"That is a good lad! Well, what have you been about? do you still go
to school?"
"Oh, dear, no! I have finished my studies."
"So soon! And what business are you going to take up?"
"I am an oculist, aunt."
"Indeed! already?"
"At your service, aunt."
Little Esztike tripped up to me: "Now you are joking, bacsi," she
whispered, with a mischievous smile.
"Well, you must carry on the joke," I whispered in reply.
"And why?"
"Merely because I wish my dearest Esztike to hand me Aunt Debora's
spectacles over the wall this evening; I am going to make a little
improvement in them."
"Well," interrupted Aunt Debora, who had been examining the mushrooms;
"and so you are an oculist? Ay, ay!"
"At your command. But I will not inconvenience you further," I said,
taking up my hat.
"Oh, stay a little longer," said the good dame--at the same time
pushing me towards the door, which she opened to let me out.
I got the spectacles that evening; and removing the magnifying glasses
with great care, I substituted a pair which I had cut out of the
smoothest pane of glass with a diamond.
Next morning I rose early and replaced the spectacles on Aunt Debora's
table, after which I obtained admittance with a basket of cherries.
"We are really much obliged to you," said Mistress Debora, speaking in
the plural number, though she gave none to anybody but herself.
"Oh, it is not worth mentioning."
"But I must just look if they have any inhabitants," she added; "this
fruit generally has." And searching for her spectacles, she placed
them on her nose and began examining the cherries, holding them first
close, then at a distance, and then taking off her glasses and wiping
them to look again.
"I don't know what is the matter," she exclaimed at last; "I can't see
in the least to-day."
"Eh, how? what is the matter?"
"Just try these glasses, nephew, and tell me if they magnify."
I looked through them. "Why, aunt, the hairs on my skin look like
porcupines' quills."
"O dear! then I must be becoming blind, for I can see nothing through
them."
"My dear aunt," I exclaimed, with a look of alarm, turning her round
to the light, "what can be the matter with your eyes? St. Gregory! you
are going to get a white cataract! Why don't you take more care of
yourself?"
"A white cataract!" she shrieked, covering her eyes with both her
hands. "Oh! I am lost! I am undone! Nephew, dear nephew! can you not
help me?"
"Hm!" I replied, with a look of anxious importance, making a few
doctor's grimaces; "have you no sensations of paralysis in the tunica
choroidaia?"
She knew what the tunica choroidaia was! and replied that she
certainly had some sensations of the kind.
"Do you awake often at night?"
"I do indeed, every night."
"Hm! a bad symptom. Show me your tongue."
She produced it. "A very bad tongue indeed (here, at least, I spoke
truth). If these symptoms should be accompanied by pains in the elbows
(I knew the good lady was subject to this), I fear, my dear aunt, it
may end in--marmaurosis!"
"O dear! O dear!--my elbows ache constantly; but what is the
marmaurosis?"
"That is when the retina gets apoplexia, and the patient remains in
total ablepsia."
She did not comprehend much of this, but what she did was quite enough
for her.
"For Heaven's sake, don't let me get blind, dear nephew!--what shall I
do, or what can I take?"
"There is not a moment to lose: you must go to bed instantly, while I
prepare some medicine."
I went home and mixed a little liquorice and rose-water, and found my
patient in bed on my return.
Having rubbed her eyes with the rose-water, and tied up her face so
that only her chin protruded from beneath the bandage, I ordered her
to keep quite quiet, and by no means to remove it until I gave her
leave, as otherwise total ablepsia might be the consequence.
And now I could speak to my little Esztike without disturbance; and
(Heaven forgive me!)--I gave her a hearty kiss!
"Esztike!" cried Aunt Debora, suddenly starting up.
Esztike had slipped out of the room.
"Csitt!" I replied softly, "Esztike is not here."
"What was that smack I heard just now?"
"I was drawing the cork from the medicine-bottle."
"O dear! the medicine!"
"Yes, dear aunt; but you must not talk or make the least exertion, for
you will certainly get the _black_ cataract if you do."
"This will not do," thought I; "for if she has not eyes, she has ears,
and good ones too."
After a few minutes, I sat down beside her and felt her pulse.
"You must know, dear aunt, that we oculists have ascertained by
anatomy that the ears and nose serve, like garret windows, to
communicate fresh air to the nerves of the eyes. When, however, the
nerves are in a state of inflammation, the danger is, that the air,
passing through all these windows at once, may occasion a draught,
which would irritate the inflammation; and therefore, according to
Doctor Smilax, on such occasions one of the passages must be stopped
with cotton. So now, dear aunt, you may have your choice; which do you
consider the most convenient to have closed up--the nose or the ears?"
She naturally preferred dispensing with her ears. And now, at last,
this living house Statuarium was not only blind, but deaf and dumb
too, and for the first time in her life she left her fellow-creatures
in peace.
And thus days glided by--centuries of bliss they might have been, for
aught I knew or cared. Mistress Debora was still under strict medical
discipline, and my little Esztike was as good as she was lovely; and
I--I don't wish to praise myself. Sufficient to say, we were happy,
and forgot all but our own happiness, as if it were to last for ever;
but alas! when does a man in love ever think of the future?
One evening, later than usual, as I was still sitting beside Esztike
(I could not tear myself away, and besides, it was raining hard), I
thought I heard some person knocking at the outer door, but took no
notice of it; for, with my little dove by my side, what cared I if the
world were falling to pieces around us? The old clock ticked
cheerfully; and Esztike and I had so many pretty things to say about
nothing, as we sat together on the same seat (the old black leather
sofa), and consequently not very far apart.
All at once we heard a noise in the kitchen.
"Holy Saint Stephen! it may be thieves!" cried Esztike trembling, and
drawing still closer to me.
Who would not feel courageous under such circumstances? For my part, I
felt capable of unheard-of heroism; and assuring her that she had
nothing to fear from a dozen robbers as long as I was there, I seized
a pistol (without a trigger) from the wall, while Esztike, encouraged
by my boldness, took the candle, and we advanced, to the door. I
opened it. Esztike uttered a loud scream, and extinguished the light.
The outer door was open, and a dark form advanced towards us.
"St. Barbara, help!" I sincerely ejaculated. "Who is there?" I
exclaimed, in as loud a voice as I was master of, at the same time
presenting the triggerless pistol at the black form.
"Thunder and storms! and who are you, I should like to know? Lightning
and fury!"--
"Uyüyü! my worthy uncle!" I cried, each word sounding like a squib let
off at my ear; and making a dash for the door, the next instant I was
outside. But here I was stopped; the flaps of my coat having been
caught in the heavy gate, I could neither turn nor extricate myself,
but remained hanging by my wings like a cockchafer.
In vain I pulled and kicked, praying that the flaps of my only holiday
coat might be torn off, while I heard my uncle deliberately opening
the door behind me.
"He will make mince-meat of me," thought I; and exerting all my
remaining strength, I tore myself from the flaps and fell to the
ground.
"Now for it--fly!" I exclaimed; and starting up, my legs bore me with
supernatural agility towards the forest.
"Stop, rascal!" roared my pursuer behind me, "or I will shoot you
through the head."