urs!"

[Footnote 20: Transylvania.]

The maiden yielded to his warm embrace, murmuring, as he released her,
"Remember me!"

"When I cease to remember you, I shall be no more," replied the youth
fervently.

And then he kissed the young girl's brow, and once more bidding them
all farewell, he hurried from the apartment.

Old Simon Bardy lived on the first floor: Imre did not forget him.

"Well, nephew," said the old man cheerfully, "God speed you, and give
you strength to cut down many Turks!"

"It is not with the Turks that we shall have to do," replied the young
man, smiling.

"Well, with the French," said the old soldier of the past century,
correcting himself.

A page waited at the gate, with two horses saddled and bridled.

"I shall not require you--you may remain at home," said Imre, as,
taking the bridle of one of the horses and vaulting lightly into the
saddle, he pressed his csako over his brow and galloped from the
castle.

As he rode under the cross, he checked his horse and looked back. Was
it of his grandmother's words, or of the golden-haired Jolanka that he
thought?

A white handkerchief waved from the window.

"Farewell, light of my soul!" murmured the youth; and kissing his
hand, he once more dashed his spurs into his horse's flanks, and
turned down the steep hill.

* * * * *

Those were strange times. All at once the villages began to be
depopulated; the inhabitants disappeared, none knew whither. The doors
of the houses were closed.

The bells were no longer heard in the evening, nor the maiden's song
as she returned from her work. The barking of dogs which had lost
their masters alone interrupted the silence of the streets, where the
grass began to grow.

Imre Bardy rode through the street of the village without meeting a
soul; few of the chimneys had smoke, and no fires gleamed through the
kitchen windows.

Evening was drawing on, and a slight transparent mist had overspread
the valley. Imre was desirous of reaching Kolozsvar[21] early on the
next morning, and continued his route all night. About midnight the
moon rose behind the trees, shedding her silvery light over the
forest. All was still, excepting the echo of the miner's hammer, and
the monotonous sound of his horse's step along the rocky path. He rode
on, lost in thought; when suddenly the horse stopped short, and
pricked his ears.

[Footnote 21: Klausenburg.]

"Come, come," said Imr