Baroness Orczy

“ In the east beyond the plain, a faint streak of delicate rosy grey broke the gathering gloom. The air was filled with choking smoke. Ahead a group of peasants, and mummers, rendered doubly grotesque by begrimed faces and hands and torn finery, were stamping out the last remaining sparks on his dearly-loved maize fields, which had been the pride of the county. ”

“ Already to the south and east, the arid plain and the wide high road had proved an insurmountable barrier to the spreading of the flames in those two directions, whilst to the north the group of outlying stables, deluged with water, had proved an effectual check. Hope began to revive in Bideskúty’s heart, as he saw the great bare patches in his fields of maize, against which every column of flame, which threatened to spread in the direction of the house, first flickered and then died. Pater Ambrosius had never ceased his prayers while the men worked, and Bideskúty watched. ”

“ Bideskúty at last prepared to go.
“The Countess asked my lord, to bring Kemény András of Kisfalu in with him,” added the maid, “for she wished to speak a few words of thanks to him, for his timely assistance,”
Then it was that Bideskúty recollected what it was he wanted to do, before going home to bed. There had been a man, who had not only toiled and slaved for him, helped to rescue his home from utter devastation, but had also induced others to give able and willing help, so as to render his ruin only partial, instead of whole. ”

“ You and I, father, will go back to where a poor old man, with his wife and daughter, is watching his all, fall a prey to ruin; to where poor frightened beasts rush helplessly about, only to meet with a terrible death, in the fire, which these children of hell have kindled. ”

“ Surlily they all smoked on, not listening to the kindly voice, which always brought spiritual comfort to their simple minds. Obstinately they remained deaf to every appeal, determined to carry on their crime, their folly, to its utmost dire limit. ”

“ The vanquished foe made one or two attempts at regaining lost ground; in one or two places the, stubble of cut maize stems caught fire and smouldered for awhile, but, after the work of cutting down, the stamping out of those smouldering remnants was quick and effectual. As the flames had subsided, the mummers had joined forces with the peasants, and soon the barrier, which forced the fire back and back, became closer and closer. Bideskúty never left the ground, while there was a single spark to be seen ”