WHILE THE MUSIC SOUNDS
At Lankadomb the order of things had changed.
After the famous scandal, Topandy's dwelling was very quiet--no guest
crossed its threshold: while at Sarvoelgyi's house there was an
entertainment every evening, sounds of music until dawn of day.
They wished to show that they were in a gay mood.
Sarvoelgyi began to win fame among the gypsies. These wandering musicians
began to reckon his house among one of their happy asylums, so that even
the bands of neighboring towns came to frequent it, one handing on the
news of it to the other.
The young wife loved amusement, and her husband was glad if he could
humor her--perhaps he had other thoughts, too?
Sarvoelgyi himself did not allow his course of life to be disturbed:
after ten o'clock he regularly left the company, going first to
devotions and these having been attended to, to sleep.
His spouse remained under the care of her mother--in very good hands.
And, after all, Sarvoelgyi was no intolerable husband: he did not
persecute his young wife with signs of tenderness or jealousy.
In reality he acted as one who merely wished, under the guise of
marriage to save a victim, to free an innocent, caluminated, unfortunate
girl in the most humane way from desperation.
It was a good deed,--friendship, nothing more.
Sarvoelgyi's bedroom was separated from the rest of the dwelling house by
a kind of corridor, bricked in, where the musicians were usually placed,
for the obvious reason that the sun-burnt artists are passionately fond
of chewing tobacco.
This mistaken arrangement was the cause of two evils: firstly, the
master of the house, lying on his bed, could hear all night long the
beautiful waltzes and mazurkas to which his wife was dancing; secondly,
being obliged to pass through the gypsies on his way from the ball-room
to his bedroom, he came in for so many expressions of gratitude on their
part that his quiet retirement gave rise to a most striking uproar,
disagreeable alike to himself, to his wife, and his guests.
He called the brown worthies to order often enough: "Don't express your
gratitude, don't kiss my hand. I am not going away anywhere:" but they
would not allow themselves to be cheated of their opportunity for
grateful speeches.
One night in particular an old, one-eyed czimbalom-player, whose sole
remaining eye was bound up--he had only joined the band that day--would
not permit himself to be over-awed: he seized the master's hand, kissed
every finger of it in turn, then every nail: "God recompense you for
what you intend to give, multiply your family like the sparrows in the
fields: may your life be like honey...."
"All right, foolish daddy," interrupted Sarvoelgyi. "A truce to your
blessings. Get you gone. Mistress Borcsa will give you a glass of wine
as a reward."
But the gypsy would not yield: he hobbled after the master into his
bedroom, opening the door vigorously, and thrusting in his shaggy head.
"But if God call from the world of shadows..."
"Go to hell: enough of your gratitude."
But the czimbalom-player merely closed the door from the inside and
followed his righteous benefactor.
"Golden-winged angels in a wagon of diamonds...."
"Get out this moment!" cried Sarvoelgyi, hastily looking for a stick to
drive the flatterer out of his room.
But at that moment the gypsy sprang upon him like a panther, grasping
his throat with one hand and placing a pointed knife against his chest
with the other.
"Oh!"--panted the astonished Sarvoelgyi. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"Who am I?" murmured the fiend in reply, looking like the panther when
it has set its teeth in its victim's neck. "I am Kandur,[75] the mad
Kandur. Have you ever seen a mad Kandur? That is what I am. Don't you
know me now?"
[Footnote 75: Tom-cat.]
"What do you want?"
"What do I want? Your bones and your skin: your black blood. You
highwayman! You robber!"
So saying, he tore the bandage from his eye: there was nothing amiss
with that eye.
"Do you know me now, herdsman?"
It would have been in vain to scream. Outside the most uproarious music
could be heard: no one would have heard the cry for help. Besides the
assailed had another reason for holding his peace.
"Well, what do you want with me? What have I done to you? Why do you
attack me?"
"What have you done?" said the gypsy, gnashing his teeth so that
Sarvoelgyi shivered--this gnashing of human teeth is a terrible sound.
