At the sound of those few words, "In the King's name," the door of the Assembly House was immediately opened; the formula acted like magic. There are two words which are often written down together, "Emperor" and "King," wherein the outer world sees little difference, but for Hungarians there is all the difference in the world. For the Magyar, the first means only the foreign yoke, and all that it stands for; but the second represents that rightful regal authority which in Hungary never fails to win the loyalty and love of those to whom it appeals. And it is a distinction which the world outside Hungary is sometimes slow to recognise. And so it was that when the red-coated courier appeared before the Pesth tribunal he was received with the utmost respect. It was the office of the head notary to open and read the missive, which he did first to himself. When he had finished, tears stood in the strong man's eyes. And as he began to read it aloud, his voice trembled audibly, and he was visibly moved. "Worshipful Citizens! "His Majesty the King herewith, by this present royal rescript, withdraws all vexatious edicts hitherto issued, with the exception of his edict of tolerance and that for the freeing of the serfs. He revokes the compulsory order for the use of a foreign language, and rehabilitates your council and restores your constitution. He concludes a war carried on against the will of the nation by an honourable peace. He asks you, the members of the Pesth magistracy, to call a general council and promulgate the constitution in Pesth, and further orders that the holy crown of Hungary be brought from Vienna to Buda, after which he will summon Parliament and will be crowned there." The last words were drowned by loud cries of "Long live the King!" while the council members sprang up from their places huzzaing and cheering. They seemed like changed beings. Even TÁrhalmy, the grave phlegmatic man, generally as cold as ice and a slave to duty, was transformed, and his set, serious face flamed with a sudden enthusiasm. "Now, gentlemen," he cried, "comes the new order, now we shall have justice done. And before God and men can I now say, 'Woe to those who have done this foul wrong to Mathias RÁby.' I will justify him at the bar of our country, and none who helped to persecute this brave man shall escape unpunished. The nation shall judge him." "Hear, hear!" shouted many voices, and the loudest of all was Petray's. "What?" cried LaskÓy, "I, compassing RÁby's ruin? What do you mean? Who but you managed the whole business, I should like to know!" "That's a lie!" retorted his antagonist, and the strife promised to be endless, for the others now joined in lustily, and swords were all but drawn. TÁrhalmy took his documents under his arm. "I am going," he said, "I prefer to choose my own company." Meantime, the news of the royal proclamation had spread like wild-fire, and nothing else was talked of. Nagy (otherwise "Kurovics") hastened to Janosics to impart to him the news that the members of the council were quarrelling as to which one was guilty of RÁby's condemnation, and that it would be as well at any rate, it should not be laid at the door of the prison officials. So the two made for the condemned cell, where RÁby had been dragged all but unconscious. The prisoner imagined they had come to lead him to the galleys. "No, my friend, thank your stars you are not going there," shouted Janosics, "you are reprieved! You are free!" "You won't then do anything of the kind," retorted the gaoler, "but you will just march! Here, thrust him out, you fellows," and he called up a couple of warders who roughly seized the prisoner between them, and carried him in spite of his struggles into the courtyard below. There was a small iron door which led into a side thoroughfare, and this Janosics opened and pushed RÁby through it, out into the street the other side. There they left him on the cobbles, in a dead faint from the efforts he had made, and there he lay like a lifeless log. The prison authorities did not care on whom the blame for detaining RÁby fell, but they were determined it should not lay with them. Janosics returned whistling into his room. But suddenly he ceased to whistle; something seemed to be throttling him. His limbs too were convulsed by a sudden tremor, and horrible spasms of pain shot through his whole body. When he tried to cry out, he failed to utter a sound, and only blood came from his mouth. And still that awful sensation of strangulation oppressed him, so that he tugged at the kerchief about his throat to get it off; it was the one Fruzsinka had worn. And the words of The doctor he sent for, directly he