ead, garments, medicine, and kind words, who know what a
good heart she has; not only is it those under legal sentence, for whom
she pleads compassionately in high places: her benevolence goes much
further than all that; for she takes the part of those who are
spiritually poor and wretched, those whom the world condemns, poor
betrayed girls who have tripped into endless misery, poor women bending
beneath the crosses of a hard domestic life; and they all find in her a
friend, a defender who can get to the bottom of their hearts. Pardon me
for presuming so far. I know right well that there are many other
exalted personages who also do a great deal of good to the poor; but
they seem only to take thought for the bodily wants of the destitute,
whereas this lady cares for their spiritual needs as well, and thus it
comes about that she frequently finds poor sufferers in need of her
assistance, not only in hovels, but in palaces. This lady brings a
blessing into every house she enters, and scatters happiness and
contentment all round about her. Indeed, I only know of one other lady
who is worthy to stand beside her, and nothing would give me greater joy
than to see them both at one with each other."

The emotion written on Fanny's face showed that she appreciated the
tender insinuation.

"Is this lady young?"

"About your ladyship's own age."

"And is she happily married?" Fanny was rather speaking to herself than
asking a question.

"That she is," replied Varga; "indeed, it would not be possible to find
on the whole face of the earth a couple so exactly suited to each other
as she and His Excellency Count Rudolf Szentirmay. Oh, that is a great
man if you like! Every one admires his intellect and his great
qualities, and the whole kingdom praises and exalts him. They say that
at one time he was a man disgusted with life, who troubled himself very
little about his country; but from the moment when he met his future
wife, Flora Eszeky, abroad, a great change came over him, and returning
with her to Hungary, he became the benefactor not only of his country
but of humanity. But even now God has rewarded him, for that greatest of
blessings, domestic happiness, has fallen to his lot so lavishly that
it has become a proverb, and anybody seeing them together would imagine
that Paradise had already begun for them on this earth."

An involuntary, an unconscious sigh arose from Fanny's breast at these
words.

At that moment the r