A Bride of the Plains

ws and we ar

y months? She did not say much, she hardly ever cried, but even her mother-hard and unemotional as she was-r

cruel fashion, had turned deathly pale, ere she contrived to run out of the room and hid

tual sneer, when Irma threw up her bony hands in hopeless puzzlement at her daught

et, matter-of-fact tone, "

; "but I have also known for the pa

laimed Irma with o

t I?" he retorted, "and I a

d you come

one else did. Then, when Lakatos Pál first became ill-long even before he confid

Irma, with a shrug of the shoulde

Pali bácsi would die and that Andor would come back and find himself

e, her fate, and her daughter upon some other power than her own will. She cared nothing about these intrigues of Béla's or of anyone e

rief it would be worse than useless to worry her with suggestions of matrimony. Girls had been known to do desperate things if they were overharas

more genteel inhabitants of Marosfalva-the schoolmistress' blouses, Pater Bonifácius' surplices. Er?s Béla continued in his unemotional attentio

ind, so persuasive: and she had so little to look forward to in the future. What did it matter what became of her?-whom she married or where her home would be? She saw more of Er?s Béla than she did of anyone else, for Er?s Béla wa

at he never, never could come back; now she might as well obey her mother a

t of Holy Michael and All Angels at the end of September. Congratulations poured in upon the happy pair, rejoicings were held in every house of note in the village. Ev

ss on Sundays or walking arm-in-arm with Béla in the afternoons would say that she was perfectly happy. Not a radiant bride certainly, not a typical Hungarian menyecske whose laughter echoes from end to end of the village, whose merry voice rings

nge very loving glances-at any rate not in public-yet they were never known to quarrel

s erstwhile highly-valued bailiff. Many people said that Béla would get his dismissal presently if he did not mend his ways; but th

a moment ago when unreasoning rage seized hold of him and he shouted to Elsa in a rough and peremptory manner. After that,

mper. When he shouted to her she turned and faced hi

what is it

buried his chin in his hands and looked across at the girl with a glowering and sullen look; "what is i

e," she replied quietly, "nothing u

g about with a face on you fit for a funeral, rat

éla. What s

ned obstinately, "and what's more I can m

hat you mean,"

lous. Isn't that it, now? Oh! I know well enough, you needn't be ashamed of

," she reiterated more firmly. "I

ur flaming cheeks! Irma néni, haven't you

"nor why you should be for ever teasing her. I am sure she has n

e is jealous of Klara G

e the blush quickly fled from the young gir

n sullen and moody these last two days, ever since I insisted that Klara

why you wanted that Jewes

" he retorted. "I pay for

's farewell, and if you didn't pay for the supper and the gipsies, and the hire of the school

kilomètres round. I have stinted nothing-begrudged nothing. I have given an ox, two pigs and a calf to be slaughtered for the occasion. I have given chickens and sausages and some of the finest flour the countryside can produce. As for the wine . . . well! all I can say is that there is no

he command of her future lord, she had faced him and listened to him attentively and respectfully all the while that he spoke, nor did her face betray anythi

h she was submissive, and gentle and even-tempered, her heart did not belong to him. He knew but little about love, believed in it still less: in that part of the world a good many men are still saturated with the Oriental conception of a woman's place in the

sense of proportion and of prudence; for the moment he felt as if he could hate this woman whom he had wooed and won despite her resistance, and in the teeth of stre

ver his outward self-control, "I suppose that you object to

d to by her lover, El

do," s

I ask

replied quietly, "is intended to be a farewell to her g

stood with squared shoulders, legs wide apart, and hands buried in the pockets of his tightly-fitting trousers. An ugly,

lage," he reiterated with forced sua

she certainly belongs to this village; but she is not one

igion to do with

cy at least as firm as his own; "you know that quite well. Thou

e sneered; "and in any case Klara and Ig

there's no getting away from that. They are different to us, somehow. I can't say how, but they are different. They don't speak as we do, they don't think as we do, their Sunday is Saturday, and

t, and like all Hungarians at heart, he had an unexplainable contempt for the Jews. But all the same, he was not going to give in to a woman

ara Goldstein is my friend, and I will have her asked to the banque

as Elsa, in her habitual peace-loving way,

ar, Béla," she n

aw. "I'll see to it, and don't you lose your temper about it. Here! sit down again. Elsa, bring your father's chair round for suppe

a bear with a sore head, r

y way of a parting shot, as he picked up his hat and made for the door, "that I do not admire the way you have brought up your daughter. A woman's place is

rned to Elsa, who already had jumped to her feet, and with a pleasa

alid room, with the slanting golden sunshine which peeped in through the tiny west w

e-which so many had coveted-was his by right of conquest. Even the young lord whose castle was close by had told Er?s Béla that he envied him his good luck, whilst my lord t

to him. He kissed her on the forehead and on the cheeks, but she would not let him to

ed to Irma a

ally, and think what a beautiful house you will have, and all those oxen and pigs and a carriage and four horses. You must thank God

," said Elsa cheerfully, as with vigorous young arms she pulled the pa

er each stood behind her own chair: the young girl's clear

ay for supper. It would do for to-morrow's dinner, and for to

a hearty, youthful appetite. Her mother could no

ct relationship between the want of money and all other earthly ills. Certainly the want of money was the father of them

e child realized this, and was