"What have you done? You ask that? Have you not robbed me? Eh?"
"I robbed you? Don't lose your senses. Let go of my throat. You see, I
am in your hands anyhow. Talk sense. What has happened to you?"
"What has happened to me? Oh yes--act as if you had not seen that
beautiful illumination the day before yesterday evening--that's
right--when the rick was burned down, and then the gunpowder dispersed
the fire, so that nothing but a black pit remained for mad Kandur."
"I saw it."
"That was your work," cried the fiend, raising high the flashing knife.
"Now, Kandur, have some sense. Why should _I_ have set it on fire?"
"Because no one else could have known that my money was stored away
there. Who else would have dreamed I had money, but you? You who always
changed my bank-note into silver and gold, giving me one silver florin
for a small bank-note, and one gold piece for a large one. How do I know
what was the value of each?--You knew I collected money. You knew how I
collected, and why--for I told you. My daughter is in a certain
gentleman's house; they are making a fool of her there. They are
bringing her up like a duchess, until they have plucked her
blossoms,--and then they will throw her away like a wash-rag. I wished
to buy her off! I had already a pot of silver and a milk-pail of gold. I
wanted to take her away with me to Turkey, to Tartary, where heathens
dwell; and she would be a real duchess, a gypsy duchess! I shall murder,
rob, and break into houses until I have a pot full of silver, and a pail
full of gold. The gypsy girl will want it as her dowry. I shall not
leave her for you, you white-faced porcelain tribe! I shall take her
away to some place where they will not say 'Away gypsy! off gypsy! Kiss
my hand, eat carrion, gypsy, gypsy!'--Give me my money."
"Kandur."
"Don't gape, or tire your mouth. Give me a pot of silver, and a pail of
gold."
"All right, Kandur, you shall get your money--a pot of silver and a pail
of gold. But now let me have my say. It was not I who took your money,
not I who set the rick on fire."
"Who then?"
"Why those people yonder."
"Topandy, and the young gentleman?"
"Certainly. The day before yesterday evening I saw them in a punt on the
moat, starting for the morass, and I saw them when they returned
again--the rick was then already burning. Each of them had a gun: but I
did not hear a single shot, so they were not after game."
"The devil and all his hell-hounds destroy them!"
"Why, Kandur, your daughter was mad after that young gentleman--she
certainly confessed to him that her father was collecting treasures: so
the young gentleman took off daughter and money too--he will shortly
return the empty pot."
"Then I shall kill him."
"What did you say, Kandur?"
"I shall kill him, even if he has a hundred souls. Long ago I promised
him, when first we met. But now I wish to drink of his blood. Did you
see whether the old mastiff too was there at the robbing?"
"Topandy? A plague upon my eyes, if I did not see him. There were two of
them, they took no one with them, not even a dog: they rowed along here
beside the gardens. I looked long after them, and waited till they
should return. May every saint be merciless to me, if I don't speak the
truth!"
"Then I shall murder both."
"But be careful: they go armed."
"What?--If I wish I can have a whole host. If I wish I can ravish the
whole village in broad daylight. You do not yet know who Kandur is."
"I know well who you are, Kandur," said Sarvoelgyi, carefully studying
the robber's browned face. "Why we are old acquaintances. It is not you
who are responsible for the deeds you have done, but society. Humankind
rose up against you, you merely defended yourself as best you could.
That is why I always took your part, Kandur."
"No nonsense for me now," interrupted the robber hastily. "I don't mind
what I am. I am a highwayman. I like the name."
"You had no ignoble pretext for robbing,--but the saving of your
daughter from the whirlpool of crime. The aim was a laudable one,
Kandur: besides you were particular as to whom you fleeced."
"Don't try to save me--you'll have enough to do to save yourself soon in
hell, before the devil's tribunal--you may lie his two eyes out, if you
want. I have been a highwayman, have killed and robbed--even clergymen.
