e pleases!" interposed the jockey; "what
is he saying?"

"Merely that he is a Hungarian," said I; "but," I added, "the
conversation of this gentleman and myself in a language which you can't
understand must be very tedious to you, we had better give it up."

"Keep on with it," said the jockey; "I shall go on listening very
contentedly till I fall asleep, no bad thing to do at most times."

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE HUNGARIAN.

"Then you are a countryman of Tekeli, and of the queen who made the
celebrated water," said I, speaking to the Hungarian in German, which I
was able to do tolerably well, owing to my having translated the
Publisher's philosophy into that language, always provided I did not
attempt to say much at a time.

_Hungarian_. Ah! you have heard of Tekeli, and of L'eau de la Reine
d'Hongrie. How is that?

_Myself_. I have seen a play acted, founded on the exploits of Tekeli,
and have read Pigault Le Brun's beautiful romance, entitled "The Barons
of Felsheim," in which he is mentioned. As for the water, I have heard a
lady, the wife of a master of mine, speak of it.

_Hungarian_. Was she handsome?

_Myself_. Very.

_Hungarian_. Did she possess the water?

_Myself_. I should say not; for I have heard her express a great
curiosity about it.

_Hungarian_. Was she growing old?

_Myself_. Of course not; but why do you put all these questions?

_Hungarian_. Because the water is said to make people handsome, and,
above all, to restore to the aged the beauty of their youth. Well!
Tekeli was my countryman, and I have the honour of having some of the
blood of the Tekelis in my veins; but with respect to the queen, pardon
me if I tell you that she was not a Hungarian; she was a Pole--Ersebet by
name, daughter of Wladislaus Locticus, King of Poland; she was the fourth
spouse of Caroly the Second, King of the Magyar country, who married her
in the year 1320. She was a great woman and celebrated politician,
though at present chiefly known by her water.

_Myself_. How came she to invent it?

_Hungarian_. If her own account may be believed, she did not invent it.
After her death, as I have read in Florentius of Buda, there was found a
statement of the manner in which she came by it, written in her own hand,
on a fly-leaf of her breviary, to the following effect:--Being afflicted
with a grievous disorder at the age of seventy-two, she received the
medicine which was called her water, fro