Looking round very mysteriously to make sure that nobody was within hearing distance, she drew her daughter's head down towards her, and whispered in her ear—
"Abellino Kárpáthy."
"Oh, 'tis he, then!" exclaimed Fanny, with a peculiar, a very peculiar smile.
"Then you know him?"
"I have seen him once, a long way off."
"Oh, what a handsome, refined, pleasant man he is! Never in my life have I seen such a figure of a man!"
Fanny began brushing the crumbs off the table-cloth and playing with the coffee-spoon.
"Yes, mother; sixty thousand florins is a lot of money, isn't it?"
Ah, the hunted creature is already in the snare! Quick, quick!
"Yes, my darling, a lot of money indeed; the legal rate of interest upon it is three thousand six hundred florins. A poor man would have to put his nose to the grindstone for a long, long time before he could earn that."