a family of ill-repute. The old gentleman was either very
magnanimous or very foolish. The girl must necessarily be frivolous and
forward. Every one was ready to believe the worst of her beforehand.

Poor lady!

Fanny naturally felt miserable and lonely. There was nobody about her,
no friend of her own age and sex in whom she could confide, and she knew
not where to look for such a treasure. And yet one day she found a
confidant where she least expected it. Her husband had resolved to have
a house-warming in her honour, and had had a list made of the intended
guests which he sent to her for her approval, by the hands of old Mr.
Varga, the steward. This particular piece of attention showed, moreover,
how polite and condescending Karpathy was towards his wife.

Mr. Varga took the list, and, as was his wont on his passage through the
house, continued knocking at every door he came to till he was told to
come in. On perceiving his mistress, he stood on the threshold in an
attitude of the deepest respect, and would very much have liked to have
had there and then an arm long enough to have reached from the door to
the sofa.

Fanny was strangely attracted towards the old man. There are some
persons whom Fortune endows with a cast of countenance which allows you
to read right through their features into their pure and honest souls,
so that you feel confidence in them at the very first glance. Fanny did
not wait for Mr. Varga to come nearer to her, but arose and went to meet
him, took his hand, and, despite the old man's strenuous efforts to bow
low at every step he took, drew him forward, made him sit down in an
armchair, and, in order that he might not get up again, threw her arms
round him in childish fashion, which plunged the old fellow into the
most unutterable confusion. Naturally, the moment Fanny let him go, and
sat down herself, up he sprang again.

"Nay, my dear Mr. Varga, do sit down, or else I must stand up."

"I am not worthy of such an honour," stammered the old steward, very
circumspectly letting himself down into the chair again, as if he were
about to beg pardon for being so bold as to sit in it at all, and
bending forward so that he might not lean upon it too heavily.

"What have you brought me, my dear, good Mr. Varga?" asked Fanny, with a
smile. "If you have brought nothing but yourself, I should be all the
better pleased. Now you can see how pleased I am to see you."

Varga murmured something to the