Mór Jókai

“ I recommend the American duel. Let us put our names into a hat and he whose name is drawn is compelled to shoot himself."
Lorand was staggered. He recalled that night in the crypt.
"One of us must die; you said so yourself," remarked Gyáli. "Good, I am not afraid of it. Let us draw lots, and then he whom fate chooses, must die."
Lorand gazed moodily before him, as if he were regarding things happening miles away.
"I understand your hesitation: there are others whom you would spare. Well, let us fix a definite time for dying. How long can those, of whom you are thinking, live? ”

“ Do you think I would play a jest upon you—and now?"
Topándy interrupted kindly.
"How could I jest with God now, when I am preparing to enter his presence?"
"How could I jest with your heart?" said Lorand.
"And with a dying girl," panted Czipra.
"No, no, you will not die, you will get well again, and we shall be happy."
"You say that now when I am dying," said the girl with sad reproach. "You tell me the whole beautiful world is thine, now, when of that world I shall have nothing but the clod of earth, which you will throw upon me." ”

“ This melancholy reverie was interrupted by Topándy's arrival.
"Now I beg you, Czipra, if you love me—" said Lorand.
If she loved him?
"To say not a single word to anybody of what you have seen. Nothing has happened to me.—If from this moment you ever see me sad, ask me 'What is the matter?' and I shall confess to you. But that pale face shall never be among those for which I mourn."
Czipra was rejoiced at these words.
"Let us show cheerful faces before my uncle and brother. Let us be good-humored. No one shall see the sting within us." ”

“ I had to sit at the head of the table, near Lorand. On Lorand's left sat Topándy, on his right, beside me, Pepi Gyáli.
"Well, old fellow, you too will drink with us to-day?" said Lorand to me playfully, putting his arms familiarly round my neck.
"No, you know I never drink wine."
"Never? Not to-day either? Not even to my health?"
I looked at him. Why did he wish to make me drink to-day especially?
"No, Lorand. You know I am bound by a promise not to drink wine, and a man of honor always keeps his promises, however absurd." ”

“ I am very glad to see you," said Sárvölgyi, in a husky tone, as if some invisible hand were choking his throat.
"Desiderius has grown a big boy, has he not?" said Lorand, taking a seat between Madame Bálnokházy and Melanie, while Desiderius sat opposite Sárvölgyi, who could not take his eyes off the lad.
"Big and handsome," affirmed Madame Bálnokházy. "How small he was when he danced with Melanie!"
"And how jealous he was of certain persons!"
At these words three people hinted to Lorand not to continue, Madame Bálnokházy, Melanie and Desiderius. How indiscreet these country people are! ”

“ The wanderer who disappeared from our sight we shall find on that plain of Lower Hungary, where there are as many high roads as cart-ruts.
It is evening, but the sun had just set, and left a cloudless ruddy sky behind it. On the horizon two or three towers are to be seen so far distant that the traveller who is hurrying before us cannot hope to reach any one of them by nightfall.
The dust had not so overlaid him, nor had the sun so tanned his face that we cannot recognize in these handsome noble features the pride of the youth of Pressburg, Lorand. ”

“ Lorand smiled to himself.
"My child," said Topándy, "you will not catch the infection from me, who am always sneering and causing scandals, but from that other who prays to the sound of bells."
"You mean Sárvölgyi?"
"Whom else could I mean? You will meet this man every day. And in the end you will say just as I do—'If one must go to heaven in this wise, I had rather remain here?'"
"Well, and what is this Sárvölgyi?"
"A hypocrite, who lies to all the saints in turn, and would deceive the eyes of the archangels if they did not look after themselves."
"You have a very low opinion of the man." ”

“ I want the blessing for those whom I love. This young fellow yesterday asked of me this maiden's hand. They have long loved each other, and deserve each other's love:—give them the blessing of faith, father. Do you agree, Czipra?"
The poor girl covered her burning face with her two hands, and, when Lorand stepped towards her and took her hand, began to sob violently.
"Don't you love me? Will you not be my wife?"
Czipra turned her head on one side.
"Ah, you are merely jesting with me. You want to tease, to ridicule a wretched creature who is nothing but a gypsy girl." ”

