rmed a partition in the tent, was outlined
the figure of some one standing behind.

"Are you that Michael Apafi," asked the Pasha after the customary
greetings, "who for several years was a prisoner of the Tartar Murza?"

"The very same, most gracious Pasha, the one to whom, in his mercy, he
granted exemption from the full ransom."

"That will be made right. Murza granted exemption from the full ransom
because His Excellency the Sultan commanded him to do so, and His
Majesty will do even more for you."

"I hear these words with astonishment and gratitude, for I do not know
how I can have deserved this grace."

"His Excellency has learned that you conducted yourself wisely,
honorably, and like a man, in that sad imprisonment, and that you knew
so well how to win the hearts of the other prisoners that although
there is no respect of rank among prisoners they all had the highest
respect for you. In consideration of this, and furthermore taking into
account that the present prince, John Kemeny, as he has plainly
shown, intends to set himself free from the Sublime Porte, His
Excellency has determined without further delay to raise you to the
throne of Transylvania and to support you there."

"Me,--gracious lord! It is your pleasure to jest," stammered Apafi. It
seemed as if everything was beginning to go round before him.

"Yes, you! You have no cause to wonder at this, for when my lord
pleases pashas and princes are made, at a glance from him, slaves,
beggars or corpses; and at another glance, common soldiers, nobles, or
slaves step into their superiors' places. You were so fortunate as to
come in for a share of his good-will. Make this to your advantage and
do not misuse it."

"But, gracious lord, what an idea that I can become a prince!"

"That is my affair, I will make you one."

"But Transylvania has another prince, John Kemeny."

"That is also my affair. I will settle with him soon."

Apafi shrugged his shoulders; he felt that he had never been entangled
in a worse affair.--"That was a true presentiment of my wife's, that
to-day a great danger threatened me," he thought.

The Pasha resumed the conversation. "Now then, without further delay,
write an order for a convention of the States so that the ceremony of
inauguration may take place as quickly as possible."

"I--who will come at my call? My lord, I am one of the least important
of the nobles of my country: they will only laugh at me and say that I