The sick old man drew a long and deep sigh at these words, but his eyes still remained closed. Széphalmi sat down on a chair beside him, hid his face in his hands, and fell a weeping. The young unknown continued to draw his fingers softly round the rim of the glass, producing a ghostly sort of low wailing sound. "The water will become magnetic before long," said he, "and then we shall see." "Yet," pursued he, "there is an even more evil malady than the sorrow of bereavement, and that is--remorse. You are both troubled by the bitter memories of an irrevocable past. You did not always love your children, your grandchildren, as you do now that they are both dead--and this is the greatest affliction of all." At these words the sick Hétfalusy opened his eyes and gazed at the speaker in astonishment. Széphalmi stammered sorrowfully: "Oh, sir! why do you torture us with these words? They make the poor old man's heart bleed." "I see. Already he begins to revive. The medicine is a violent one, no doubt, but for that very reason all the more efficacious. Suffering supervenes, and in suffering lies the very crisis of the malady. But a few more drops of this water. So! The reaction will be still more violent presently, as you shall see. The sick man will groan and have convulsions. Cold drops of sweat will exude from his temples. After that, however, he will grow calmer, and the cure will be complete if God help us." The youth continued to magnetise the water. "The sick man's greatest pain proceeds from the recollection of those years when first you made the acquaintance of his recently deceased daughter." "What do you know, sir, of those years?" stammered Széphalmi, much surprised. "As much as a doctor ought to know whose business it is to cure the hearts of his patients. He strongly opposed the marriage of the girl with you. He was wrong in so doing. True affection when excluded from the right road seeks out secret paths for itself. You discovered for yourselves some such secret path." "Sir!" "Hush! The patient is groaning. The cure is operating. These secret relations had consequences which could not be hidden. Your wife became a mother before she was yet your wife. Pardon me, sir, but it is as a doctor that I address you." "How do you come to know all this?" faltered Széphalmi, in a scarcely audible voice. "And when it was kept so secret too!" he thought to himself. The same instant the old man made a violent effort to rise from his bed and compel the speaker to be silent.