Ah! really? Well, they haven't bad taste. They will see a
pretty woman and a handsome uniform." And the General swelled out his
breast as he used to do in the great parades of the time of Nicholas,
and the reviews in the camp of Tsarskoe-Selo.

Outside the garden, behind the chestnut-trees which hid the avenue,
there was a sudden sound of the rolling of wheels, and the gay cracking
of whips.

"Ah!" cried the General, "It is Zilah!"

And, rapidly swallowing a last glass of the cordial, he wiped his
moustache, and advanced to meet Prince Andras, who was descending from
his carriage.

Accompanying the Prince were Yanski Varhely, and an Italian friend of
Zilah's, Angelo Valla, a former minister of the Republic of Venice,
in the time of Manin. Andras Zilah, proud and happy, appeared to have
hardly passed his thirtieth year; a ray of youth animated his clear
eyes. He leaped lightly out upon the gravel, which cracked joyously
beneath his feet; and, as he advanced through the aromatic garden, to
the villa where Marsa awaited him, he said to himself that no man in the
world was happier than he.

Vogotzine met him, and, after shaking his hand, asked him why on earth
he had not put on his national Magyar costume, which the Hungarians wore
with such graceful carelessness.

"Look at me, my dear Prince! I am in full battle array!"

Andras was in haste to see Marsa. He smiled politely at the General's
remark, and asked him where his niece was.

"She is putting on her uniform," replied Vogotzine, with a loud laugh
which made his sabre rattle.

Most of the invited guests were to go directly to the church of Maisons.
Only the intimate friends came first to the house, Baroness Dinati,
first of all, accompanied by Paul Jacquemin, who took his eternal notes,
complimenting both Andras and the General, the latter especially
eager to detain as many as possible to the lunch after the ceremony.
Vogotzine, doubtless, wished to show himself in all the eclat of his
majestic appetite.

Very pretty, in her Louis Seize gown of pink brocade, and a Rembrandt
hat with a long white feather (Jacquemin, who remained below, had
already written down the description in his note-book), the little
Baroness entered Marsa's room like a whirlwind, embracing the young
girl, and going into ecstasy over her beauty.

"Ah! how charming you are, my dear child! You are the ideal of a bride!
You ought to be painted as you are! And what good taste to wear
ro