A Bride of the Plains

will f

rn and all the brightest spots of Marosfalva. Built of laths and mud, it had long ago quarrelled with the whitewash which had originally covered it, and had forcibly ejected it, showing deep gaps and fissures in its wall

bject would not fail to be forthcoming as it did on every Sunday afternoon; she only wondered what particular form it would take to-day, whether Béla wo

s the hem

as he pointed to the tangled mass of stuff above him,

he gamut of hopeless discouragement; "since father has been stricken he wants constant attention.

nd me that my future wife-the bride of my lord the Count's own bailiff-

door of the cottage and went in; Béla fo

tains upon the floor and the walls, but above all was it apparent in the dower-chest-that inalienable pride of every thrifty Hungarian housewife-the dower-chest, which in Ilona's cottage was such a marvel of polish outside, and so glittering in its rich contents of exquisite linen. But here it bore r

d long ago covered the wood with soot. The lid was

in these hot countries for the dissolute and the drunkard had already overtaken him. He had had a stroke a couple of years ago, and then another last summer. Now he could not move hand or foot, his tongue refused him service, he could only see and hear and eat. Otherwise he was like a

rpse, brightened visibly. She ran to him and said something in his

er and rudely ignoring the young man, who had thrown his hat down and drawn one of the chairs clo

you will be troubled with my presence. After Wednesday, as I shall

"you will take good care to alienate her from her

, more viciously: "You will teach her to be purse-prou

ed with a sullen expression of contempt over e

oud of, anyway," he said

rted Irma; "and 'tis from here that you will

well-deserved. But her last words had apparently poured oil over the already troubled waters of the young man's

e of that," he said, and brought his clenched fist down upon the table with a crash, s

n to talk still more arrogantly and

to endow her future husband. Forty-eight oxen, I tell you, Irma néni! Never has there been such a procession seen in Mar

overty and his own riches ha

er turn, with a sneer, "you had to court E

ll if you had not bullied and worried her, and or

ir parents," she said,

ne, apply to your own a

ny cause fo

ly casting a sullen look upon the young girl, "she has not much love for me now, she w

to the invalid's chair, and sitting near him with her hand resting on his knee, she was whispering and talking animatedly to him, telling him all the gossip of the village, recounting to him every small event of the afternoon and of the morning:

ere, sitting at the feet of that miserable wreck of humanity whom she called "father!" ministering to him, for all the wor

said, once more turning a vicious glance upon her future son-in-

for the loutish peasants of the alf?ld (lowlands); they are sentimental and stupid: an

are in love," said Irma sententiously. "But I don

and laughed, a short, sar

. "But I want her for

auty of the countryside, and beca

good deal of bidding for Elsa, eh, Irma néni? So

than anybody," rejoined Irma, who

y own-even without your help, if it h

ay. All doubts, I suppose,

ft in the village who maintain

fretting himself into his grave, since he has realized that

ney while he lives," retorted Béla; "but yo

ore be done?-abou

n done. It's no use going on having rows by post with the War Office about t

re are plenty of folk in the village-and Pater Bonifácius is one of them-who swear that he will come home one of these days-perhaps when Pali bácsi is

vagely, as once more the sinister leer which hover

two years? But you needn't be afraid," she added, as she turned once more to her stewing-pot, "she didn't hear what I said. When she tal

ty, crept into his colourless face, "you seem to forget, Irma néni, that the rest o

called pe

elf up into a passion of fury. The veins in his pale forehead and temples swelled up visibly, the glitter in his one eye became more cruel and more menacing, final

more, hoarsely. "Elsa,