ith a shake of his head:

"The king himself would grow crooked here!"

"Take care, Janos, that you don't upset us!"

Janos got down from his seat, and fastened one of the wheels firmly, for
there was no brake to the carriage; and now the horses had to move at a
funeral pace, and sometimes the road was so narrow between two hills
that they could see nothing but the blue sky above them.

"This place is only fit for birds," muttered Janos.

"Don't you like this part of the country?"

"It is like a pock-marked face," he replied. "It is not the sort of
place one would come to to choose a wife."

Gyuri started. Had the man discovered his intentions?

"Why do you think so?"

"My last master, the baron (Janos had been at some baron's before in
Saros county), used to say to his sons, and he was a clever man too,
'Never look for a wife in a place where there are neither gnats, good
air, nor mineral springs!'"

At this both Veronica and Gyuri were obliged to laugh.

"That's a real Saros way of looking at things. But, you see, you have
vexed this young lady."

"According to your theory I shall have to be an old maid!" said
Veronica.

But Janos vigorously denied the possibility of such a thing.

"Why, dear me, that is not likely; why ... you ..."

He wanted to say something complimentary, but could not find suitable
words, and as chance would have it, his next words were nearer to
swearing than to a compliment, for the shaft of the carriage broke. The
ladies were alarmed, and Gyuri jumped down from his seat to see the
extent of the damage done. It was bad enough, for it had broken off just
near the base.

"What are we to do now?" exclaimed Janos. "I said this place was only
fit for birds, who neither walk nor drive."

"Oh, that is nothing serious," said Gyuri, who at that moment was not to
be put out by a shaft, nor by a hundred shafts.

"Give me your axe, and you go and hold the horses. I'll soon bring you
something to fasten the shaft to, and strengthen it."

He took the axe out of the tool-box under the coachman's seat, said a
few words to reassure the ladies, and then jumped the ditch by the side
of the road.

There were some trees there, but they were as rare as the hairs on the
head of an old man. First came a birch, then a hazelnut bush, then a
black-thorn, then a bare piece of ground without any trees, and then
again a few old trees. So it was rather difficult to find a suitable
tree; one was too bi