The Baron's Sons Part 7

"Well, I will speak to his Excellency," returned Jeno.

"Thank you. Now sit down and drink with me, to seal our compact.

Paul!"

The old hussar appeared.

"There is a ten-florin note. Go and get two bottles of champagne,--one for us and one for yourself."

Old Paul shook his head as he withdrew, and muttered, "I was just such another myself when I was a youngster."

CHAPTER V.

ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE.

The Plankenhorst family in Vienna was an entirely respectable one, although its name lacked the prefix which denotes n.o.bility.

Nevertheless the widow was honoured with the t.i.tle of baroness, as she was of n.o.ble birth, and her daughter, too, was similarly addressed by her admirers. They lived in a house of their own in the inner city; and that signifies a great deal in Vienna. But the house was an old-fas.h.i.+oned one, built in the style of Maria Theresa, and the ground floor was given up to shops. They were admitted to court circles and were often seen there; yet it was the men rather than the women that sought their society. Barons and princes not seldom offered an arm to the amiable Madame Antoinette to escort her to the supper-room, or begged of the charming Miss Alfonsine the pleasure of a dance. But no baron or prince was ever known to seek an intimate acquaintance with either of them.

Their receptions were well attended, and it was there that many political and love intrigues were hatched. To be sure, the Sedlniczkys, the Insaghis, and the Apponys never graced these functions, but their secretaries were to be seen there. No one ever thought of seeking the Princes Windischgratz and Colloredo in that house; yet military celebrities with decorated b.r.e.a.s.t.s and gold-laced collars were to be found there in plenty, as well as jovial officers and guardsmen of good family. The ladies, too, in attendance, both matrons and misses, belonged to families distinguished either for high official station or for birth.

The tone of these a.s.semblies was thoroughly respectable, while they offered peculiar facilities for enjoying oneself without irksome restraint,--an advantage not found everywhere.

For all that, however, when at nine o'clock of the appointed evening Jeno betook himself in full evening dress to his brother's quarters, he found the young cavalry officer not yet attired for the reception, and, apparently, utterly indifferent to the great pleasure awaiting him. He was lying on his lounge, reading a novel.

"Well, aren't you going to the party?" asked the younger brother.

"What party?"

"At the Plankenhorsts'."

"There now, I had forgotten all about it," exclaimed Richard, springing up and summoning his servant.

"Do tell me, Richard, why you have such an aversion to these people?

They are so friendly and cordial, and one is always sure to pa.s.s a pleasant evening at their house."

"What's wanted now?" inquired Paul, appearing at the door.

"Come in, Paul, and shave me," returned his master.

The old hussar was barber as well as cook.

"Why don't you answer my question?" persisted Jeno, while old Paul beat up the lather. "What have you against the Plankenhorsts?"

"The deuce take me if I can tell," answered Richard; "but they are such tuft-hunters!"

"Better not talk now, or I shall be cutting your face," interposed the old servant. "Let the young gentleman go on ahead, and you can follow him as soon as I have made you presentable. You won't need any rope ladder or skeleton key to get into the Plankenhorst house."

Jeno adopted this suggestion, and half an hour later his brother joined him in the Plankenhorst parlours. Jeno hastened to present the newcomer to the hostess and her daughter, both of whom remembered that they had already had the pleasure of meeting him. The mother declared herself delighted to welcome him under her own roof, to which Richard replied with an appropriate compliment, and then made room for other arrivals.

"Shall I introduce you to some of the people here?" asked Jeno.

"No, don't trouble yourself; I know them better than you do. That marshal over there, with the military figure and a voice as loud as if he were commanding a brigade, is an officer in the commissary department. He spends his time in weighing out provender, and has never smelt gunpowder except on the emperor's birthday. The young prince yonder, with the condescending smile and his eye-gla.s.ses stuck high up on his nose, is secretary to the chief of police, and a very influential man. The duenna in the coffee-coloured dress and with paint on her cheeks, is the wife of Blumenbach, the banker, who lends money to the spendthrift young aristocrats, and, consequently, knows all that is going on in high society. And the young lady near us, talking and smiling so confidentially with a young man about your age, is the most accomplished detective that ever ferreted out a secret; but aside from that she is a very nice little innocent creature."

Jeno felt not entirely at his ease as he listened to his brother, whom he suspected of entertaining no very high opinion of the whole company.

"The little maid that I met on the stairs," resumed Richard, "pleases me more than all this company put together. I don't know whether she belongs in the house, but I came here to-night wholly on her account.

I pinched her cheek as she was running away from me, and she gave me a slap on the hand that I can feel now."

The last words received but scant attention from Jeno, as a certain ill.u.s.trious ornament of society had caught sight of the two brothers and was hastening toward them. He was a tall, angular man, with a sharp nose and a little pointed beard. Greeting Jeno on the way, he made straight for the elder brother, and placed his bony hand familiarly on the young man's shoulder.

"Your humble servant, my dear Richard!" he exclaimed in Hungarian.

The other returned the greeting with much coolness and indifference.

The angular gentleman pulled at his beard as if not wholly pleased with his reception, and Jeno bit his lip in vexation at his brother's conduct.

"Well, how are you?" asked the tall gentleman, with gracious condescension.

"Well enough," replied Richard nonchalantly; "and I see you are in good trim, too."

The other seemed not exactly to relish this answer. "I am going to leave for home to-morrow," said he; "what word shall I carry to your mother from you?"

"Ah, you live in our neighbourhood, do you?" blandly inquired the young hussar officer.

At this the polygonal gentleman nearly lost command of himself, while Jeno tried to look as if his attention were elsewhere engaged.

"What message, then, do you wish to send?" resumed Richard's interlocutor.

"I kiss her hand," answered the young man briefly.

"Ah, that commission I will execute with the greatest pleasure, in person," exclaimed the other, with effusive friendliness.

"Oh, you needn't feel obliged to convey my respects in such a literal sense as that," returned Richard. "I was speaking figuratively."

Jeno meanwhile had opened a conversation with the innocent-looking young lady near him; but he kept one eye on his brother, and as soon as he saw that the angular gentleman had departed, he took leave of the young lady and returned to Richard.

"Well, now, you've put your foot in it this time!" he exclaimed.

"How so?" asked the other, with much composure.

"Didn't you know that man? It was Rideghvary."

"Well, he might have been Meleghvary, for all I care."

"But he is an intimate friend of the family, and you have often seen him at our house."