" And with that he went out with
the utmost _sang froid_; nay, as Clementina herself noticed, he drew
forth his pocket pistols and left them behind him on the table.
"His lordship has no need to fear such men," the landlady reassured the
ladies, "for he can talk to them in their own lingo."
Henrietta did not understand. Did robbers then speak a dialect peculiar
to themselves? She became quite curious to hear how Hatszegi would speak
to the robbers in their own language.
But the landlady knew exactly what to do. She filled a _kulacs_[11] for
the baron and placed it on the table before him. Hatszegi took a good
pull at it, dried the mouth of the _kulacs_ and passed it on to the old
pockmarked vagabond who, after raising his cap, took a little drop
himself and then passed it on to the others.
[Footnote 11: A wooden field-flask.]
"Well, old fellow, is the wine good?"
"Wine is always good."
"Have you had enough?"
"One can never have enough."
"Then God grant you plenty!--By the way, does the wind still blow
through the crevices of the prison door at Arad?"
"It blows for him who lists to it. Let him who likes it not close his
ears to it."
"Have many children been born to the governor of the jail lately?"[12]
[Footnote 12: Whenever a new convict arrives at the jail, the governor
is said to have another son born to him.--_Jokai_.]
"Yes, lots have been born there--and christened too.
Pages:
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109