Hello to all my readers! I would call this one as a kind of- bit of, comic relief chapter. I wrote it cheer you, andmyself up as well. I will only post this cahappie, beacuse I'm very tired. Today, I've given blood, so now I know how it would feel like, if Dracula drained 4.5 deciliters of blood from me. Weird...
Later that night, the Sáradi mansion's gatekeeper escorted a lady rider to the equerry. She haltered the horse in the stall herself, both she and her steed were soaking wet after riding in the rainy night. She piled her hair on top of her head, and put her hat on it, to keep it dry. The gatekeeper then showed her to the main entrance of the mansion, and went back to his position. The lady thanked for his help, then used the heavy knocker on the door to make the insiders know about her arrival. A sleepy maid opened the door, and was looking surprised at the wet lady in a hat.
„ Good evening, how can I help you at this late hour?" asked the maid in a sleepy tone.
„ Good evening! I'm looking for Elizabeth Desewffy, I'm her sister, I've mailed her about my arrival already."
„ Oh, you're here so soon?! Wait here, I'll be right back! Oh my God!" exclaimed the maid, and closed the door before Agnes' nose. She didn't know how to react to this at first; going in would be rather impolite, staying outside would mean going on having a shower in the rain.
„ Seesh, that's what I call a warm welcome!" she thought.
Next moment on old man's podgy figure showed up in the door: he was rather short with messed-up grey hair, wearing a blue dressing gown above his pyjamas. He was trying to focus on Agnes' face, but he had a hard time doing it.
„ Good evening miss! Sorry for the inappropriate welcome, but we didn't expect you so soon! I'm Imre, the butler." he said, then started looking for his glasses in his many pockets. Agnes was getting wetter and wetter each moment.
" It's really a pleasure to meet you, and be here and talk to you, but could we just go on with this conversation inside? I think I've swam enough" she said in an ironic tone.
„ Oh, of course, come in miss! I'm sorry!"
„Thank you!" said Agnes, and stepped inside. Imre, was still looking for his glasses, so Agnes decided to drop her bag, and wait what comes next. She was observing the mansion's beautiful hall, which they have just entered, when she noticed that the butler had found his glasses, and was eyeing her thoroughly.
„ Alright, we have the sword, the dark complexion, and she really is not like miss Elizabeth at all, but the hair?.."Imre thought.
„Excuse me miss, would you mind taking off your hat?" he asked
„ Oh, you're right, I'm so rude!" said Agnes, and took off her hat, but her hair stayed on top of it, due to the many hairpins.
„Thank you miss, excuse me, but may I ask, how long you hair is?"
Agnes was looking at him with a confused face.
„ Well, if you insist, it's down to my waist, I will not take the hairpins out of it, if you don't mind. But why do you ask?"
„ Oh, I'm so glad. Actually your sister said that you had long hair, and would never wear it in a short style. So I should not let anybody in with a short hair. She gave me instructions on how to identify you, and this was part of it, and I just wanted to make sure that all was proper with you, sorry if I was rude!" said the butler.
„ Alright, it's fine. I would double-check everybody, whom I let in my house at night! No problem!" she said, trying to be calm and nice, but it cost her some discipline not to burst out laughing.
„Oh my goodness! My sister must be driving the servants mad here! Identify somebody by hair? Oh, my!" she thought, trying to oppress her giggling.
„ And how was your journey miss?' Imre asked trying to start a conversation, but then again he noticed that Agnes was totally wet, and he felt ashamed of himself. Agnes lowered her head to hide her wide smile.
„ Sorry miss, I'm not the best butler at this hour of the day! The room which was meant for you to sleep in, is not ready yet, I will show you to another room, you must be tired. Let me take your luggage!" he said, and grabbed her heavy gripsack. Agnes nodded, put her hat back on, and set off after Imre. But then Elizabeth showed up on top of the stairs in her pink dressing gown, with a candelabrum.
„ Who are you looking for at this time of day, mister?" she asked in a sleepy tone. Agnes smiled as she heard her little sister's voice.
„Well, really Elizabeth, we haven't met for quite a while, but maybe I haven't changed that much!" she said, then took her hat off, and looked at Elizabeth.
„ Agnes!" shouted Elizabeth in joy, and started running down towards her sister. At the bottom of the stairs, she jumped to Agnes hugging her gleefully.
„ I'm sorry, I didn't see your face, I didn't expect you to arrive today!" said Elizabeth as she let her sister go.
„ It's good to see you again! Now, you're at least as wet as I am!" said Agnes, looking at Elizabeth's water-patched dressing- gown „ I arrived to Gyergyószentmiklós little before sunset, and I thought it would be a waste of time to spend the night at an inn! Besides, I wanted to surprise you! But to tell the truth, I didn't count on the rain!" said Agnes, and took off her wet Bocskai-coat. Elizabeth's gaze turned to her sister's sword.
„Wow, this is really yours?" she asked with a surprised face „ You wrote about it, but I never thought it was so beautiful! Do you know how to use it as well?" Elizabeth reached for the catana's grip.
„ I'd rather you didn't touch it Elizabeth, I don't want to be responsible for hurting yourself 10 minutes after I've arrived, with my sword for instance! I will show it to you tomorrow if you really want to see it!"
„ Wow, I really have a fighter-sister!"
„ I needed it, that was all! I got it as a gift from the master. But you look like a real lady now! I remember when I left, you were 15 years old, and struggling with the mysteries of Latin language with Mr Nagy, your teacher."
Elizabeth laughed, and turned around, to show herself to Agnes.
„ I'm pretty, am I not?" she asked in a happy tone. Agnes nodded, while smiling tiredly.
„ Oh, my God, I'm so stupid! You must be very tired! „ said Elizabeth „ Let's talk tomorrow! Come to me, once you wake up! Good night! „ said Elizabeth, then ran up the stairs, and waved to her sister from the balcony. Agnes waved back with a smile, then turned to Imre.
„ You know Imre, I'm not a very good noble lady at this hour of the day, so I will ask you something private. It is not very soothing to see that my sister's character had hardly developed in 3 years! I'm beginning to be worried about this marriage. What is your opinion? Forget about your position for now! I want to know someone's opinion who has seen her a lot recently. I know I can trust you, can't I?"
„ Yes, miss Agnes, if you insist on this, I'll answer. Your sister has a child's spirit in her heart in deed. She has not seen much of life outside the mansion. But Count Sáradi is a very generous and understanding man; there is nothing fro you to worry about. Can I show you to your room?" Imre asked.
„ Thank you for answering, I really appreciate your honesty. Of course, please do so, I assume that you yourself want to get back to your room as well."
„ Thank you for thinking about me miss, come right this way!" said the butler, and set off towards a huge door, with Agnes behind him.
A footnote to all: I should have mentioned this earlier, but I forgot about it. What I mention as Bocskai-coat, is the type of coat that Dracula wears in the movie. The name refers to the special buttons on it. It was named after a Hungarian historical figure, István (Stephen) Bocskai, who always wore this type of coat. :-)
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