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THE GOLDEN AGE IN TRANSYLVANIA




Publisher's Note.


This delightful historical romance by Jokai (pronounced by critics his
best), is published in England under the title of "Midst the Wild
Carpathians." This, the American edition, is printed in a more
readable type, making a volume of one hundred additional pages.

The scene of the story is laid in Transylvania; the time is the close
of the seventeenth century, and the incidents relate to the reign of
Michel Apafi, whom the Turks raised to the throne, ending with the
murder of Denis Banfi, the last of the powerful Transylvanian barons.
The story which has more than simple basis of truth, is absorbingly
interesting and displays all the virility of Jokai's powers, his
genius of description, his keenness of characterization, his subtlety
of humor and his consummate art in the progression of the novel from
one apparent climax to another.




THE GOLDEN AGE
IN
TRANSYLVANIA

BY
MAURUS JOKAI

Author of "Black Diamonds," "Peter the Priest," Etc., Etc.

TRANSLATED BY S. L. AND A. V. WAITE

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NEW YORK
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY
9 and 11 EAST 16th STREET
1898

Copyright 1898
BY
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY

_The Golden Age in Transylvania_




TABLE OF CONTENTS


I.      A HUNTING PARTY IN THE YEAR 1666                7
II.     THE HOUSE IN EBESFALVA                         32
III.    A PRINCE BY COMPULSION                         45
IV.     THE HUNGARIAN PRINCES IN BANQUET               60
V.      CASTLE BODOLA                                  69
VI.     THE BATTLE OF NAGY-SZOeLLOeS                     86
VII.    THE PRINCESS                                  107
VIII.   AZRAELE                                       130
IX.     THE PRINCE AND HIS MINISTER                   143
X.      THE LIEUTENANT OF THE ROUNDS                  170
XI.     SANGA-MOARTA                                  184
XII.    A GREAT LORD IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY       215
XIII.   THE NIGHT                                     243
XIV.    THE COURT OF JUSTICE IN THE BANQUET HALL      266
XV.     THE DIET OF KARLSBURG                         279
XVI.    THE LEAGUE                                    297
XVII.   DEATH FOR A KISS                              308
XVIII.  WIFE AND ODALISQUE                            325
XIX.    THE JUDGMENT                                  356




THE GOLDEN AGE IN TRANSYLVANIA




CHAPTER I

A HUNTING PARTY IN THE YEAR 1666


Before we cross the Kiralyhago, let us cast a parting glance at
Hungary. I will unroll before your eyes a scene, partly the result of
an adverse fate, partly of a dark mystery, representing joy and also
deep sorrow. An incident of a moment becomes the turning-point of a
whole century.

My soul is saddened by the images thus conjured up; the figures out of
the past blind my sight. Would that my hand were mighty enough to
write down what my soul sees in that magic mirror. May your
impressions, your recollections, complete the scene wherever the
writer fails through weariness.

       *       *       *       *       *

We find ourselves in the valley of the Drave, in one of those
boundless tracts where even the wild beasts lose themselves. Here are
primeval forests, the roots of which rest in the water of a great
swamp encircled not by water lilies and reed-grass, but by giant trees
whose branches, dropping below the surface, form new roots in the
quickening water. Here the swan builds its nest; this is the haunt of
the heron and all those wild creatures one of which only now and then
marches out into more frequented regions. On the higher ground, where
in late summer the waters ebb, spring such flowers as might have been
seen just after the deluge, so luxuriant and so strange is their
mighty growth out of the slimy mud. The branches of ivy, stout as
grape vines, reach from tree to tree winding about the tr