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The Poor Plutocrats, a novel by Maurus Jokai |
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Chapter 3. An Amiable Man |
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_ CHAPTER III. AN AMIABLE MAN Baron Hatszegi was certainly a very amiable man. He had a handsome face full of manly pride, sparkling eyes, and a powerful yet elegant figure. He moved and spoke with graceful ease, bore himself nobly, picked his words--in short, was a perfect gentleman. Mr. Demetrius was quite taken with him, although Hatszegi hardly exchanged a word with him, naturally devoting himself principally to the widowed lady who played the part of hostess. What the conversation was really about nobody distinctly recollected--the usual commonplaces no doubt, balls, soirees, horse-racing. Henrietta took no part in the talk; Mr. John, on the other hand, had a word to say on every subject, and, although nobody paid any attention to him, he enjoyed himself vastly. When Hatszegi had departed, John, with a beaming face, asked Madame Langai what she thought of the young man. Instead of replying, Madame Langai asked what had induced him to bring him there. "Well, but he's a splendid fellow, isn't he?" "You said yesterday that he was a vagabond." "I said so, I know, but it is not true." "You said, too, that he was a robber." "What! I said that? Impossible. I didn't say that." Old Demetrius here intervened as a peacemaker. "You said it, John, you did indeed; but you were angry, and at such times a man says more than he means." "So far from being a robber or a vagabond," replied John, "he is one of the principal landowners in the Hatszegi district. How _could_ I have said such things! He has a castle that is like a fortress. He is like a prince, a veritable prince in his own domains. He is just like a petty sovereign. I must have been downright mad to call him a vagabond. . . ." "Yet, yesterday, you would have called him out," continued Madame Langai teasingly. "Yes, I was angry with him then, but there are circumstances which may reconcile a couple of would-be duellists, are there not?" "Oh, certainly, if a man is a man of business before all things, or has perhaps a valuable house or two on his hands." "This has nothing to do with business or selling houses. If you must know," he continued, lowering his voice, "it is about something entirely different, but of the very greatest importance." "Indeed?" returned Madame Langai, "a new Alexander the Great, I suppose, who has gone forth to conquer, and who has come to look not for a house, but for a house and home perhaps?" She thought to herself that it was some adventurer whom her brother John would palm off upon her as a husband so as to get her away from the old man. "Something of the sort," replied John. "Yes, you have guessed half--but the wrong half." "I am glad to hear it." "Ah!" put in the old man sarcastically, "Matilda will never marry again, I'm sure; she loves her old dad too much and feels far too happy at home to do that." "Ho, ho, ho!" laughed John scornfully, "I did not mean Matilda, I was not thinking of her. Ho, ho, ho! Madame Langai imagines that _she_ is the only person in the house whose hand can be wooed and won." Dame Langai, with a shrug, looked incredulously round the room to see if there was anybody else who could possibly become the object of the baron's sighs. All at once her eyes accidentally encountered those of Henrietta, and immediately she knew even more than her brother John did. For she now clearly understood three things: the first was that Henrietta had taken in John's meaning more quickly than she had done, the second was that John had brought the suitor to the house on Henrietta's account, and the third was that Henrietta loathed the man. She at once bade Miss Kleary give Henrietta an extra lesson on the piano in the adjoining room, and when they had taken her at her word and disappeared, she said to John in her usual quiet, mincing tone: "You surely do not mean to give Henrietta to that man?" "Why not, pray?" "Because she is still a mere child, a mere schoolgirl; five years hence it will be quite time enough to provide her with a husband." "But the girl is sixteen if she is a day." "Yes, and delicate, sickly, and nervous." "She will soon be well enough when she is married." "And who, may I ask, _is_ this suitor of yours. Is it not your duty, Demetrius Lapussa, as the girl's grandfather, to make the fullest enquiries about any man who may sue for your grand-daughter's hand? Is it not your duty, I say, to find out who and what he is and everything relating to him? For brother John may be very much mistaken in fancying his dear friend to be a wealthy and amiable nobleman. Whether he be amiable or not does not concern you personally, I know; but you ought certainly to know how he stands, for he may have castles and mansions and yet be up to the very ears in debt. In such a case if he is a nobleman so much the worse for you: for he will then have all the greater claim upon you. It may cost you dearly to admit a ruined baron into the bosom of your family." John grew yellow with rage: "How dare you talk like that of anyone you do not know?" he cried. "Then, do you know him any better?" But here the old man intervened: "You're a fool, John," said he. "Matilda is right. I will send for my lawyer, Mr. Sipos. He understands all about such things and will advise us in the matter. We _must_ find out how the baron stands." _ |
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