Page 653 of 788

So the Judge greeted the Count and congratulated him on his

promotion, but the Count paid no attention, and continued to draw

diligently.

In the meantime a second betrothed pair had entered. The

Assessor, once in the service of the Tsar, had entered that of

Napoleon; he had a company of gendarmes under his command, and,

although he had been in office hardly twelve hours, he had

already donned a dark blue uniform with Polish facings, and

dragged behind him a curved sabre, and clinked his spurs. By his

side, with dignified steps, walked his beloved, dressed with

great magnificence, Tekla Hreczecha: for the Assessor had long

ago abandoned Telimena, and, the more deeply to wound that

coquette, he had turned his heart's devotion to the Seneschal's

daughter. The bride was not over young, she had perhaps already

seen half a century go by; but she was a good housekeeper and a

dignified and well-to-do person, for, aside from her ancestral

village, her dowry had been increased by a little sum presented

to her by the Judge.