attle away the time, and before whom she
must not choose her words so nicely, seeing that she was not so
sensitive to insult. And it seemed that Melanie liked the idea of there
being a girl in the house, whose presence threw a gleam of pleasure on
the solitude.

Czipra might also be content with Melanie's conduct towards Lorand. Her
eyes never rested on the young man's face, although they did not avoid
his gaze. She treated him indifferently, and the whole day only
exchanged words with him when she thanked him for filling her glass with
water.

And indeed Lorand had reduced his external advantages to such a severe
simplicity by wearing his hair closely cropped, and his every movement
was marked by that languid, lazy stooping attitude which is usually the
special peculiarity of those who busy themselves with agricultural work,
that Melanie's eyes had no reason to be fixed specially upon him.

Oh, the eyes of a young girl of seventeen summers cannot discover manly
beauty under such a dust-stained, neglected exterior.

Lorand felt relieved that Melanie did not recognize him. Not a single
trace of surprise showed itself on her face, not a single searching
glance betrayed the fact that she thought of the original of a
well-known countenance when she saw this man who had met her by chance
far away from home. Lorand's face, his gait, his voice, all were strange
to her. The face had grown older, the gait was that of a farmer, the old
beautiful voice had deepened into a perfect baritone.

Nor did they meet often, except at dinner, supper and breakfast. Melanie
passed the rest of the day without a break, by Czipra's side.

Czipra was six years her senior, and she made a good protectress; that
continuous woman's chattering, of which Topandy had said, that, if one
hour passed without its being heard, he should think he had come to the
land of the dead:--a man grew to like that after awhile. And side by
side with the quick-handed, quick-tongued maiden, whose every limb was
full of electric springiness, was that charming clumsiness of the
neophyte,--such a contrast! How they laughed together when Melanie came
to announce that she had forgotten to put yeast in the cake, both her
hands covered with sticky leaven, for all the world as if she were
wearing winter gloves; or when, at Cizpra's command, she tried to take a
little yellow downy chicken from the cold courtyard to a warm room,
keeping up the while a lively duel with the je