Prince Zilah -- Volume 3

e castle which he never had beheld since Austria had confiscated it, and then, after long years, restored it to its rightful owner. He fled from Paris, see

he peasants who had known him when a child, and had fought under his orders; and he spoke to them by name, reco

offered him the wine of honor, drank from the 'tschouttora', the Hungar

r distant pusztas, peasant horsemen, like soldiers, with their national caps; and they joyously celebrated the return of Zilah Andras, the son of those Zilahs whose glorious history they all knew. The dances began, the bright copper heel

urved sabres by their sides and aigrettes upon their heads, all reproducing a common trait of rough frankness, with their long moustaches, their armor and their hussar uniforms-Marsa Laszlo, who knew them well, these heroes of her country, these Zilah princes

tion and courage, you are superior to them all! It

forgive, add this virtue,

asy, timid tenderness, as if she were a stranger in the presence of his great ancestors, who seemed to demand whether the newcomer were one of the family; and he, putting his arm about her,

at he thought only of this woman, of her beauty, of the delight of her caresses, of his dream of love realized in the air of the adored fatherland. He loved her so that he left without answers the charming letters which Baroness Dinati wrote

ats and extinct hatreds, and that to the profit of a German alliance, which is repugnant to our race. Bring the support of your name and your valor

only

Marsa. Then he added: "But I am

dream peaceful, sweet, and restful. She abandoned herself to her profound happiness with the trustfulness of a child. She was all the

o her right and just. She had never desired any other ending to her love than to die beloved, to die with Andras's kiss of forgiveness upon he

e, Marsa, his devoted slave, who looked at him with her great eyes full of gratitude and love. And she wished to be only that. It seemed to her that, in th

t? It is for so

eceived from Vienna a

ly entreated him to com

ns of Vienna and at the

uty the Austrian co

Prince what the

to leave our solitude.

to that court which claimed his presence. In her eyes, she was always the Tzigana; and, although Men

life only what truth it possesses; an hour of rest between two ordeals, a smile between two sobs, and-the right to love each other. To love each other until that fatal separation which she felt was coming, until that end

om Vienna, who battled obstinately and skilfully against the malady from which the Tzigana was suffering. Her weakness and languor kept Marsa, during the cold months, for whole days before the lofty, sculptured chimney-

oms at the ends of the branches. The buds opened and the odo

of tender verdure in which clusters of pale gold or si

ons, in the Vale of Violet

I have always, always lived here in this beautiful castle, wh

imes, in the sunlight to resemble a river. Marsa often looked out on this road, imagining that she saw again th

ay to Andras, "to hear again th

warmth in the air entered her veins like a sweet intoxication. Her head felt heavy, and in her wh

uneasy at this languidn

delic

d one eveni

is g

into the life of the Prin

i Varhely to come and spend a few months with him. He felt the n

months her face, although still beautiful, had become emaciated, and had a transparent look.

she lay extended in a reclining- cha

eturn to Russia. The Czar has been

s," she said. "He mus

poor Vo

rinks, takes

f, the love which she now tasted as the one joy of her life! Mech

e said,

urg or Odessa. One is best off at home, in one's own country. If you

tor made a sign to Andras

anxiously of Varhely, "

ay?" replied Yanski. "D

arhely's question was the

y trials, it was all to end in this: an open grave, in which his hopes were to be buried. What remained to him now? At the age when one has no recourse against fate, love, the one lo

dies. There remains to you what was the love and the passion of all the Zilah princes who lie yonder, and who experienced the s

of the czardas. She had been longing for those harmonies and songs which lay so near her heart. She listened, with her hand clasped in that of Andras, and through

t was the air which had saluted their betrothal like a fanfare. It was the chant which the

o go to the little village where my mother rests. She was

or shook

yet! Later, when

he April rays entering the old feudal hall and m

n, and it is someti

Marsa said gently, with a smile which had so

the d

rsa's hand, which held h

eyes were di

sacred one of the woman he adored. She would die without being held to keep that oath she had made not to survive her dreamed-of happiness, t

his ear the oft

feel that you will love me always. Think a moment! Could I l

ch upon which she lay, and he made a gesture of denial

phantom near you but mine, no other image but mine. I feel that I shall be always near you, yes, always, eternally,

e sunny woods and the new blossoms. Behind those woods,

. "I am not of your family, you see. A princess, I? y

irl, seemed petrified by the ap

e melancholy air of Janos Nemeth, that air impregnated with tears, that air w

ears, he said to her, with his

Marsa! but thee, my bel

with me! Stay with me,

read all his forgiveness, all his love, all his devotion. She raised herself, her little hands resting upon the window-sill, her head heavy w

rooped slowly, and fell upon the Prince's shoulder, like that of

began proudly the heroic march of free Hungary, their music send

ght form of the Tzigana upon the couch; and, winding his arms about her, with his head pillowed upon her breast, he murmured, in a vo

ITOR'S B

een two ordeals, a s

velvet mask of

he reality spla

ecessarily on the

e ever

s written

said Andras; "but

med people ar

rhaps, simply t

o know nothing,

ad past bu

nothing of life

last love, bu

sneering at his co

as it were, enamor

times as

for each word wou

s it how mu

I read the

seek a n