to-night."

"If my coachman hadn't come so early, I would have won it all back
again."

"Why," said the steward, "if you feel inclined, you can come back and
play on comfortably."

"Thank you, I've had quite enough of your hospitality for the present,"
replied Abonyi, and both laughed heartily, after which they again shook
hands with each other.

The steward, who was shivering, turned back, and Abonyi prepared to get
into the carriage. At the moment when he had one foot on the step and
was half swinging in the air, without any firm hold, Panna sprang out,
threw her whole weight upon Abonyi, dragged him to the ground with her,
and, almost while falling, with the speed of lightning struck him
repeatedly in the breast with a long, sharp, kitchen knife, which she
had had in her bosom.

All this had been the work of a few instants. Abonyi had scarcely had
time to utter a cry. Janos sat mute with bewilderment on the box,
staring with dilated eyes at the two figures on the ground; the steward
turned at the shriek and stood as though spell-bound by the spectacle
which presented itself. Abonyi lay gasping, with his blood pouring
from several wounds; Panna had straightened herself and, throwing down
the bloody knife, stood quietly beside her victim. Instantly a great
outcry arose, Janos sprang from the carriage and went to the assistance
of his unconscious and evidently dying master, the steward rushed up to
Panna and grasped her by the arm, which she permitted without
resistance, a number of heiducks appeared, Panna was dragged into the
doorway, and a flood of curses and threats was poured upon her. While
Abonyi was carried into the guard-room under the entrance and laid on a
wooden-table, where he drew his last breath before a physician could be
summoned, a multitude of violent hands dragged Panna, amid fierce
abuse, into the courtyard, while the steward shouted loudly:

"Lads! Bring chains for this monster! Chains I say, put irons on her
hands and feet."

Then Panna who, hitherto, had not opened her lips, cried in a resonant
voice, while a strange smile hovered about her quivering lips:

"Why, my dear sir, how long have you used chains? Wouldn't you rather
play a game of cards with me?"

The steward's face flushed scarlet, he shrieked a few orders to his men
in a shrill tone, and rushed back into the guard-room to Abonyi.

Panna was shoved rather than led down the steps of a flight of cellar
stairs and th