by Mór Jókai
CHAPTER VI
Lisette had finished her tasks in the kitchen when the two ladies cameto pay her a visit. She was sitting in a low, stoutly made chair whichhad been fashioned expressly for her huge frame, and was shuffling apack of cards when the ladies entered.
She did not lay the cards to one side, nor did she rise from her chairwhen the baroness came toward her and said in a friendly tone:
"Well, Lisette, I dare say you do not know that I am your neighbor fromthe manor?"
"Oh, yes, I do. I used often to hear my poor old man talk about thebeautiful lady over yonder, and of course you must be she."
"And do you know that I expect to be Count Vavel's wife?"
"I did not know it, your ladyship, but it is natural. A gallantgentleman and a beautiful lady--if they are thrown together then therefollows either marriage or danger. A marriage is better than a danger."
"This time, Lisette, marriage and danger go hand in hand. The count ispreparing for the war."
This announcement had no other effect on the impassive mountain of fleshthan to make her shuffle her cards more rapidly.
"Then it is come at last!" she muttered, cutting the cards, andglancing at the under one. It was only a knave, not the queen!
"Yes," continued the baroness; "the recruiting-flag already floats fromthe tower of the castle, and to-morrow volunteers will begin to enrolltheir names."
"God help them!" again muttered the woman.
"I am going to take your young mistress home with me, Lisette," againremarked the baroness. "It would not be well to leave her here, amid theturmoil of recruiting and the clashing of weapons, would it?"
"I can't say. My business is in the kitchen; I don't know anything aboutmatters out of it," replied Lisette, still shuffling her cards.
"But I intend to take you out of the kitchen, Lisette," returned thebaroness. "I don't intend to let you work any more. You shall live withus over at the manor, in a room of your own, and, if you wish, have alittle kitchen all to yourself, and a little maid to wait on you. Youwill come with us, will you not?"
"I thank your ladyship; but I had rather stay where I am."
"But why?"
"Because I should be a trouble to everybody over yonder. I am a personthat suits only herself. I don't know how to win the good will of otherpeople. I don't keep a cat or a dog, because I don't want to loveanything. Besides, I have many disagreeable habits. I use snuff, and Ican't agree with anybody. I am best left to myself, your ladyship."
"But what will become of you when both your master and mistress are gonefrom the castle?"
"I shall do what I have always done, your ladyship. The Herr Countpromised that I should never want for anything to cook so long as Ilived."
"Don't misunderstand me, Lisette. I did not ask how you intended tolive. What I meant was, how are you going to get on when you do not seeor hear any one--when you are all alone here?"
"I am not afraid to be alone. I have no money, and I don't think anybodywould undertake to carry _me_ off! I am never lonely. I can't read,--forwhich I thank God!--so that never bothers me. I don't like to knit; forever since I saw those terrible women sitting around the guillotine andknitting, knitting, knitting all day long, I can't bear to see themotion of five needles. So I just amuse myself with these cards; and Idon't need anything else."
"But surely your heart will grow sore when you do not see your littlemistress daily?"
"Daily--daily, your ladyship? This is the second time I have laid eyeson her face in six years! There was a time when I saw her daily,hourly--when she needed me all the time. Is not that so, my littlemistress? Don't you remember how I had a little son, and how he calledme _chere maman_, and I called him _mon petit garcon_?"
As she spoke, she laid the cards one by one on her snowy apron. Shelooked intently at them for several moments, then continued:
"No; I don't need to know anything, only that she is safe. _She_ willalways be carefully guarded from all harm, and my cards will always tellme all I need know about _mon petit garcon_. No, your ladyship; I shallnot go with you; I cannot leave the place where my poor Henry died."
"Poor Lisette! what a tender heart is yours!"
"Mine?" suddenly and with unusual energy interrupted Lisette. "Mine atender heart? Ask this little lady here--who cannot tell a lie--if I amnot the woman who has the hardest, the most unfeeling heart in all theworld. Ask her that, your ladyship. Tell her, _mon petit garcon_," sheadded, turning to Marie,--"tell the lady it is as I say."
"Lisette--dear Lisette," remonstrated Marie.
"Have you ever seen me weep?" demanded the woman.
"No, Lisette; but--"
"Did I ever sigh," interrupted Lisette, "or moan, or grieve, that timewhen we spent many days and nights together in one room?"
"No, no; never, Lisette."
The woman turned in her chair to a chest that stood by her side, openedit, and took out a package carefully wrapped first in paper, then in alinen cloth.
When she had removed the wrappings, she held up in her hands a child'schemise and petticoat.
