"Could not the matter be finished here at once by the spring?"
The magistrate was beside himself with anger. But the good lawyer only smiled and said:
"Pray, sir, show a little common sense. The County Court compels none, against his will, to be a Christian: still one must belong to some religion. So if your lordship will not take the trouble to go with his household to the 'pater,' well, we shall take him to the rabbi: that will do just as well."
Topándy laughingly shook a menacing fist at the lawyer.
"You're a great gibbet! You always manage me. Well, let us rather go to the 'pater' than to the rabbi; but at least let my servants keep their old names."
"That is also inadmissible," answered the magistrate severely. "You have given your servants names, of a kind not usually borne by men. One is called Pirók,[23] another Czinke:[24] the name of one little girl—God save the mark—is Beelzebub! Who would register such names as these? They will all receive respectable names to be found in the Christian calendar; and any one, who dares to call them by the names they have hitherto borne shall pay as great a fine as if he had purposely calumniated a fellow-man. How many are there whom you have kept back in this manner from the water of Christianity?"
[23] Chaffinch.
[24] Titmouse, names of birds given as pet names to these servants.
"Four butlers, three maid-servants and two parrots."
"Perjurer! Your every word is spittle in the face of the true believers."