"Good or bad?"
"Well, mixed. Both good and bad. I will leave the good till the last. To begin: Poor Satan Laczi was buried yesterday—may God have mercy on his sinful soul! They fired three salvos over his grave, and the primate himself said the prayers for his soul. If Satan Laczi himself could have seen it all, he could hardly have believed that so much honor would be shown to his dead body. Poor Laczi! His last words were a greeting to his kind patron."
"His life closed well!" observed the count. "He got what he longed for—a soldier's death. But tell me what you know about Raab."
"I know all about it. I come from there."
"Ah, did you see them? Has not the enemy besieged the city?"
"Yes; the city as well as the fortress is in the hands of the enemy, and the baroness and the princess are both in it."
"Who told you to call her a princess?" demanded Count Vavel, his face darkening.
"I will come to that all in good time," composedly replied Matyas, who was not to be hurried. "Colonel Pechy," he went on, "bravely defended the fortress for ten days against the Frenchmen; but he had to yield at last—"
"Where are Katharina and Marie?" impatiently interrupted Vavel. "What became of them when the city capitulated?"
"All in good time, Herr Count, all in good time! I can tell you all about them, for I am just come from them."