y experienced the
great law of the universe and ought not to complain, because it is the
course of the world.

But now this law had been violated in the most unparalleled manner;
Abonyi had committed a heavy sin and had not atoned for it; this was a
phenomenon which shook the foundations of her being, robbed her of all
support, abruptly reawakened all her slumbering doubts concerning the
necessity of her bitter fate, and unchained the terrible tempests in
her soul, which hitherto only intense faith in the stern, but morally
necessary omnipotence of the law of sin and atonement, had succeeded in
soothing. Her sense of morality showed her a means of escape from this
mental torture, and she did not hesitate to take it. The law of the
universe must not be belied, it must prove itself in this case, as it
always had; since those appointed to the office had shamefully omitted
to use it, it became her right and her duty to execute it herself.

Amid these thoughts, which did not enter her mind dimly and vaguely,
but with perfect clearness and distinctness, the hours passed with
magical swiftness and, ere she was aware of it, the springless waggon
rolled over the uneven pavement of a street in the suburbs. The noisy
rattle of the wheels, which followed their former comparatively
noiseless movement, and the jolts which the vehicle received in the
numerous holes of the roadway quickly roused Panna from her deep
reverie and brought her to a consciousness of external things.

It was about two o'clock in the morning. She asked the peasant to
drive to the corner of a certain street, where the doctor whom she
wanted, lived; when she reached the desired place she got out, gave her
driver another florin, and said:

"Neighbour, go into a tavern and let your horses rest. You can ride
home whenever you choose; I will ask the doctor to drive out in his own
carriage and to take me with him; we shall get there several hours
earlier with his fresh horses, than with your tired nags, which could
not turn back at once."

"You're right there," replied the peasant, somewhat drowsily, bade her
good-night, and drove off at a walk. In a few minutes the waggon was
out of sight and hearing.

Panna now moved with rapid steps through several streets, which were
alternately flooded with bright moonlight and shrouded in darkness,
until she stood before the county jail. This is a barrack-like
structure, whose plain front has for its sole architec