Szilard soon had a good supper ready for him, which the youth fell to work upon without ceremony.
"My dear Leander," said Vamhidy when the meal was over, "no doubt it is a very fine thing when one can say that he is his own master, nor is it so difficult to attain to such a position after all. All that is wanted is a strength of character always true to itself. But you, my friend, have committed follies which might easily make of you something very different."
Coloman shrugged his shoulders.
"I have committed many follies no doubt, but I do not call to mind any which I should be afraid to confess."
Szilard began to fancy that his suspicions were groundless.
"People are talking of a certain bill which you have given in your sister's name?"
At these words Coloman cast down his eyes upon his plate and his whole face grew blood-red. In a scarcely audible voice he enquired: "And has Henrietta refused to honour that bill?"
Vamhidy sighed deeply. Then it was really true that this thoughtless child had committed the crime!
"My dear Coloman," said he, dropping the Leander now, "your sister is the martyr of her own devotion. She was most certainly ready to acknowledge the bill as her own; but you ought to have thought what sacrifices she will have to make now that her grandfather has cut her off with a shilling and her husband refuses to place such a considerable amount at her disposal."
"Good gracious!" cried the itinerant actor, thrusting his hands deep down into his empty pockets, "what then do these big wigs call considerable amounts. Very well, sir. I had no idea that the Baroness Hátszegi was so very poor. I will try to recover the bill, and it shall be the first thing I will pay off with my benefit money."