In our fright we jumped out too.
I did not hurt myself, but poor madame struck her shoulder on something.
I hope it will be nothing serious. Does it hurt very much, Madame
Krisbay?"

Madame opened her small yellow eyes, which till then had been closed,
and the first sight that met them was Veronica's untidy hair.

"Smooth your hair," she said in French in a low voice, then groaned once
or twice, and closed her eyes again.

Veronica, greatly alarmed, raised her hand to her head, and found that
one of her plaits was partly undone.

"Oh, my hair!" she exclaimed. "The hairpins must have fallen out when I
jumped out of the carriage. What am I to do?"

"Let down the other plait," advised Mravucsan. "That's it, my dear; it
is much prettier so, isn't it, Wibra?"

"Much prettier," answered Gyuri, casting an admiring glance at the two
black, velvety plaits, with a lovely dark bluish tinge on them, which
hung nearly down to the edge of her millefleurs skirt.

So that was the priest's sister. He could hardly believe it, for he had
imagined a fat, waddling, red-faced woman, smelling of pomade. That is
what parish priests' sisters are generally like. The lawyer thought it
was time to start a conversation.

"I suppose you were very frightened?"

"Not very; in fact, I don't think I was startled at all. But now I begin
to fear my brother will be anxious about me."

"The priest of Glogova?"

"Yes. He is very fond of me, and will be so anxious if we do not return.
And yet I hardly know how we are to manage it."

"Well," said Mravucsan, consolingly, "we have the horses, and we will
borrow a cart from some one."

Veronica shuddered and shook her head.

"With those horses? Never again!"

"But, my dear young lady, you must never take horses seriously, they
have no real character. You see, this is how it was. Near the brickfield
there is that immense windmill, for of course every town must have one.
The world is making progress, in spite of all Senator Fajka says. Well,
as I said, there is the windmill. I had it built, for every one made fun
of us because we had no water in the neighborhood. So I make use of the
wind. Of course, the horses don't understand that; they are good
mountain horses, and had never seen a beast with such enormous wings,
turning in the air, so of course they were frightened and ran away. You
can't wonder at it. But that is all over now, and they will take you
quietly home."

"No, no, I'm afraid of