Baroness Orczy

“ Countess Irma was a woman of the world. The horror of so preposterous a mésalliance, struck her at first with terrible force; but, when she found herself placed between the two alternatives, of facing complete penury in a provincial town, with one maid to cook the daily meal, and a tax-collector thundering weekly at the door, and that of seeing her daughter, the wife of a man infinitely beneath her in the social scale, but whose wealth was large enough, to restore to Bideskút all its former splendour, she chose what she considered the lesser evil. ”

“ Bideskuty sighed, but he trusted to his wife’s judgment. He fully believed that women understood one another, and he had never been allowed a say, in the bringing-up of his daughter.
And Kemény András had been sent for. He was expected every moment. Bideskúty was hideously nervous; anxiously he scanned his wife’s face, she sat rigid and erect, in the middle of the room, working at some knitting, with irritating persistency. Close by the window, her hands lying idly in her lap, her face turned away from her parents, sat Ilonka. ”

“ The sooner the marriage ceremony is gone through, the better.”
Bideskúty longed to ask many questions. In his heart he had a deep love for and pride in the lovely child.
“Remember, Gyuri, I have not told Ilonka, why this marriage is necessary. Thank God I have brought her up to obey her parents, without question and without argument.”
“I will not have her unhappy ...” protested Bideskúty.
“My dear Gyuri, what nonsense you talk. Of course she is not unhappy. Why should she be? She knows nothing of the man, she cannot dislike him, therefore how can she be unhappy?” ”

“ The sound of horses’ hoofs up the acacia drive. ... Bideskúty wiped the beads of perspiration from his forehead: his nervousness was quite painful; even Countess Irma’s hands trembled as she held her knitting; soon the sound of voices, the opening and shutting of doors, a heavy firm tread on the flagstones of the hall and passages, preceded by Jankó’s lighter step. ... Ilonka, alone, where she sat, had not stirred; her hands, which lay idly in her lap, had not trembled, only her eyes were norw fixed, large and glowing, on the door before her. ... ”