th the wagoner); they could not imagine why the sick
woman was running at the top of her speed.

"Madame! madame! What is the matter?"

She gave no answer, only rushed to the Mravucsans' house, where she
again had a fright at the sight of three enormous watch-dogs, who
received her with furious barks. She would have fallen in a faint on the
floor, but at that moment Mravucsan appeared on the scene to receive his
guests, so she fell into his arms instead. The good mayor just held her
quietly, with astonished looks, for he had never yet seen a fainting
woman, though he had heard they ought to be sprinkled with water, but
how was he to go for water? Then he remembered he had heard that
pinching was a good remedy, that it would, in fact, wake a dead woman;
but in order to pinch a person, she must have some flesh, and Madame
Krisbay had nothing but bones. So he waited with Christian patience till
the others arrived on the scene, and then gave her up to their tender
mercies.

"Phew!" he breathed, "what a relief!"

Intellectual Society in Babaszek

PART IV

CHAPTER I.

THE SUPPER AT THE MRAVUCSANS'

I am not fond of drawing things out to too great a length, so will only
give a short description of the Mravucsans' supper, which was really
excellent, and if any one were discontented, it could only have been
Madame Krisbay, who burned her mouth severely when eating of the first
dish, which was lamb with paprika.

"Oh," she exclaimed, "something is pricking my throat!"

But the pudding she found still less to her taste (a plain paste rolled
out very thin, and cut into squares, boiled and served up with curds and
whey, and small squares of fried bacon).

"_Mon Dieu!_" she said, "it looks like small bits of wet linen!"

Poor Mrs. Mravucsan was inconsolable at her guest's want of appetite.

"It is such a disgrace for me," she said.

Then it occurred to her to offer her some of her preserved fruit, and to
this madame seemed to take a fancy, for she finished up the dish, and
in proportion as her hunger was appeased, her liking for her
surroundings increased.

She had the Lutheran clergyman, Samuel Rafanidesz, on her right, and the
schoolmaster, Teofil Klempa, on her left, and to them was deputed the
task of entertaining the unfortunate foreigner. Their invitations had
been put in this form:

"You _must_ come, for there is to be a German lady at supper, whom you
are to entertain."

And they did all t