The Village Notary: A Romance of Hungarian Life

"Your ladyship has known me a long time," said Jantshi, in a supplicating tone; "I have always been an industrious and honest man. But the justice treats me like a dog; from behind, the haiduk strikes me; in front, the justice kicks me and pulls my beard; rather than bear it any longer, I don't care who the devil I accuse!"

Lady Rety beckoned Mr. Skinner to the window, where she whispered to him that she thought the culprit was innocent, and that it would be well to treat him leniently: whereupon the justice swore that the Jew was a liar, and that he had treated him as kindly as possible. "These Retys are a strange family; the young ones protect the Bohemians, and the old ones defend the Jews," said the justice to himself. "If things are to go on in this way, there'll be no use for a minister of justice."

By this time the body was removed, and Lady Rety proceeded to the attorney's room, accompanied by the justice. Everything was in the same state as when found by the servants immediately after the murder, with the exception of the bed, which they had covered. The pool of blood on the side of the apartment, with the bloody knife lying beside it, presented an appalling sight on entering the room, and the lady stood for a moment aghast at the threshold. Mr. Rety and the justice remarked her terror, and advised her by all means to go away.

"Do not distress yourselves; it is only a womanly weakness," answered she. "It will soon be over. Mr. Catspaw was our faithful servant, and I cannot bring myself to believe in his untimely end!" And forcing herself forward, as if by a violent effort, she picked her way through the papers and articles lying on the floor, to the drawers; she then went to the box where the attorney kept all his law papers, but was equally unsuccessful in finding the much-desired documents. A few letters lay there, which it will be remembered had been put aside by the attorney before the murder.

Lady Rety was well aware that these letters were only a small part of the Vandory papers, and in hopes to find the remainder, she searched with the greatest care and patience. Still all was in vain; and she began to believe that the attorney had burned the other papers, and only kept these few letters, which, as the perusal of one of them showed her, were sufficient to force the bills from her, when her husband's conversation with Mr. Skinner attracted her attention.

"Exactly as I said!" exclaimed the latter; "the letters which we found on the floor, besmeared with blood, were directed to Tengelyi; and of those two notes there on the table, one is directed to you and the other to Tengelyi. And here I have found at my feet a bill covered with blood. It's in the notary's handwriting: 'Books for Vilma, eight florins; dress for Elizabeth, ten florins,'" said the justice, throwing the bill down with a laugh.

"It cannot be denied," said the sheriff, looking more closely at the bill, "that this is the notary's writing; but how came it here?"

"That could easily be accounted for by the evidence given in the examination."

"Impossible! utterly impossible!" said the sheriff, who happened to be too honest a man to believe Mr. Tengelyi capable of the crime imputed to him. "You surely do not, Mr. Skinner, seriously suspect the notary? You know he is not a favourite of mine; but I assure you he is the last of all my acquaintance whom I should suspect."

Lady Rety, who had attentively listened to this conversation, understood at once the nature of the case. She knew that Catspaw had possession of the papers which had been stolen from Tengelyi's house, and it seemed but natural that some of the documents should have been lost in the hurry and confusion of the scuffle which evidently had preceded Mr. Catspaw's assassination. But what puzzled her was, that some unimportant letters, bearing the notary's address, had been found, and this circumstance drew her suspicions upon Tengelyi, as either the perpetrator of, or accessory to the crime. Her suspicions were confirmed by the fact that no trace of blood was found on Jantshi's hands, face, or clothes. "If," thought she, "Tengelyi has regained possession of his documents, the best way to neutralise them is to accuse him of the murder; for he cannot in that case produce them, without proving his own guilt." Led on by this idea, she protested that the case ought to be strictly examined, and that she was convinced that the Jew was innocent of the murder. "Perhaps," added she, "the rascal meant to steal; but since there are no traces of blood on him, it is utterly impossible for him to have committed the murder. You see the room is full of blood!"

"Examine as much as you like!" said the sheriff, who was so irritated by the thought that the best friend of his youth should be accused, that he forgot his usual politeness to his wife, "Yes, we will examine! I myself will examine, and refute, this very day, the base calumny against Tengelyi!"

"I am astonished at your unusual warmth!" said Lady Rety, with a soft but bitter tone, as she walked with her husband to the cook's room; "you were not wont to defend Mr. Tengelyi in this manner."

