the grove, and already the misty twilight,
filling the tips and the branches of the trees, bound and, as it were,
fused the whole forest into one mass, and the grove showed black like an
immense building, and the sun red above it like a fire on the roof; then
the sun sank; it still shone through the branches, as a candle through the
chinks of window shutters; then it was extinguished. And suddenly the
scythes that were ringing far and wide among the grain, and the rakes that
were being drawn over the meadow, became quiet and still; such were the
orders of the Judge, on whose farm work closed with the day. "The Lord of
the world knows how long we should toil; when the sun, his workman,
descends from heaven, it is time for the husbandman to withdraw from the
field." So the Judge was wont to speak, and the will of the Judge was
sacred to the honest Steward; for even the waggons on which they had
already begun to load the sheaves of grain, went unfilled to the stable;
the oxen rejoiced in the unaccustomed lightness of their load.

The whole company was just returning from the grove, gaily, but in order;
first the little children with their tutor, then the Judge with the wife
of the Chamberlain; beside them the Chamberlain, surrounded by his family;
after the older people came the young ladies, with the young men beside
them; the young ladies walked a half-step before the young men: so decorum
bids. No one there had arranged the order, no one had so placed the
gentlemen and the ladies, but each without conscious thought kept the
order: for the Judge in his household observed the ancient customs, and
never allowed that respect should be neglected for age, birth,
intelligence, or office: "By such breeding," said he, "houses and nations
win fame, and with its fall, houses and nations go to ruin." So the
household and the servants grew accustomed to order; and a passing guest,
whether kinsman or stranger, when he visited the Judge, as soon as he had
been there a short time, accepted the established ways of which all about
him breathed.

Short were the greetings that the Judge bestowed upon his nephew. With
dignity he offered him his hand to salute, and kissing him on the temple
he gave him a hearty welcome; though out of regard for the guests he
talked little with him, one could see from the tears that he quickly wiped
away with the sleeve of his _kontusz_,13 how he loved young Thaddeus.

After the master all, both men and bea