er ear:

"A bargain's a bargain, my dove!--you behave amiably to Klara Goldstein
and I will keep a civil tongue in my head for your old sweetheart.
. . . That is fair, I think, eh, Irma neni?" he added, turning to the
old woman.

"Don't be foolish, Bela," retorted Kapus Irma dryly. "Why you should be
for ever teasing Elsa, I cannot think. You must know that all girls feel
upset at these times, and as like as not you'll make her cry at her own
feast. And that would be a fine disgrace for us all!"

"Don't be afraid, mother," said Elsa quietly; "I don't feel the least
like crying."

"That's splendid," exclaimed Bela, with ostentatious gaiety. "Here's
Irma neni trying to teach me something about girls. As if I didn't know
about them all that there is to know. Eh, Andor, you agree with me,
don't you?" he added, turning to the other man. "We men know more about
women's moods and little tempers than their own mothers do. What? Now,
Irma neni, take your daughter into the house. There is a clatter of
dishes and bottles going on inside there which is very pleasant to the
stomach. Miss Klara, will you honour me by accepting my arm? Friends,
come in all, will you? All those, I mean, whom my wife that is to be has
invited to her last girlhood's entertainment. Irma neni, do lead the
way. Elsa looks quite pale for want of food--she had her breakfast very
early, I suppose, and got tired dressing for this great occasion. Andor,
you shall sit next to Elsa if you like. . . . You must have lots to tell
her. Your adventures among the cannibals and the lions and tigers. . . .
Eh? . . . And Irma neni shall sit next to you on the other side, and
don't let her have more wine than is good for her. Whew! but it is hot
already! Come along, friends. By thunder, Klara, but that is a fine hat
you have got on."

He talked on very volubly and at the top of his voice, making
ostentatious efforts to appear jovial and amiable to everyone; but Eros
Bela was no fool: he knew quite well that his attitude toward his bride
and toward Klara the Jewess was causing many adverse comments to go
round among his friends. But he was in a mood not to care. He was
determined that everyone should know and see that he was the master here
to-day, just as he meant to be master in his house throughout the years
to come. Like every self-enriched peasant, he attached an enormous
importance to wealth, and was inclined to have a contempt for the less
fortunate folk who had