"Why, that of a spy," was the answer.
"Then I will be a spy."
And he kept his word. He dressed himself as one of those vagrants of whom so many were seen at that time, and went from one camp to the other, carrying information and letters. Old soldiers remember and still talk of the little old man with the red umbrella, who always managed to pass through the enemy's camp, his gaze as vacant as though he were unable to count up to ten. With his thin, bird-like face, his ragged trousers, his battered top-hat, and his red umbrella, he was seen everywhere. If you once saw him it was not easy to forget him, and there was no one who did not see him, though few guessed at his business. Some one once wrote about him: "The little man with the red umbrella is the devil himself, but he belongs to the better side of the family."
In the peaceful time that succeeded the war, he returned to Besztercebánya, and became a misanthrope. He never moved out of his ugly, old stone house, and thought no more of making a position for himself, nor of marrying. And like most old bachelors he fell in love with his cook. His theory now was to simplify matters. He needed a woman to cook for him and to wait on him, and he needed a woman to love; that means two women in the house. Why should he not simplify matters and make those two women one? Anna Wibra was a big stout woman, somewhere from the neighborhood of Detvár. She was a rather good-looking woman, and used to sing very prettily when washing up the plates and dishes in the evening. She had such a nice soft voice that her master once called her into his sitting-room, and made her sit down on one of the leather-covered chairs. She had never sat so comfortably in her life before.
"I like your voice, Anna; sing me something here, so that I can hear you better."
So Anna started a very melancholy sort of song, "The Recruit's Letter," in which he complains to the girl he loves of all the hardships of war.
Gregorics was quite softened by the music, and three times he exclaimed: "What a wonderful voice!" And he kept moving nearer and nearer to Anna, till all at once he began to stroke her cheek. At this she turned scarlet, and jumped up from her chair, pushing him away from her.
"That's not in my contract, sir!" she exclaimed.
Gregorics blushed too.
"Don't be silly, Anna," he said.