ther took his own life, that he might meet no
more with the other; and the other said of him: 'He deserved his fate.'

"Oh, this earth that is drenched with the flow of our tears!"

Here grandmother paused, as if she would collect in her mind the
memories of a greater and heavier affliction.

Not a sound reached us down there--even the crypt door was closed; the
moaning of the wind did not reach so far; no sound, only the beating of
the hearts of three living beings.

Grandmother sought with her eyes the date written upon the arch, which
the moisture that had sweated out from the lime had rendered illegible.

"In this year they built this house of sorrow. Job was the first
inhabitant thereof. Just as now, without priest, without toll of bell,
hidden in a wooden chest of other form, they brought him here; and with
him began that melancholy line of victims, whose legacy was that one
should draw the other after him. The shedding of blood by one's own hand
is a terrible legacy. That blood besprinkles children and brothers. That
malicious tempter who directed the father's hand to strike the sharp
knife home into his own heart stands there in ambush forever behind his
successors' backs; he is ever whispering to them; 'Thy father was a
suicide, thy brother himself sought out death; over thy head, too,
stands the sentence; wherever thou runnest from before it, thou canst
not save thyself; thou carriest with thyself thy own murderer in thine
own right hand.' He tempts and lures the undecided ones with blades
whetted to brilliancy, with guns at full cock, with poison-drinks of
awful hue, with deep-flowing streams. Oh, it is indeed horrible!

"And nothing keeps them back! they never think of the love, the
everlasting sorrow of those whom they leave behind here to sorrow over
their melancholy death. They never think of Him whom they will meet
there beyond the grave, and who will ask them: 'Why did you come before
I summoned you?'

"In vain was written upon the front of this house of sorrow, 'Lead us
not into temptation.' You can see. Seven have already taken up their
abode here. All the seven have cast at the feet of Providence that
treasure, an account of which will be asked for in Heaven.

"Job left three children: Akos, Geroe, and Kalman. Akos was the eldest,
and he married earliest. He was a good man, but thoughtless and
passionate. One summer he lost his whole fortune at cards and was
ruined. But even poverty did not d