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 a.s.sure 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 n.o.body 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 n.o.body 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.
CHAPTER XIX.
ZOLTaN KaRPaTHY.
What Abellino had cause to tremble at had really happened. Madame John Karpathy had become a mother. A son was born to her.
Early one morning the family doctor invaded the sanctum of the Nabob with the joyful intelligence--"Your wife has borne you a son!"
Who can describe the joy of Squire John thereat? What he had hitherto only ventured to hope, to imagine, his hardiest, most ardent desire was gratified: his wife had a son! A son who would be his heir and perpetuate his name! who was born in happier times, who would make good the faults of his father, and by means of his youthful virtues fulfil the obligations which the Karpathy family owed to its country and to humanity.
If only he might live long enough to hear the child speak, to read a meaning in his sweet babblings, to speak words to him that he might understand and never forget, so that in the days to come, when he was the _feted_ hero of all great and n.o.ble ideas, he might say, "I first heard of these things from that good old fellow, John Karpathy."
What should be the child"s name? It should be the name of one of those princes who drank out of the same wine-cup with the primal ancestor of the House of Karpathy on the fair plains of Hunnia. It should be Zoltan--Zoltan Karpathy--how beautifully that would sound!
Presently they brought to him this new citizen of the world, and he held him in his arms and kissed and embraced him. He could scarce see him for the tears of joy that streamed from his eyes, and yet how greatly he longed to see him! With twinkling eyes he regarded the child, and a fine, vigorous little lad it was, like a little rosy-cheeked angel; his little hands and neck were regularly wrinkled everywhere from very plumpness, his mouth was hardly larger than a strawberry, but his sparkling eyes, than which no precious stone was ever of a purer azure, were all the larger by contrast, and whenever he drooped them the long lashes lay conspicuous on his chubby cheeks. He did not cry, he was quite serious, just as if he knew that it would be a great shame to be weak now, and when Squire John, in his rapture, raised him to a level with his lips and kissed his little red face again and again with his stiff, bristly moustache, he began to smile and utter a merry little gurgle, which those who were standing round Squire John were quite positive was an attempt to speak.
"Talk away, my darling little soul," stammered Squire John, perceiving that the child was s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up his little round lips all sorts of ways, as if he knew very well what he wanted to say but could not find the right words, "talk away, talk away! Don"t be afraid, we understand you.
Say it again."
But the doctor and the nurses thought well to interpret the little suckling"s discourse as a desire to go back to his mother. Enough of caresses then, for the present, they said, and, taking him out of Squire John"s arms, they brought him back to his mother, whereupon the good gentleman could not but steal softly into the adjoining room and listen whether the child was crying, and every time anybody came out he would ask what was going on or what had happened since, and every time anybody went in he sent a message along with him.
Towards the afternoon the doctor emerged again, and asked him to retire with him to another room.
"Why? I prefer being here; at least I can hear what they are talking about."