TWO TALES, OF WHICH ONLY ONE IS TRUE
After a couple of days the whole hunting party returned from the
mountains. This was much sooner than they had determined, and the cause
was a very serious accident which had befallen Baron Hátszegi. They
brought him home in an ambulance car to Henrietta's great consternation.
The baroness, sitting by the bedside, heard from the doctor that her
husband's wounds were serious, but that his life was not in danger, and
that he might even be allowed to smoke a cigar if he liked. Then Mr.
Gerzson related how it had happened: "Only imagine, your ladyship! This
irrepressible friend of ours, not content with pursuing game all day
through the thickets, learns, late in the evening, that a gigantic old
bear was trotting towards the ice valley, and, without saying a word to
anybody, must needs leave the company and set off alone, late at night,
on the track, with only a double-barrelled musket and not so much as a
dog to keep him company. The bear enticed Leonard further and further.
At last down he squats before him in the bright moonlight and begins
licking his paws; then suddenly quits the path and disappears. Leonard
thought at first that the bear had returned within the deadly circle
drawn for him by our beaters, till, all at once, on reaching a steep
slope covered with reeds, he again heard a growling and perceived the
savage beast trying to scale the slope. The place was too steep for a
man to climb, but a bear with the help of his long strong claws can
scale it like a fly climbing up a wall. Leonard soon saw that he would
be unable to get a close shot at the bear, so he resolved to fire down
from where he was at random. But the experienced old brute, guessing
this good idea, instantly executed one of those surprising feats which
only fall within the observation of veteran hunters. While Leonard was
taking aim, the bear rolled rapidly down the steep incline by means of a
series of clever somersaults and rushed upon Leonard with a sort of
swift shamble. And a cursed bad manoeuvre it is, I can tell you. The
acrobatic beast, whether a man hits it or not inevitably bears down the
hunter by his sheer weight, and as a man's bones are more brittle than a
beast's, and he has no tough pelt to cover him withal, he will be
infallibly crushed to pulp,--while the bear takes the whole thing as a
mere joke and ambles on further. But the whole affair did not last half
as long as I take to tell it. Leonard had just time enough to fling
himself on the ground before the first rush came. Then he felt a heavy
body fall prone upon him and then they began to roll over and over in
company among all sorts of stones and bushes, till a benevolent rock
interrupted their rapid descent. Fortunately the bear was underneath and
lay stunned at full length upon the ground. Our friend Leonard naturally
did not wait for his travelling companions to pick him up. He had lost
his musket and it was a good job that his hunting-knife had snapped off
close at the hilt instead of running into his body; then, too, his knees
and elbows were badly crushed, yet he had sufficient strength and
presence of mind to drag himself back to our hunting box, and his story
was a very pleasant surprise for us, I can tell you. At first, indeed,
we were much alarmed, and fancied that every bone in his body was out of
joint, but now we can look on it merely as soldiers' luck. To-morrow
he'll be up no doubt, and the day after to-morrow we shall all be
dancing."
Henrietta had never removed her eyes from her husband's face during this
narration, and it was plain from his looks that he was not proud of his
adventure and did not want it talked about. "Why do you frighten my wife
to death?" he said. "It is a mere trifle. Let me remain for a whole
night in cold wet wraps, and to-morrow I shall be all right. And now,
enough of the stupid business. And will you please, Henrietta, look
after my guests while I lie here in swaddling bands? All I want is a
couple of days of rest and then I shall be on my legs again."
Towards midnight Henrietta disappeared from among her guests and went to
enquire after Leonard; but she found his chamber door locked, and
received no answer to her gentle enquiries, from which she gathered that
Leonard was still dozing. She did not want to disturb him, and as her
husband's guests, judging by the noise they made, had evidently begun to
amuse themselves in real earnest after her departure, she did not return
to them, but hastened to her own chamber.
How amazed was she to find Anicza there closeted with Clementina!
The Roumanian girl had been awaiting Henrietta for some time, and
Clementina thought it quite natural to conduct her into her mistress's
sleeping-room, imagining that there was some monetary transaction
between them, of which the baron and the domestics need know nothing. In
order that she might not be bored by waiting, Clementina entertained her
for a whole hour with a hair-raising account of the hunting accident,
with which the whole castle was full. Anicza let the other talk on
without so much as a hint that she had a still more hair-raising and
terrific tale to tell of the night just past than ever Miss Clementina
had.
