Were this story a romance pure and simple, it would suffice to tell that
Fraulein Fruzsinka had fire in her eyes, and Mr. Mathias but a heart of
wax, that, consequently, when they met, the one melted the other.
But since this history is, in the main, a true narrative, we do not
think it should be supposed that such was the case. Mathias Raby being a
diplomatist as well as a philosopher, did not seek in the lady of his
dreams a Venus Anadyomene, but rather a fully equipped Minerva, and he
thought that he had before him a high-minded woman, whose insight
penetrated the evil intentions of his enemies, and whose hands should
serve to set him free from the snares their wickedness had woven around
him. To save such a woman from a degrading position was in itself surely
a knightly and a noble deed. And what a splendid help would it not be to
him, in the struggle that lay before him, to choose such a companion,
who could circumvent the designs of his enemies, and be to him a
guardian angel as well as a helpmate.
So it came about that one day Mathias Raby sought out his uncle, Mr.
Leanyfalvy, with this request.
"I have come, my dear uncle, to remind you of your promise. I need a
'best man.'"
"A 'best man'? All right, my boy, I'm ready; let's have the horses put
to."
"It won't be necessary; it is only at the other end of the city. It is
to the prefecture I want to go."
"It's the Fruzsinka, then," exclaimed the old gentleman, and he began to
scratch his head in deep perplexity. Finally, he blurted out, "Listen to
me, my boy, take my advice and choose anyone else."
"Uncle, I forbid you to speak thus! She is my betrothed."
"I will not say anything against the woman of your choice. I will only
say this: your father and mother were worthy God-fearing folk. If there
had been twenty commandments to keep instead of ten, they would have
observed them all scrupulously. And they loved each other so dearly,
that when your father died, your mother followed him the very next day.
And so it can be said to your own credit, that you are neither a
murderer nor a robber. Therefore, I want to know how it is that, since
neither you nor your parents have ever committed mortal sin, such a
punishment should be destined for you, as marrying Fraulein Fruzsinka?"
"Uncle, I forbid you----"
"If you only knew the woman she is!"
"I know quite well, she herself has told me all."
"All, has she, what sort of an 'all' is it?"
Mathias Raby shrugged his shoulders as one who does not understand
grammatical subtleties. "Oh, with women, the world is an everyday
matter."
"But these are not everyday matters."
"Well, I will hear no evil of her."
"May Heaven forgive me if I make a mistake! But what does it concern me
after all? Yet I found for you a nice, well-brought up girl to whom the
other one cannot hold a candle! What are the black gipsy eyes of the one
compared to the innocent blue ones of the other? But if such a wife
pleases you, there is nothing more to be said. Only you will have a wife
and no mistake, I'll warrant you!"
"Now, dear uncle, I beg of you to come and accompany me in my wooing."
Mr. Leanyfalvy began to see that he must play a part in this pantomime
after all.
"I've no clothes to go in," he explained. "In these I could not enter
such grand company."
"I will bring you a new coat from Pesth."
"It's no use, nephew. Among such grand folks a simple gentleman like me,
who am a mere nobody, has no business. Take the district commissioner
with you; he is a great man, and can write worshipful before his name."
"I don't want any great men. I'd rather have you!"
Now the postmaster came out with his true meaning.
"I don't want to be your 'best man!'" he said bluntly.
"You don't, and why not?"
"Because I am exceedingly angry, and I should quarrel with you. I am
seriously vexed with you, not because you insist on marrying
Fruzsinka--you can be angry with yourself for that--but because you are
leaving that sweet, pretty, innocent child, to eat her heart out in
disappointment. I do not want to have anything more to do with you; you
are nothing to me. Now go, and take your grand friend with you!"
"Very well, I won't take anyone. I'll go alone and ask for her myself."
Thereupon, Raby turned away and went. It would be indeed absurd that a
man, in such a high position, who had been educated at the Theresianum,
and was the trusted confidant of the Emperor himself, should let himself
be dissuaded from his purpose by a simple unlearned rustic.
The contradiction only strengthened him in his determination.
And then--those glorious eyes!
