This January night appeared now to Andras as an almost fantastic dream.
Since then he had erected a mausoleum of marble on the very spot where
Prince Sandor fell; and of all the moments of that romantic, picturesque
war, the agonizing moment, the wild scene of the burial of his father,
was most vivid in his memory--the picture of the warrior stretched in
the snow, his hand on the handle of his sword, remained before his eyes,
imperishable in its melancholy majesty.
CHAPTER V. “MY FATHER WAS A RUSSIAN!”
When the war was over, the Prince roamed sadly for years about
Europe--Europe, which, unmindful of the martyrs, had permitted the
massacre of the vanquished. It was many years before he could accustom
himself to the idea that he had no longer a country. He counted always
upon the future; it was impossible that fate would forever be implacable
to a nation. He often repeated this to Yanski Varhely, who had never
forsaken him--Yanski Varhely, the impoverished old hussar, the ruined
gentleman, now professor of Latin and mathematics at Paris, and living
near the Prince off the product of his lessons and a small remnant he
had managed to save from the wreck of his property.
“Hungary will spring up again, Yanski; Hungary is immortal!” Andras
would exclaim.
“Yes, on one condition,” was Varhely’s response. “She must arrive at a
comprehension that if she has succumbed, it is because she has committed
faults. All defeats have their geneses. Before the enemy we were not
a unit. There were too many discussions, and not enough action; such a
state of affairs is always fatal.”
The years brought happy changes to Hungary. She practically regained her
freedom; by her firmness she made the conquest of her own autonomy by
the side of Austria. Deak’s spirit, in the person of Andrassy, recovered
the possession of power. But neither Andras nor Varhely returned to
their country. The Prince had become, as he himself said with a smile,
“a Magyar of Paris.” He grew accustomed to the intellectual, refined
life of the French city; and this was a consolation, at times, for the
exile from his native land.
“It is not a difficult thing to become bewitched with Paris,” he would
say, as if to excuse himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account