I would not ask my husband for them and that was very foolish of me.

I got the amount at last from a wretched usurer at an enormous rate of interest.

When the amount plus interest became due again, I was still more afraid to tell my husband, and so kept on giving fresh bills, with the result that the amount of my indebtedness grew and grew as the years rolled on, till it resembled the egg of the widow in the nursery tale--out of which came first two cocks, then a bristling boar, then a camel, and finally a carriage and four, for at last my original poor little debt of one thousand florins swelled into forty thousand and the usurers became importunate and would allow me no more credit.

Once when I was in a very bad humour, I let out my secret before Szilard, and the worthy young man undertook to relieve me of my burden.

I don't know whether he detected a technical flaw in my bonds or whether he found out some other means of frightening my creditor; anyway, he assured me I only need pay the original sum with interest upon it at the legal rate.