“ Once when Lorand was explaining to her the properties of the sun-spectrum, the girl sighed and, suddenly bending down to Lorand, whispered blushingly:
"Teach me to read."
Lorand looked at her in amazement. Topándy, looking over his shoulder, asked her:
"Tell me, what would be the use of teaching you to read?"
The girl clasped her hands to her bosom:
"I should like to learn to pray."
"What? To pray? And what would you pray for? Is there anything that you cannot do without?" ”

“ Lorand went first to Melanie:
"Here is the one you have so often sighed after," ... then turning to Topándy—"Madame Bálnokházy."
For a moment Melanie was taken aback. She merely stared in astonishment at the new arrival, as if it were difficult to recognize her at once, while her mother, with a passion quite dramatic, rushed towards her, embraced her, clasped her to her bosom, and covered her with kisses. She sobbed and kneeled before her; as one may see times without number in the closing scene of the fifth act of any pathetic drama.
"How beautiful you have become! What an angel! ”

“ When she smiles, everybody will smile at her in return. If she speaks German, the whole house will use that language; if she walks on her tip-toes, the whole house will walk so; if her head aches, everybody in the house will speak in whispers; not as when poor Czipra had a burning fever and nine men came to her bed to sing a funeral song, and offered her brandy."
Topándy laughed still more loudly at these invectives: the poor gypsy girl fixed her two burning eyes on Lorand's face and kept them there till they turned into two orbs swimming in water. ”

“ She had started in the teeth of a raw, freezing spring wind, when she heard that Lorand was gone.
Oh, is there any plummet to sound the depths of a mother's love?
Poor mother did try so hard to appear strong. It was so evident, that she was struggling to combat with her nervous attacks, just in the very moment which awoke every memory before her mind.
"Quietly, my daughter—quietly," said grandmother. "You know what you promised: you promised to be strong. You know there is need of strength. Don't give yourself over. Sit down." ”

“ To-night we shall have a glorious carnival at Szolnok, in honor of my regeneration. All the gay fellows of the neighborhood are invited to it. You must come with us too."
"Ha! Your regeneration carnival!" cried Gyáli, in a voice of ecstasy, the while gazing at Czipra apologetically. "Albeit other magnets draw me hither with overpowering force—I must go there without fail. I must deliver a 'toast' at your 'regeneration' festival, Lorand." ”

“ Only yesterday they had filled it to the brim with lime.
The robber wished to drag Lorand with him into it.
The young fellow planted his feet firmly and held back with all his might.
Kandur's eyes flashed with the stress of passion, when he saw in his opponent's terrified face that he knew what his intention was.
"Well, how do you like the dance, young gentleman? This will be the wedding-dance now! The bridegroom with the bride—together into the lime-pit. Come, come with me! There in the slacked lime the skin will leave our bodies: I shall put on yours, you mine: how pretty we two shall be!" ”

“ Lorand, horror-stricken, hastened to take care of his uncle: the old fellow embraced the neck of the youth kneeling beside him.
"You philosopher, you were right after all, you see. There is One who takes thought for two-legged featherless animals too. If I had known,—'Knock and it shall be opened unto you:' I should long have knocked at the door and cried, 'O Lord, let me in!'"
Topándy would not allow himself to be undressed and put to bed.
"Draw my chair beside Czipra. Let me learn from her how a dead man must behave. ”

“ Lorand gazed at her. In place of her previous green-blue face, which had gazed on him with the wild look of madness, a smiling, good-humored countenance was presented. She asked in a humorous tone:
"Well, so you are a student, what kind of student? Where did you come from?"
"I came with you, sitting beside the coachman."
"Do you wish to come to Lankadomb?"
"Yes."
"Perhaps to Sárvölgyi's? He loves prayers."
"Oh no. But to Mr. Topándy."
"I cannot advise that: he is very rude to such as you. You are accustomed to preach. Don't go there." ”

