que knife.

"Money! But how much?" bawled the thief.

"Four hundred florins."

"Four hundred florins," he shrieked, casting the purse down on the
table. "Did I come here for four hundred florins? Have I been lounging
about here a week for four hundred florins? Where is the rest?"

"The rest?" said the lady. "Oh, that is being made at Vienna."

"No joking, now. I know there were two thousand florins in this purse."

"If all that has ever been in that purse were here now, it would be
enough for both of us."

"The devil take you!" cried the thief, beating the table with his fist
so that the spirit flame flickered in the plate. "I don't understand
jokes. In this purse just now there were two thousand florins, the price
of the wool you sold day before yesterday at Debreczen. What has become
of the rest?"

"Come here, I'll give you an account of it," said the lady, counting on
her fingers with the point of the knife. "Two hundred I gave to the
furrier--four hundred to the saddler--three hundred to the grocer--three
hundred to the tailor:--two hundred I spent in the market: count how
much remains."

"None of your arithmetic for me. I only want money, much money! Where is
much money?"

"As I said already, at Koermoecz, in the mint."

"Enough of your foolery!" threatened the highwayman. "For if I begin to
search, you won't thank me for it."

"Well, search the carriage over; all you find in it is yours."

"I shan't search the coach, but you, too, to your skin."

"What?" cried the woman, in a passion; and at that moment her face, with
her knitted eyebrows, became like that of a mythical Fury. "Try
it,"--with these words dashing the knife down into the table, which it
pierced to the depth of an inch.

The thief began to speak in a less presumptuous tone.

"What else will you give me?"

"What else, indeed?" said the lady, throwing herself defiantly back in
her chair. "The devil and his son."

"You have a bracelet on your arm."

"There you are!" said the woman, unclasping the emerald trinket from her
arm, and dashing it on the table.

The thief began to look at it critically.

"What is it worth?"

"I received it as a present: you can get a drink of wine for it in the
nearest inn you reach."

"And there is a beautiful ring sparkling on your finger."

"Let it sparkle."

"I don't believe it cannot come off."

"It will not come off, for I shall not give it." At this moment the
thief suddenly grasped the