As soon as Henrietta perceived Anicza, she politely requested Clementina
to be so good as to leave them to themselves, a request which Clementina
very naturally regarded as incomprehensible; and, of course, the instant
she had crossed the threshold, she diligently took up her position
before the keyhole. She was, however, furious to discover that
Henrietta proceeded, more prudently than speakers on the stage who
regularly allow themselves to be overheard by eaves-droppers, for she
drew together the heavy damask curtains of the alcove and retired behind
them with Anicza, so that neither prying eyes nor listening ears could
find anything there to satisfy their inquisitiveness.
"It almost succeeded!" said the Roumanian girl impatiently, beginning
her story at the end instead of at the beginning.
"Only almost?" repeated the dissatisfied Henrietta.
"So far the game is neither over nor lost."
"Did Fatia Negra appear at the hut in the ice valley?"
"Pardon, my lady, but please never mention that name before me, for on
hearing it everything I look upon grows red, and every limb of my body
begins to tremble. You see, my hands are trembling now. Let us speak of
him in future as the Unknown; so far as I am concerned he shall
henceforth be the Unknown for ever more."
"Then you met him there?"
"Suffer me, my lady, to rally my scattered wits a bit. Oh! what a
horrible night this has been! When I look back upon it, I feel giddy.
But anger and despair sustain me. Oh! what have I not sacrificed for
that man, for that devil, and oh! how I have been betrayed! But why
should I worry your ladyship with my misery! Listen to what happened.
When your ladyship left me the other night, I immediately saddled my
horse and set off for the ice valley. The way thither is very bad,
dangerous in fact, but fortunately the moon was high and bright and made
it easier for me to find the path. The Pole star was already sinking
when I reached the bottom of the valley, and I could see from afar that
there was a light still burning in the goatherd's little hut. The night
owls soon drove it out of my eyes, for in that valley dwells so many
owls, and they are so bold that the tips of their wings brush against
people's faces as they sweep past. I had known Mariora for a long time,
while she still lived at home with her father, but since she became Juon
Tare's wife we have only seen each other occasionally and at long
intervals, and then too only when I visited her, for she, the
poorly-married woman, never came to visit us--the rich people. On
reaching the hut, I tied up my horse and tapped at the little window,
through which one cannot peep as, instead of glass, the window-frames
are filled with opaque mica which Juon Tare himself discovered amongst
the hills. Mariora recognized my voice and hastened to unbar the door.
She was much surprised and much delighted to see me at that hour. She
embraced, kissed me, and burst into tears. At first I thought it was
from pure joy,--then I thought she pitied me. 'Is there anything wrong?'
I asked. Then she pulled herself together, dried her tears and said: 'I
have an invalid on my hands.'--'Your child?'--'No, Ursu.'--It was just
as if a viper had stung me.--'Ursu sick?' I cried.--'Yes, I don't know
what ails him. Since yesterday he has been lying down shaking and
trembling, while the day before he was skipping about and turning
somersaults. Fatia Negra (Domne Zeu,[28] forgive my lips for uttering
that name) was playing with him for a long time.' 'Did he come hither?'
'Yes, he said he was on his way to you.' 'He lied. Then it was he who
poisoned the bear.'
[Footnote 28: The Lord God.]
"Mariora trembled at these words, and grew paler than ever.
"I seized her by the hand and drew her with me into the hut. I whispered
in her ear that I knew all. 'The accursed wretch has been faithless to
me because of your pretty eyes. He swore to me by sunlight and he swore
to you by moonlight, but you would not listen to him. You love your
husband and Black Mask relies on his strength now that fair words have
failed. The coward has poisoned your faithful guardian like the wretched
thief, the miserable house-breaker, that he is.'--Mariora's hut was
lighted by the flame that flickered on the hearth. A bedstead of
linden-wood covered with goat-skins, a table of slate and a few
three-legged chairs were all the furniture. There was also a nicely
carved and painted little cradle in which lay the little child,
sleeping, with his plump little hands drawn up behind his head, like an
angel. In the extreme corner of the room the faithful beast lay all of a
heap on a lair of soft moss,--at the last gasp. He groaned and shivered
continually like one in a fever, and raised his failing eyes with such
an eloquent appeal to his mistress, as if he would have spoken to her.
Sometimes he pricked his ears as if he were listening and snuffed
joyously. Perchance he expected his master, perhaps he wanted to lick
his hands for the last time. Poor beast, how I pitied him! 'He will
die,' I whispered to Mariora. I durst not say it aloud for I imagined
the beast understood everything which men say to one another. 'And then
will come the tempter, who knows that you are alone and defenceless.' I
told her everything which your ladyship told me, and the woman trembled
like an aspen-leaf.
"'Where is Juon Tare encamping now?' I asked Mariora.
"'Only a mile from here in the Vale Capra.'
