this, was suddenly illumined by a blinding flash of
lightning.

"And Torda!" cried a voice from the benches.

"No, we have nothing against Torda," declared Diurbanu, almost angrily.

"But what have we against Toroczko?" asked another voice. "The men of
Toroczko have never done us any harm. So far we have received their iron
only in the form of ploughs and shovels, scythes and wheel-tires."

"Their sons are serving under Bem," was the rejoinder, "and it is from
them that we have received their iron in other shapes. Yet that is not
the main reason. Toroczko is a breeding-place of Magyar ideas and Magyar
civilisation, an asylum open to Protestant reformers, the pride of a
handful of people who hope to conquer the world by dint of their science
and industry. The fall of Toroczko would spread a wholesome fear far and
wide; it would be almost as if one should report the overthrow of Pest
itself. Bem's men would halt on the march, panic-stricken at the news,
and Bem himself would be forced to yield to their desires and return to
Transylvania. And the more terrible our work of devastation, the more
brilliant will be the military success that must follow as its result."

The thunder-claps came at such frequent intervals that the speaker could
with difficulty make himself heard. When he had ended, the deep voice of
him who wore the clerical gown began in reply:

"Listen to me, Diurbanu. You are deceived on one point. Those on whom
you count in this bloody work are sated with slaughter. So long as they
thirsted for revenge they were eager to shed human blood; but now they
have slaked their thirst and are beginning to rue their deeds. I saw a
family being cut down in the open street, and I rushed forward and
snatched this little flaxen-haired boy from the murderers' hands and hid
him under my cloak. At that a young man, the most furious one of the
party, aimed such a stroke at my head with his scythe that he would
certainly have split my skull had not my cap deadened the blow. But
three days later this same young man came to see the child whose rescue
had filled him with such fury that he had lifted his hand with murderous
intent against me, his anointed priest; and because the little boy cried
for his lost blackbird, the young man went into the woods and caught
another for him. More than that, he would now gladly restore the boy's
parents to him if he could. Ever since I saved the little one's life he
has clung to me and ref