tunity to
get your treasure back again. Your former husband fell deeply into
debt. His administrator received the order to sell the estate of the
De Gemer family. If you have enough money--the doctor told me that you
have--buy it out of the first hands before the Jews get hold of it.
When your lawyer writes him that you will have the estate turned over
to the boy, if Lord de Gemen will give it to you in black and white,
he will be glad to do so, I know, and will give you the boy. He always
boasted that the 'De Gemer' estate shall belong to Ondrejko, his
first-born. Everybody in the neighborhood knows about it. It would not
be such a great shame on the family, that they had to sell the family
castle, if, after all, the property remained in his son's hands. It
is a beautiful estate, and it is wisely managed. It will bring a much
larger income later on, than it does today. Even if you had to borrow
some money to purchase it, it would be worthwhile to do so."

"Oh, Bacha Filina!" The lady took the man's hard right hand into her
small ones. "How can I thank you enough for this good and beautiful
advice? I don't know if my ready money will suffice, but I have
beautiful jewelry, and when I sell that, we will have something to
start with at least. I am not altogether so unfamiliar with managing
as you may think; I am the daughter of a farmer. But who will buy this
for me? My lawyer is not here."

"Leave Ondrejko with the doctor. Ride to the administrator's office
and buy the estate yourself. He has orders to sell it. Do not begin to
deal about the boy before the estate is yours. At least, that is what
I think. But today let Ondrejko know that you are his mother, that the
boy may not suffer longer. Come to us in the afternoon. I will send
Palko for you."

Filina arose. "I would not have come to you while you are still weak,
but we must hurry with the buying, and Ondrejko cared so much that he
shook all over, thinking that surely he had said something bad to
you so that you fainted. The boy is very tender. He needs not only
strengthening with me--that is only for the body--but his heart needs
a mother. The God in the heavens has become his Father. Good-bye,
then."

"Bacha Filina," the lady stopped the man. "Do you know why I parted
with De Gemer? Or do you think that because I am a singer, I have left
him like an unfaithful wife?"

"The doctor told me that my lord had wronged you. I do not ask more.
Everyone of us has enou