l his house in Vienna. Not long after he had built a sugar
factory on the estate, upon which he began to look out for a purchaser
for his Privorec estates. He soon found one in the person of a rich
merchant from Kassa. There was something strange and mysterious in the
fact of the little man making so many changes in his old age. One day he
had his house in Besztercebanya transferred to Anna Wibra's name. And
the little man was livelier and more contented than he had ever been in
his life before. He began to pay visits again, interested himself in
things and events, chattered and made himself agreeable to every one,
dined with all his relations in turn, throwing out allusions and hints,
such as, "After all, I can't take my money with me into the next world,"
and so on. He visited all the ladies who had refused him years ago, and
very often went off by train, with his red umbrella under his arm, and
stayed away for months and weeks at a time. No one troubled about him,
every one said:

"I suppose the old fellow has gone to look after his property."

He never spoke much about his Bohemian estates, though his step-brothers
were much interested in them. They both offered in turns to go there
with him, for they had never been in Bohemia; but Gregorics always had
an answer ready, and to tell the truth he did not seem to trouble
himself much about the whole affair. Which was not to be wondered at,
for he had no more possessions in Bohemia than the dirt and dust he
brought home in his clothes from Carlsbad, where he spent a summer doing
the cure.

The whole story was only trumped up to put his relations off the scent,
whereas the truth was that he had turned all he had into money, and
deposited it in a bank in order to be able to give it to the boy.
Gyuri's inheritance would be a draft on a bank, a bit of paper which no
one would see, which he could keep in his waistcoat pocket, and yet be
a very rich man. It was well and carefully thought out. So he did not
really go to his estates, but simply to the town where Gyuri was
studying with his old professor.

Those were his happiest times, the only rays of light in his lonely
life; weeks in which he could pet the boy to his heart's content. Gyuri
was a favorite at school, always the first in his class, and a model of
good behavior.

The old man used to stay for weeks in Szeged and enjoy the boy's
society. They were often seen walking arm in arm on the banks of the
Tisza, and w