Dr. Dumany's Wife

A crowded railway carriage becomes the entrance to a wealthy family's story when a Hungarian traveller meets the young son of Mr. Dumany on the way to Paris. After a fault forces the child's private carriage to be left behind, the boy and his governess share the narrator's compartment. Their conversation reveals the child's loss of speech following an accident, while the physician's careful inquiries and the elaborate travelling arrangements suggest a household accustomed to exceptional attention.

Mór Jókai's novel also takes readers into a garden breakfast with Countess Diodora, Siegfried and the countess's young cousins. A guest previously mistaken for a gardener becomes the target of teasing accusations, and Cenni asks him to keep their earlier conversation secret. The contrast between formal introductions and playful familiarity gives these scenes their social comedy. Readers interested in class distinctions, family concerns and conversational storytelling will find each expressed through sharply observed encounters.