Poor Plutocrats Poor Plutocrats

Ttiwttif iiiiinMi>HiiartWiraw*flüs.u THE FOREIGN CLAS;-i ^J UNIVERSITY Oi CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO sAN I) tbu UNIVERSITY OF CAUFOfjNIA 3 1822 02686 8786 . r The Foreign Classical Romances Complete in Twenty Crown Octavo Volumes WITH INTRODUCTORY E8SAY8 BY HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, L.H.D., LL.D. Co-Editor N. Y. Outlook. Author of "Norse Stories," "Essays on Books and Culture," etc. PROF. MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, A.M., LL.D. Catholic University of America. Author of "Studies in Literature," "Modern Novelists," e»c. PROF. LEO WIENER Harvard University. Translator of Tolstoy's Complete Works. Author of "Anthology of Russian Literature," etc. BARON GUSTAVO TOSTI Doctor of Laws, Naples University. Royal Consul of Italy at Boston. WOLF VON SCHIERBRAND Former Berlin Correspondent N. Y. Evening Post. Author of "Germany," etc. A. SCHADE VAN WESTRUM Licentiate Amsterdam University. Literary Editor N. Y. Mail and Express. General Editor : LIONEL STRACHEY Compiler of "Little Masterpieces of Fiction." Translator of Stories by Balzac, Sudermann, Serao, etc. FRONTISPIECES AND PIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES MAURUS JOKAÍ Poor Plutocrats Poor Plutocrats TRANSLATED FROM THE HUNGARIAN #* A FRONTISPIECE AND A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH P. F. COLLIER ^7- SON NEW YORK POOR PLUTOCRATS (F) — (I)—Vol. 20 y '^ CONTENTS PAGE ^^^. LlFE,OF JÓKAI . 5 CHAPTER I Boredom -y n ' ;.^HAFTER -H: .*^ A New Mode of Dueling . 2^ .'CHAPTER- III ^ An Amiable Man .y: . : 37 CHAPTER IV Childish Nonsense ..X'.yT .^ 4-'^ i^ /' CHAPTER V .'. She is Not for You. ^ 71 CHAPTER VI Brixging Home the 3ride 85 CHAPTER VII fe Cavern of Lucsia .írrN.. iij rTTABTRf? VTTT ^^ Strong Juon • -^^ * • ^43 'CHAPTER IX The Geina Maíd-Market 157 CHAPTER X The Black Jewelry 165 CHAPTER XI Two Tales, of Which Only One is True 188 3 1 Contents CHAPTER XII Receptions at Arad 207 CHAPTER XIII Tit for Tat 22 CHAPTER XIV The Mikalai Inn 244 CHAPTER XV Who it Was that Recognized Fatia Negra. 255 CHAPTER XVI Leander Baberossy 290 CHAPTER XVII Mr. Margari 303 CHAPTER XVIII The Undiscoverable Lady 319 CHAPTER XIX The Shaking Hand 342 CHAPTER XX The Fight for the Gold 349 CHAPTER XXI The Hunted Beast 363 CHAPTER XXII The Sight of Terror 388 CHAPTER XXIII The Accommodation 401 CHAPTER XXIV Conclusion 406 4 LIFE OF JÓKAI obtain an adequate idea of the "patriarch of TOMagyar literature" as a factor in the world of books, one must first consider the tremendous capacity for work enabling Jókai, by the time he had reached his fiftieth year, to publish close upon two hundred volumes. This enormous output—suggesting com- parison with the much-quoted fecundity of the elder Dumas—included twenty-nine long novels, numbering together a hundred volumes, two volumes of poetry, two of dramatic work, six of humorous writings, and sixty- eight filled with miscellaneous tales. At that age he had seen his best productions translated into all the principal European languages, while as a political leader of the Magyars, in their protracted conflict with the Austrians, he had won a name for shining patriotism. Komorn, a small town on the Danube, was the birth- place of Maurus Jókai, who died in 1904 when on the verge of completing eight decades of life. By family origin, and through both parents, he belonged to the minor order of Hungarian nobility. His father was a lawyer of high standing, and Maurus—of which the English equivalent is Maurice—was in early youth given 5 Life of Jdkai to understand that he, too, should follow the legal pro- fession. Educated at home till his tenth year, and having shown a precocious taste for literature, painting, and sculpture, he was in 1836 sent to a school at Pressburg, proceeding thence to the Calvinist College at Pápá, where he formed lasting friendship with the two future national celebrities, Petfi and Kozma. He was then articled to a lawyer, and though he applied himself conscientiously to the study of jurisprudence, so that he earned his diploma, he spent his leisure hours in composing his first book. In 1845, ^^ nineteen, he betook himself to Pesth with the manuscript of "The Jew Boy," for which he soon found a publisher. The qualities of this work won praise from several men of letters residing at the Hungarian capital. Encouraged by his success, Jókai indited another romance, "Working Days," which was issued serially in the "Pesti Dvietalap," and eventually between cloth covers. In spite of its obvious crudities, its melodramatic extravagancies, "Working Days" was hailed as the effort of an original genius, leading, in fact, to such a rapid rise in the author's prestige that, on his appointment to the editorship of the "Életképek," Hun- gary's prime literary journal, he found rallying around him the flower of Magyar notables of the pen. Three years