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My lady is going to be a gipsy." "I want him to sell me that field," I say. Mateus says: "Don't be a fool! how can the squire think of your field, when he is amusing himself making up as a Crakovian." So I go away from the window and stand about near the kitchen for a bit. They are bustling like anything, the fire is burning like a forge, and the butter is hissing.
I peep in and see Mateus, the footman, in a white apron with brushes on his feet, skating up and down like the boys on the ice. "The Lord be praised, Mateus, what are you doing?" I say. "In Eternity, I am polishing the floor," says he; "we are going to have a big dance here to-night." "Is the squire up yet?" "He is up, but the tailor is with him; he is trying on a Crakovian costume.
'He will want more pacifying presently, when his creditors become annoying. I wish you a pleasant night, sir. No sooner had the squire left the room, than Mateus, the footman, appeared, as if the ground had produced him. He helped the Jew into his coat. 'Did you buy the estate, sir? 'Why shouldn't I? It's not the first, nor will it be the last. He gave the footman three roubles.
At last he got hold of a boy who was hurrying across to the pantry, seized him by the shoulders, and pressed a twenty kopek-piece into his hand. 'You shall have another twenty kopeks if you will bring the footman. 'Does your honour know Mateus? The boy scrutinized him sharply. 'I do, bring him here. Mateus appeared without delay.
'Here is a rouble for you; ask your master if he will see me, and I will double it. The footman shook his head. 'The master is sure to refuse. 'Tell him, it is Pan Hirschgold, on urgent business from my lady's father. Here is another rouble, so that you do not forget the name. Mateus quickly disappeared, but did not quickly return.
The squire came clinking along the passages, looked dully round the ballroom, and said, yawning: 'Put out the lights, Mateus, and open the windows. Where is my lady? 'My lady has gone to her room. My lady, in her orange-velvet gipsy costume and a diamond hoop in her hair, was lying in an arm-chair, her head thrown back. The squire dropped into another arm-chair, yawning broadly.
On the lid in round medallions are six figures Christ with the monograms IC and XC, "Jachbus, martyr," Judas, Simon, Johannes, and Maria. Round the drum is an arcade supported on twisted, fluted, or diapered columns, under which are the figures of nine Apostles, named SS. Petrus, Paulus, Andreas, Jacobus, Tomas, Jacobus again, Filippus, Bartolomeus, and Mateus.
Here there is an inscription giving the date of 1422, and the names of the Masters Mateus and Stefanus, probably the Matteo Goyković who contracted for the repair of church and campanile with the "operarius" of the church in 1421. The stage above has tall square-headed windows, with reticulated tracery in the heads of cusped circles or quatrefoils, and two lights below with central colonnette.
Mateus bowed to the ground and offered to call his sledge. 'Oh no, thank you, said the Jew, 'I have left my own sledge in Warsaw, and I am not anxious to parade this wretched conveyance. Nevertheless, Mateus attended him deferentially into the yard. In the ballroom polkas, valses, and mazurkas followed each other endlessly until the pale dawn appeared, and the cottage fires were lit.
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