"Very well, I will. Give me till to-morrow to think it over."
And with that Mr. John put on his hat and took his leave.
The following day the lawyer awaited him in vain; then he waited for him a whole fortnight, but Mr. John never came near him. Then he went to the courts to find out what was being done and there he learnt, to his astonishment, that the declaration of the Baroness Hátszegi acknowledging the genuineness of her signature to the bill had already arrived.
What had happened was this: As soon as Mr. John had got Sipos's opinion gratis, he quickly traveled post to Hidvár and had a chat with his niece over the business. The poor lady was so utterly crushed by her misfortunes that she could scarce fix her mind steadily on anything and was a mere tool in his hands. She accepted the properties offered to her by her uncle—what did it matter to her now how much or how little they brought in!—and gave an acknowledgment in writing that the signature to the bill was her own.
Mr. Sipos was therefore not very much surprised when one day he received a commission from the baroness's agent to pay over the forty thousand florins in question to a financial agent at Pest. So Mr. John made a rattling good profit out of the transaction and Henrietta in return for her generosity had to pay up in cash as Mr. Sipos had shrewdly anticipated she would have to do all along. But it was all one to Henrietta.
CHAPTER XXIV
CONCLUSION
Meanwhile the long drawn out process between Mr. John and his sister Madame Lángai continued its course. There was no thought of a compromise between the parties. Madame Lángai expended so much of her private means in the action that nearly the whole of the property left her by her husband went in costs. She could now neither keep her coach nor live in a large house. She cooped herself up in a couple of small rooms, visited nobody and wore dresses that had been out of fashion for at least four years—and all to be able to carry on the action!
It was ten years before the suit came to an end.