"What is needed to complete these, your ladyship?" she asked.
"A dear little child, I should say," answered Katharina, indulgently.
"You are right--a dear little child."
"Where is the child, Lisette?"
"That I don't know--do you understand? _I--don't--know._ And I don'tinquire, either. Now, will you still imagine that I have a tender heart?It is years since I looked on these little garments. What did I do withthe child that wore them? Whose business is it what I did with her? Shewas _my_ child, and I had a right to do as I pleased with her. I waspaid enough for it--an enormous price! You don't understand what I amtalking about, your ladyship. Go; take _mon petit garcon_ with you; andmay God do so to you as you deal with him. Take care of him. My cardswill tell me everything, and sometime, when I have turned into a hideoushobgoblin, those whom I shall haunt will remember me! And now, _monpetit garcon_"--turning again to Marie,--"let me kiss your hand for thelast time."
Marie came close to the singular woman, bent over her, and pressed akiss on the fat cheeks, then held her own for a return caress.
This action of the young girl seemed to please the woman. She struggledto her feet, muttering: "She is still the same. May God guard her fromall harm!" Then she waddled toward Katharina, took her slender hand inher own broad palm, and added: "Take good care of my treasure, yourladyship. Up to now, I have taken the broomstick every evening, beforegoing to bed, and thrust it under all the furniture, to see if theremight not be a thief hidden somewhere. You will have to do that now. Agreat treasure, great care! And, your ladyship, when you shall have inyour house such a little chemise and petticoat, with the little child inthem, trotting after you, chattering and laughing, clasping her armsround you and kissing you, and if some one should say to you, as theysaid to me, 'How great a treasure would induce you to exchange thislittle somebody in the red petticoat for it?' and if you should say, 'Iwill give up the child for so much,' then, your ladyship, you too maysay, as I say, that your heart is a heart of stone."
Katharina's face had grown very white. She staggered toward Marie,caught her arm, and drew her toward the door, gasping:
"Come--come--let us go. The steam--the heat of--the kitchen makes--mefaint."
The fresh air of the court soon revived her.
"Let us play a trick on Ludwig," she suggested. "We will take his canoe,and cross the cove to the manor. We can send it back with a servant."
She ordered her coachman to take the carriage home; then she tookMarie's hand and led her down to the lake.
They were soon in the boat. Marie, who had learned to row from Ludwig,sent the little craft gliding over the water, while Katharina held therudder.
Very soon they were in the park belonging to the manor; and howdelighted Marie was to see everything!
A herd of deer crossed their path, summoned to the feeding-place by ablast from the game-keeper's horn. The gracef
ul animals were so tamethat a hind stopped in front of the two ladies, and allowed them to rubher head and neck. Oh, how much there was to see and enjoy over here!
Katharina could hardly keep pace with the eager young girl, who wouldhave liked to examine the entire park at once.
What a number of questions she asked! And how astonished she was whenKatharina told her the large birds in the farm-yard were hens andturkeys. She had never dreamed that these creatures could be so pretty.She had never seen them before--not even a whole one served on thetable, only the slices of white meat which Lisette had always cut offfor her. But what delighted her more than anything else was that shemight meet people, look fearlessly at them, and be stared at in return,and cordially return their friendly "God give you a good day!"
What a pleasure it was to stop the women and children, with all sortsand shapes of burdens on their heads or in their arms, and ask what theywere carrying in the heavy hampers; to call to the peasant girls whowere singing merrily, and ask where they had learned the pretty songs.
"Oh, how delightful it is here!" she exclaimed, flinging her arms aroundthe baroness. "I should like to dig and work in the garden all day longwith these merry girls. How happy I shall be here!"
"To-morrow we will visit the fields," said Katharina "Can you ride?"
"Ride?" echoed Marie, in smiling surprise. "Yes--on a rocking-horse."
"Then you will very soon learn to sit on a living horse."
"Do you really believe I shall?" breathlessly exclaimed Marie.
"Yes; I have a very gentle horse which you shall have for your own."
"One of those dear, tiny little horses from which one could not fall? Ihave seen them in picture-books."
"He is not so very small; but you will not be afraid of falling off whenyou have learned to ride. Then, when you can manage your horse, we willride after the hounds--"
"No, no," hastily interposed the young girl; "I shall never do that. Icould not bear to see an animal hurt or killed."
"You will have to accustom yourself to seeing such sights, my dearlittle daughter. Riding and hunting are necessary accomplishments;besides, they strengthen the nerves."
"Have not the peasant women got strong nerves, little mama?"