"Defend him?" answered the sheriff, firmly. "I think we have done this man a great injustice: he was once my friend; he has lived in my house as part of myself; and, taking all in all, he never did a wrong thing against me, and yet he is the man on whom this horrid crime is sought to be fixed."

Lady Rety saw, from the humour her husband was in, that it was best to say as little as possible on the subject then, and merely remarked that, at present, it was not a charge against Tengelyi, but only a "supposition;" and, for her part, she hoped those suspicions would prove unfounded. Upon this Mr. Rety remarked, dryly, that she would certainly see her wish realised.

Mr. Sherer and Mr. Kenihazy had returned from the inquest, and were walking up and down the room debating on the largeness of the wound, which the surgeon had pronounced to be mortal, because he had heard that a poor Jew had inflicted it; whereas, if a rich man had been supposed to have inflicted it, he would have declared that it was not mortal, and that death had been caused by apoplexy, or some other illness.

The Jew still stood in the same place in the room which he had from the first occupied, with the haiduk by his side, in anxious expectation of the moment when the examination would be adjourned.

Lady Rety summoned all the servants together, and desired them to relate to her, with the greatest care and attention, everything they knew respecting Catspaw's death.

Mrs. Cizmeasz said, in a timid voice, that she could not deny that she fancied she understood the attorney mentioned the name of Tengelyi when the cook questioned him about his murderer; but she supposed it was all a mistake; for that she was a poor silly woman, and never understood any thing properly. The testimony of the butler and boots was much the same, as was indeed the evidence of all the others: they adhered to their former statement, that the attorney shook his head when the Jew was brought; and everybody admitted that a violent quarrel had taken place on the evening of the murder between the attorney and Mr. Tengelyi, and that the notary had driven him out of his house with a stick.

"But the Jew must know all," said the sheriff, who had been walking up and down the room in deep thought. "He was found in the chimney; he cannot deny that; he must at least have heard everything that passed. Rascal!" said he, turning to the culprit, "what did you want there?"

"You came to steal, did you not?" said Lady Rety, with evident emotion; "deny it if you dare! It was for that purpose the false keys were to be used, which were found upon you!"

The Jew, perceiving that suspicion rested on the notary as well as on himself, caught at Lady Rety's hint, and, throwing himself on his knees, confessed that he only came to steal. "Miss Etelka has many precious jewels," said he, entreatingly. "I saw them on her when I was repairing the windows the other day. I am a very poor and unfortunate man; and I thought to myself, if I could get some of them, it would help me. I knew Miss Etelka was not at home, and I tried to steal them. I hope your ladyship will have compassion on me, I will never do so again; I will ever be an honest man from this time."

"Fiddlesticks!" interposed the justice, with a sneer; "I dare say you'd like to be mistaken for a thief; you think that would save your neck: but it won't do! it's too evident that you at least had a part in the murder."

"Oh, I entreat you," cried the Jew, still on his knees, "I am innocent of the murder. Mr. Catspaw said so, for he shook his head when I was brought to him; and how was it possible for a weak man like me to kill a strong man like Mr. Catspaw?"

"Jew!" said Mr. Skinner, sarcastically, "that story won't do; you must find another plea: this is the first time in my life I have heard of Mr. Catspaw's strength."

"And was it likely," continued the Jew, imploringly, "that I should have gone without a weapon if I had any intention of committing murder?"

"We found a large carving-knife in the chimney," interposed the cook.

"I swear I know nothing about it," cried Jantshi; "somebody in the house must have put it there and forgotten to remove it."

"Yes, we know very well it belongs to the house," said the cook; "you stole it the day before yesterday."

"Oh, indeed, Mister Cook, I did not; and was the knife which you saw bloody? And should I not be bloody if I had killed the attorney?"

Here the steward remarked that "Jews were great conjurors. One of their tribe came to the house a day or two ago," continued he, "and made us all sign our names on a piece of paper, and in the twinkling of an eye he made them disappear again. And who knows but what this Jew has learnt the art from him; and all the world knows, that nobody is so expert at getting out blood stains as Jews."

This reasoning of the steward impressed nobody but the servants.

"Considering the quantity of blood the attorney lost," said Lady Rety, "it's quite incomprehensive to me how the murderer should escape without staining his clothes. However," said she, turning to the Jew, "if you did not participate in the actual deed, at least you know everything that passed; you must know the murderer!"