saw his patient, exclaimed in horror, "This is the oriental plague," for he recognised the symptoms of the fell malady. And that word at once drove every living soul away from the unhappy man, and he was left writhing in his agony behind the door till he was still, for that meant he was dead. Then they sent two condemned felons to wrap up the corpse in a horse-rug and carry it out into the cemetery there to be buried like a dog. The only thing they troubled after was as to whether enough quicklime had been thrown into the grave. But RÁby lay half-dead on the cobble-stones. There were no other houses in the alley, save the monster barracks, the university hospital, and the great stone rampart of the hinder part of the Assembly House. As a rule, only one person went up that alley every day, and that was an old Jew named Abraham. He was no longer bound by law to wear the red mantle, and could go about in his black gown and kaftan. With him was a red-haired boy, his youngest son, an intelligent lad who had excellent legs and could run with the best. But Abraham left him at the corner of the alley and went alone to the little iron door. But on this particular morning, the Jew found no news of RÁby, but instead, the prisoner himself, lying on the stones, as one dead. The old man raised no alarm, nor did he utter a word, but bending over the prostrate man, laid his hand on RÁby's heart to see if it yet beat. When he had satisfied himself that RÁby was still alive, Abraham wrapped him up in his warm fur-lined mantle, took him in his arms, and carried him to the corner of the alley, where he and his son between them dragged him into a sedan-chair, and bore him off—whither no one knew! A voice like the voice of the angels themselves (so it seemed to the half-conscious man who heard it) sweet as the song of the spheres and thrilling with some unwonted harmony which did not seem of this earth, recalled the stricken soul of Mathias RÁby back from the shadows of death where it yet lingered. The ex-prisoner awoke from his swoon to find himself in a warm room, whose atmosphere was redolent with some refreshing fragrance, pillowed on soft cushions, while above him were bending two blue eyes that seemed as if they carried in their inmost depths, something of the light of paradise itself. Such eyes, and who could forget them, once having seen them? But to this day the treasure-chest of Szent-Endre has never been found, so effectually was it hidden from all men. THE END. Jarrold & Sons, Ltd., Printers, The Empire Press, Norwich. Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the original text have been corrected. In Chapter III, "based on a false premiss" was changed to "based on a false premise". In Chapter V, "the gate of the vineyards were shut" was changed to "the gates of the vineyards were shut". In Chapter VIII, periods was added after "others lay dormant" and "she has become a fine girl". In Chapter XI, "Did you call me, dear father? asked he girl" was changed to "Did you call me, dear father? asked the girl". In Chapter XIV, "Thereupon, he sent the wooer to FrÄulein, Fruzsinka" was changed to "Thereupon, he sent the wooer to FrÄulein Fruzsinka". In Chapter XVI, "the csakÓ on their heads" was changed to "the csÁkÓ on their heads". In Chapter XVII, "Why do you call him a "worshipful gentleman," asked the president. was changed to "Why do you call him a 'worshipful gentleman,'" asked the president., and a period was changed to a question mark after "in order to save his fellow-citizens from beggary". In Chapter XIX, a period was changed to a question mark after "What could be the reasons of his delay". In Chapter XX, "a coquettishly clad peasant from the AldfÖld" was changed to "a coquettishly clad peasant from the AlfÖld", a quotation mark was added before "These registered formulas are falsified", and "He fancied al Pesth" was changed to "He fancied all Pesth". In Chapter XXIII, "What for the children who are deserted by their mothers?" was changed to "What, for the children who are deserted by their mothers?" In Chapter XXIX, missing periods were added after "Where all the others are" and "to demand an explanation". In Chapter XXXII, "said Raby, suiting the action to the word" was changed to "said RÁby, suiting the action to the word". In Chapter XXXIII, "They stopped the calvacade" was changed to "They stopped the cavalcade". In Chapter XL, a period was changed to a question mark after "had not the Emperor himself promised to come". In Chapter XLIV, "A wasted and attentuated figure" was changed to "A wasted and attenuated figure". In Chapter XLVIII, a comma was added after "deceived by the patient's symptoms". |