Part 14 (1/2)
Rety is sure to be returned. Bantornyi does not care. He put himself in nomination merely to please his brother. His party will be satisfied with a few of the smaller places. Rety, who is a good, honest man, resigns the office, and Kriver, who is agreeable to either party, takes his place.”
”I trust there will be no outrages.”
”Nothing of the kind. We have two companies of foot on the spot, and the cuira.s.siers are coming to-morrow.”
”But you know very well that I detest the interference of the military.
People _will_ misconstrue that kind of thing. They talk of the freedom of election.”
”No!” said the secretary, smiling; ”your Excellency can have no idea how fond the people here are of bayonets. Bantornyi and Rety asked me at least ten times whether due preparation had been made for the maintenance of order and tranquillity, and when I told them of the horse, they were ready to hug me from sheer delight. Your Excellency's predecessor was fond of soldiers, and there are people who cannot fancy a free election without bayonets. If they were called upon to paint the picture of Liberty, they'd put her between a grenadier and a cuira.s.sier.”
”Pray be serious!”
”So I am. Still it makes me laugh to think that the very men who now divide the county trace their origin as political parties to an idle controversy on the uniforms of the county-hussars. Hence the yellows and the blacks. I am sure your Excellency would laugh if you had seen their committee-rooms. Rety's head-quarters ring with high praises of his patriotism, for his having at the last election fixed the price of meat at threepence a pound; while in the next house you find all the butchers of the county for Bantornyi, the intrepid champion of protection and threepence-halfpenny. Just now, at the cafe, I overheard an argument on Vetshoshy's abilities, which were rated very low, because he is known to be a bad hand at cards. In short, your Excellency can have no idea of the farce which is acting around us. Slatzanek called half an hour ago, lamenting the lose of two of his best Cortes. They were stolen.”
”They were--what?”
”Stolen, your Excellency. One of the men is forest-keeper to the bishop.
He is a powerful fellow, with a stentorian voice, strongly attached to his party, and very influential in his way. He is a black. The yellow party surrounded him with false friends; they made him dead drunk, and in that state, in which they keep him, they take him from village to village, with the yellow flag waving over his head, thus showing him off, and making believe that he had joined their party. The thing happened a week ago, and the fellow, fancying that he is with the blacks, shouts 'Eljen!' with all the fury of drunken enthusiasm. The blacks have made several unsuccessful attempts to rescue their leader, and three n.o.ble communities, who were wont to vote with the bishop's keeper, have joined Bantornyi's party. The other man is a notary at Palinkash. They have put him down to a card-table, and whenever the wretched man thinks of the election, they cause him to win or to lose, just an it serves their turn to keep him there.”
The lord-lieutenant laughed.
”Have you spoken to Tengelyi, the notary of Tissaret?”
”He is coming. To see that poor man lose his time and labour is really distressing. I never saw more sincerity of enthusiasm and more manliness of feeling. The good man is almost sixty, and still he has not learnt that a village notary cannot possibly be a reformer.”
”I am afraid he's tedious,” said his Excellency; ”but we must bear with him, since you tell me he is a man of influence.”
”So he is, and more so than any notary in any county I know of. Vandory, by whom the clergy of this district are wont to swear, votes with the notary.”
”He is a demagogue, I am told.”
”No; I do not think that name applies to him. The principles, which demagogues make tools of, are the grand aim and end of his life. In short, he is half a century in advance of his age.”
”The worse for him, he'll scarcely live to see the day of general enlightenment. Men of his stamp are most dangerous.”
”Hardly so. Men of strong convictions are for the most part isolated.
They want the power to do harm, for they have no party. Who will side with them?”
”_Nous verrons!_” said the Count Maroshvolgyi. ”The notary is a family man; besides, he is poor. Kriver told me all about him, and I dare say there are means of settling him.”
”If your Excellency is right, I am mistaken.”
”Nor will this mistake be the last of your life,” said his Excellency, rising. ”The glaring red on a woman's cheek ought to tell you that that woman is painted, and the _belle des belles_ of the ball is palest in the morning. But I hear somebody in the next room. Pray see who it is; and if it be Tengelyi, leave me alone to talk to him.”
The secretary left the room, which Tengelyi entered soon afterwards. His Excellency received him with great cordiality.
”Have I your pardon,” said the great man, ”for asking you to come to me?
I wanted to see you, and I was disappointed in my hopes of finding you among my other visitors.”