umult brought out a buxom dame, whose appearance betokened
somewhat more than a cook, and somewhat less than the lady of the
house. Standing at the entrance, with her arms a-kimbo, she exclaimed
in a sharp, shrill voice: "What diabolical noise is this, I should
like to know? are the Turks or the French coming, eh?"

Meanwhile, Matyi having opened the _porte-cochere_, the carriage drove
into the gateway; and the young man, leaping from the box, and
throwing the reins to the coachman, stepped up to the dame, who eyed
him askance, with an expression of dried plums, as if doing her best
to make herself as disagreeable as possible to the new-comers.

"Ah! my sweet Boriska," said the young man gaily, "how handsome you
have grown since we last met! I thought you were to be married that
carnival; but I suppose it was premature, eh?"

"Well, you have grown ugly enough yourself, Master Karely, since I saw
you last: you were a pretty child, but I should not have known you
again."

"Thank you, Boriska, dear. Is my uncle at home?"

"Where else should he be?"

"Because I have come to see him, with my mother and sister."

"What! are they here too?" said the dame, fixing her sharp eyes on the
carriage, like a two-pronged fork. "Well, I can't understand how folks
can leave home, and wander abroad for weeks."

"Call my uncle, there's a dear girl, and you can help one another to
scold."

The beauty cast another sour glance at the vehicle, and disappeared
into the kitchen. Karely, meanwhile, opened the carriage door, and the
mud being deep in the gateway, he lifted out the two ladies in his
arms. One was his mother--a calm, ladylike person about forty, with a
sweet, melancholy expression: the other was his sister--a merry,
mischievous looking little fay of about twelve, with bright sparkling
eyes and rosy cheeks, and a constant smile on the never-closed lips.

"Welcome kindly! We will not wait for them," said Karely, laughing, as
he lifted them out and opened the door, which Boriska had shut behind
her.

Our readers having had a slight glance at the travellers, I must
inform them that the lady who has just arrived is Mrs. Erzsebet
Hamvasi, sister of Abraham Hamvasi, to whose house they have come, and
which had been left equally to the lady and her brother by their
parents--although Erzsebet Hamvasi, subsequently Tallyai, had left her
brother in undisturbed possession, only desiring an occasional
reception when _en route_.