ifty miles.

Up to this I had been, to myself at least, a _grand seigneur_ travelling
for his pleasure, careless of cost, and denying himself nothing;
splendid generosity, transmitted from each postilion to his successor,
secured me the utmost speed his beasts could master, and the impetuous
dash with which we spun into the arched doorways of the inns, routed the
whole household, and not unfrequently summoned the guests themselves to
witness the illustrious arrival. A few hours more and the grand
illusion would dissolve! No more the wild stretching gallop, cutting the
snowdrift; no more the clear bells, ringing through the frosty air; no
more the eager landlord bustling to the carriage-side with his flagon of
heated wine; no more that burning delight imparted by speed, a sense of
power that actually intoxicates. Not one of these! A few hours more and
I should be Herr Owen, travelling for the house of Hodnig and Oppovich,
banished to the company of bagmen, and reduced to a status where
whatever life has of picturesque or graceful is made matter for vulgar
sarcasm and ridicule. I know well, ye gentlemen who hold a station fixed
and unassailable will scarcely sympathize with me in all this; but
the castle-builders of this world--and, happily, they are a large
class--will lend me all their pity, well aware that so long as
imagination honors the drafts upon her, the poor man is never bankrupt,
and that it is only as illusions dissolve he sees his insolvency.

I reached Gross Wardein to dinner, and passed the night there, essaying,
but with no remarkable success, to learn something of Count Hunyadi,
his habits, age, temper, and general demeanor. As my informants were
his countrymen, I could only gather that his qualities were such as
Hungarians held in esteem. He was proud, brave, costly in his mode of
life, splendidly hospitable, and a thorough spoilsman. As to what he
might prove in matters of business, if he would even stoop to entertain
such at all, none could say; the very thought seemed to provoke a laugh.

"I once attempted a deal with him," said an old farmerlike man at the
fireside. "I wanted to buy a team of _juchera_ he drove into the yard
here, and was rash enough to offer five hundred florins for what he
asked eight. He did not even vouchsafe me an answer, and almost drove
over me the next day as I stood at the side of the gate there."

"That was like Tassilo," said a Hungarian, with flashing eyes.

"He serve