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The Lernean Hydra was not more petrified at the sight of the head of Medusa than was Mr. John by the sight of the person who had just addressed him. It was the magistrate, Mr. Monori. At first he feared he had come after him for his diurnal eighty florins, but something very much worse than that was in store for him.
John, familiarly inviting the magistrate to sit down on a couch. "I have come in the matter of this Margari," said Monori, holding himself very stiffly and fixing his eyes sharply on Mr. John. "Since our conversation of this morning, the circumstance has come to my knowledge that one of my colleagues in the county of Arad has succeeded in finding the long-lost Coloman Lapussa." At these words Mr.
John Lapussa's special influence, that he had obtained the coveted appointment and so get him to renounce all further claims upon his old patron. On the very same day Mr. John was surprised to receive a visit from the magistrate, Mr. Monori, and this certainly was a wonder, for the magistrate never made any but official visits. "To what do I owe this extraordinary pleasure?" asked Mr.
"A fine of eighty florins." "Eighty florins? There you are then, take them!" cried Mr. John flinging down the amount eagerly and thinking to himself that this mandate was indeed a juridical masterpiece, not being binding on a rich man for what after all is eighty florins? "Very good," said Mr. Monori, giving him a receipt for the amount, "I'll come again to-morrow." "What for?"
John coughed very much at these words, no doubt the bit of mustache which he had bit off stuck in his throat. "This is a very ticklish circumstance, I must confess," continued Monori, "for although the young man's offence has thereby been considerably lightened, yet the burden of the charge has now been shifted to other shoulders hitherto quite free from suspicion.
First of all he poured forth his wrath upon the poor inkstand, with the ink from which Monori had written out the receipt. This he dashed to the ground. The lacquey who rushed in at the commotion to inquire if his honour had rung, he seized by the nape of the neck and flung out of the room. Then he rushed after the man and pommelled him for daring to go out before he had been told to go.
John appeared almost daily before the magistrate, whom he called his dear friend and whom he frequently invited to dine, an invitation which, naturally, was never accepted. One day Mr. Monori, for that was the worthy magistrate's name, asked Mr.
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