Eyes Like the Sea: A Novel
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CHAPTER XXI
MARIA NOSTRA.
Ah! what an ocean of time has passed since this happened. It must betwenty years, at least. It makes me giddy when I look back upon it. Buthow many evil years there were, how many days that I do not love tothink about! How many have been torn from my side to whom life was a joyand on whom the future smiled! And I still remain! Only here and there,now and again, perhaps, do I encounter a grey-headed shape like myself,a relic from that brilliant time, and what a joy it then is to look backupon those old days and say: "It is not so good now as it was then!"
Some years ago I was on a visit of inspection among our large nationalState prisons. I happened to be at Szamosujvar and Illava, where thearistocracy of crime is collected together, persons condemned to a termof imprisonment exceeding ten years, all of them criminals once undersentence of death, but reprieved by an act of grace. Here wereinteresting studies of the night side of human nature.
I also visited the Maria Nostra. Here the female criminals resided, andnuns were the warders.
This house of correction can only be visited by special permission ofthe Ministry.
There the discipline is strict, but the prisoners are very well treated.
Last of all we visited the day-room, where the prisoners were at work.
They all sat in a long room, and were sewing. Those who could do thefiner sort of work were at little tables of their own. I stopped beforeone of such tables; a woman was sewing some sort of child's garment. Itis the rule that when a visitor stops before the table of one of thefelons, she shall immediately rise from her seat and, whether asked orunasked, say what her crime is and how long her term of imprisonment.
She arose when I stood before her table.
Her hair was as white as autumn gossamers, but her eyes still flashedwith their old varying fires--they were still, as of old, the flamingeyes like the sea! In a dull monotone she told me her crime and hersentence: "I killed my husband. I am condemned to imprisonment forlife."
For life!--and life so long!
"Can I not use my interest in your favour?"
"I thank you, but it is well with me here. I wish for nothing more inthis world."
And with that she returned to her place and went on with her work.
Poor little Bessy!
Last year I received a letter announcing her death. It was her last wishthat I, but nobody else, should be informed of it.
THE END.
EYES LIKE THE SEA.
BY MAURUS JOKAI
12MO, CLOTH
A FEW COMMENTS OF THEENGLISH PRESS
Half autobiographical, dramatic, and at the same timehumorous, Jokai's novel, crowned by the HungarianAcademy in 1860, is a delightful exception to thetendency which is fast making fiction a branch ofscience instead of art.--_Morning Post._
It is a strikingly original and powerful story ... Thegreat charm of the book is the manner in which Jokaianalyses Bessie's character. All through the storyindeed we feel ourselves in the presence of a master ofthe human heart, and again and again we come uponsentences pregnant with that wisdom which it is the lotof but few to acquire.--_Speaker._
From beginning to end "Eyes like the Sea" teems withentertaining matter and the English version is highlycreditable to Mr. Nisbet Bain the translator of thissprightly autobiographical novel.--_Daily Telegraph._
"Eyes Like the Sea" is an alluring book into which todip at random ...--_Academy._
"Eyes like the Sea" is one of those rare books thatbreak all rules and defy criticism by justifying theirirregularities.--_Guardian._
It is good to know too that fiction in Hungary has amaster so hearty, so human, and so free at once frompriggishness and _naturalism_.--_Saturday Review._
In some respects the heroine reminds us of Becky Sharpand in others of Manon Lescaut, and in femininedexterity and sexual eccentricities is no unworthy matefor either.--_Athenaeum._
It is truly, as Mr. Bain remarks in his preface, abrilliant example of the now rare novel of incident andadventure ... The vigor of the book isastonishing.--_World._
The charm of the original as a work of art loses a gooddeal in the translation ... none the less the book isextremely interesting. It is a sketchy and vivacioussummary of the more salient incidents in the politicaland literary career of the eminent Hungarian poet andromancist, its author.--_Literary World._
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONSNEW YORK AND LONDON
Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in theoriginal edition have been corrected.
In the Preface, "pronouned preference" was changed to "pronouncedpreference".
In Chapter I, a missing period was added after "Valsez la".
In Chapter II, "would have withrawn" was changed to "would havewithdrawn", and a missing quotation mark was added before "you oughtreally to be a tamer of animals!".
In Chapter III, a missing period was added after "after her wedding".
In Chapter IV, a quotation mark was added before "They are all in a verygood humour to-day".
In Chapter VI, "amongst us at the, Table of Public Opinion" was changedto "amongst us at the Table of Public Opinion".
In Chapter VIII a missing quotation mark was added after "skiz andpagat...."
In Chapter X a missing period was added after "Newspapers he neverreads".
In Chapter XIII, "beleagured fortress" was changed to "beleagueredfortress", "hide yourself in the village of Isza" was changed to "hideyourself in the village of Izsa", a missing period was added after"glass full of szilvorium", and an extraneous quotation mark was deletedafter "the hovel at Heteny".
In Chapter XIV, a quotation mark was added before "Forget what we havebeen speaking about!"
In Chapter XV, "Wencesclaus Kvatopil was decidedly an improvement" waschanged to "Wenceslaus Kvatopil was decidedly an improvement".
In Chapter XVI, "Kakas Martin," was changed to "Kakas Martin."
The ellipses in Chapter XVII both contained an extra dot (a period plusfour dots at the end of a sentence, and four dots following anincomplete sentence). The extra dots have been removed. Also, a missingperiod has been added after "her various temperaments".
In Chapter XVIII, a missing quotation mark was added after "mutuallydiscovered in Kvatopil's character....". In Chapter XIX, "OzvegyKapitauyne" was changed to "Ozvegy Kapitanyne", a period was changed toa colon after "said to the President", a missing quotation mark wasadded after "left to practise alone", and "piroutted off" was changed to"pirouetted off".
In Chapter XX, "turn the jok against you" was changed to "turn the jokeagainst you", "the Jozsefvarose dispensary" was changed to "theJozsefvaros dispensary", "the real Ca holic faith" was changed to "thereal Catholic faith", and a misplaced quotation mark was move from after"taken in hand to get on very well" to after "sit in judgment on hisfaults".
Also, the section titled "A Few Comments of the English Press" has beenmoved from the front of the book to the back.