"Yes; but they strengthen them by hard work, such as washing clothes."
"Then let us wash clothes, too."
Katharina smiled indulgently on the innocent maid, and the two nowentered the manor, where Marie made the acquaintance of Fraeulein Lotti,the baroness's companion.
Marie's attention was attracted by the number of books she saweverywhere; and they were all new to her. Ludwig had never broughtanything like them to the castle. There were poems, histories, romances,fables. Ah, how she would enjoy reading every one of them!
"Oh, who is doing this?" she exclaimed, when her eyes fell on an easelon which was a half-finished painting--a study head.
Her admiration for the baroness increased when that lady told her thepicture was the work of her own hand.
"How very clever you must be, little mama! I wonder if you could paintmy portrait?"
"I will try it to-morrow," smilingly replied the baroness.
"And what is this--this great monster with so many teeth?" she asked,running to the piano.
Katharina told her the name of the "monster," and, seating herself infront of the "teeth," began to play.
Marie was in an ecstasy of delight.
"How happy you ought to be, little mama, to be able to make suchbeautiful music!" she cried, when Katharina turned again toward her.
"You shall learn to play, too; Fraeulein Lotti will teach you."
For this promise Marie ran to Fraeulein Lotti and embraced her.
While at dinner Marie suddenly remembered that she had not yet seen thelittle water-monster, and inquired about him.
The baroness told her that the boy had gone back to his fish companionsin the lake; then asked: "But where did you ever see the creature?"
Marie hesitated a moment before replying; a natural modesty forbade herfrom confessing to Ludwig's betrothed wife that he had taught her how toswim, and had always accompanied her on her swimming excursions in hiscanoe.
"I saw him once with you in the park, when I was looking through thetelescope," she answered, with some confusion.
"Ah! then you also have been spying upon me?" jestingly exclaimed thebaroness.
"How else could I have learned that you are so good and beautiful?"frankly returned the young girl.
"Ah, I have an idea," suddenly observed the baroness. "That spy-glass ishere now. The surveyor to whom Ludwig gave it sent it to me when he haddone with it. Come, we will pay Herr Ludwig back in his own coin! Wewill spy out what the gentlemen are doing over at the castle."
Marie was charmed with this suggestion, and willingly accompanied her"little mama" to the veranda, where the familiar telescope greeted hersight.
Two of the windows in that side of the Nameless Castle which faced themanor were lighted.
"That is the dining-room; they are at dinner," explained Marie,adjusting the glass--a task of which the baroness was ignorant. When shehad arranged the proper focus, she made room for Katharina, who had abetter right than she had to watch Ludwig.
"What do you see?" she asked, when Katharina began to smile.
"I see Ludwig and the vice-palatine; they are leaning out of the window,and smoking--"
"Smoking?" interposed Marie. "Ludwig never smokes."
"See for yourself!"
Katharina stepped back, and Marie placed her eye to the glass. Yes;there, plainly enough, she beheld the remarkable sight: Ludwig, withevident enjoyment, drawing great clouds of smoke from a long-stemmedpipe. The two men were talking animatedly; but even while they werespeaking, the pipes were not removed from their lips--Ludwig, indeed, attimes vanished entirely behind the dense cloud of smoke.
"For six whole years he never once let me see him smoking a pipe!"murmured Marie to herself. "How much he enjoys it! Do you"--turningabruptly toward the baroness, who was smilingly watching her youngguest--"do you object to tobacco smoke?"
She seemed relieved when the baroness assured her that tobacco smoke wasnot in the least objectionable.
Some time later, when reminded that it was time for little girls to bein bed, Marie protested stoutly that she was not sleepy.
"Pray, little mama," she begged, "let us look a little longer throughthe telescope; it is so interesting."
But even while she was giving voice to her petition the windows in thedining-room over at the castle became darkened. The gentlemen evidentlyhad retired to their rooms for the night.
"Oh, ah-h," yawned Marie, "I am sleepy, after all! Come, little mama, wewill go to bed."
Katharina herself conducted the young girl to her room. Marie exclaimedwith surprise and delight when, on entering the room adjoining thebaroness's own sleeping-chamber, she beheld her own furniture--thecanopy-bed, the book-shelves, toys, card-table, everything. Even Hitz,Mitz, Pani, and Miura sat in a row on the sofa, and Phryxus and Hellecame waddling toward her, and sat up on their hind legs.
The things had been brought over from the castle while the baroness andMarie were in the park.
"You will feel more at home with your belongings about you," saidKatharina, as she returned the grateful girl's good-night kiss.