A stranger turned the corner. I could not help thinking: was it he?—Or that other one who sat in a motor-car and smoked a cigar? Everything is possible here. Steps followed me, voices. Is he among those who are walking there?—One of those whose voices are raised in threats over there? The authorities are no longer pursuing their enquiries. The police searched only to make sure that it could not find. But Tisza’s blood cannot be washed away. It is there and it cries to Heaven. I reached home tired out. Why had I gone out at all? What did I want? Was I looking for anybody? At least I might have seen a familiar face coming towards me, greet me, stop and tell me something that would have raised hope. I might have heard that General Kövess was marching on Pest with his returning army, or that Mackensen had gathered the Széklers round him in Transylvania. So this was what I had been seeking! I wanted to hear the sound of a name, the name of a man who was brave and strong, who knew how to organise and how to give orders, who could lay his hand on destiny at the brink of the abyss. I found my room warm and cosy, for my mother had lit a fire while I was out. Through the open door of the stove the light of the flames danced into the room and was reflected from the parquet flooring. Stray rays flickered to the book-case and passed over the gilding of old volumes. Tea was brought in and my mother came with it. She was wearing a black silk dress with a white lace collar, and the scent she always used brought a faint delicate fragrance into the room. After the disorder of the muddy streets the purity of this quietude was striking, and already I felt refreshed. Later on I had a visitor, Countess Armin Mikes, and her news dispelled my temporary peace of mind. She was tired, her face was drawn as though she had been ill, and her eyes were filled with tears. I knew what was passing within her: the death of Transylvania. “Have you heard,” I asked her hesitatingly, “that the United States have recognised Roumanians right over Transylvania? Her _right_.... And our traitors are going to hand it over.” It was too terrible. The United States addressed the aboriginal Székler inhabitants concerning the rights of immigrant Roumanian shepherds. The United States: a young nation which, so far as civilization is concerned, did not exist at a time when Transylvania had already been united to Hungary for half a thousand years! “Not an inch of ground could be taken from us even now if only the army made a stand on the frontier.” “If Tisza were alive!” “If he were alive they would kill him again.” We became silent, and for a long time the only sound was the crackling of the embers in the stove.