The baroness, who had listened with interest to the reverend gentleman’s words, now made inquiry:
“How does this nameless gentleman learn of his poor neighbors’ needs, when neither he nor his servants associate with any one outside the castle?”
“In a very simple manner, your ladyship. He has a very powerful telescope in the tower of the castle, with which he can view every portion of the surrounding region. He thus learns when there is illness or death, whether a house needs repair; and wherever anything is needed, the means to help are sent to me. On Christmas he has all the children from the village up at the castle, where he has a splendid Christmas tree with lighted tapers, and a gift for every child,—clothes, books, and sweets,—which he distributes with his own hand. I can tell you an incident which is characteristic of the man. One day the county arrested a poor woman, the wife of a notorious thief. The Herr Vice-palatine will remember the case—Rakoncza Jutka, the wife of the robber Satan Laczi?”
“Yes, I remember. She is still in prison,” assented the gentleman referred to.
“Yes. Well, she has a little son. When the mother was taken to prison, the little lad was turned away from every door, was beaten and abused by the other children, until at last he fled to the marshes, where he ate the young shoots of the reeds, and slept in the mire. The nameless count discovered with his telescope the little outcast, and wrote to me to have him taken to Frau Schmidt, where he would be well taken care of until his mother came back.”
By this time the tears were running down the baroness’s cheeks.
“Poor little lad!” she murmured brokenly. “Your story has affected me deeply, Herr Pastor.”
Then she summoned her steward, and bade him fill a large hamper with sweets and pasties, and send it to Frau Schmidt for the poor little boy. “And tell Frau Schmidt,” she added, “to send the child to the manor. We will see to it that he has some suitable clothes. I am delighted, reverend sir, to learn that my tenant is a true nobleman.”
“His deeds certainly proclaim him as such, your ladyship.”
“How do you explain the mystery of the veiled lady?”
“I cannot explain it, your ladyship; she is never mentioned in our correspondence.”
“She may be a prisoner, detained at the castle by force.”
“That cannot be; for she has a hundred opportunities to escape, or to ask for help.”
Here the surveyor managed to express his belief that the reason the lady wore a veil was because of the repulsiveness of her face.
At this, a voice that had not yet been heard said, at the lower end of the table:
“But the lady is one the most beautiful creatures I ever saw—and quite young.”
Every eye was turned toward the speaker.
“What? Audiat? How dares he say such a thing?” demanded the vice-palatine.
“Because I have seen her.”
“You have seen her? When did you see her? Where did you see her—her whom no one yet has seen?”
“When I was returning from college last year, per pedes apostolorum, for my money had given out, and my knapsack was empty. I was picking hazelnuts from the bushes in the park of the Nameless Castle, when I heard a window open. I looked up, and saw in the open sash a face the like of which I have never seen, even in a picture.”
“Ah!” ejaculated the baroness. “Tell us what is she like. Come nearer to me.”
The clerk, however, was too bashful to leave his place, whereupon the baroness rose and took a seat by his side.
“She has long, curling black hair,” he went on. “Her face is fair as a lily and red as a rose, her brow pure and high, with no sign of the branding-iron. Her mouth is small and delicate. Indeed, her entire appearance that day was like that of an angel looking down from heaven.”
“Is she a maid or a married woman?” inquired one of the company.
A maid, in those days, was very easily distinguished from her married sister. The latter was never seen without a cap.
“A young girl not more than fifteen, I should say,” was the reply. “A cap would not suit her face.”
“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed Bernat bácsi. “And this enchanting fairy opened the window to show her lovely face to Audiat!”
“No; she did not open the window on my account,” retorted the young man, “but for the beasts that were luckier than I—for four cats that were playing in the gutter of the roof; a white one, a black one, a yellow one, and a gray one; and all of them scampered toward her when they heard her call.”
“The cats are her only companions—that much we know from the servants,” affirmed the justice.
The laurels which his clerk had won made the vice-palatine jealous.
“Audiat,” he said, in a reproving tone, “you ought to learn that a young person should speak only when spoken to; indeed,—as the learned Professor Hatvani says,—even then it is not necessary to answer all questions.”
But the company around the dinner-table did not share these views. The clerk was assailed on all sides—very much as would have been an aëronaut who had just alighted from a montgolfier—to relate all that he had seen in those regions not yet penetrated by man. What sort of gown did the mysterious lady wear? Was he certain that she had no cap on? Was she really no older than fifteen years?
The vice-palatine at last put an end to his clerk’s triumph.
“Tut, tut! what can you expect to learn from a mere lad like him?—when he saw her only for an instant! Just wait; I will find out all about this nameless gentleman and lady.”
“Pray how do you propose to accomplish that?” queried the baroness, who had returned to her former seat.
“I shall go to the Nameless Castle.”
“Suppose you are not permitted to enter?”
“What? I, the vice-palatine, not permitted to enter? Wait; I will explain my plan to you over the coffee.”
When the time came to serve the black coffee, the amiable hostess suggested that it would be pleasant to enjoy it in the open air; whereupon the company repaired to the veranda where, on several small tables, the fragrant mocha was steaming in the cups. Here the baroness and the vice-palatine seated themselves where they could look directly at the Nameless Castle; and Herr Bernat Görömbölyi proceeded to explain how he intended to take the castle without force—which was forbidden a Hungarian official.