The Best Short Stories of 1918 Part 49

"As I left them I thought to myself that with Mara's temperament, to say nothing of the 'hundreds of children' she promised him, Gavrilo's married life would not prove monotonous, whatever else it might be.

When, in the course of the subsequent fall and winter, I saw them again, they seemed as happy as a pair of wild birds.

"Once, in the spring, when I was with them, the _comitajia_ chanced in some way to be mentioned, whereupon Mara at once darkened, saying to me:

"'That is my one sorrow.'

"'But why should it be?' Gavrilo asked her. 'Have I not plighted you my word that I shall not take part in any-well, in any indiscretions that may be proposed?'

"'Yes, I have not forgotten. You said that as long as I loved you you would be my good Gavrilo.'

"'So,' he returned gaily, 'all you need do is to continue to adore me as I deserve.'

"'But you meet with them at the _kafana_,' she said, uneasily.

"'They are my friends,' he answered. 'Naturally, then, I meet with them.

All men meet at the _kafana_. It is the way of men. A little wine or coffee or prune brandy and a little talk-that is all. I go also to church, but that does not make me a priest. And besides, dearest Maro, if I were not sometimes with the _momchidia_, how would I know the joy of returning to you?'

"'If the devil had your tongue,' laughed Mara, 'he could talk all the saints out of heaven!'

"So it always was with Mara. Her ideas came and went-as Gavrilo once put it to me-like humming birds flitting in and out amongst the flowers.

Never have I seen a human being turn from gay to grave, and back again, as rapidly as she.

"Arriving at the little hotel in the early part of June, 1914, I found them all full of plans for a great fete to be celebrated on Vidov-dan-Kossovo Day-June 28. This day might be called the Serbian Fourth of July, but it partakes also of the character of our Memorial Day, for it is the anniversary of that tragic event in Serbian history, the Battle of Kossovo, in which the Turks defeated the Serbs in 1389, leaving the entire Serbian n.o.bility dead upon the field. That is one reason why Serbia has no n.o.bles to-day. 'Kossovo' means 'the field of the black bird,' the _kos_ being a black songbird resembling the starling. But this was to be no ordinary celebration of the holiday, for in the Balkan War of the two preceding years Serbia had consummated her independence and humbled the Turks, and a part of the Serbian racial dream was thereby realized. Mara, Gavrilo, and their parents united in urging me to return for the festival, and before departing I agreed to do so.

"True to my word, I arrived several days ahead of time. Gavrilo had not returned from the academy when I reached the hotel, but Michael and Stana gave me a warm welcome and produced the costumes they were intending to wear, and I remember that Stana said I ought to have a costume too-that even though I had not been so fortunate as to be born a Serb, they proposed to adopt me.

"'But you should see Mara's costume!' she exclaimed, when I admired hers. 'It is a true Serbian dress, very old, which came to her from her great-grandmother. Such beautiful embroidery you never saw.'

"That made a good excuse for me to go and see Mara, whom I found sewing in the little garden behind the house. The costume, which she showed me, was indeed beautiful, and I admired it in terms which were, I hope, sufficiently extravagant to please even a girl as exacting as she.

"While talking with her I observed a bird cage hanging on a hook by the window and, never having noticed it before, asked if she had a new bird.

"In reply she merely nodded, without looking up from her work.

"I strolled over and looked at the bird.

"'Why,' I said, 'this bird appears to be a _kos_, Maro.' Probably there was a note of surprise in my voice, for the _kos_ is not supposed to live in captivity.

"Mara looked up sharply.

"'Are you visiting blame upon me, then?' she asked.

"'Not at all,' I answered, mystified at her tone. 'I did not know that the _kos_ could be tamed; that is all.'

"'Did Gavrilo tell you to speak to me about this?' she demanded.

"'Certainly not,' I answered. 'I have not seen Gavrilo yet.' Then, crossing to where she sat, and looking down at her, I asked: 'What is the matter, Maro? How have I offended you?'

"Her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at me.

"'You have not offended me, dear friend,' she said. 'It is only that I am made miserable by this subject. My relative who is employed in the railway caught this bird a few days since, placed it in a cage, and presented it to me. And if he is a handsome young fellow, am I to be censured for that? I am not his mother nor yet his father; I did not make him handsome! And even so, what is a little bird, to make words and black looks over?'

