d Lorand turn round, before they reached Sarvoelgyi's home, to
wave his hand to Czipra.

Desiderius did not require any further enlightenment on that point. He
thought he understood all quite well.

* * * * *

Mistress Boris meanwhile had a fine job at her house.

"He was a fool who conceived the idea of ordering a banquet for an
indefinite time:--not to know whether he, for whom one must wait, will
come at one, at two, at three,--in the evening, or after midnight."

Twenty times she ran out to the door to see whether he was coming
already or not. Every sound of carriage wheels, every dog-bark enticed
her out into the road, from whence she returned each time more furious,
pouring forth invectives over the spoiling of all her dishes.

"Perhaps that gypsy girl again! Devil take the gypsy girl! She is quite
capable of giving this guest a breakfast there first, and then letting
him go. It would be madness surely, seeing that the town gentleman is
the fiance of the young lady here: but the gypsy girl too has cursed
bright eyes. Besides she is very cunning, capable of bewitching any man.
The damned gypsy girl,--her spells make her cakes always rise
beautifully, while mine wither away in the boiling fat--although they
are made of the same flour, and the same yeast."

It would not have been good for any one of the domestics to show herself
within sight of Mistress Borcsa[73] at that moment.

[Footnote 73: Boris.]

"Well, my master has again burdened me with a guest who thinks the clock
strikes midday in the evening. It was a pity he did not invite him for
yesterday, in that case he might have turned up to-day. Why, I ought to
begin cooking everything afresh.

"I may say, he is a fine bridegroom for a young lady, who lets people
wait for him. If I were the bridegroom of such a beautiful young lady, I
should come to dinner half a day earlier, not half a day later. There
will be nice scenes, if he has his cooking ever done at home. But of
course at Vienna that is not the case, everybody lives on restaurant
fare. There one may dine at six in the afternoon. At any rate, what
midday diners leave is served up again for the benefit of later
comers:--thanks, very much."

Finally the last bark which Mistress Boris did not deign even to notice
from the kitchen, heralded the approach of manly footsteps in the
verandah: and when in answer to the bell Mistress Boris rushed to the
door, to her great