* * * * *
Raby was one of those men who, once having set themselves an end in
view, pursue it unflinchingly. He went straight away to the prefect,
stated plainly his errand, and asked for the hand of his niece.
The prefect, however, pushed his cap back a little off his brows, and
demanded somewhat abruptly if his visitor understood Hungarian?
Raby was a little disconcerted by the question.
"Yes, I can speak Hungarian," he answered shortly.
"But, my friend, to speak Hungarian and to understand it are two very
different things, as we shall see directly. I ask you, what is it you
want? Do you want to take my niece Fruzsinka as your wife, or do you
wish to be the husband of my niece Fruzsinka?"
"Surely that is one and the same thing," said the suitor.
"Not a bit of it; they are quite distinct. Let's put it plainly. For
instance, you elect to be my niece's husband. In this case you come and
live here at the prefecture, and you get thrown in as a marriage
settlement, a coach and four, a coachman and lackey, and will have in
fact all the money you need. If you are tired of the chancery work in
Vienna, we can get you elected administrator of Visegrad, which post
happens to be vacant. You only need walk into it, or if you would prefer
to do so, you can easily keep your appointment at Court, and a deputy
will look after the Visegrad affairs for you, perhaps better than you
could yourself. All you have to do is to spend the income, if you come
to live here. This is one alternative. The other is that you take my
niece as your wife, and make your own little home for her, and the rest
is your concern, not mine. Now I have spoken plainly, do you understand
me?"
"Perfectly, and I am also ready with my answer. I ask for no prefecture,
no coach and four, no administratorship; I only ask for Fraulein
Fruzsinka, whom I love; I ask for the lady, not for the property."
"Well, go and have a talk with her. If she is agreeable to the proposal,
I won't raise any objection."
Thereupon, he sent the wooer to Fraulein Fruzsinka, who had previously
suggested to Raby that he should come on this particular day and
formally propose for her hand.
"You come without a 'best man,'" said Fruzsinka, as Raby entered. "You
have found no one who would undertake the office, that is it. Each of
the friends you asked refused, and tried to set you against me?"
"I assure you, Fraulein, that there is no man living from whom I would
listen to the slightest word against you, not even my own father. I will
tell you truthfully how the matter stands. I have one good old friend in
this world whom you know well, my uncle Leanyfalvy. I begged him to bear
me company, but he refused solely, however, on this ground, that he had
already chosen a bride for me, a playmate of my childhood, and had so
set his heart on my having her, that he is angered at my making another
choice."
"And why not marry the playmate of your childhood?"
"That too will I tell you, and be as candid with you as you were with
me. This girl is a dear, gentle, little creature, whose life it were a
shame to link with my own stormy career. Why, I should have to transform
myself to marry her. If I were a man who simply swims with the stream,
and troubles not as to what passes outside his own house, then could I
woo such a bride indeed. But I am possessed by a demon of unrest that
will let me have no peace; the misery of the people is constantly before
me, urging me unceasingly to champion their cause against their
oppressors. Nothing shall stop my mouth from pleading their rights. My
life will be a perpetual struggle, I see that clearly. And can I fetter
to such a destiny, a mere child whose only strength is her inexhaustible
patience and gentleness? Every moment would it not be a torment to me,
that each woe I drew down upon my head would fall likewise upon that of
a guiltless and innocent being with a hundredfold weight. No, Fraulein,
when I reckoned up the obstacles to the career I had set before me, I
determined to ask no woman to share it. Till fate threw me across your
path, I had never thought of marriage. But at the first glance, I said
to myself, 'There is the complement of my own being; there is a woman
whose soul is consumed like mine with a restless consciousness of the
world's woes. No one can understand her as I do.' What shocks others in
you is just what attracts me. My destiny can only be shared by one who
has plenty of ambition and no dread of danger. If you are truly mine,
give me your answer."
Fraulein Fruzsinka's only response was to throw herself on Raby's breast
and take his face between her hands.
* * * * *
Three weeks later, the marriage ceremony took place. When the wedding
was over, the worthy prefect rubbed his hands and murmured, "Now thank
Heaven, Mathias Raby has already the yoke round his neck. That is
something to be thankful for."