“ Lorand's whole being revolted at what Czipra had told him. That girl was the bride of that fatal adversary! of that man for whose sake he was to die! And that man would laugh when they stealthily transferred him, the victim too sensible of honor, to the crypt, when he would dance with his newly won bride till morning dawned, and delight in the smile of that face, which could not even weep for the lost one. ”

“ I was completely persuaded that Bálnokházy, my uncle, had few superiors in celebrity in the world, for personal beauty (except, perhaps, my brother Lorand) none; his wife was the most beautiful and happiest woman under the sun; and my cousin Melanie such an angel that, if she did not raise me up to heaven, I should surely never reach those climes.
And if some one had said to me then, "Let us begin at the beginning; that rich hair on Bálnokházy's head is but a wig," I should have demanded pardon for interrupting: I can find nothing of the least importance to say against the wearing of wigs. ”

“ Before the new-comers arrived he had just time to load both barrels:—the bushes hid him from anyone who might even stand face to face, so that he could take no sure aim.
Haste, care and courage!
Lorand had often read stories of famous lion-hunters, but had been unable to believe them: unable to imagine how a lonely man in a wild waste, far from every human aid, defended only by a bush, could be courageous enough to cover the oldest male among a group of lions seeking their prey, and at a distance of ten paces fire into his heart. Not to hit his heart meant death to the hunter. ”

“ Topándy was let into the secret, and considered it his duty to go with Lorand—he might be required to give the bride away.
The world around Lorand had changed—at least so he thought, but the change in reality was within him.
He was indeed born again: he had become quite a different man from the Lorand of yesterday. The noisy good-humor of yesterday badly concealed the resolve that despised death, just as the dreaminess of to-day openly betrayed the happiness that filled his heart. ”

“ Lorand sat down before her in a chair, from which he could look into the glass, and motioned to her to commence. Czipra could scarcely force herself to do so. So to destroy the beauty of that fair head, over which she had so often stealthily posed in a reverie! To crop close that thick growth of hair, which, when her fingers had played among its electric curls, had made her always feel as if her own soul were wrapt together with it. ”

“ The recollections which are a burden upon you, cannot be continued by an [Pg 303] alliance between us. You who dragged my mother down into misfortune, and then faithlessly deserted her, cannot insure me happiness, or expect faithfulness from me. I shall weep over Bálint Tátray, as my departed to whom my dream gave being, and whom cold truth has buried; but Lorand Áronffy I do not know. It is my duty to tell you so, and if you are, as I believe, a man of honor, you will consider it your duty, should we ever meet in life, never again to make mention of what was Bálint Tátray. ”

“ Desiderius returned.
"Look at us, my dear Czipra," said Lorand to the girl, who was always fluttering around him: "are we handsome enough? Will the eyes of the beautiful rest upon us?"
"Go," answered Czipra, pushing Lorand in playful anger, "as if you didn't know yourselves! Rather take care you don't get lost there. Such handsome fellows are readily snapped up."
"No, Czipra, we shall return to you," said Lorand, pressing Czipra so tenderly to him, that Desiderius considered as superfluous any further questions as to why Lorand had brought him there. ”

“ Do you know, Desiderius is the very double of what your father was when he came home from the academy: the same face, figure, depth of voice, the same lightning fire in his eyes, and that same murderous frown, and you are now going to take that boy before Sárvölgyi that he may relate an awful story of a man who wished to murder a good friend in the most devilish manner, just as he did!"
"Hush! Desi of that knows not a word."
"So much the better. A living being, who does not suspect that to the man whom he is visiting, he is the most horrible phantom from the other world! ”

“ Lorand noticed that as the cards came side by side, Czipra's face suddenly flushed; her eyes began to blaze with unwonted fire.
"See, the queen of melancholy is just beside you, on the far side the murderer. The queen of jealousy and the queen of hearts are in the opposite corner. On the other side the old lady. Above your head a burning house. Beware of some great misfortune. Some one wishes to cause you great sorrow, but some one will defend you." ”