I want to kill now, too."
"I shall pray for your soul."
"The devil! Man, do you think I care? Prayer is just about as potent
with you as with me. Better give a pile of money to enable me to collect
a band. My men must have money."
"All right, Kandur: don't be angry, Kandur:--you know I'm awfully fond
of you. I have not persecuted you like others. I have always spoken
gently to you and have always sheltered you from your persecutors. No
one ever dared to look for you in my house."
"No more babbling--just give over the money."
"Very well, Kandur. Hold your cap."
Sarvoelgyi stepped up to a very strong iron safe, and unfastening the
locks one by one, raised its heavy door--placing the candle on a chair
beside him.
The robber's eyes gleamed. Sufficient silver to fill many pots was piled
up there.
"Which will you have? silver or bank-notes?"
"Silver," whispered the robber.
"Then hold your cap."
Kandur held his lamb-skin cap in his two hands like a pouch, and placed
his knife between his teeth.
Sarvoelgyi dived deeply into the silver pile with his hand, and when he
drew it back, he held before the robber's nose a double-barrelled
pistol, ready cocked.
It was a fine precaution--a pistol beautifully covered up by a heap of
coins.
The robber staggered back, and forgot to withdraw the knife from his
mouth. And so he stood before Sarvoelgyi, a knife between his teeth, his
eyes wide opened, and his two hands stretched before him in
self-defence.
"You see," said Sarvoelgyi calmly, "I might shoot you now, did I wish.
You are entirely in my power. But see, I spoke the truth to you.--Hold
your cap and take the money."
He put the pistol down beside him and took out a goodly pile of dollars.
"A plague upon your jesting eyes!" hissed the robber through the knife.
"Why do you frighten a fellow? The darts of Heaven destroy you!"
He was still trembling, so frightened had he been.
The loaded weapon in another's hand had driven away all his courage.
The robber could only be audacious, not courageous.
"Hold your cap."
Sarvoelgyi shovelled the heap of silver coins into the robber's cap.
"Now perhaps you can believe it is not fear that makes me confide in
you?"
"A plague upon you. How you alarmed me!"
"Well, now collect your wits and listen to me."
The robber stuffed the money into his pockets and listened with
contracted eyebrows.
"You may see it was not I who stole your money; for, had I done so, I
should just now have planted two bullets in your carcass, one in your
heart, the other in your skull. And I should have got one hundred gold
pieces by it, that being the price on your head."
The robber smiled bashfully, like one who is flattered. He took it as a
compliment that the county had put a price of one hundred gold pieces on
his head.
"You may be quite sure that it was not I, but those folks yonder, who
took away your money."
"The highwaymen!"
"You are right--highwaymen:--worse even than that. Atheists! The earth
will be purified if they are wiped out. He who kills them is doing as
just an action as the man that shoots a wolf or a hawk."
"True, true;" Kandur nodded assent.
"This rogue who stole away your daughter laid a snare for another
innocent creature. He must have two, one for his right hand, the other
for his left. And when the persecuted innocent girl escaped from the
deceiver to my house and became my wife, those folks yonder swore deadly
revenge against me. Because I rescued an innocent soul from the cave of
crime, they thrice wished to slay me. Once they poured poison into my
drinking-well. Fortunately the horses drank of the water first and all
fell sick from it. Then they drove mad dogs out in the streets, when I
was walking there, to tear me to pieces. They sent me letters, which,
had I opened them, would have gone off in my hands and blown me to
pieces. These malicious fellows wish to kill me."
"I understand."
"That young stripling thinks that if he succeeds he can carry off my
wife too, so as to have her for his mistress one day, Czipra, your
daughter, the next."
"You make my anger boil within me!"
"They acknowledge neither God nor law. They do as they please. When did
you last see your daughter?"
"Two weeks ago."
"Did you not see how worn she is? That cursed fellow has enchanted her
and is spoiling her."
"I'll spoil his head!"
"What will you do with him?"
