Teleki bade the pages in waiting at the door admit no one else. Apafi, with a gesture of impatience, sat down in an arm-chair, and resigned himself to listen to his consort; but Anna had scarcely commenced to speak, when the rattling of a coach was heard in the courtyard, and shortly afterwards heavy footsteps resounded in the corridors, and a stern, dictatorial voice, with which every one appeared to be familiar, asked if the Prince was in. The pages said No, and tried to stop the intruder, but exclaiming, "Out of my way, you brats!" he burst open the door and forced his way into the room. It was none other than Denis Banfi. He had just descended from his carriage. His cheeks were much redder than usual, and his eyes sparkled. He went straight towards the Prince and cried, without the slightest preamble-- "Do not listen to these gentlemen, your Highness! Do not listen to a single word." The Prince smiled and greeted Banfi. "God preserve you, my cousin," said he. "Pardon me, your Highness, if in my great haste I neglected to salute you; but when I heard that the Hungarian gentlemen were here in audience, I was quite beside myself with rage. What do you want?" continued he, turning towards the Hungarians; "not satisfied, I suppose, with ruining your own country with your unruliness, you must needs come hither to disturb us likewise?" "You speak of us," remarked Teleki, with quiet sarcasm, "as if we belonged to some outlandish Tartar stock, and as if we had been cast hither from heaven only knows what sort of savage, distant land." "On the contrary, I know you only too well, ye Hungarian lords. I speak of you as men whose turbulence has, time out of mind, been ruinous to Transylvania. The people of Hungary are idiots one and all." "I beg you not to lose sight of the fact that I too am one of them," said the Princess. "I know it; and it is with anything but satisfaction that I see the will of your Highness predominant here." Dame Apafi, with an expression of wounded dignity, turned towards her brother-in-law. "Whatever you may say, I will not cease to be your good kinswoman and well-wisher," and with these words she quitted the room. "You might at least have addressed the Prince more becomingly," remarked Teleki, sharply.