eight generations of Hunyadis,
and to accord a place amongst them to a stranger, and a Protestant, was
deemed a high honor. Affliction seemed to have developed in me all the
pride of my race, for I can recall with what sullen hauteur I heard of
this concession, and rather took it as a favor accorded than accepted.
An overweening sense of all that my father himself would have thought
due to his memory was on me, and I tortured my mind to think that no
mark of honor he would have desired should be forgotten. As a soldier,
he had a right to a soldier's funeral, and a "Honved" battalion, with
their band, received orders to be present For miles around the landed
gentry and nobles poured in, with hosts of followers. Next to a death in
battle, there was no such noble death as in the hunting-field, and the
splendid prowess of my father's achievement had won him imperishable
honor.

All was conducted as if for the funeral of a magnate of Hungary. The
titles and rank of the deceased were proclaimed aloud as we entered the
graveyard, and each whose station entitled him to be thought a friend
came forward and kissed the pall as the body was borne in.

One part of the ceremony overcame me altogether. When the third round of
musketry had rung out over the grave, a solemn pause of half a minute or
so was to ensue, then the band was to burst out with the first bars
of "God preserve the Emperor;" and while a wild cheer arose, I was to
spring into the saddle of my father's horse, which had been led close
after the coffin, and to join the cheer. This soldier declaration that
death was but a passing terror, revolted me to the heart, and I over and
over asserted I could not do this. They would not yield, however; they
regarded my reasons as childish sentimentality, and half impugned my
courage besides. I do not know why I gave in, nor am I sure I ever did
yield; but when the heavy smoke of the last round slowly rose over the
bier, I felt myself jerked up into the saddle of a horse that plunged
wildly and struck out madly in affright With a rider's instinct, I
held my seat, and even managed the bounding animal with the hand of a
practised rider. Four fearful bounds I sat unshaken, while the air rang
with the hoarse cheer of some thousand voices, and then a sickness like
death itself gathered over my heart,--a sense of horror, of where I was
and why, came over me. My arms fell powerless to my sides, and I rolled
from the saddle and fell sens