"And why are Messrs. Nalaczi and Daczo so familiar with you? Do they want anything?"
"They are my faithful followers, who have stood by my side from the very first."
"But pray don't on that account make them the highest personages in the land. Simple, ignorant men in responsible positions are far more dangerous to a state than open but enlightened foes. Reward them by all means, but only in proportion to their abilities."
"I'll do so," replied the harassed Prince; and during the remainder of the interview he tried hard to uphold his conjugal supremacy, but Anna would not let the subject drop.
"And Master John Szasy, what does he do here? for I saw him too."
"The poor fellow is persecuted," returned Apafi, who began to find the joke a little tiresome.
"Evil rumours are abroad about that man. People say of him—and they say it pretty loudly—that he has young Saxon girls abducted for him, and after sacrificing them to his brutal lusts, removes them out of the way by poison. The parents of the girls have indicted this man, and he fancies he will escape exposure by fawning upon you."
Apafi sprang wrathfully from his seat.
"If that be so, I will show Master Szasy the door; he shall find no shelter beneath my mantle."
"And what brought that honest, tattered Szekler hither?" asked Anna, who had evidently made up her mind to know everything. "I like not his crafty face at all. The Szekler is always most dangerous when he puts on the garb of simplicity."