CHAPTER THIRTY-SIXBuda-Pest was changing again. People were flooding into the city to answer the call to arms. New soldiers were everywhere, until I began to think that we were living in a military camp.
I saw some very odd sights too. The one that sticks most in my mind is of two Imperial soldiers, armed with knives, following each other in circles and hacking off the tails of each other’s frock coats. I was walking with Margit and the children, on the way to buy a new dress for Anna — it was her birthday at the end of the week and Elisabeth had promised her the treat of a dinner party with the adults — but as I stopped to gape at this peculiar spectacle, they drew ahead of me.
“Staggering, isn’t it?” remarked a voice in my ear. I jumped, and looked straight up into the eyes of Lajos Lá
