Prince Zilah -- Volume 1

eral, whose property had been confiscated by the Czar, and who lived in Paris half imbecile with fear, having become timid as

o permit Prince Tchereteff to give his property to a foreigner, a girl without a name. The state would gladly have seized upon t

ablishment in life. Rich as she was, Marsa would have no lack of suitors; but Tisza, the half-civilized Tzigana, was. not the one to guide and protect a young girl in Paris. The Prin

t in Hungarian soil; and, after the Tzigana's death, this young girl of twenty, alone with Vogotzine, who accompanied her on the gloomy journey with evident displeasure, crossed France, went to Vienna, sought in the Hungarian plain the place where one or two miserable huts and some crumbling walls alone marked the site of the village burned long ago

Pere-Lachaise, beneath a tomb in the shape of a Russian dome, was her father, as the Tzigana, interred in Hungary, was her mother; and sh

tatue; and this strange guardian, who had formerly fought side by side with Schamyl, and cut down the Circassians with the sang-froid of a butcher's boy wringing the neck of a fowl, and who now scarcely dared to open his lips, as if the entire police force of the Czar ha

She waited, therefore, until she had attained her majority; and then she sent this enormous sum to the Hungarian aid society, saying that the donor requested that part of the amount should be used in rebuilding the little village in Transylvania which had been b

recital of her story, "it is because I am thus name

thus evoking for him the past, confident and even happy to speak and mak

should confide in him, as he on his side would have related to her his whole life, if she had asked it with a glance from her dark eyes. He felt that he had reached one of the decisive moments of his life. Marsa called up visions of his youth-his first tender dreams of

en seeking you for a long time, and that when the Baroness Dinati

le? You have be

e the name of the blessed river of our country, taught me to repeat

s, waiting anxiously for

my m

uckle which clasped

" she

ingly from the buckle to Marsa's face. Smiling, but her beautiful lips mute, Marsa seemed to say to him: "Yes, it is

ad been laid in his last resting-place. He saw again the sombre spot, the snowy fir-trees, the black trench, and the broad

ce, the chant of the fatherland-that dark girl to whom he had said: "Bring me this jewel, and come and live in peace with the Zilahs" -was the mother o

kept the lake pebbles she gave me, and death has passed me by; but the opals of the agraffe did no

sides, the opals are forgiven now: for they have permitted me to show you that you were not unknown to me, Prince; and, as you see,

divined that Marsa Laszlo found as much pleasure in speaking to him as he felt in listening. As he gazed at her, a delicate flush spread over

d, with an assumed air of severity, began to reproach Marsa for neg

ed times prettier than e

e you been doin

am very happy, I su

to a merry peal of laughter, "it is you, O ever

wned, a harsh, troubled look crept into her dark eyes, and her cheeks became pale as marble, w

ko was advancing to salute Marsa Laszlo, and take with a

followed. Menko remained but a few moments, evidently embarrassed at his reception; and after

he said, in a

which you received him," said Andras, laughing. "Po

on

ts and devotion. Was I not right? Austria is to-day subservient to Hungary, and, when Vienna acts, Vienna glances toward Pesth to see if the Magyars are satisfied. Michel Menko has therefore served his country well; and I don't understand why he gave up diplomacy. He makes me uneasy: he seems to me, like all young men of his generation, a little too

aps," interrupt

he Prince, with a smile, "y

" added the Tzigana, "he himself has told me all that you have said of him. He, on his side, has a great affection and a de

tly, as if unwil

?" asked

enough; I don't know w

lar reticence after her previous frankness, Andras thought only of enjoying her grace and charm, until the Tzigana gave him he

wo rows of pearly teeth, "it is not for me to invite you

Zilah had not noticed since the beginning of the evening. Marsa laid h

cle, will do us the hono

ns-La

ustache, and blinking his little round eyes. "Andras Zilah! Ah! 1848! Hard days, those! All over now, though

g, fat hand, and repeated, a

hanted! Prince

d the evening seemed to Andras like

as he walked up the Champs-Elysees beneath the starry sky, he was surprised to find a new