Page:Magdalen by J S Machar.pdf/185

 would soon take unto himself the tax collector’s Anda. A sweet sensation thrilled him, whenever he thought of her embrace,—but he drove away these pictures like golden flies. His soul was divided, its greater half was tending elsewhere. He would be called to the Diet, he would speak there, and would be a great man. His name would be known to the whole country, the whole nation would read his speeches in the party’s press and in the foreign papers, and then they would be reprinted in pamphlet form. At times deputations would come, and they would ask him this and that; he would receive them here, in his study (he proudly looked around him, passing his fingers through his sparse hair), he would answer them this way or that, would shake hands with them, would see them to the door The mandate to the Bohemian Diet would only be a step to higher honors. He would be chosen to the Austrian Diet,—he would speak, storm, and thunder in Vienna,—beyond that he could