"Oh certainly, if they were sure that my uncle, who is rich, were going to leave me his money. But that is a secret no one knows. There are two things my wooer cannot find out, whether my uncle really loves me, and whether I know how to flatter him well enough, so as not to forfeit his affection. And truly I do not quite know myself."
"And that surely is not difficult to decide. For your beautiful toilettes and good education witness sufficiently to his affection for you."
"Ah, as far as my education goes, I have only to thank the gracious Empress Maria Theresa, for I was educated at her Elizabeth Inst.i.tute in Buda, and my education cost no one a h.e.l.ler. And as regards my dress, my uncle insists on my dressing well, in order to captivate each new-comer.
If it is an aristocratic cavalier who appears on the scene, forthwith I must don my pearl-embroidered bodice and lace stomacher and the plumed hat, but if it be an ordinary townsman, I wear the provincial dress of the simple country girl. Yes, would you know everything at this, our first meeting? And, indeed, as it is the first, so will it be the last.
But would you hear how that must be, come with me into my own sitting-room, for here someone will overhear us."
Raby was already under the spell of the sorceress, and he followed her willingly into her boudoir.
"You are not the first, dear Raby," pursued his hostess, "who has come into this town vowing vengeance on us, to demand that justice be done. I say "us," for as you see, I too am leagued with this confederacy. And each of such emissaries in turn have I seen withdraw after a time, his anger appeased. Now, once more, they hear that a man of iron has come to set his foot down with inexorable rigour; he distributes the vast bribe which has been offered him, among the poor, while to win him over, even the great coffer is ransacked, but in vain. Thereupon, the authorities bethink them of another treasure still, the prefect"s niece. And they trick her out as a fashionable lady, and leave her alone with the incorruptible. You see I am quite frank! Do you not blush for me? I do for myself, I can a.s.sure you. Take my advice, and fly from this place!"
"But, Fraulein, all you tell me does but make me still more determined to pursue the purpose for which I came hither."
"I see you to-day for the first time; I know nothing of you but what I have heard from your opponents; but what I have heard of you only makes me take your side. You are no ordinary man. Go, I tell you, and save yourself; flee from this place!"
"I save myself?"
"Yes, indeed! You cannot imagine how evilly disposed to you are those among whom you find yourself. Indeed, they have threatened to take your life."
What does she mean? Will she scare him away from the field of his labours, so that intimidated by her words, he returns to Vienna? Or has she measured her man, and seen that he is to be best caught by seeking to divert him from his purpose? And does she know that for such a one, the most powerful enticement of all will be to seek to turn him from his goal?
Raby responded to the signal that his hostess made him, to come closer; nay, he took the fan she held, and fanned her and himself with it.
"That is splendid; why it will make my stay here quite a romantic experience," he said.
"You will rue it, however, and expose yourself to a thousand dangers which you have not the power to withstand. I see you are confident of your strength. But if you had to fight with someone, would it not disquiet you to know your adversary was an excellent shot. Suppose the moment you entered the field, someone whispered to you: "Be on your guard; your second is in league with your opponent, he has placed no bullets in your pistol." Would you not, in such a case, refuse to fight?"
"But the case is quite unthinkable."
"So you deem it. But to prove to you, that I am not seeking, as your enemies would have me do, to try and entangle you in my net, I will tear asunder the snare already closing round you, and show you something which shall enlighten you once and for all."
She went to her writing-table and took out of a drawer a letter.
"Say, do you know this handwriting?"
"Very well, it is that of the district commissioner."
"The note was addressed to me, in order to awaken no suspicion. Please read it."
It was the letter which the district commissioner had written at the theatre.
As he read it, Raby fairly crimsoned with wrath. He was thunderstruck to find that his official chief, who had promised to support his mission, should have a secret understanding with those whom he was pledged to punish. Whom should he trust, if this was the state of things?
"Now will you not fly?" said Fraulein Fruzsinka. Her words urged him to go, but her eyes held him back.
"No, indeed! now will I remain," cried Raby impetuously, as he rose to go. And as if to prove that he had determined to do and dare all, he hastily seized her hand and raised it pa.s.sionately to his lips.
And she did not withdraw hers, but vehemently returned its pressure, as if to say: "This is the man I have long been looking for!"
"Leave me now," she whispered; but her eyes seemed to say, "Come again, soon!"
Mathias Raby knew now that fate had led him to a kindred soul at last!
CHAPTER XIV.
Were this story a romance pure and simple, it would suffice to tell that Fraulein Fruzsinka had fire in her eyes, and Mr. Mathias but a heart of wax, that, consequently, when they met, the one melted the other.
But since this history is, in the main, a true narrative, we do not think it should be supposed that such was the case. Mathias Raby being a diplomatist as well as a philosopher, did not seek in the lady of his dreams a Venus Anadyomene, but rather a fully equipped Minerva, and he thought that he had before him a high-minded woman, whose insight penetrated the evil intentions of his enemies, and whose hands should serve to set him free from the snares their wickedness had woven around him. To save such a woman from a degrading position was in itself surely a knightly and a n.o.ble deed. And what a splendid help would it not be to him, in the struggle that lay before him, to choose such a companion, who could circ.u.mvent the designs of his enemies, and be to him a guardian angel as well as a helpmate.
So it came about that one day Mathias Raby sought out his uncle, Mr.
Leanyfalvy, with this request.
"I have come, my dear uncle, to remind you of your promise. I need a "best man.""
"A "best man"? All right, my boy, I"m ready; let"s have the horses put to."
"It won"t be necessary; it is only at the other end of the city. It is to the prefecture I want to go."
"It"s the Fruzsinka, then," exclaimed the old gentleman, and he began to scratch his head in deep perplexity. Finally, he blurted out, "Listen to me, my boy, take my advice and choose anyone else."
"Uncle, I forbid you to speak thus! She is my betrothed."
"I will not say anything against the woman of your choice. I will only say this: your father and mother were worthy G.o.d-fearing folk. If there had been twenty commandments to keep instead of ten, they would have observed them all scrupulously. And they loved each other so dearly, that when your father died, your mother followed him the very next day.
And so it can be said to your own credit, that you are neither a murderer nor a robber. Therefore, I want to know how it is that, since neither you nor your parents have ever committed mortal sin, such a punishment should be destined for you, as marrying Fraulein Fruzsinka?"
"Uncle, I forbid you----"
"If you only knew the woman she is!"
"I know quite well, she herself has told me all."
"All, has she, what sort of an "all" is it?"
Mathias Raby shrugged his shoulders as one who does not understand grammatical subtleties. "Oh, with women, the world is an everyday matter."
"But these are not everyday matters."
"Well, I will hear no evil of her."
"May Heaven forgive me if I make a mistake! But what does it concern me after all? Yet I found for you a nice, well-brought up girl to whom the other one cannot hold a candle! What are the black gipsy eyes of the one compared to the innocent blue ones of the other? But if such a wife pleases you, there is nothing more to be said. Only you will have a wife and no mistake, I"ll warrant you!"
"Now, dear uncle, I beg of you to come and accompany me in my wooing."
Mr. Leanyfalvy began to see that he must play a part in this pantomime after all.