"'You mean that Gavrilo is annoyed?'

"'Since this bird came,' she returned, 'I have heard of nothing else. He begs me to let it go. He insists that it will die. He says the man who gave it me is cruel and that I am cruel too.'

"'Then why not release it?' I suggested. 'It is dying in the cage, Maro.'

"'Let it die, then!' she cried, and burst into a flood of tears.

"'Now, Maro,' I urged when the paroxysm had abated, 'what is all this about?'

"'Well,' she gulped, wiping her eyes, 'a girl must have a little character, must she not? She must make up her own mind occasionally about some little thing! Is not that true? Is the man she loves to tell her when to draw in her breath and when to let it go again? Is he to tell her when to wink her eyes? Is she to cease to think and do only as he thinks? Here came this young man-with the miserable bird. I desired it not. Then came Gavrilo, black and angry like a storm out of the mountains, ordering me to let the bird go. I wished to do as Gavrilo said, but as my relative had caught it and given it to me I felt I should first speak to him. Besides, he is older and knows a great deal, being in the Government railroads. And what did he say? "Maro," he said, "you do as you wish. If you wish to be a little fool, humor this boy. He is spoiled. He has everything as he desires it. They say you are to marry him. Very well. But if you think always with his mind, and hold no ideas of your own, I tell you you will make a wife no better than one of those stupid Turkish women...." That is why I determined to retain the bird. There is a _kos_ in every second tree. Well, then, is it not better that this one die than that my soul shall wither? Why should I be called Mara if I shall no longer be a separate being, but only Gavrilo in another body?'

"As she finished, we heard Gavrilo calling her name from the street, and a moment later he came in through the garden gate.

"I saw at once that he was agitated.

"'So you have come!' he cried, seizing my hands. 'But, alas, my friend, it is in vain. You have heard the evil tidings?'

"'You mean about-?' I had almost said 'about the bird,' but fortunately he interrupted, exclaiming:

"'Yes, about the festival.'

"'What tidings?' demanded Mara.

"Gavrilo threw his arms above his head in a gesture of helpless fury.

"'Those _proclete shvaba_!' he burst out. 'They issued an edict only an hour ago, forbidding entirely our festival of Vidov-dan!'

"'No!' cried Mara, dismayed, half rising from her seat.

"'Yes. There shall be no celebration-not for the Serbs. Nothing!

Attempts to commemorate the anniversary will result in arrest. It is announced that in place of our festival there will upon that day be extensive maneuvers of the Austrian army and that Grand Headquarters will be here in our city. We are given to understand that the Archduke himself will come and hold the review. Could anything be devised more to insult us upon our national holiday? Oh, of what vile tricks are not these accursed _shvaba_ capable?'

"'I am surprised,' I said, 'that the Archduke would be party to a thing of this kind, for it is understood that he is pro-Serb. Certainly his wife is a Slav.'

"'The more shame to her, then, for marrying him,' said Gavrilo, with a shrug. 'He is the sp.a.w.n, of an autocrat who is in turn the sp.a.w.n of generations of autocrats. Scratch them and they are all the same. They play the game of empire-the dirty game of holding together, against their will, the people of seven races in Austria-Hungary; grinding them down, humiliating them, keeping them afraid. No man, no group of men, should have such power! It is medieval, grotesque, wicked!'

"'More than that,' put in Mara, 'it is unwise. They take a poor way to gain favor with us Serbs. For my part, I do not think it safe for the Archduke to come here.'

"'And there, my _mila_,' he declared, with a shrewd, sinister smile, 'your judgment is perhaps better than even you yourself suppose. Myself, I doubt he will be fool enough to come. At the last we shall be informed, with a grand flourish, that he is 'indisposed.' Not sick, you understand. Royalties are never sick. It is not etiquette. Peasants are sick. The middle-cla.s.ses are ill. The great are only indisposed.

Anything else is vulgar. Well, I hope he will know enough to stay away.

Otherwise he may indeed become indisposed after his arrival.'

"'What do you mean, Gavrilo?' I asked.

"'That the air of this place is not good for Austrian royalties just now,' he said. 'It is Serbian air. There are the germs of freedom in it, and such germs are more dangerous to autocrats than those of _kuga_,-cholera.'