"To her also I say 'she' or 'you.'"

"What a singular country! Well, then, Bernat bácsi, if it pleases 'him,'
will 'he' sit here by me?"

Baroness Katinka understood perfectly how to conduct the conversation
during the repast--an art which was not appreciated by her right-hand
neighbor, Herr Mercatoris. The learned gentleman had bad teeth, in
consequence of which eating was a sort of penitential performance that
left him no time for discourse.

But the doctor and the vice-palatine showed themselves all the more
willing to share the conversation with their hostess.

"The official business was satisfactorily arranged without me, was it
not, Bernat bácsi?" after a brief pause, inquired the baroness.

"Not altogether. We are like the gypsy who said that he was going to
marry a countess. He was willing, and all that was yet necessary was the
consent of a countess. Our business requires the consent of a
baroness--that is, of Katinka hugom."

"To what must I give my consent?"

"That the conditions relating to the Nameless Castle shall continue the
same as heretofore."

"Nameless Castle?--Conditions?--What does that mean? I should like very
much to know."