This is no lawyer's
business, for a lawyer would set about it too gingerly. Here sympathy
and chivalry are before all other things necessary, and if the husband
declines this noble task, we have nobody to turn to except--the man who
has been sacrificed."
Szilard bit his lips to prevent the tears from coming. Who could ever
have thought that so frivolous a woman would have had so much feeling
for her friend? Then he rose, bowed and curtly informed the countess
that he would undertake the commission.
The countess pressed his hand affectionately: "And keep me informed of
everything," said she, "for I am the common post between you two."
Szilard thanked the countess and withdrew. He pondered the matter
carefully till the evening, and by that time he had a plan all ready in
his head.
For a whole week after this, nothing was to be seen of Vamhidy. Count
Kengyelesy sought him everywhere and could find him nowhere. Every day
he asked his countess what she had done with the young man.
Ten days after the first _soiree_ the date for another had been fixed.
Szilard did not appear even at this. Kengyelesy hunted for him from
pillar to post, but could not discover what had become of him. Nobody
had heard anything of him.
"He has poisoned himself," said Kengyelesy at last to a group of his
sporting friends. "It is quite plain to me. When a fellow has got that
sort of thing into his head once, he will try it again and again.
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