And now to add to her embarrassment, there was this unlucky Mikalai accident.

It seemed just to have come in the nick of time so far as he was concerned, just as if he had actually agreed with Fatia Negra that the latter should rob him on the high road in the most artful manner so that she might not have the slightest hope left of being relieved from her anxieties by the assistance of her husband.

The baron, now could always end every _tete-a-tete_ by remarking that that rogue Fatia Negra had relieved him of all his money, and he knew not how to make good his loss.
One day, while away from home hunting at Csako, Baron Leonard learnt that the Countess Kengyelesy's latest ideal was Szilard Vamhidy and when chance soon afterwards brought him also to Arad, he could see for himself that the countess really did load the young man with distinction in society.
The circumstance began to irritate him.
This pale-faced youth with the big burning eyes had turned the head of his own consort once upon a time, and now he was making other enviable conquests.

The idea occurred to Hatszegi to knock this "student chap" out of his saddle a second time.

Heretofore he had never regarded the countess as a particularly pretty woman, but now he very readily persuaded himself that he was over head and ears in love with her.
He began to pay his court to her--and he was lucky.