ted that a man of Banfy's pride would make any concessions to
the Pasha, especially after his victory and in a just cause. And yet
the justice of the cause must give way to the welfare of the country.
Deep in these and similar thoughts he did not notice that some one was
knocking at his door. When no answer was made to the thrice-repeated
knock the door opened and Beldi, rousing himself from his meditation,
saw Michael Teleki. Beldi was at first so bewildered that his speech
forsook him. "You seem surprised at my coming," said Teleki, noticing
Beldi's astonishment. "You are amazed that I should have followed you
such a distance after an absence of barely twenty-four hours. Great
changes have taken place. Transylvania is threatened by a peril which
must be prevented at once."

"I know it," replied Beldi, and let Teleki read Kutschuk Pasha's
letter with the exception of the signature.

"You know more than I," said the minister; "what I wished to say of
this affair is a secret which not even walls may hear."

"I understand," said Beldi, and at once gave orders that no one should
come into the entrance hall, stationed guards under the windows and
had the curtains drawn. Only one way was left unguarded, and that was
a door in the arras at the back of the room, which led by a narrow
hallway to his wife's sleeping room, an arrangement often found in the
houses of the Hungarian nobility. By way of precaution Beldi closed
even that door.

"Do you feel safe enough?" he asked Teleki.

"One thing more. Give me your word of honor that in case the
information communicated to you does not meet your approval you will
at least guard it as a secret."

"I promise solemnly," replied Beldi, tense for the development. With
that Teleki drew out a sheet of parchment folded several times, spread
it out and held it under Beldi's eyes without letting it go out of his
hands. It was the League formed against Banfy signed and sealed by the
Prince. The farther Beldi read in the document the gloomier he grew.
Finally he turned to Teleki and thrust the paper from him with
loathing.

"My lord, that is a dirty piece of work!"

Teleki was prepared for such a reception and summoned his usual
sophistry to his aid.

"Beldi," he said, "this is no time for strait-laced notions. It is the
end and not the means in this case. This is the worst only because it
is the last. It is the last because there is no other way left. If
anybody in the country has