The old woman looked at him surprised.
"How was I to get the three sparks from it if I did not burn it?"
Gyuri fell back against the wall, the kitchen and everything in it swam before his eyes, the plates and basins seemed to be dancing a waltz together; a tongue of fire arose from the fireplace, bringing with it the third demon, who exclaimed: "There is nothing here!"
But all at once he felt a hand laid on his arm. It was Sztolarik.
"It was, and is no more," he said. "But never mind, Fate intended it to be so. For the future you will not, at all events, run after a shadow, you will be yourself again, and that is worth a good deal, after all."
CHAPTER III.
LITTLE VERONICA IS TAKEN AWAY.
But it was of no use Sztolarik preaching about the uselessness of worldly goods, for those worldly goods are very pleasant to have.
When a favorite child dies, the members of the family always pronounce very wise words, which are supposed to comfort one another, such as: "Who knows how the child would have turned out? It might have come to the gallows in time; perhaps it was better it had died now," etc. But for all that, wisdom has never yet dried our tears.
Sztolarik said all he could think of to console Gyuri, but the young lawyer was quite cast down at the thought that his dreams would never now be realized; his whole life was before him, dark and threatening. But the world was the same as of old, and everything went just the same as though Widow Adamecz had never burned the handle of the umbrella.