Part 16 (1/2)

Ciprianu had a handsome daughter, as tall as himself and with regular features of the old Roman cast. At her father's call she came out, lifted Blanka like a child from the carriage, and carried her into the house. It was a pleasant little abode, built of smoothly planed oak beams and planks. The kitchen, which served also as entrance hall, was as neat as wax and cheerfully adorned with brightly polished tinware.

The fire on the hearth was still smouldering, and it needed only a handful of shavings to make it blaze up and crackle merrily. The wall which separated the great fireplace from the next room was of glazed tiles, and thus the adjoining apartment was heated by the same fire that warmed the kitchen. Both the master of the house and his daughter were most cordial toward their guests. The father spread the table, while the girl put on the kettle and brought out the best that the house had to offer of food and drink, pressing the refreshments upon Blanka in words that sounded to her not unlike Italian, but were nevertheless quite unintelligible.

”They can both speak Hungarian,” whispered Aaron, when father and daughter were out of the room for a moment, ”but these are times when they choose to forget all tongues except their own.”

Blanka soon learned that her hostess's name was Zen.o.bia. When they sat down to the table, Zen.o.bia made as if to kiss her fair guest's hand; Blanka, however, would not allow it, but embraced the young woman and kissed her on the cheek.

This act was noted by the father with no little pride and satisfaction.

Blanka could not understand his words; she could only guess his meaning by the gestures and the play of countenance with which a Wallachian knows so well how to convey his thoughts. Thus, when Ciprianu put his hand first to his head, then tapped Aaron on the shoulder, kissed his own fingers and then stretched them heavenward, made a motion with his head and raised his eyebrows, bowed low, stood erect again, thumped his bosom, and finally extended his great, muscular hands toward Blanka as if to caress her, she could not but infer that the Wallachian-Hungarian n.o.bleman was proud of the courtesy shown to his daughter.

After this bit of eloquent pantomime, Ciprianu turned and hastened out of the room and into the courtyard, whence he soon reappeared amid a great cackling of poultry. He brought with him, tied together by the feet, a c.o.c.k and a hen of that splendid breed that so strangely resembles, in head and neck, the proudest of Calcutta turkeys. This pair of fowls he presented to Blanka. She smiled her pleasure, and gladly accepted the gift, mindful of the new duties soon to be imposed upon her as a young housewife, and thinking that this present would be a welcome addition to her establishment. The generous host did not wait for his guest's thanks, but disappeared again from the room.

”Sister-in-law,” said Aaron, ”you little suspect the value of the present you have received. Even to his bishop Ciprianu has never given a c.o.c.k and a hen of this breed at one time. So now we can sleep soundly in this house, for we have a sure proof that you have won its master's heart. With Ciprianu's c.o.c.k and hen we can make our way unchallenged through the whole Wallachian army. They are as good as a pa.s.sport for us.”

Blanka laughed, unaware of the full significance of his words. She was like a saint walking over red-hot coals without once singeing the hem of her robe.

Ciprianu's house was, as is usual among the Wallachian n.o.bility, well fitted for the reception of guests. Everything savoured of the householder's nationality, but comfort and abundance were everywhere manifest. Canopied beds were provided for all, only the master of the house, according to established custom, lay down before the kitchen door, wrapped in his sheepskin, and with his double-barrelled musket by his side. In an adjoining room stood two beds for Blanka and Zen.o.bia.

Aaron and Mana.s.seh were likewise given a chamber in common.

Curiously enough, one is often most wakeful when most in need of sleep.

All her surroundings were so strange to Blanka that she found herself wide awake and listening to the barking of the dogs, the occasional crowing of the c.o.c.ks, the snoring of the master of the house, and his frequent mutterings as he dreamed of fighting with thieves and housebreakers. Then her companion began to moan and sob in her sleep, and to utter disjointed sentences in Hungarian, of which she had so studiously feigned ignorance a few hours before. ”Oh, dear Jonathan,”

she whispered, pa.s.sionately, ”do not leave me! Kiss me!” Then she moaned as if in anguish.

Blanka could not compose herself to sleep. Only a wooden part.i.tion separated her from the room in which the two brothers slept. She could hear Mana.s.seh turning restlessly on his couch and muttering in his sleep as if in dispute with some one.

”No, I will not let you go!” she heard him exclaim. ”You may plunge my whole country in blood, you may baptise my countrymen with a baptism of fire, but I will never despair of my dear fatherland. Your hand has girt it round about with cliffs and peopled it with a peaceful race. It is my last refuge, and thither I am carrying my bride. With your strong arm restore me to my beloved home. I will wrestle with you, fight with you; you cannot shake me off. I will not let you go until you have blessed me.”

The fisticuffs and elbow-thrusts that followed must have all spent themselves on poor Aaron's unoffending person. At length the elder brother wearied of this diversion and aroused his bedfellow.

”With whom are you wrestling, brother?” he cried in the sleeper's ear.

”With G.o.d,” returned Mana.s.seh.

”Like Jacob at Peniel?”

”Yes, and I will not let him go until he blesses me--like Jacob at Peniel.”

”Take care, or he will put your thigh out of joint, as he did Jacob's.”

”Let him, if it is his will.”

With that Mana.s.seh turned his face to the wall, on the other side of which lay Blanka, who likewise turned her face to the wall, and so they both fell asleep.

And the Lord blessed them and spake to them: ”I am Jehovah, almighty.

Increase and be fruitful. From your seed shall spring peoples and races; for you have prevailed with G.o.d, and shall prevail also with men.”

CHAPTER XV.