Kandur showed, with the knife in his hand, what he would do--bury that
in his heart and twist it round therein.
"How will you get at him? He has always a gun in the daytime: he acts as
if he were going a-shooting. At night the castle is strongly locked, and
they are always on the lookout for an attack,--they too are audacious
fellows."
"Just leave it to me. Don't have any fears. What Kandur undertakes is
well executed. Crick, crick: that's how I shall break both the fellows'
necks."
"You are a clever rascal. You showed that in your way of getting at me!
You may do the same there, by dressing your men as fiddlers and
clarinet-players."
"Oh ho! Don't think of it. Kandur doesn't play the same joke twice. I
shall find the man I want."
"I've still something to say. It would be good if you could have them
under control before they die."
"I know--make them confess where they have put my money which they
stole?"
"Don't begin with that. Supposing they will not confess?"
"Have no fears on that score. I know how to drive screws under
finger-nails, to strap up heads, so that a man would even confess to
treasures hidden in his father's coffin."
"Listen to me. Do what I say. Don't try long to trace your stolen money:
it's not much--a couple of thousand florins. If you don't find it, I
shall give you as much--as much as you can carry in your knapsack. You
can, however, find something else there."
"What?"
"A letter, sealed with five black seals."
"A letter? with five black seals?"
"And to prevent them making a fool of you, and blinding you with some
other letter which you cannot read, note the arms on the respective
seals. On the first is a fish-tailed mermaid, holding a half-moon in her
hand--those are the Aronffy arms:--on the second a stork, three ears of
corn in its talons--those are the High Sheriff's arms: on the third a
semi-circle, from which a unicorn is proceeding,--those are the Nyarady
arms; the fourth is a crown in a hand holding a sword--those are the
lawyer's arms. The fifth, which must be in the middle, bears Topandy's
arms,--a crowned snake."
The robber reckoned after him on his fingers:
"Mermaid with half moon--stork with ears of corn--a half circle with
unicorn--crown with sword-hand--snake with crown. I shall not forget.
And what do you want the letter for?"
"That too I shall explain to you, that you may see into the innermost
depths of my thoughts and may judge how seriously I long to see the
completion of that which I have entrusted to you. That letter is
Topandy's latest will. While my wife was living with him, Topandy,
believing she would wed his nephew, left his fortune to his niece and
her future husband, and handed it in to the county court to be guarded.
But when his niece became my wife, he wrote a new will, and had all
those, whose arms I have mentioned, sign it; then he sealed it but did
not send it to the court like the former one; he kept it here to make
the jest all the greater, thinking we stand by the former will. Then,
the latter will comes to light, making void the former--and excluding my
wife from all."
"Aha! I see now what a clever fellow you are!"
"Well, could that five-sealed letter come into my hands, and old Topandy
die by chance, without being able to write another will--well, you know
what that little paper might be worth in my hands?"
"Of course. Castle, property, everything. All that would fall to
you--the old will would give it you. I understand: I see--now I know
what a wise fellow you are!"
"Do you believe now that if you come to me with that letter...."
The robber bent nearer confidingly, and whispered in his ear:
"And with the news that your neighbors died suddenly and could not write
another."
"Then you need have no fear as to how much money you will get in place
of what they stole. You may go off with your daughter to Tartary, where
no one will prosecute you."
"Excellent--couldn't be better. Leave the rest to me. Two days later
Kandur will have no need to indulge in such work."
Then he began to count on his fingers, as if he were reckoning to
himself.
"Well, in the first place, I get money--in the second, I have my
revenge--in the third, I take away Czipra,--in the fourth, I shall have
my fill of human blood,--in the fifth, I get money again.--It shall be
done."
The two shook hands on the bargain. The robber left by the same door
through which he had entered; Sarvoelgyi went to bed, like one who has
done his business well; and in the corridor the gypsies still played the
newest waltz, which Melanie and Madame Balnokhazy were enjoying with
flushed faces amidst the gay assembly.