"I heard everything," said Jantshi, sighing; "I heard everything from the beginning to the end, and I shudder still when I think of it! – I wanted to jump out to help the poor man, but I was so frightened; and then I thought, too, if any thing dreadful should happen, and I should be found there; and then I became so frightened that I had no power to move."

"Well, what did you hear?" inquired Lady Rety, encouragingly; "you surely must know whether it was Tengelyi, as the justice suspects, or not? Now sit down and tell us all about it," said she, meeting at the same moment the glance which her husband cast at her when she mentioned Tengelyi.

"If you think," said the sheriff, turning to the Jew, "to exculpate yourself by cunningly involving an innocent man, you shall find yourself mistaken; you may say what you will, the strongest suspicion must always remain attached to you."

The Jew was too cunning to make any reply, and merely said that "he could not tell who the murderer was, as he spoke in a suppressed voice; but," said he, "I heard Tengelyi mentioned several times, and I heard papers demanded, and the murderer took papers away with him; but as I said before, I don't know who he was; those who followed him ought to know."

Ferko, the coachman, who had hitherto been a quiet listener, was now asked to give a circumstantial account of what he knew. There are people who are very eager to do any thing but their duty: Ferko was one of them. When the house was first alarmed by the attorney's assassination, Ferko was the first to leave his stables and to pursue the murderer, accompanied by the servants, who showed no less zeal than himself. But when the pursuit led to a very different result from what he had expected, and when, instead of taking the robber, he followed the track to Tengelyi's house, where he saw the notary, his zeal vanished, and it struck him that not to have seen any thing was by far the most prudent way of managing the matter. Perhaps he suspected the notary; but he was not inclined to endanger his own safety by giving evidence against a man whose rank in life was so far above his own. He resolved to give no evidence against Tengelyi; and as this resolution was unconditionally approved of by his best friend, to wit, by Peti the gipsy, he stated, in reply to the sheriff's questions, that he had pursued the robber to the banks of the Theiss, where he had lost his track. Afterwards, he and his friends had proceeded to the notary to inform him of what had happened.

This account would have been quite satisfactory, but for the evidence of the servant who had accompanied the coachman on his expedition; and who, merely for the sake of varying the lesser features of the evidence, stated that they had picked up a stick on the field, and that the said stick was in the ferryman's possession. That person was called in and examined: the result was, that all the unfavourable circumstances which spoke against Tengelyi were gradually elicited from the trio, in spite of the obstinate defence which they made of the notary's innocence.

"But where is the stick you talk of?" said Mr. Skinner, with evident satisfaction at the turn which the examination took.

"With your worship's permission," replied the ferryman – "that is to say, begging your worship's pardon – that is to say, I hope your worship will excuse me, we found the stick in the middle of the road, on our way from the Theiss to the notary's. We all saw it as it lay on the ground."

"Where is it?" asked Mr. Skinner, sharply.

"Please your worship, I have left it in the kitchen, for I could not presume to come to your worship with a stick."

"Bring it here instantly!" cried the justice. The ferryman left the room, and returned with a black stick with a brass fokosh at the end. Everybody was startled. Mr. Skinner took the stick and showed it to the sheriff, who clasped his hands in utter amazement.

Lady Rety whispered to the clerk, and the cook cried instinctively, "I know that stick! It belongs to the notary."

"You are both to be sworn," said Mr. Skinner to the ferryman and the coachman, "that this is the stick which you found last night." And, turning to the sheriff, he added, "I told you so! The matter is as plain as can be."

"It is clear beyond the possibility of a doubt," said Lady Rety, seizing the fokosh in her turn. "I have always seen that stick with Tengelyi; and here are his initials, 'J. T.' It is shocking!"

"I really don't know," said Rety, with great emotion; "there are many things against Tengelyi, but the impression on my mind is – "

"But consider, sir!" cried Mr. Skinner; "only please to consider! Tengelyi quarrels with Catspaw, and says he'll have his revenge. Catspaw is murdered that very night, and when dying he says that Tengelyi is his murderer. The Jew, who I now believe came merely for the purpose of thieving, hears that Catspaw is asked to give up Tengelyi's papers. The coachman pursues the murderer after the deed. The track is lost for a moment. They find it again, and follow it to the notary's house, whom they see at midnight in his usual dress, covered with dirt and violently agitated. Letters are found in Mr. Catspaw's room addressed to Tengelyi; and, besides, here is the notary's stick! What do you say to that?"

