I saw that, but for the life of me I could not conceive what her object was in coming masquerading like this through the streets of Buda in broad daylight. And to hit upon my lodgings of all places in the world!
"Madame de Bagotay?" I stammered in my confusion.
"Oh, I am no longer Madame Bagotay, but Madame Peter Gyuricza!"
"What on earth do you mean? Mrs. Gyuricza! The wife of a herdsman?"
My amazement was so genuine that Bessy clapped her hands together with glee.
"Then you actually don't know about it? They haven't written to you from home?"
"It is a long time since I received a letter from home."
"But this was a scandal which set seven counties in an uproar; there has been nothing like it since the French Revolution—and you call yourself the editor of a newspaper!"
"My paper does not meddle with purely family matters."
Bessy's face was flushed, and she began smoothing it with the palms of both hands; she thought, perhaps, that she would brush the tell-tale blush away.