The unknown next presented himself at the residence of General Vértessy.
They told him this was not the official hour for being received; at such times the General was wont to be with his wife. He replied:
"So much the better; what I have to tell him will be better told in the presence of his wife."
The General was informed of this odd wish, and took to the idea so kindly that he ordered the young man to be instantly admitted.
And, in a few moments, a handsome, courtly youth stood before him, who greeted the General frankly and the General's wife ceremoniously. In his hands he carried a small forage-cap with a border of thin gold thread round it, and his whole style and bearing testified to the fact that, somewhere or other, he had been brought up as a soldier.
"I beg your pardon, General, for disturbing you so unconscionably, and robbing you of your most precious moments, but the business on which I have come admits of no delay. My name is Count Kamienszky, I come from Poland, and I bring a petition in favour of young Hétfalusy, who deserted in the belief that he had shot his captain."
The General's face grew suddenly cold. He had become a cast-iron statue, just as he was wont to be when on parade.
"From whom is your petition?"
"From the very officer for whom his bullet was intended. That bullet did not strike home, but stuck fast in his laced jacket; yet it was well aimed too at thirty paces, just in the middle of the heart."