hem stood Stephen Nalaczy with crossed arms, watching
the whole procession with a scornful smile.

"Was there ever a Prince with so much splendor as this single baron?"
said the lady in mourning to the old man. "I have been present at a
coronation, an installation, an inauguration and a triumphal
procession, but never before have I seen such a stir made over a
single man. If it were a Prince it might pass, but what is this
Banfy?--a nobleman like ourselves, with this difference only that he
advances arrogantly and knows how to make pretensions; yet this
princely splendor is not appropriate for him. I know the proper thing,
for I have carried on lawsuits with greater lords than my Lord Banfy."

"Just see how my colleagues crowd forward to kiss his hand," muttered
Koncz, to himself. "My learned companion, Csehfalusi, takes pleasure
in being allowed to assist his Grace from the carriage; well may he,
for Dionysius Banfy is a great patron of the Calvinists; for a poor
Unitarian clergyman like me a place behind the door is quite good
enough."

"Just see--do see--how they carry him on their shoulders to the gate!
It is a good thing they do not carry him in a chair the way they do
princes;--as if he were their lord because he is serving them to-day!"

"Let the people do him homage," said Nalaczy; "my men will provide
salt for the entertainment. He will get his comb cut!"

Meanwhile Banfy had mounted the stairs, the people crowding in at the
same time to deposit their load at the end of the hall. In the surging
throng the clergy succeeded in maintaining their places only with
great difficulty, being knocked about by the godless crowd without
mercy, while George Veer forced his way to the over-lord with many a
thrust of his elbow. As many of the nobility crowded into the hall as
it could contain; the rest filled the corridors. The dependents
remained in the courtyard and, although they caught only the noise,
took great satisfaction in that.

"My noble friends," said Banfy, after it had become somewhat quiet and
he had allowed his glance to run over the throng;--"it is not without
cause that I wish to see you before me in arms. The history of our
poor fatherland is familiar to you, how much our nation has suffered
because our princes, either dissatisfied with what they already
possessed or else incapable of maintaining it, have persistently
called foreign troops into the country. Of these days of contest the
historians hav