Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/145

 KATONA fully realised its horror. He s tood as though turned to stone, and the dagger dropped from his hand. The noise awoke Bánk from his stupor, and he said : " Do not applaud, my country, thine avenger is trembling. " And the queen ? The proud, ambitious woman, so eager for power at any cost, on the threshold of death, forgot her crown, her glory, her dignity ; human feeling prevailed and sh e thought only of her children. On the verge of the grave, it is the mother who speaks. " My children l Where are my children ? To die with out seeing them l Andrew l My children !" Now that the king's representative bimself had mur­ dered the queen, there was nothing to prevent the open rebellion of the nobles. At length th e king returned, to find ernbittered hatred, and revolution, around the dead body of his wife. What remained for bim to do ? He would fain have chastised the wrongdoers, but how could he punish, wben the murdered woman had so many crimes to atone for ? The conspirators were imprisoned, and Petur, in accordance with the law of those times, was tied to a horse's tail and dragged to death. But the chief culprit was Bánk, the palatine. What was to be his fate ? He appeared before the king, a stony expression in his fac e and the calmness of despair in his heart. " It is I who killed the queen . Petur and al i the others are innocent." He felt the horror of his ueed, but tried to justify it to his own soul. Th e justification gave bim strength and pride. There follows an admirable scene, where. Bánk is crushed because his deed is shown him in a new light. Hitherto h e felt that he had acted as a judge and not as a murderer, and that every honest man would have done as he did, for he never doubted that the queen