Miklós Bánffy - They Were Counted

‘Very pretty, yes indeed!’ echoed the widow Tothy.

‘Yes, indeed, very pretty!’ said the widow Baczo.

The countess went on: ‘You should look around. It would be so nice if you found someone here and settled down. I should like that so much!’

Why did allusion to marriage suddenly make him think of Adrienne? For a moment he saw her face before him.

‘Don’t worry, Mama, I’m going to stay for a long, long time!’ said the young man, raising her hand to his lips as if sealing a pact. ‘Anyhow if they have new elections, which seems very likely, I’ll probably not stand again.’

‘No? Why not?’

‘I haven’t yet made up my mind, but I hated everything I saw in Budapest. It was very depressing!’

‘Far better come home and take the estate in hand. I’m an old woman now and the work and worry are getting to be too much for me. I don’t get about as much as I should any more. You’re a man, you’re young … and it’ll all be yours anyway when I die!’ She turned to the two women: ‘Aren’t I right?’

‘Yes, indeed!’ said Mrs Tothy.

‘Indeed, yes!’ echoed Mrs Baczo.

‘I’ll have a lot to learn,’ Balint said, ‘I’ve never had to deal with these things before.’ And, as he spoke, he realized how much he really would like to take the estate in hand, all the more so as for some time he had wondered why, with such enormous properties, they always seemed to have so little income. ‘I’ll need a few months to get the hang of things. Then I’ll gladly do as you wish, even if I do decide to remain a Member.’

‘That’s wonderful!’ said Countess Roza, knowing that if he did so Balint would have to spend much more time at home with her. ‘Your poor father insisted that I should take it on, me, a woman alone! But I know that he’d want you to take over now that you’re grown up. Wouldn’t he?’ She exacted reinforcement from the two ladies.

‘Indeed he would!’ They both answered dutifully, concealing their dismay, for though they had neither of them known the late Count Tamas, it was more than their place was worth not to agree.

‘I’ll tell Azbej to prepare all the accounts and get out the contracts. He’ll explain everything.’ And, turning again to her two companions, she asked: ‘When will he be here next?’

‘He said he would be back before Christmas, after the first pig-killing,’ replied the two well-informed ladies.

Azbej arrived a few days later. He received the countess’s orders with suitable deference and, bowing very low indeed, he expressed himself overjoyed that he would have the young count for his master. His whole conversation was punctuated with bows, which he made still sitting on the edge of his chair so as to show the depth of his loyalty and respect.

Although Balint had seen him each time he had been at Denestornya he had never before talked to the little lawyer. Until now he had sensed that his mother somehow did not want him to meddle with the management of the estate. When he spoke to her of such matters she had never gone into any detail but had merely complained of the worry and torment it caused her without once explaining what she was talking about. Balint had therefore strictly avoided discussing estate matters with Azbej lest his mother should think he was going behind her back. This was therefore the first time that he had heard the lawyer speak of such matters. Azbej knew how to make a good impression despite an unprepossessing appearance, for he was a dwarfish little man with short arms and a pot-belly, practically no neck and a round head covered in black hair cut the same length as his beard; of all which had the singular effect of suggesting that above his high collar there sat a porcupine. Two clever bulging little eyes projected from the porcupine’s quills and, in the centre, there was a very red little mouth from which emitted, when he spoke, a surprisingly educated voice expressing precise and well-phrased thoughts. As to the estate business he had all the figures, details and dates at his finger-tips. He assured his new master that the Noble Count would find everything in good order, all done strictly according to the instructions and wishes of the Gracious Countess. He emphasized the fact that he had at all times acted for the best while never deviating from the orders he had been given. Another phrase emerged from time to time. Should Balint, finding some procedure either surprising or old-fashioned, ask a question, he would find Azbej answer always ended with the words ‘as his late Lordship, with the wisdom of his sacred foresight, intended.’ This happened whenever Balint asked about the management of the forests, which seemed extremely haphazard to him.

Azbej bowed himself out, swearing strict obedience to Count Balint’s orders, which would be carried out with alacrity. His manner oozed eagerness to serve, and nothing revealed his determination to keep the young man in such ignorance that no changes would be made. He had already decided this when he had received a letter from the two ladies, Tothy and Baczo, who had immediately reported to him everything that had passed between the countess and her son.

It was clear to Azbej that two things were of the utmost importance if he were to be able to maintain his control of the Abady properties. The first was that the young count should continue to be a member of the House of Representatives, which would often keep him in Budapest. If he were to remain permanently at home in Denestornya it was inevitable that sooner or later he would stumble upon some of the things Azbej would rather were kept from him. It was not that the agent had ever broken the law, he had never gone quite as far as that; but over the years certain practices had become established which would cease at once if Balint discovered their existence. From the first days when Countess Roza had given him any responsibility Mr Azbej had exacted commissions on every transaction he arranged. Sometimes they were small, almost symbolic such as little ‘presents’ of turkeys, wine or flour from the miller, innkeeper or fuller, or hay from the smaller farms. Sometimes the benefits were more substantial as when, for example, Mr Azbej’s sheep and cattle — and he kept surprisingly large herds on all the Abady farms — grazed in the Abady meadows and fed, in winter, on the feed raized for the Abady livestock. Countess Roza, of course, knew nothing of this. In the beginning, before Azbej had started his operations on a big scale, it so happened that once or twice a discontented servant or angry tenant would try to denounce him, but Azbej would take such swift action to discredit his accusers that they would be forced to contradict themselves and withdraw their complaints. When this lesson had been well learned by everyone who worked under Azbej’s control, only anonymous complaints sometimes found their way to the countess’s desk — and these she would ignore, having been warned against such things by her late husband. So Azbej, at the time of Balint’s return, was getting everything as he wanted it and even those who had cause for complaint kept silent since the agent himself turned a blind eye as long as they followed his example. But if Count Balint were allowed to stay at home with time on his hands it was inevitable that all this would come to light.

Next it was important to find some task, or problem, that he could put in the young count’s way that would occupy him so much that he would be deflected from taking too much interest in the running of the farms or the relations with the Denestornya estate tenants. From a hint or two that Azbej had picked up during his first talk with Balint, the lawyer had noticed that the new young master had not seemed entirely convinced by his report on the forestry management. The forests were some way from Denestornya … in the mountains … ah, there lay the solution! From the few objections that Balint had raised he realized that the young man had ideas of his own for introducing modern theories of planting and felling, and installing modern equipment in the saw-mills. Well, let him! Let him get involved in all the petty intrigues going on among the men in the mountain villages! Let him sink his teeth into the lengthy negotiations that would be necessary! Let him find out all the difficulties for himself: he’d have his hands full there all right!