"Hem! It is impossible to get there on horseback, but I can reach him by
going on foot. Meanwhile you lock yourself in, put out the fire, and
whatever noise you hear, do not open the door till we come back.
"'Nay,' said Mariora, 'you must not go away. If Juon ought to come home,
there is a sign between us. I have here an Alpine horn; he has taught me
how to blow upon it, and has told me that if ever I should be in great
danger I must blow it, and however distant he may be, he will hear it
and hasten home.'
"'But it is night now; perhaps he is asleep.'
"'Juon never sleeps at night, he must be awake and protect his herds.'
"'And what then will become of his goats if he leaves them?'
"'Are not I and my child dearer to him than all his property?'
"Then I told Mariora that no time must be lost, and that she should blow
the horn at once. It is a long tube made out of the bark of trees, with
the end tilted upwards, and anyone who knows how to blow it can make its
voice heard for miles. Mariora was too feeble with it. Perhaps at
another time she would have been more up to it, but now she was upset,
there was something which weighed down her bosom and hampered her
breathing: the horn gave forth but a feeble and uncertain sound. We
listened for the echoes and they scarce resounded from the sides of the
adjacent hills. Juon would never hear that. 'Give it to me,' I said. 'I
shall throw more force into it.' A moment after I had blown the horn,
the woody heights repeated the sound just as if there was another
horn-blower there. Presently, from afar, right away among the hills,
another horn replied, just as if there was another echo there. That was
Juon's answer. He had heard the summons; we could now rest content. In
half an hour he would have bounded across the mountains and through the
glens and would be here. In the meantime we would barricade ourselves
inside the hut. Mariora anxiously asked me what we should do if her
husband were the last to arrive, for the robber had firearms. Acting on
my advice, we closed the door with a heavy beam and put out the fire.
The child began to cry, but Mariora took it in her arms and soothed it
to sleep. A heavy groan sounded from a corner of the room: it was the
faithful beast breathing forth his last breath. We exchanged not another
word in order not to betray the fact that Mariora was not alone. Half an
hour had nearly elapsed when we heard footsteps in the distance
approaching. We listened. Who was coming? Which of us would recognize
those footsteps first? I did. It was he! he for whose sake I had brought
down a curse upon my head.
"For about as long a time as it would take one to repeat a Paternoster,
he remained standing there before the door. Then he rapped lightly with
his fingers and I heard the voice I knew so well: 'Mariora, are you
asleep?'
"'I am awake. What do you want?' she replied.
"'Let me in, Mariora; open the door!'
"I whispered to her what she should say.
"'I cannot, my husband is not at home. I am alone.'
"'For that very reason open, so that we two may have it all to
ourselves?'
"'There will be three of us, don't forget Ursu.'
"'It is all up with Ursu,' laughed the robber outside.
"'You have killed him, you villain!' cried Mariora though I never
whispered this to her.
"'Not I, but the honey-cake.'
"'Why did you do so?'
"'Because he was in my way.'
"'Who will defend me now?'
"'I will defend you. I will take you away with me. I will take you to a
beautiful city full of palaces. I will buy you a house and an estate and
you shall be a great lady.'
"'It cannot be. I already have my lawful husband and you too have your
lawful wife.'
"'Your lawful husband shall die when I choose, and you will then be a
widow. As for Anicza, she only married a mask. I will tear it off and
she will no longer know who I was.'
"Oh, my lady, can you not fancy how my heart broke at these words! Yet I
did not weep.
"'You will deceive me as you deceived her,' replied Mariora.
"Then the robber began to swear that I had deceived him first. He lied
concerning me, oh! the accursed wretch! Yet the game had to go on.
Mariora was no longer the mistress of her own thoughts. She is a
helpless creature. If I had not whispered in her ear what she was to
say, she would have had no answer ready for him.
"'I fear you,' she said at my prompting, 'for you are a robber; it is
not love but money that you want. Why did it not occur to you to court
me before? You have only come now because you have found out that my
father has been here and offered me a hundred ducats that we may buy a
little estate with it. You have only come here to rob me of that.'
"The tempter grew furious at so much gainsaying.
"'Stupid wench!' he cried, 'what are your hundred ducats to me? I will
give you ten times as much. Here! take them!' And with that he pitched
through the little window--opening above the door a heavy purse which
fell rattling at our feet. It was full of ducats. I kicked it aside with
loathing.
"'It is easy to talk,' replied Mariora. 'Now, you give and give, but if
I were to let you in, you would take them back again to-morrow with my
own.'
"'I swear I will not.'