"Nothing!" replied the sheriff, shaking his head; "but all this cannot convince me. I have known Tengelyi these – "

"Indeed!" said Lady Rety, with a sneer. "It strikes me that you and the notary are mighty good friends."

"I am not his friend; but I will never believe him guilty of such a deed."

"I will furnish you with other proofs!" said Mr. Skinner. "I will go at once to his house, and examine him and his family."

"But, sir, have you considered that – " said the sheriff. But his wife interrupted him by telling Skinner to make haste, lest the notary might remove the traces of the crime.

"But Tengelyi is a nobleman!" protested Rety.

"He says he is a nobleman!" put in Lady Rety. "And it has been decided in the Assembly that he is to be treated as not noble, until he proves that he is. Go at once!" added she, turning to Skinner, "for if you were to bring him here, it would create such excitement. After all, he may be innocent."

The justice and his clerk kissed her hand, and left the room. When they were gone, the sheriff seized his wife's hand, saying, "Do you really think Tengelyi is capable of such a deed?"

"And why not?" said she, looking her husband full in the face.

"You know Tengelyi's life, you know his character, his – "

"All I know of him is that he is my enemy!" retorted Lady Rety; "and I shall never forget that, I assure you!" Saying which she left the room.

Rety's heart shrunk within him when the soul of his wife was thus brought before him in all its native ugliness. He shuddered to think that he had hitherto obeyed the dictates of this heartless woman, and he hastened away to protect the notary from the ill-treatment to which he was convinced Mr. Skinner would subject him.

CHAP. II

Though ignorant of the suspicion which had been cast upon him, Tengelyi passed the night in sorrow and remorse. He was convinced that the deed of blood was done by Viola's hand; and his soul trembled within him as he thought that, instead of preventing the crime, he had actually gone to meet the robber on the banks of the Theiss. He felt degraded and wretched by this strange complicity. After a sleepless night, he rose with the day, and hastened to Vandory, who was still in happy ignorance of what had happened.

"Shocking!" cried the curate, when Tengelyi had finished his narrative of the late events: "to think that he should be summoned to appear before God in the very midst of his sins, and without having one moment left for repentance!"

"Shocking, indeed!" said the notary; "but is not mine the fault? Am I not a partner in this crime? I all but knew that Catspaw had possession of my papers. I ought to have known that Viola could not wrest them from him without taking his life. And what did I do? Instead of preventing the deed, I obeyed the summons of the outlaw. I waited for him, to receive the booty from hands reeking with the blood of his victim!"

"Viola's deed is horrible. I understand your feelings. But, tell me, what could you have done to prevent him?"

"My duty. I ought to have informed against him. I ought to have arrested him."

"No," said Vandory. "How could you think of arresting a man who relies upon your honour? Besides, to arrest Viola, means to deliver him up to the hangman."

Tengelyi was about to reply, when the Liptaka rushed into the room.

"Mr. Tengelyi, sir! For God's sake, do come home! Do, sir!" cried the old woman.

"What is the matter?" asked Vandory and Tengelyi at once; for the manner of the Liptaka impressed them with the idea that some accident of a fearful nature must have happened.

"Oh, gracious! The justice and the clerk!" gasped the Liptaka.

"Do tell us, good woman; what has happened?" said Vandory. "Why should not the justice come to the notary's house? Is the event so very extraordinary?"

"Oh, sir! but if you knew what he comes for! He says, the notary – you, Mr. Tengelyi, sir! – have murdered the attorney – confound the fellow! – and he's come with the clerk and the haiduk; and he's at it! He questions everybody in the house."

Though used to misfortune, though prepared to meet injustice at every step, Tengelyi was, for a moment, overwhelmed with grief and amazement.

"This is too bad!" said he, with a tremulous voice. "I was prepared for any misfortune; but I was not prepared to hear myself accused of a crime! Yes; I am not prepared to answer a justice, and to plead in my defence, when the crime laid to my charge is murder!"

