human
See this letter! A fool wrote it, a fool brought it, and only a fool can understand it.
gpt
It's plain enough to me.
human
How so? How so?
gpt
You've not forgotten, have you, the disgrace you brought on Father Peter at the Bittse wedding-feast? I was there myself. I saw it, and I remember the face you tore the cowl from; it was exactly Tihamer Csorbai's face.
human
I hit him a blow that told, didn't I?
gpt
Yes, you did; but a wound of that kind is not forgotten, especially when it falls on a wound that is not yet scarred over. Now you know Tihamer Csorbai is the rejected suitor of your daughter Magdalene, and that we live so near each other that the two castles stare each other in the eye.
human
Then you think the letter is about Magdalene?
gpt
I am sure there is no other woman in the household. But if all these beautiful women, young and old, hanging in these frames, were living, Tihamer would still give his heart to Magdalene alone. For if a handsome woman were all he asked, he would have had it right there in Madocsany, and he need not have made any pilgrimages for her.
human
But just look out of the window. Do you see how the ice is crashing out of the river? When the fool came over, the ice had just begun to move; but now heavy blocks of it are rolling along. See, the huts along the bank have been swept away, and the ice has cut off thick tree trunks like a razor. Do you think a human being could cross the river to-night?
gpt
Gracious Lord, I have read in the Bible that Peter trod the water with bare feet, and that was a sea. Whatever is in the Bible, as a good Lutheran, I must believe.
human
But that was in old times, and it was Saint Peter; he could do anything. To-day is To-day.
gpt
All I know, gracious Lord, is that a priest can do a good deal, a lover can do more, and when you get both in one, he can do everything.
human
We must talk it over with Berezowski.