"'No, I will not believe the oaths of a robber. You have firearms and I
am therefore defenceless against you. Go and hang up your musket, your
pistols, and your hunting-knife on that beech-tree, which is a hundred
paces distant from the house; when you come back without your firearms I
will believe that you do not want to kill me and will listen to what you
have to say?'
"The robber fell into the snare and did as he was bid. Then he
returned. 'Here I am without weapons,' said he. 'Let me in!'
"We had to gain as much time as possible, so I whispered Mariora to say
that she must first stir up the fire into a blaze for she could not let
him in in the dark.
"These words inflamed the passion of the tempter still more.
"'You will have time for that afterwards,' said he. 'I can see your
beautiful eyes even in the dark, for then they shine all the more
brightly.'
"'Then I suppose I have eyes like a cat?' I made Mariora say.
"'Silly fool!' growled the tempter to himself in Hungarian, which
Mariora did not understand. 'No,' he then added in Roumanian, 'you have
eyes like stars.'
"'But confess now, do you really love me? Or do you only come hither
with evil designs? Don't you want, now, to cut off the hands of my
little child? for robbers covet the hacked off hands of babies,--they
make them invisible.'
"At this the man's temper fairly gave way. He perceived that he was
being trifled with and exclaimed roughly: 'Woman, open the door, or I'll
bring it down about your ears!' And he gave the door such a blow with
his clenched fist that it cracked from end to end. 'I tell you for the
last time,' cried he, 'let me in peaceably. If you will come with me, I
will take you, and your child also, to a pleasant place. I will make a
gentleman of him and a lady of you. But if you gainsay me another
moment, I'll batter in the door, dash the brains of your brat out
against the wall and carry you off by force wherever I please.'
"Thereupon Mariora paid no more attention to me but began wringing her
hands and I snatched up the child, who had been awakened by the noise
and begun to cry. I drew my pistol from my bosom and planted myself
beside the door. If there's nobody else, I thought, I must bear the
brunt of it.
"The robber planted his shoulder against the door and pressed it inwards
with tremendous force. The boards cracked and as the middle of the door
was barricaded by a stout beam, there was soon a regular gap between the
two folds of the door and the door inclined more and more inwards.
Through the opening thus made, I held the pistol, pointed straight at
his temples and only an inch away from him. He is a very strong man, I
thought, but another effort of strength and he will be lying dead at my
feet."
The girl was quite overcome by the narration of this scene. She paused
for a moment to recover herself, during which Henrietta, as pale as a
statue, gazed at her in silence.
Presently she resumed:
"At that critical moment, a cry like the howl of a wild beast resounded
in front of the hut. The door fell back into its proper place and
rushing to the little window, I saw that _two_ men now stood in front
of the hut.
"Juon Tare had arrived at last!
"It was neither speech nor language that he addressed to his antagonist
in the first instant of their encounter, it was the savage roar of a
wild beast rushing upon its prey.
"Juon Tare is a very strong man. Fortunately, he is also a peaceful,
retiring creature, for if he were as passionate as he is strong and
frequented the wine shops, every carouse would end with the death of a
man. All the more horrible was it therefore to behold him at that moment
like a ravening beast of prey.
"The detected seducer at once made a rush for his arms, but Juon Tare
overtook him with an enormous bound and seized one of his hands. If
Fatia Negra had been one of God's ordinary creatures, he must have been
writhing the next moment with crushed limbs on the ground beneath Juon's
knee; but at the very instant in which Juon caught hold of one hand, the
robber faced about and seizing the herdsman round the body began to
wrestle with him.
"The moon flooded the valley with its light; the whole course of the
struggle was plainly visible.
"As soon as Juon Tare perceived that his antagonist was foolhardy enough
to try a fall with him, he complacently allowed his body to be encircled
and calmly murmured: 'Ho, ho! then you would wrestle with me, eh, Fatia
Negra! Very well, be it so!'
"Then he also quietly encircled the trunk of his opponent with those
terrible arms of his, which had shown themselves capable on one occasion
of throttling a bear, and prepared to crush his adversary.
"And thus began an awful struggle, the mere remembrance of which is a
horror.
"There is nothing more terrible than when two men struggle for life or
death with their bare hands.
"Juon Tare's tremendous strength was unable to crush Fatia Negra. The
herdsman might perhaps have been a little exhausted by his swift run,
but the robber was skilful and opposed a steel-like elasticity to the
herdsman's massive weight.
"Now the one, now the other was forced down upon his knee, only to bound
instantly back again. The grass was rooted up by their stamping feet.
Tightly embraced, with straining shoulders, with their fists tearing at
each other's bodies, their faces were pressed so closely together that
the two heads seemed but one.
