nder the administration of
his creditors; the heirs had really burned the ground under their own
feet.

If the stewards and agents in the prince's time had been thieves, the
administration of the property by the creditors was the very
realization of plunder on all sides.

The result was disastrous so far as the Countess Theudelinde was in
question; there was no one responsible, so it appeared, for her forty
thousand pounds. All the family charges and mortgages came first on
the list of payments. Let her grasp hers--if she could.

The one who suffered most was the Countess Angela. Her husband,
Marquis Salista, had from the first lived in the extravagant manner
befitting a man who has come into a fortune of twenty millions. It was
impossible to induce him to change his ideas. This led to sharp
conflicts between the married pair.

On the other side, Angela showed him plainly that she had married him
not from liking, but out of pique.

The marquis knew it--and so did Ivan; but he had something else to
think of. The ground was burning under _his_ feet.

CHAPTER XXXVI

CHILD'S PLAY

The concert season was in full swing when the Belenyis received the
news that Csanta was dead and had bequeathed to them their former
house. If Arpad had been engaged to play a quartet with Beethoven,
Mozart, and Haydn he would have thrown up his engagement and flown
back with railway speed to his old home. His mother was just as eager
to be gone as he was. Not a day did they stay; they were off the very
same evening.

On their arrival at X---- the magistrate unlocked the door of their
old home and gave Madame Belenyi possession. Everything was exactly as
they had left it, only the dust of years covered all the pretty
things.

Arpad's first thought was to run down to the garden. The magistrate,
however, detained him. He had another legacy to make over to him, a
large iron case fastened with three iron locks. It contained the
Bondavara shares.

"The devil take his shares!" cried Arpad, laughing. "Unluckily it is
summer, so we don't want to make a fire."

"They are down to nothing," said the magistrate. "They are quoted
to-day at ten guldens. They killed poor Csanta."

They had to take the shares all the same. You must not look a
gift-horse in the mouth.

Arpad slipped out of the room and ran down to the garden. The
fruit-trees were untouched, and all in full bloom. The cherry-tree was
one mass of rosy blossom. He rememb