Part 45 (1/2)

”There you are mistaken, my sweet mother!” said Kalman, smiling. ”That young mind which, fertile in expedients, found the means for Viola's flight, belongs not to me, but to old Janosh.” And he proceeded to detail the manner in which they hoped to effect their purpose.

”This, then, was the reason why you would not allow Viola to be put into a better place!” said his mother. ”I thought you cruel and inconsiderate.”

”And you wronged me,” cried Kalman, gaily: ”but, to make up for it, you must a.s.sist us. I want the keys of the cellar and granary; for, in Hungary, there's no getting on without the two. Will you trust me with them?”

”With all my heart!” said Lady Kishlaki, handing him the keys. ”Spare me not; let them do as they please. Give the haiduks Tokay, if it must be; but do save that poor man!”

Mr. Kishlaki walked, meanwhile, to and fro in a terrible state of excitement. His wife followed him; and, placing her hand on his shoulder, she asked: ”What is the matter with you?”

”I think of the confounded sc.r.a.pe into which my weakness has brought me.

It was in my power to save that man: I might have done it orderly and legally; and what's the consequence? My only son is compelled to step in, and get himself into trouble, perhaps he will destroy the brightest hopes of his life, and I am not even allowed to ask him to desist.”

”My dear father!” cried Kalman; ”how can I possibly destroy my hopes by saving the life of a fellow-creature?”

”Who knows what the Retys will do when they learn that it was you who saved Viola? You are aware of Lady Rety's vindictive character. I am sure she hates you for what you did for Tengelyi.”

”It does not signify,”, replied Kalman, quietly. ”I ask no favour at the hands of Rety or his haughty lady; and as for Etelka, I trust this letter will convince you that she, at least, will not owe me any grudge for what I mean to do.” Saying which, he produced the letter which Janosh had brought him.

”She is an angelic creature; she is, indeed!” said Lady Kishlaki, looking over her husband's shoulder, as he read the letter. ”You are right, my son. You're in duty bound to save Viola.”

”It's the first letter I ever had from Etelka,” cried Kalman. ”If she asked me to commit a crime, I'd do it with the greatest pleasure; and this----”

”G.o.d forbid that I should oppose it!” said the old man. ”Your motives are good and generous; but still, what you intend doing is a crime according to law. If you should be detected, I tremble to think of the consequences!”

”Our success is certain,” said Kalman. ”Nothing can be more easy than to make the haiduks drunk. To keep them sober would be a far more difficult task. There's a door, of which I have the key. Nothing can be more simple.”

”But suppose they were to know of it? Suppose they were to indict you?”

”Indict _me_?” cried Kalman, laughing. ”My dear father, are you not aware that, to proceed against me, they must have the consent of the quorum? How will they ever get it?” And, pocketing the keys, he left the room.

”A generous lad!” said his mother. ”How can Etelka help being fond of him?”

”Capital plan!” sighed Kishlaki; ”capital plan, if it remains a secret.

It's indeed a generous action; but it's criminal, my love; it's against the laws.”

”Do not worry yourself with these thoughts.”

”And to think that I had it in my power to prevent it!”

”Never mind. Viola is saved; that's enough for all intents and purposes.”

”A cruel law, this,” sighed Kishlaki. ”I wonder what stuff the man was made of who first proposed it!”

CHAP. IX

To make people reasonable is a difficult thing at all times; but there are cases in which it is not less difficult to make them unreasonable.

Kalman Kishlaki was doomed to learn the truth of this maxim, for all his endeavours to induce Mr. Skinner to drink away the n.i.g.g.ardly allowance of sense with which Nature had provided that individual, proved abortive. As for Mr. Catspaw, we need not mention _him_, for he was one of those wretches who are always sober. To intoxicate _him_ was a thing that Kalman never dreamed of. The other guests, not even excepting Baron Shoskuty, answered without any invitations, and as it were spontaneously, to the wishes of their young host; the judge alone stood unshaken, like a st.u.r.dy rock in a troubled sea. Mr. Skinner was one of the deepest drinkers in the county; he was not indeed a stranger to the condition in which Kalman wished to see him; but the presence of Volgyeshy, whom he hated, the admonitions of Mr. Catspaw, and above all his honest ambition to add fresh honours to his former trophies, made him proof against any quant.i.ty of wine which Kalman induced him to take.