I lifted my head and looked at her with amazement.
"Oh! we can say anything before _him_" (here she pointed at her bridegroom). "He"s as nice and good a boy as ever lived. I could twist him round my little finger if I liked. You can say anything before him.
You know my story, I think, up to the time when I had to go into hiding with Balvanyossi after the Revolution. I shouldn"t like you to imagine that I quitted that man from pure lightness of heart. Just fancy! he had the impudence to commit that act of baseness which I mentioned to you: he told the Imperial Commissioner the whole story of the conveying of those despatches, cleared himself from the accusation of that heroic deed, and at the same time denounced me. He justified himself to me on the ground that it was necessary to "_purify_ himself," in order that he might obtain a theatrical licence, and that they would not _impute_ this little joke to me because I was a woman. But they _did_ impute it! They arrested me, they imprisoned me, and they severely cross-examined me.
And I have to thank this worthy young fellow alone for getting off scot-free. He took my part. But for him I should have had to pay most dearly for my heroic exploit. Shouldn"t I, Wenzy?"
The lieutenant hinted, with a deprecatory wave of his hand, that no more need be said about the matter.
"Hence our acquaintance began," continued the lady, "and this, perhaps, will justify me in your eyes for selecting a foreigner, a foreign officer, as my _fiance_. I had very strong reasons, you must admit, for growing cold towards my former hero."
The fair lady did not appear to be satisfied with the impression that her eyes had made upon me; at least, I had some reason to believe that the following commentary was intended not so much for the delight of her bridegroom as for my own edification.
"Believe me (I am perfectly serious about it), I am not merely grateful to Kvatopil because he has rescued me from my great difficulties, and, what is more, from any further improprieties on the part of that Barabbas Balvanyossi;--no, I also esteem him as a n.o.ble nature worthy of all respect; from the crown of his head to the tip of his toe he is full of the love of truth, not even in jest would he tell a lie. He is valiant and strong-minded, and at the same time affectionate and tender-hearted. A man of his word, in fact, who does not lightly give his word either. A really model man."
A pencil was in my hand, and before me was a blank sheet of paper, and I involuntarily scribbled on this piece of paper "Number 4."
The lady grasped the import of my hieroglyphic and shook her head, but she smiled a little too.
"But he is not like the others," she insisted; "he is the direct opposite of what _ladies" men_ think a man should be. It will sound incredible, I know, but it is the simple fact that he has been my visitor these three years. He has come to see me nearly every day during that period, and never has he permitted himself a single bold advance or a single unbecoming expression. Every day I have to tell him, just as if it were the first time, to take a seat, put down his helmet, and place his sword in the corner, and our conversation has never gone beyond the criticism of Schiller"s verses."
I was bound to admit that this was really an extraordinary case.
"I couldn"t help rallying him about it," continued the lady; "you know that I am not accustomed to a wooer who imitates the statue of Memnon; and then Kvatopil confessed, with perfect simplicity, that he was _afraid_ of me. "If I were as timid on the battle-field," said he, "as I am in your presence, His Majesty would only give me my deserts by dismissing me from his service.""
The lieutenant signified by a nod of his head that his words had been correctly reported.
"Finally," continued Bessy, "I had to ask for his hand--hadn"t I, my friend?"
The bridegroom replied that such had indeed been the case.
"Even then he was quite coy. He pleaded his humble rank. He begged time for consideration. Now, didn"t you?"
"Yes, I did."
"I had to remove his scruples one by one, till at last I brought him to a definite declaration, and he said he would take me to wife. Never have I met with such an officer before."
Bessy read from my face the expression, "Why bother me with all this?" I never asked about it, and I didn"t care a fig about her affairs.
"Look now," continued she, in an almost supplicating voice, "I don"t tell you all these things to amuse you, but because I have an earnest request to make of you."
"So the lieutenant informed me."
"I don"t mean about giving me away--that is _not_ a serious request. You would do that to oblige any servant of yours. I have a much greater request than that to make. I wish to ask you to be my guardian, my foster-father."