"It is impossible!" said Vandory, seizing his hat. "You are mistaken, my good woman. There's some mistake, I'm sure."

"I thought so too, sir," said the Liptaka: "that was my opinion, when the justice told Mrs. Tengelyi that the notary was accused of a heinous crime, and that he came to examine him. I fancied the villain was merely joking; but when they called the maid, and the man, and the neighbours, and examined them severally, – when they did that, sir, I understood that the rascal pretended to believe in what he said. And he would have questioned Mrs. Tengelyi; but she told him she was a nobleman's wife, and was not bound to answer questions. Oh! and the justice, – don't be shocked, sirs! – he said the notary was not a nobleman; and, if she wouldn't reply, he'd make her! Oh! but when he said that, I ran away to call the notary; for it's he that is learned in the law, and he'll make the justice repent his impertinence!"

"You see, the affair is beautifully got up," said Tengelyi, with a bitter smile. "They have robbed me of my proofs of noble descent, and now they are at liberty to do with me as they please."

"But – " said Vandory.

"Come along!" cried the Liptaka. "The sheriff, too, is there! He came when I ran away!"

"Come," said Tengelyi, with increased bitterness. "Come; we are safe now. You know my dear friend Rety has come to protect me in my hour of trouble."

Matters were indeed in a sad state in the notary's house. Mrs. Ershebet insisted on her privilege; and nothing could induce her to reply to the questions which the justice put to her; but the whole of the other evidence, which was taken down, went against the notary. The neighbours proved the quarrel, and the forcible expulsion of Mr. Catspaw from his house; and one of them quoted Tengelyi's words, that the fellow (viz., Mr. Catspaw) should die from his hands. The maid deposed that her master had left the house late at night; the stick was at once identified as the notary's property: in short, all the circumstances of the case were so suspicious, that the sheriff, who assisted in the proceedings, and who sought to modify Mr. Skinner's violence, though convinced of Tengelyi's innocence, could not but admit that there was a strong case against the notary.

When Tengelyi entered the room, Mrs. Ershebet rushed up, and embraced him, with sobs and tears.

"Be comforted," said the notary. "This is not our first persecution, nor is it the last. If God be with us, who can prevail against us!"

His grave and dignified manner affected the sheriff; who, walking up, addressed his former friend, and assured him that no persecution was intended by the justice's proceedings.

"Circumstances," said he, "will, at times, force the best of us to clear themselves of suspicion by an explanation of their conduct; and in the present instance, I am sure, nothing can be easier to Mr. Tengelyi."

"I thank you, sir," said the notary, dryly, "and I am sure, if your will had been done, these people would have treated me as they would wish to be treated in a similar case, and, indeed, as any honest man has a right to be treated. Allow me now to ask Mr. Skinner what the circumstances are that have created a suspicion of my having murdered Mr. Catspaw, for I understand that is the charge which they bring against me?"

"We'll satisfy you to your heart's content, sir!" cried the justice, who was in the habit of speaking in the name of the firm. All his professional sayings were delivered under the authority of Skinner and Co. He then proceeded at once to give a clear, and, strange to say, comprehensive summary of the evidence, which he concluded by repeating the chief points of the charge.

"Considering," said he, "that the said Mr. Catspaw was murdered by some person or persons unknown; – considering that no robbery was committed, and that no feasible grounds can be found why anybody should have committed that murder; – considering that the said Tengelyi's hate against the said Catspaw is a matter of vulgar talk and notoriety, in evidence of which we need but adduce the yesterday's scene, in which the said Tengelyi is proved to have threatened to kill the said Catspaw; – considering that the said Catspaw was unjustly and maliciously accused of having possessed himself of certain papers and documents the alleged property of the said Tengelyi, the which circumstance goes far to establish the presumption of an interested motive in the case of the said Tengelyi; – considering that the crime was committed at midnight, at a time when the said Tengelyi, against his usual habits and custom, was from home, and considering that sundry persons who went in pursuit of the robber came to the house of the said Tengelyi, where they found him (i. e. the said Tengelyi) in a dress spotted with mud; – and, lastly, considering that certain articles which were found in the room where the crime was committed, and a stick which was picked up on the road which the alleged murderer took, have been identified as belonging to the said Tengelyi, there can be no doubt that there are grave reasons to suspect the said Tengelyi of being guilty of the said murder."