KATONA Once, when on a visit in the course of his duties to some of the country districts, where he was painfully struck by the misery of the overworked and heavily taxed peasants, and th e manifold signs of political oppression, a message reached him from home, hidding him return without delay, and secretly. Bánk's soul became a prey to the darkest forebodings and he returned with feverish haste. This is the heginning of the drama. Why this mysterious summans ? The reason was indeed a grave one. Not only was the nation threatened, but the palatine's virtuous and beautifut you ng wife Melinda was also in imminent danger. The queen had a dissolute brother, Prince Otto, who persecuted the lady by his advances in her husband's absence. Th e queen, in other respects so energetic, was weak in dealing with her brother, and instead of putting an end to the intrigue, forwarded the princ e's vile plans, and gave a court ball in order that Otto migh t meet Melinda without hindrance. Th e festivity was t its · height when Bánk appeared. He entered by a side door, very few noticing the palatine' s une:xpected return, and learned that there was a c on spiracy agaiost the queen and that the consp irators were to hold a secret meeting that very night. Their pass wo rd was "Melinda." Th e conspirators - had heard of Otto's love for Melinda, an d Bánk was told of it by Petur, a masterly drawn type of the Hungarian nobleman of that day, faultlessly honest, perfectly loyal .to the sacred p erso n of the king, but vialent and ernbittered by oppress ion and the illegal rule of the foreign queen. Two impulses strove for mastery in Bánk's soul. One urged him, as the representative of the king and as the kn ight whose duty it was to guard the queen, to crush the conspiracy. On the other hand, j ealousy, and fear for his own and h i' wife's h9nour,
