Ráby was meantime interviewing some of the high officials of Pesth.
The first one he visited was the lord-lieutenant of the city.
For this visit he had to put on court dress, as that official was a direct representative of the Emperor.
His Excellency was an unpopular person, disliked by everyone. He was a hard man whom nothing softened. He sympathized with no one, and he was in nobody's good graces. Yet he was a personality everyone had to reckon with.
His very appearance bespoke the man. The copper-coloured complexion and ill-shaven face, with its deep frowning eyebrows, heightened the natural defect of his neck, which was twisted towards the right shoulder. His hair was lank and reddish; his dress a cross between the Hungarian and Austrian mode, slovenly and dirty, and stained with snuff, while the order of St. Stephen, which he wore round his neck, was defaced and half torn away. His voice had a repellent snarl about it. He spoke German with everybody, but it was a vile patois.
When Ráby was ushered into his presence, his Excellency was drinking his coffee, and his visitor had to stand till he had finished.
When he had set his cup down, he got up, and turning abruptly to Ráby, asked him if he were a count?
His visitor could not imagine what prompted this question, but he answered that he was only an untitled gentleman of good family.
Thereupon his Excellency pointed to Ráby's silk vest, and snapped:
"Well, then, what do you mean by this? According to the prescription of the 'dress regulations,' no one under the rank of a count may wear embroidery."