Home > Authors Index > Maurus Jokai > Hungarian Nabob: A Romance > This page
A Hungarian Nabob: A Romance, a novel by Maurus Jokai |
||
Chapter 18. Unpleasant Discoveries |
||
| < Previous |
Table of content |
Next > |
|
________________________________________________
_ CHAPTER XVIII. UNPLEASANT DISCOVERIES
His first business was to get together a sufficient number of gentlemen to form a club where only eminent and distinguished members of society would assemble. Kecskerey himself was a singularly interesting person, and when he had dressed himself for the evening, and laid himself out to be agreeable, he had such a store of piquant anecdotes to draw upon, all more or less personal experiences during his artistic ramblings, that even the tea-tables were deserted and the witty gentleman was surrounded by merry crowds of eager listeners. Something particular was in the wind now, for there was a considerable whispering among Kecskerey's _habitues_, and they let it be known that should he be seen conversing with Abellino, it would be as well to be within earshot, as something unusually interesting would be going on. "Why, what great misfortune can have befallen Abellino that our friend Kecskerey can speak of him so lightly?" inquired Livius, turning towards Rudolf. "Generally speaking, he is in the habit of treating him with greater respect in view of his ultimate claims to the Karpathy estates." Rudolf shrugged his shoulders. What did it matter to him what befell Abellino? Look; now he is coming in! He had still that defiant, devil-may-care step, that haughty, insolent look, as if the whole world were full of his lackeys, that repellent beauty, for his features were as vacant as they were handsome. "Ah, good evening, Bela; good evening, Bela!" screeched our friend Kecskerey, while Abellino was still some distance off; he did not move from his place, but sat there with his arms embracing his legs like the two of clubs as it is painted on old Hungarian cards. Abellino went towards Kecskerey. He attributed the fact that he drew after him a whole group of gentlemen, who quitted the tea-tables and the whist-tables to crowd around him, to the particular respect of the present company to himself personally. "I congratulate you," cried Kecskerey, in a shrill nasal voice, waving his hands towards Abellino. "What for, you false club?" Thus it was clear that Abellino also was struck by Kecskerey's great resemblance to the historical playing-card already mentioned, and this sally brought the laughter over to his side. "Don't you know that I have just come from nunky, my dear?" "Ah, that's another matter," said Abellino, in a somewhat softer voice. "And what, pray, is the dear old gentleman up to now?" "That's just where my congratulations come in. All at home send you their best greetings, kisses, and embraces. The old gentleman is as sound as an acorn, or as a ripe apple freshly plucked from the tree. Don't be in the least concerned on his account; your uncle feels remarkably well. But your aunt is sick, very sick, and to all appearance she will be sicker still." "Poor auntie!" said Abellino. "No doubt," thought he to himself, "that is why he congratulates me; and good news, too. No wonder he congratulates me. Perhaps she'll even die--who knows?--And what's the matter with her?" he asked aloud. "Ah, she is in great danger. I assure you, my friend, that when last I saw her, the doctors had prohibited both riding and driving." Even now the real state of things would not have occurred to Abellino's mind, had not a couple of quicker-witted gentlemen, who had come there for the express purpose of laughing, and were therefore on the alert for the point of the jest, suddenly laughed aloud. Then, all at once, light flashed into his brain. "A thousand devils! You are speaking the truth now, I suppose?" His face could not hide the fury which boiled up within him. "Why, how else should I have cause to congratulate you?" said Kecskerey, laughing. "Oh, it is infamous!" exclaimed Abellino, beside himself. The bystanders began to pity him, and the softer-hearted among them quietly dispersed. It was a horrible thought that this man, who on entering the room had believed himself to be the master of millions, should have been plunged back into poverty by a few words. Kecskerey alone had no pity for him. He never pitied any one who was unfortunate; he reserved all his sympathy for the prosperous. "Then there's nothing more to be done," murmured Abellino, between his teeth, "unless it be to kill myself or that woman." Kecskerey's strident rasping voice seemed to cut clean through that desperate murmur. "If you want to kill or be killed, my friend, I should advise you to read Pitaval,[11] wherein you will find all sorts and kinds of tips for murderers, including lists of poisons both vegetable and mineral, a liberal choice of weapons of every description, and the best means of disposing of the _corpus delecti_ afterwards, either by submersion, combustion, dissection, or inhumation. The whole twelve volumes is a little library of itself, and a man who reads it patiently through to the end will easily persuade himself that he is a born murderer. I recommend the matter to your attention. Ho, ho, ho!" [Footnote 11: The allusion, no doubt, is to F. G. de Pitaval's "Causes celebres et interessantes."--TR.] To all this Abellino paid no attention. "Who can be this woman's lover?" said he. "Look around you, my friend, and choose for yourself." "At least I should like to recognize and kill him." "I am absolutely sure I know who her lover is," remarked Kecskerey. "Who?" asked Abellino, with sparkling eyes. "Oh, that man I _should_ like to know!" Kecskerey, who was having rare sport with him, drew his neck down between his shoulders, and continued--"How many times have I not seen you fall upon his neck, and kiss and embrace him!" "Who is it, who is it?" cried Abellino, catching hold of Kecskerey's arm. "Would you like to know?" "I should." "Then it is--her husband." "This is a stupid jest," cried Abellino, quite forgetting himself; "and nobody will believe it. That woman loves somebody, loves some one with shameful self-abandonment. And that old scoundrel, her husband, knows and suffers it in order to gratify his vengeance on me. But I will find out who he is, I will find out who it is if it be the devil himself, and I will bring a scandalous action against this woman, the like of which the world has never yet seen." At that moment a loud manly voice rang out amidst the group of listeners who were beginning to rally Abellino, and ironically beg him not to suspect them as they were quite innocent, and could not lay claim to the honour of making Madame Karpathy happy. "Gentlemen," it said, "you forget that it is not becoming in men of breeding to make ribald jests about the name of a lady whom nobody in the world has any cause or any right to traduce." "What, Rudolf! Why, what interest have you in the matter?" inquired the astonished Kecskerey. "This much--I am a man and will not allow a woman whom I respect to be vilified in my presence." That was saying a great deal, and there was no blinking it, not only because Rudolf was right and enjoyed the best of reputations, but also because he was known to be the best shot and swordsman in the place, and cool-headed and lucky to boot. So from henceforth Madame Karpathy's name ceased to be alluded to in the club. _ |
||