g for his bridal
day, he quitted the room, casting one more look around upon it from the
threshold, and a dumb kiss into the darkness, as if he were taking leave
for a last time of a beloved object visible only to himself.

"Let us come, let us come!"

In the large library the witnesses were awaiting them.

They were four--the local notary, a stoutish young man, with his back
planted against the warm stove; the estate agent, benevolent Peter
Varga, who had asked, as a favour, that he might wear black like the
other family servants; the parish priest, and Mike Kis. That worthy
youth had quitted the brilliant saloons whose hero he was, to comfort
his old friend in the days of his tribulation. The fiscal was there
also, cutting quills for every one present, and sticking them into the
inkstands, which were placed all round the round table in front of the
witnesses.

When Squire John and Rudolf entered the room, every one present saluted
them with the grave solemnity befitting the occasion.

The Squire beckoned to everybody to be seated--Rudolf on his right, Mike
Kis on his left, the fiscal opposite to him, that they might the better
hear what he was going to say.

At the furthest end of the table sat Mr. Varga, with all the candles
piled in front of him. _He_ knew why.

"My dear friends and good neighbours," began the Nabob, while every one
listened with the deepest attention, "God has numbered my days, and is
about to call me from this transitory life to His glory, and therefore I
call you all to witness that what I am going to say now is said clearly,
deliberately, and while I am in the full possession of all my faculties.
I find that the estates which God, of His goodness, has entrusted to my
hands, now yield over a million of florins more of clear income than
when I came into possession of them. God grant that they may be more
productive of blessings in the hands of others than they have been in
mine! I begin my last will and testament with a reference to her who was
dearest to me in the world and now slumbers in her tomb. This tomb is
the beginning and the end of my arrangements in this life; it has been
my first thought when I rose up, and my last thought when I lay down,
and will last on when I rise up no more. My first bequest, then, is
50,000 florins, the interest on which is to go to that gardener on my
domains whose duty it shall be, in return therefor, to cultivate from
early spring to late autumn, irise