"
"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 architectural ornament
two pairs of columns, which flank the main entrance on both sides.
Panna entered the narrow space between the two columns at the left, and
sat down with her back resting against the fluted shaft at the stone
base of the pillar, whose shadow completely concealed her.
She was very weary and exhausted; the tempest of thoughts in her brain
were followed by fatigue and a dull stupor; the silence, the darkness,
the warmth of the shawl wrapped closely around her, the motionless
position which her narrow hiding-place required, exerted a drowsy
influence, and she soon sank into a torpor which imperceptibly passed
into an uneasy, agitated half slumber, visited by terrible dreams.
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