"I? Your _foster-father_?"
"Don"t put so much emphasis on the word _father_. You are four years older than I am, remember."
"What does a married woman want with a guardian?"
"I a.s.sume the case of a married woman who mismanages her property."
"And do you believe, then, that _I_ am such a great financier?"
"I believe that you are my sincere friend, anyhow. You are my only real friend in the round world who neither asks nor expects anything for his kindness to me. I know it from experience. You have heard, no doubt (and if you haven"t heard, you might easily have guessed it), that my relations have shaken me off. They deny that they ever knew me. My mother has married again and removed to Prague. Every one in whom I would confide tries to get something out of me--either money, or what is more precious than money. Whosoever would attach himself to me is either a swindler, or a seducer, or a parasite. As for myself, I am a stupid, credulous creature, who will never have any brains to bless herself with. I need a strong hand over me, some one to look after my material interests and save me from bankruptcy, some one in whose good-will I may confide. I know very well I might find a more _experienced_ guardian than you, even if I went no further than the civic magistrates; but I could endure dictation from n.o.body--but you. Your dictation I could put up with. For Heaven"s sake do not let me perish!"
I could not help being sorry for her. I perceived also that she forbore to take my hand. Still, it is a rather ticklish position to become the guardian of a pretty woman, especially a pretty woman of this kind.
"Very well, I don"t mind. But let us consider the whole business seriously. I suppose the lieutenant agrees to it?"
Wenceslaus Kvatopil a.s.sured me that he had no will of his own in the matter.
"Well, now, let us consider the merits of the case. Have you still got the money which you deposited in the Vienna savings bank?"
"Yes, and as soon as you are my guardian, I mean to draw it out and deposit it in the bank at Pest."
"So much the better, it will be more convenient for the quarterly payments of interest. And then, too, you will have to pay out of this amount the usual caution-money required of every officer about to marry."
"Yes, I know. Six thousand florins."
"Of course, you might also mortgage your father"s house to this amount."
"Whichever you think best."
"I think the latter way will be best, for I foresee that you will get very little profit from your houses, and I want to save as much of your ready money as possible."
"_Save_, do you say?" cried Bessy, opening her eyes very wide at this word.
I scratched my head all over (I had lots of hair to scratch in those days). It was my duty as guardian to express my views with perfect candour. At last I found the requisite formula.
"Look now, my sweet ward Bessy, and you also, respected lieutenant, I have seen all sorts of wonders in my lifetime. I have seen a one-legged ballet-dancer who could turn the most difficult pirouettes; I have seen a painter without hands who painted masterly pictures with his feet; I have seen a blind actor who played Hamlet right to the very end. But what I never have seen yet is a cavalry officer without debts."
At this, the pair of them burst into a loud ha! ha! ha!
"No, no!" cried the bridegroom, "I am not such a wonder as that!"
I now begged him, since we had become so confidential, to be so good as to draw his chair close to the table and put down his beautiful helmet with the black and yellow plumes and go into figures.
"How much do your debts amount to?"
And a very pretty little amount he made of it.
The bridegroom could read from my face that I thought the amount a trifle extravagant for a lieutenant; for that amount Bessy could have got a major at least. He hastened to explain matters.
"I did not incur this large debt myself, the culprit was another lieutenant, a friend of mine, a rich and distinguished young fellow. He got me to write my name to a bill as guarantor of the amount. He was still a minor. I wrote my name, of course--what did I know about it?
Suddenly, when my young friend got over head and ears in difficulties, he blew his brains out. His father refused to pay the bill, and so I inherited it from his creditors. Since then I have been paying and paying, but the debt, instead of diminishing, increases, and the terrible _boa conscriptor_ winds itself tighter and tighter round my body."
A boa conscriptor indeed, was this gigantic conscriptor[96] serpent!
[Footnote 96: A translation of the Hungarian word _Osszeiro_, which means a conscript or schedule of anything, _here_ a schedule of debts.]