"Now and then they would pause for an instant to take breath and at such
times would gasp out short, fierce words.
"'Who are you?' growled Juon. 'Who are you that you can resist the arm
of Juon Tare? Who are you that Juon Tare cannot put to silence?'
"'What is it you want, you fool?' the robber gasped back. 'Has that two
hundred ducats, the price set on my head, tempted you? Is that why you
want to catch me? Let me go, and I will give you five hundred.'
"'I will not let you go. I want neither your money, nor yet the money of
the magistrates. Your destruction is all that I want. You should not
escape from these hands if you were thrice a devil.'
"'We will see.'
"And again the tussle began. Each of the two men put forth all his
strength against his adversary. Fatia Negra's garments split into rags,
the blood spouted from his shoulders where Juon had worried him with his
sharp teeth like a wild beast. Not another word did they now speak, only
their panting sobs were to be heard like the snorting of two wild boars
as they dragged and dashed each other up and down on the sward.
"I was obliged to restrain Mariora violently from rushing to her
husband's assistance. She would only have distracted his attention. And
besides I would not have it so. Let the men fight it out, I thought.
They are a well matched pair."
"Then you still love Fatia Negra?" enquired Henrietta sadly.
The girl blushed.--"I love him, yes,--and therefore he must die."
She went on:
"'At that moment he was like a magician battling with a giant. The other
was half a head taller than he, and the muscles of his arms stood out
like the rugged bark of an oak's trunk. Black Mask was much the slimmer.
But every muscle in his frame seemed made of steel. His gigantic
adversary might pitch and toss him wherever he pleased, he always fell
on his feet; nor was the other ever able, squeeze as he might, to
disjoint his arms or free his own head from Fatia Negra's embrace,
though again and again he ducked down to do it; and then they would
struggle more fiercely than ever, on their knees, with their limbs
interlaced like one single, inseparable quivering mass of flesh.
"'If I could only see your hidden face!' roared Juon, throwing himself
with all his might on Black Mask. 'You devil, you, I'll tear your
mummery off for you!'--and he gnashed at his opponent's face with his
teeth, trying to snap his mask off.
"This attempt seemed to redouble Fatia Negra's fury. He too now began
roaring like a wounded bear, struggling with a huntsman. It was no
longer a struggle between men, but a ravening of two beasts. The
combatants had now rolled far away from the hut. Their savage yells
resounded through the still pastures. We, watching them from the hut,
could see that they were drawing near the edge of a steep abyss with a
sheer descent of many fathoms, at the bottom of which are the sources of
the little mountain streams.
"'Take care, Juon!' cried Mariora despairingly. But her voice was
unheard. Both of them were deaf and blind. The next moment Juon gave his
adversary a fierce shake and instantly the pair of them plunged head
over heels into the gulf below.
"We both rushed after them, and on reaching the edge of the abyss
perceived one shape lying motionless among the rocks of the stream, and
another limping painfully towards the further shore. This second figure
was Fatia Negra."
"Surely Juon was not dead?" cried Henrietta, horrified.
"No; only crippled by the fall. He fell undermost, the other on top. Yet
the other must have suffered severely. We could see from his heavy
movements that he had more than one limb damaged. Only with the utmost
exertion did he manage to scale the opposite cliff.
"While he was clambering up the mountain-side, Mariora sobbing and
screaming, rushed down to her insensible husband, and taking his head
into her bosom dragged his limp body out of the cold water of the brook,
whilst I took down from the beech-tree Fatia Negra's double-barrelled
musket and raised it to my cheek. Before me on the white rock, in the
full light of the moon, a good mark for a marksman was that panting
black object struggling upwards. I pointed the barrel straight at him. I
took a long and careful aim. I am certain I should have hit him. And
then I bethought me how much I had loved him once upon a time, and the
weapon sank down. I flung it from me."
The girl ceased to speak and covered her face with both her hands. It
was a long time before she took them away again.
At last she sprang up quickly, and turning her pale face towards
Henrietta, said in a hard, dry voice: "It will be the last time, your
ladyship. I am weak because I am a woman, folks would say. But they
shall know that that is not true. Don't be afraid, my lady; what I have
promised, that will I do. You have been very good to me in telling me
that I was being deceived, and I will requite you for it. And now, God
bless you, my lady. Farewell!"
"But surely you are not thinking of going home so late at night?"
"What care I about the night? No spectre can meet me anywhere that is
worse than the horrible thing that dwells at the bottom of my heart. God
bless your ladyship. You shall hear from me soon. Farewell!"
Then the girl gently kissed Henrietta's hand and left the room, throwing
into her gait and bearing an energy and a self-confidence which she was
far from feeling.