Master Jock, in a solemn, drawling voice, exclaimed--

"What! that gentleman a Karpathy? Do you know what it means to bear the
name Karpathy? That name which has a line of thirty ancestors behind it,
all of whom were _foispans_ and standard-bearers; that name which is as
sonorous as any in the kingdom! Bethink you, therefore, of what you are
saying, sir! There is only one Karpathy in the world besides myself, and
him they call Bela!"

"Le voila! That's just myself," said the stranger, protruding one of his
legs in front of him, and beating time with the other to an operatic
tune, which he whistled through the hole in his stick until he had quite
finished it. "I was born in this barbarous land, and the father who bore
me--ah, ca! not my father! comment s'appelle ca?--that one of my parents
who was not my father, I mean."

"I suppose you mean your mother?"

"Yes, yes, of course! My mother, that's it! Well, my mother was a noble
dame, and well-educated, but my father was a bit of an oddity who dearly
loved his joke. But the greatest joke he ever perpetrated was when he
christened me, his eldest son, Bela, and made me learn Hungarian. Bela,
forsooth! Now, _is_ that a proper name for a gentleman? Luckily for me,
my father died betimes, and I went with my mother to Paris. My name
displeased me, and as the most fashionable name just then happened to
be Abellino, I changed my name Bela into it. On the other hand, I could
not forget the Hungarian language. But it does not matter. I know the
nigger lingo just as well. It is no disparagement to a real gentleman."

"Then why, may I ask, are you travelling about here?"

"Ah! venir ici de Paris, c'est tomber du ciel a l'enfer! ('To come
hither from Paris is to fall out of heaven into hell!') C'est
merveilleux, wonderful, that men can live here at all. Ah, mon cher
heyduke, sure I see something cooked. Be so good as to bring it nearer;
put it on the table, and fill my glass for me. A votre sante, messieurs
et mesdames! And to your health in particular, Monsieur Jock!"

Jock had listened patiently to this harangue. His eyes followed
attentively every movement of the stranger, and a sort of resigned
melancholy gradually stole over his features.

"Then what brings my lord hither--out of heaven into hell?"

"Helas!" sighed Abellino, drumming a march on his plate with his knife
and fork. "An unavoidable piece of business. A gentleman who lives
abroad has many necessities, and my