130
IX. THE PRINCE AND HIS MINISTER 143
X. THE LIEUTENANT OF THE ROUNDS 170
XI. SANGA-MOARTA 184
XII. A GREAT LORD IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 215
XIII. THE NIGHT 243
XIV. THE COURT OF JUSTICE IN THE BANQUET HALL 266
XV. THE DIET OF KARLSBURG 279
XVI. THE LEAGUE 297
XVII. DEATH FOR A KISS 308
XVIII. WIFE AND ODALISQUE 325
XIX. THE JUDGMENT 356

THE GOLDEN AGE IN TRANSYLVANIA

CHAPTER I

A HUNTING PARTY IN THE YEAR 1666

Before we cross the Kiralyhago, let us cast a parting glance at
Hungary. I will unroll before your eyes a scene, partly the result of
an adverse fate, partly of a dark mystery, representing joy and also
deep sorrow. An incident of a moment becomes the turning-point of a
whole century.

My soul is saddened by the images thus conjured up; the figures out of
the past blind my sight. Would that my hand were mighty enough to
write down what my soul sees in that magic mirror. May your
impressions, your recollections, complete the scene wherever the
writer fails through weariness.

* * * * *

We find ourselves in the valley of the Drave, in one of those
boundless tracts where even the wild beasts lose themselves. Here are
primeval forests, the roots of which rest in the water of a great
swamp encircled not by water lilies and reed-grass, but by giant trees
whose branches, dropping below the surface, form new roots in the
quickening water. Here the swan builds its nest; this is the haunt of
the heron and all those wild creatures one of which only now and then
marches out into more frequented regions. On the higher ground, where
in late summer the waters ebb, spring such flowers as might have been
seen just after the deluge, so luxuriant and so strange is their
mighty growth out of the slimy mud. The branches of ivy, stout as
grape vines, reach from tree to tree winding about the trunks and
decking the dark maples as if some wood-nymph had garlanded her own
consecrated grove.

When the sun has set, life grows active in this watery kingdom; swarms
of water-birds rise, and with their monotonous, gruesome cries sound
the note of the bittern, the whis