"Look!" cried he, with a voice broken by emotion. "A desolated town sends its official seal to the Diet by its last inhabitant. There are already enough of such towns in Transylvania, and in time there may be more. War and famine have wasted the fairest portions of our land. You should not forget, gentlemen, to place this seal among your other--trophies!" At these last words Beldi's voice sank almost to a whisper, yet so deep was the silence, that he was heard distinctly in every part of the hall. A thrill of horror passed through every one present. "Outside that door I hear some one weeping," continued Beldi, with quivering lips. "It is my own dear daughter, the wife of Paul Wesselenyi, who, driven from her fatherland, on her knees implored me, as I loved her, to let the _lex talionis_ assert its rights. But I say, let my child weep, let her perish, may I also perish with my whole family if need be, but let not the curse of war fall on Transylvania! May no one in Transylvania have cause to weep because I suffer. No! I would declare against war though every one here present were for it.... Gentlemen!... this seal ... and the other relic too ... forget not to preserve them among your trophies!" Beldi sat down. Long after his words had ceased to sound, a death-like silence continued to prevail. Teleki, ascribing this silence to indignation against Beldi, very confidently arose, and bade the Estates give their votes. But for once he had wrongly felt the pulse of public opinion, for the majority of the Diet, deeply touched by the foregoing scene, voted for peace. So great was still the influence of Banfi and Beldi in the land. Teleki looked with some confusion at his future son-in-law, who clenched his fists, and murmured bitterly with tears in his eyes-- "Flectere si nequeo Superos, Acheronta movebo!" * * * * * As the Assembly broke up, Forval and Nicholas Bethlen again met together. "So our hope that Transylvania will take up arms has been dashed," observed the crestfallen Frenchman. "On the contrary, our hope only now begins," returned Bethlen, tapping his friend on the shoulder. "Did you hear that young man Tököli speak?" "Yes; he spoke very prettily." "Prettily or not, it strikes me that he is just the man you seek." "A King of Hungary, eh?"[54]