“ In the most delicate situation she could so well maintain a woman's dignity, while side by side she displayed a maiden's innocence. When his comrades were at the table, Topándy strove always by ambiguous jokes, delivered in his cynical, good humor, to bring a blush to the cheeks of the girls, who were obliged to do the honors at table; on such occasions Czipra noisily called him to order, while Melanie cleverly and spiritedly avoided the arrow-point of the jest, without opposing to it any foolish prudery, or cold insensibility;—and how this action made her queen of every heart! ”

“ Every day Czipra felt more strongly what an interminable void can exist in a heart which lacks—God.
If it sorrows, to whom shall it complain?—if it has aspirations to whom can it pray? if terrors threaten it, to whom shall it appeal for help and courage? if in despair, from whom shall it ask hope?
When the heavy beating of her heart prevents a poor girl from closing her eyes, she tosses sleeplessly where she lies, agonised with unknown suspicions, and there is no one before her mind, from whom she can ask, "Lord, is this a presentiment of my approaching death, or my approaching health? ”

“ Czipra was delighted to be able to see Lorand once more alone in her strange room. She made him sit down on the velvet camp-stool, took her place on the tiger-skin and drew her cards from her pocket. For two years she had always had them by her. They were her sole counsellors, friends, science, faith, worship—the sooth-saying cards.
A person, especially a woman, must believe something!
At first she shuffled the cards, then, placing them on her hand offered them to Lorand.
"Here they are, cut them: the one, whose future is being told, must cut. Not with the left hand, that is not good. ”

“ Only let him come! but he, whom he expected did not come alone: the first to open his door was not Pepi Gyáli, but his brother, Desiderius. By chance they had met.
Lorand received his brother in a very spiritless manner. It was not he whom he wished to see now. Yet he rushed to embrace Lorand with a face beaming triumph.
"Well, and what has happened, that you are beaming so?"
"The school tribunal has acquitted me: yet I drew everything on myself and did not throw any suspicion on you."
"I hope you would be insulted if I praised you for it. Every ordinary man of honor would have done the same. ”

“ On this most inclement of the three wintry May evenings Lorand was standing alone at his window, and gazing abstractedly at the street through the ice-flower pattern of the window-panes.
Just such ice-flowers lay frozen before his soul. The lottery of fate has appointed his time: ten years his life would last; then he must die.
From seventeen to twenty-seven is just the fairest part of life. Many had made their whole earthly career during that period. ”

“ But Lorand was not taking counsel with his glass on that point: he was trying to see if he had changed enough.
"Come now," said Czipra with a certain indifference. "I will make you pretty myself: you must be even more handsome, so that young lady's eyes may not be riveted upon me. Sit down, I will arrange your hair."
Lorand had glorious chestnut-brown curls, smooth as silk. Madame Bálnokházy had once fallen madly in love with those locks and Czipra was wont to arrange them every morning with her own hands: it was one of her privileges, and she understood it so well. ”

“ One cannot remain for ever a burden to one's relations; only in case I learn can I be of use, if some poor man takes me as his wife; if not I must take service with some stranger, and must know these things anyhow."
There was much bitterness in these words; but the orphan of the ruined gentleman said them with such calm, such peace of mind, that every string of Czipra's heart was relaxed as when a damp mist affects the strings of a harp.
Meanwhile they had brought Melanie's travelling-trunk: there was only one, and no bonnet-boxes—almost incredible! ”

“ You are no married woman, young lady: you are still a maiden. I have looked into the eyes of many girls and women: I know which is which. A girl's eye lurks beneath the eyelids, as if she were looking always out of an ambuscade, as if she were always afraid somebody would notice her. A woman's eye always flashes as if she were looking for somebody. When a girl says in jest 'I am a married woman,' she blushes: if she were a woman, she would smile. You are certainly still unmarried, young lady." [Pg 354]
Czipra was annoyed at having opened a conversation with her. ”