawn his complaint. Yes, I declare he has. He told me he was in great embarra.s.sment. He had been deprived of his t.i.thes and land tax, and did not know whither to turn for money. The gentlemen up at Pest had reintroduced the _morgatorium_, or whatever the plaguy thing is called, which as good as said that all the old debts were not to be paid, but that no new debts were to be made. Now, if he is divorced from your ladyship, he will have to pay you back your 100,000 florins, and then he'll be ruined. That's a fact.'

"A light began to dawn upon me. This garrulous little peasant woman had let out the secret why my idyll had terminated so abruptly. A very pretty twice-two certainly! They receive me back like a pupil returning to school after the vacation. For that very reason I resolved I would _not_ go back.

"When I was dressed again in my old clothes, she opened the little door and readmitted me into the larger apartment. Peter was now tricked out in his grandest array. He had donned his Sunday mantle, drawn on his new boots, and stood before me hat in hand. He was as humble as a lackey. He kissed my hand, and I noticed now for the first time how very bristly his chin was. When he spoke it sounded like the whining voice of a burnt-out beggar-man who stands at the stable-door and begs an alms.

"'I kiss your gracious hands, my lady. I humbly beg pardon if I have offended you in any way. I didn't mean to do it. Forgive me my fault, and I'll never do it again.'

"At this I knew not whether to laugh or to cry.

"Then he got quite touched, and wiped his eyes with the flapping sleeves of his shirt.

"Behind the door stood a stout willow-wood stick, which he laid hold of.

I wondered what he was going to do with it. Would he give it to me as a staff for my pilgrimage?

"'Permit me, your ladyship, to accompany you as far as the castle. Some evil might befall you on the way. There are bad men about. The dogs might bark at you, and the bull is quite savage.'

"'But I am not going to the castle,' I said.

"He gaped at me. 'Whither away, then?'

"'That's my business! The road goes up, and the road goes down. I'll go whichever way the wind blows.'

"Then he rallied all the wisdom he possessed, and preached a sermon to me with all the unction of an Old Testament patriarch.

"'Don't do that, my dear good lady! Don't grieve your good and loving lord! There's not a better man in the world. Allow me to accompany you home. I'll keep well behind--twenty yards if you like.'