They played
their bewitching melodies, and if he was filled with genuine delight,
he gave the fiddlers, right and left, an enthusiastic slap in the face
which echoed noisily, then took a banknote from his pocket-book, spit
upon it and clapped it on the swollen cheeks of the howling gipsies,
whereupon they again grinned joyfully and played on with two-fold
energy.
Although Abonyi was a pattern magistrate, at the second election, which
according to the old county system, occurred every three years, he
suffered defeat. Political party considerations and government
influence sustained another candidate. So Abonyi was again relegated
to private life, but his birth and the office he had filled gave him
sufficient personal distinction to induce his village, immediately
after, to compensate him in some degree for his overthrow by a
unanimous election to the position of parish magistrate.
This gentleman, with whose course of life and prominent personal
characteristics we are now familiar, went one hot August afternoon to
the stables, which formed the back of the courtyard, to inspect the
horses and carriages, as was his custom.
Pages:
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45