Accident rendered Panna the service she had vainly asked of the two
men. One evening, when she was returning from the fields, she passed
the housekeeper at the castle who, with her back to the road, stood
leaning against the low half-door of a peasant's hut, and called to her
friend who was working in the yard: "Well, the master wrote to-day; he
wants Janos to bring the carriage at six o'clock to-morrow morning to
take him from the prison."
At this moment the peasant woman saw Panna passing, and made the
housekeeper a sign which silenced her at once. But Panna had heard
enough. She quickened her pace to reach home quickly, put down her
hoe, and ascertained that her father was already in the house. Her
voice betrayed no trace of excitement as she asked if he was going out
again, which he answered in the negative. Then she went to her room,
put on a warm woollen shawl, slipped the few florins she still
possessed into her pocket, and went away, telling her father to go to
sleep, she would be back again.
Hastening to a peasant who lived at the other end of the village, she
begged him to drive her to the city at once; she would pay whatever he
asked.
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