The Old House: A Novel

A Novel
By CÉCILE TORMAY
TRANSLATED FROM THE HUNGARIAN BY E. TORDAY
ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY 1922 : : : : NEW YORK
Copyright, 1922, by Robert M. McBride & Co.
Printed in the United States of America
Published, September, 1922
It was evening. Winter hung white over the earth. Great snowflakes crept over the snow towards the coach. They moved ghostlike over the silent, treeless plain. Mountains rose behind them in the snow. Small church towers and roofs crowded over each other. Here and there little squares flared up in the darkness.
Night fell as the coach reached the excise barrier. Beyond, two sentry boxes buried in the snow faced each other. The coachman shouted between his hands. A drowsy voice answered and white cockades began to move in the dark recesses of the boxes. The light of a lamp emerged from the guard’s cottage. Behind the gleam a man with a rifle over his arm strolled towards the vehicle.
The high-wheeled travelling coach was painted in two colours: the upper part dark green, the lower, including the wheels, bright yellow. From near the driver’s seat small oil lamps shed their light over the horses’ backs. The animals steamed in the cold.
The guard lifted his lantern. At the touch of the crude light, the coach window rattled and descended. In its empty frame appeared a powerful grey head. Two steady cold eyes looked into the guard’s face. The man stepped back. He bowed respectfully.
“The Ulwing coach!” He drew the barrier aside. The civil guards in the sentry boxes presented arms.