The fiscal was there also, cutting quills for every one present, and sticking them into the inkstands, which were placed all round the round table in front of the witnesses.
When Squire John and Rudolf entered the room, every one present saluted them with the grave solemnity befitting the occasion.
The Squire beckoned to everybody to be seated--Rudolf on his right, Mike Kis on his left, the fiscal opposite to him, that they might the better hear what he was going to say.
At the furthest end of the table sat Mr.Varga, with all the candles piled in front of him.

_He_ knew why.
"My dear friends and good neighbours," began the Nabob, while every one listened with the deepest attention, "God has numbered my days, and is about to call me from this transitory life to His glory, and therefore I call you all to witness that what I am going to say now is said clearly, deliberately, and while I am in the full possession of all my faculties.
I find that the estates which God, of His goodness, has entrusted to my hands, now yield over a million of florins more of clear income than when I came into possession of them.

God grant that they may be more productive of blessings in the hands of others than they have been in mine! I begin my last will and testament with a reference to her who was dearest to me in the world and now slumbers in her tomb.

This tomb is the beginning and the end of my arrangements in this life; it has been my first thought when I rose up, and my last thought when I lay down, and will last on when I rise up no more.

My first bequest, then, is 50,000 florins, the interest on which is to go to that gardener on my domains whose duty it shall be, in return therefor, to cultivate from early spring to late autumn, irises and amaranths,--flowers which 'she' loved so much,--and have them planted regularly round the grave of my unforgettable wife.