e! she never took
anything from her serving people that belonged to them, but she
herself saved every bit. In harvest time, when she would be in the
field all day long she would often go a week at a time without having
any dinner cooked; her entire meal then would be a small piece of
bread, so small that a child would not have been satisfied with it,
and a glass of cold water. But you can take my word for it, Clara,
that no one ever saw her out of temper, and no bitter tear ever fell
on the dry bread which was all she allowed herself in loyalty to her
husband."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why, I mean that the money that she got together in this way, by hard
work and saving, has been carried by Andy into Tartary at this season
every year to make up the ransom. During this time the poor lady
stinted herself in every way." The old servant wiped the tears from
her eyes.

"And what is the ransom required?"

"I don't know exactly, my child. Andy has always brought back a paper
on which the Tartar has written the amount received and what still
remains to be paid, and the noble lady keeps it very carefully. Of
course I do not like to ask any questions."

The maiden became silent and seemed thoughtful; the spindle went twice
as fast in her hands and her heart beat more rapidly.

"My son Andy has gone on such a journey now, and I am expecting him
back every hour; from him we shall know something certain."

At that very moment the outside gate creaked; a small wagon was driven
noisily into the courtyard and the joyous barking of the dogs showed
that it was no stranger who had come.

"They've come," cried the two serving women, and had just time to rise
from their seats when Anna Bornemissa, wife of Michael Apafi,
entered,--a well-built woman, almost as tall as a man; through the
plain grey linen gown showed the slender but rounded outlines of a
strong figure; she might have been thirty-six years old. Her face was
one of those that give no trace of time until far on in years. She was
sunburned, but with the bloom of youth and her healthy color this only
heightened her peculiar beauty. Her glance was quick and masterful but
its charm lay in the soul which it reflected. In her features there
was nothing hard, rough or masculine; her brow was arched, smooth,
free from wrinkles and full of nobility; her eyebrows were delicately
marked, her eyes exquisitely shaped, with long lashes that only half
shaded them; they were not