after the publication of his first book, he married, choosing for his partner a favorite tragic actress, Roza Laborfalvi ; another few months bringing forth events that prompted him to volunteer with the revolutionists in the cause of Hungarian in- 6 Life of Jókai dependence. Though a moderate liberal, Jókai had long before the call to arms sided with the great Kossuth, acting as his literary and journalistic spokesman. Like Kossuth, Jókai held the invincible belief that the Magyar was competent to govern himself without interference from the house of Hapsburg ; and his voluntary and active participation in the struggle for independence not only colored his whole political career, but more or less affected the remainder of his literary endeavors. He fought in Görgei's memorable campaign of 1848, and was present at the battle of Arad, whose sequel was the Hungarian surrender at Világos. It is recorded how this catastrophe overwhelmed the author-patriot to the point of making him resolve upon suicide, and how nothing but the passionate entreaties of his friends changed his purpose. With Hungary now reduced to the condition of an Austrian dependency, himself a marked man and a political suspect, Jókai determined, if he could not be his country's savior, at least to aid in preserving her tradi- tions, thereby keeping Magyar patriotism aglow. He saw the means to this end in the printed word, in the circulation of books and periodicals: as one of the journalistic enterprises undertaken after Hungary's suppres- sion may be cited his founding of the "Hon." The extreme vigor characterizing his political opinions nat- urally did not fail to excite Austrian apprehension, the climax being reached with his condemnation (i860), for publishing seditious writings, to twelve months in 7 Life of Jdkai irons, a sentence commuted by the Emperor to a month*s solitary confinement, in the course of which he wrote the strongly autobiographical tale, "The Lady with Eyes Like the Sea," and during which, he says, he received more brilliant company than ever before or since. After the prison episode, Jókai showered forth a stream of novels, among them some destined to inter- national popularity, such as "A Man of Gold," "The Lion of Janina," "Black Diamonds," "The Golden Age of Transylvania," "The Yellow Rose," "Sad Days," "The Hungarian Nabob," "Poor Plutocrats," "There is No Devil," "Pretty Michal." But all his works of this period were eagerly read by his compatriots; many of them breathed the aspirations of the Magyar race for independence; as a whole, they exerted an undoubted influence in keeping hot the spirit which resulted in the constitutional concessions made to Hungary by the "Com- promise" of 1867. Enthusiastically elected to the lower parliamentary branch, Jókai in that assembly displayed conspicuous gifts of practical statesmanship, supple- mented by the resource and wit of a keen, magnetic de- bater. Bringing, besides, his various journals to the support of his political principles and associates, he speedily grew to the position of a towering figure in national affairs. Far from acquiring any sort of fatuity in consequence of his triumphs, Jókai never lost his balance. He was always reputed modest and genial, and one of his coun- trymen has described him as "the best beloved individual 8 Life of Jókai in Hungary." A personal friend of the Empress Eliza- beth of Austria, he was Hkewise highly esteemed by her imperial consort, Francis Joseph, who gave him a seat in the upper chamber, the "Magnatenhaus," in 1897. Jókai's first wife, to whose inspiration he was wont to attribute the greater part of his renown, died in 1886; though she was his senior by several years, their union had been ideal. After thirteen years of widowerhood, he took a second wife, a young actress named Bella Nagy. On his death the Austro-Hungarian Empire may be said to have gone into mourning. A public funeral was accorded him by the unanimous vote of both the Hungarian legislative houses. 9 POOR PLUTOCRATS CHAPTER I BOREDOM "Was it you who yawned so, Clementina?" Nobody answered. The questioner was an old gentleman in his eightieth year or so, dressed in a splendid flowered silk kaftan, with a woolen night-cap on his head, warm cotton stock- ings on his feet, and diamond, turquoise, and ruby rings on his fingers. He was reclining on an atlas ottoman; his face was as wooden as a mummy's—a mere patch- work of wrinkles—he had a dry, thin, pointed nose, shaggy, autumnal-yellow eyebrows; his large prominent black eyes, protected by irritably sensitive eyelids, lent little charm to his peculiar cast of countenance. "Well! Will nobody answer? Who yawned so loudly behind my back just now?" he asked again, with an angry snort. "Will nobody answer?" Nobody answered, and yet there was a sufficient num- ber of people in the room to have found an answer among them.

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