n case I survive, of my
life."

Beldi grasped the Pasha by the hand. "Bring your wife," he said, in
cordial tones, "my wife and I will receive her as a sister."

"Not as a sister, I beg of you," said Kutschuk, laughingly, "with us
that is equivalent to enmity. So then, I may bring her?"

"We shall be happy to have her with us," replied Beldi, and gave order
to his servants to return to Tatrang with the Pasha's followers and
bring his carriage from there by torch light. Kutschuk sent word that
Feriz Bey was to come too. Meantime, Beldi presented Kutschuk Pasha to
his wife, and it gave him no little pleasure to find that she
remembered the Pasha's wife as a friend in her youth, whom she would
meet again with natural interest and joy.

In the course of a few hours the carriage arrived and rolled heavily
over the stone-paved courtyard. Madame Beldi hurried down the steps to
meet the Pasha's wife, and as the latter stepped from the carriage
received her with a cry of joy. "Katharine, do you know me still?" She
too recognized her playmate of old and the two friends rushed into
each other's arms, kissed each other and said sweetly, "How handsome
you have grown!" "What a stately woman you have become!"

"See, this is my son," said Katharine, pointing to Feriz Bey who,
dismounted from his horse, was now hurrying forward to help his mother
from the carriage.

"What a fine boy!" exclaimed Madame Beldi, charmed; she threw her arms
around the handsome, rosy-cheeked child and kissed him again and
again;--if she had only known that this child was no longer a child,
but a general!

"I too have children," said Madame Beldi, with the sweet rivalry of
maternal feeling. "You shall see them. Does your son speak Hungarian?"

"Hungarian!" asked Katharine, almost hurt. "Does the child of a
Hungarian mother speak Hungarian! How can you ask such a question?"

"So much the better," said Madame Beldi, "the children will become
acquainted the more easily and they will belong to one family
henceforth. Our husbands have arranged that with each other and it
certainly will please us."

The affectionate mother threw her arms around her friend again, took
Feriz Bey by the hand, and brought them both into the midst of the
family circle, where they chatted uninterruptedly and asked and
answered thousands of questions.

In the little boudoir was a cheerful open fire; large, beflowered silk
curtains shaded the windows; on an ivory table ticked