now when a fellow who sat in the corner by the window
made some rough jest about the young Count. Leopold made his way to
Klara's side; his thin lips were tightly pressed together, and he had
buried his hands in the pockets of his ill-fitting trousers.

"If that accursed aristocrat comes hanging round here much more,
Klara," he muttered between set teeth, "I'll kill him one of these
days."

"What a fool you are, Leopold!" she said. "Why, yesterday it was Eros
Bela you objected to."

"And I do still," he retorted. "I heard of your conduct at the banquet
to-day. It is the talk of the village. One by one these loutish peasants
have come into my shop and told me the tale--curse them!--of how the
bridegroom had eyes and ears only for you. You seem to forget, Klara,"
he added, while a thought of menace crept into his voice, "that you are
tokened to me now. So don't try and make a fool of me, or . . ."

"The Lord bless you, my good man," she retorted, with a laugh, "I won't
try, I promise you. I wouldn't like to compete with the Almighty, who
has done that for you already."

"Klara . . ." he exclaimed.

"Oh! be quiet now, Leo," she said impatiently. "Can't you see that my
hands are as full as I can manage, without my having to bother about you
and your jealous tempers?"

She elbowed him aside and went to the counter to serve a customer who
had just arrived, and more than a quarter of an hour went by before
Leopold had the chance of another word with her.

"You might have a kind word for me to-night, Klara," he said ruefully,
as soon as a brief lull in business enabled him to approach the girl.

"Why specially to-night?" she asked indifferently.

"Your father must go by the night train to Kecskemet," he said, with
seeming irrelevance. "There is that business about the plums."

"The plums?" she asked, with a frown of puzzlement, "what plums?"

"The fruit he bought near Kecskemet. They start gathering at sunrise
to-morrow. He must be there the first hour, else he'd get shamefully
robbed. He must travel by night."

"I knew nothing about it," rejoined Klara, with an indifferent shrug of
the shoulders. "Father never tells me when he is going to be away from
home."

"No!" retorted Leopold, with a sneer, "he knows better than to give all
your gallants such a brilliant opportunity."

"Don't be a fool, Leo!" she reiterated with a laugh.

"I don't give any of them an opportunity, either," resumed the young
man, while