"I did not know you would take it so seriously, but so it is." "From whom did you hear all this, from the baroness ?" "No--from Hatszegi." An idea suddenly flashed through Gerzson's brain.
"Did you speak to the baroness herself ?" "No.

I only saw her through the carriage window when they drove away." "Was she veiled ?" "No, my friend.

It was her very self I assure you." "Thank you.

And now, if you like, you can go on amusing yourself at my expense.

Adieu!" Only when he had got home and flung himself on the sofa in a state of stupor, did he begin to reflect a little calmly on what he had heard.
There was so much about the affair that was startling and incomprehensible, true and untrue, probable, incredible, shameful and exasperating, that he could make neither head nor tail of it.
That the baroness _had_ returned must be true, for they all maintained that she had come back while he was lying drunk.