with the gardener the other two witnesses, Janos and
the beadle, were already in the space set apart for the audience, and
also the village notary, the new parish magistrate, a rich peasant and
cattle-dealer named Barany, the pastor, several other residents of
Kisfalu, and two or three owners of estates in the county, friends of
the defendant.

Panna, who sat in the front row, directly by the railing, had no eyes
for her surroundings, and scarcely noticed that every one was gazing at
her with curiosity and interest. Her mood was calm, almost solemn, and
she gazed steadily at the door in the end of the room through which the
court must enter.

At last a constable appeared, who moved the armchairs, arranged the
papers on the green table, and then noisily opened the doors. The
three judges, followed by the constable, came in and took their seats;
with them appeared the prosecuting attorney, the same one who had taken
part in the preliminary examination in Kisfalu, and almost immediately
after a side-door opened and Herr von Abonyi entered, accompanied by
his lawyer and followed by a man whose uniform cap showed that he was
some official. This individual remained standing at the door, while
Abonyi took his seat on the wooden bench and the lawyer in his chair.

Abonyi had bowed to the court when he entered, and now cast a searching
glance at the spectators. But he involuntarily started and hastily
averted his head, without noticing the smiling greetings of his
friends, for the first things he beheld were Panna's flashing black
eyes, which had pierced him when he first appeared, and which he
actually seemed to feel burning through his clothes, and consuming his
body, as he turned away from them.

Panna was intensely excited; her heart throbbed violently and her
eyebrows contracted in a gloomy frown. Abonyi's appearance had
destroyed a large share of her consoling and soothing illusions. She
had had a vague idea that he would be brought in in some humiliating
convict garb, perhaps with handcuffs or even with his feet chained, and
sit between two soldiers with fixed bayonets, deserted, humble,
penitent. Instead of that she saw Abonyi just as she was in the habit
of seeing him, attired in an elegant black suit, smoothly-shaved and
carefully combed, with plump cheeks and smiling lips, head erect and
bold eyes, more distinguished in appearance than any one inside the
rail, without the slightest token in aspect and beari