And now for the first time a light dawned in Vértessy's mind, and he understood it all.
"A marvellous woman!" he muttered, gazing after her till the distance hid her from his eyes.
The streets were quite quiet, nobody was about, the General's own heart was afflicted by the stillness. A beneficent calm, so often the reaction from extreme excitement, came over him.
And now he had time to hasten back to the peaceful house opposite.
His heart beat so violently with joyful anticipation, the pulses of his hands and temples throbbed so tumultuously as he strode through the quiet rooms.
In the ante-chamber he encountered the doctor, who advanced towards him with a smile and stretched out his hand.
"You have a joyful house now," said he.
"What do you mean?" exclaimed Vértessy, stammering with delight; he knew very well, all the time, what the doctor meant.
"A wee, wee cherub has arrived," whispered the doctor—"and 'tis a boy cherub too," he added with a still broader smile.
The next moment Vértessy was kneeling down before his wife, and pressing her hands hundreds and hundreds of times to his burning lips.