The Nameless Castle by Mór Jókai
page 59 of 371 (15%)
page 59 of 371 (15%)
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"And yet, it is a good old Hungarian family name. The last Diet
recognized her ancestors as belonging to the nobility." This remark was made by a third gentleman. He was sitting on the left of the vice-palatine, and was clad in snuff-colored clothes. His face was covered with small-pox marks; he had tangled yellow hair and inflamed eyelids. "Are you acquainted with the family, doctor?" asked the vice-palatine. "Of course I am," replied the doctor. "Baron Landsknechtsschild inherited this estate from his mother, who was a Markoczy. The baron sold the estate to his niece Katharina. You, Herr Surveyor, must have seen the baron, when the land was surveyed around the Nameless Castle for the mad count?" The surveyor, who was seated beside the doctor, was a clever man in his profession, but little given to conversation. When he did open his lips, he rarely got beyond: "I--say--what was it, now, I was going to say?" As no one seemed willing to-day to wait until he could remember what he wanted to remark, the doctor, who was never at a loss for words, continued: "The Baroness Katharina paid one hundred thousand florins for the estate, with all its prerogatives--" "That's quite a handsome sum," observed the vice-palatine. "And, what is handsomer, it is said the new proprietress intends to take up a permanent residence here. Is not that the report, Herr Justice? You |
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