not risen out of their humble sphere as he had
done.

His wealth, he thought, had placed him above everyone else in
Marosfalva, and above the unwritten laws of traditions and proprieties
which are of more account in an Hungarian village than all the codes
framed by the Parliament which sits in Budapesth. He was proud of his
wealth, proud of his education, his book-learning and knowledge of the
world, and reckoned that these gave him the right to be a law unto
himself. His naturally domineering and masterful temperament completed
his claim to be considered the head man of Marosfalva.

The Hungarian peasants are ready enough to give deference where
deference is exacted, but, having given it, their cordial friendship
dies away. They acknowledged a social barrier more readily, perhaps,
than any other peasantry in Europe, but having once acknowledged it,
they will not admit that either party can stand on both sides of it at
one and the same time.

So now, though Eros Bela was flouting the local traditions and
proprieties by his attentions to Klara Goldstein, no one thought of
openly opposing him. Everyone was ready enough to accept his actions, as
they would those of their social superiors--the gentlemen of Arad, the
Pater, my lord the Count himself, but they were not ready to accept his
cordiality nor to extend to him their simple-minded and open-hearted
friendship.

The presence of the Jewess did not please them--she was a stranger and
an alien--she looked like a creature from another world with her tight
skirts, high-heeled shoes and huge, feathered hat. No one felt this more
keenly than Andor, whose heart had warmed out--despite its pain--at
sight of all his friends, their national costumes, their music, their
traditions--all of which had been out of his life for so long.

He felt that Klara's presence on this occasion was in itself an outrage
upon Elsa, even without Bela's conspicuously unworthy conduct. Elsa,
with her tightly-plaited hair, her balloon skirts and bare neck and
arms, looked ashamed beside this fashionable apparition all made up of
billowy lace and clinging materials.

Andor cursed beneath his breath, and ground his heel into the dust in
the impotency of his rage. He tried to remember all that the Pater had
said to him half an hour ago about forbearance and about God's will.

Personally, Andor did not altogether believe that it was God's will that
Elsa should be married to a man who would neither