began to count on his fingers, as if he were reckoning to
himself.

"Well, in the first place, I get money--in the second, I have my
revenge--in the third, I take away Czipra,--in the fourth, I shall have
my fill of human blood,--in the fifth, I get money again.--It shall be
done."

The two shook hands on the bargain. The robber left by the same door
through which he had entered; Sarvoelgyi went to bed, like one who has
done his business well; and in the corridor the gypsies still played the
newest waltz, which Melanie and Madame Balnokhazy were enjoying with
flushed faces amidst the gay assembly.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE ENCHANTMENT OF LOVE

How many secrets there are under the sun, awaiting discovery!

Books have been written about the superstitions of nations long since
passed away: men of science have collected the enchantments of people
from all quarters of the globe: yet of one thing they have not spoken
yet: of that unending myth, which lives unceasingly and is born again in
woman's heart and in the heated atmosphere of love.

Sweet are the enchantments of love!

"If I drink unseen from thy glass, and thou dost drain it after
me:--thou drinkest love therefrom, and shalt pine for me, darling, as I
have pined for thee.

"If at night I awake in dreams of thee and turn my pillow under my head:
thou too wilt have as sweet dreams of me, as I of thee, my darling.

"If I bind my ring to a lock of thy hair thou hast given me, and cast
the same into a glass, as often as it beats against the side of the
glass, so many years wilt thou love me, darling.

"If I can sew a lock of my hair into the edge of thy linen garment, thy
heart will pine for me, as often as thou puttest the same on, my
darling.

"If, in thinking of thee, I pricked my finger, thou wert then faithless
to me, darling.

"If the door opens of itself, thou wert then thinking of me, and thy
sigh opened the door, my darling.

"If a star shoots in the sky, and I suddenly utter thy name as it
shoots, thou must then at once think of me, darling.

"If my ear tingles, I hear news of thee: if my cheeks burn, thou art
speaking of me, my darling.

"If my scissors fall down and remain upright, I shall see thee soon,
darling.

"If the candle runs down upon me, then thou dost love another, my
darling.

"If my ring turns upon my finger, then thou wilt be the cause of my
death, darling."

In every object, in every thought lives the mythology of lov