rd the nobility,--that we cannot let pass in any such way.
He has recently taken a violent course against the noble lady
Szent-Pali;--the ancestral house of the poor widow offended the house
of my great lord because it interfered with the view from his palace;
at once he ordered the poor woman's house to be appraised and pulled
down. The authorities gave her a letter of protection but my lord tore
this in two and ordered the work of destruction to go on and the home
of the poor widow's ancestors to be razed to the ground. The country
might build it up again if it chose, he said. Such a deed in ordinary
times my lord, costs the doer his head."

Apafi was silent. The flame of anger leaped into his eyes.

"But that was not all," continued Teleki; "the insult of the
individual vanishes when the fate of the country is at stake. This
great lord who knows so well how to talk about the blessings of
peace--let us see how he exerts himself for its maintenance. He takes
the sword out of our hand, closes our lips that we may not raise any
protestations because Kecskemet has been burned to ashes and its
inhabitants massacred; and then he himself assembles an army and
incites the Turks to war against the country while we are unable to
make such royal gifts as might have some effect against his schemes.
Three letters have come to us, one from the Pasha of Nagy Varad,
another from the General of the forces at Ofen and the third from the
Sultan himself, in all of which satisfaction is demanded of us for the
defeat which the Pasha of Nagy Varad suffered at the hands of Banfy,
or else an indemnity of a hundred and fifty thousand piastres. Since
it is useless to talk of satisfaction with Banfy will it please your
Highness to consider where we can raise the money demanded?"

"Nowhere!" said Apafi, furiously, breaking his glass against the
table. "I will show that I am in a position to gain satisfaction from
any man even one so mighty as Banfy."

"Then I could wish that your Highness would acquaint us with the
manner of this satisfaction, for we know that Banfy will not appear if
summoned. If we should compel him by force he has shown that he alone
is stronger than the whole country. He orders the countries to
assemble, the frontier troops to march, and we might have the same
experience that my lord Ladislaus Csaki had when Banfy seized the
official sent for his arrest and held us up to ridicule."

"What would you counsel, since you kno