Perhaps she'll even die--who knows ?--And what's the matter with her ?" he asked aloud.
"Ah, she is in great danger.

I assure you, my friend, that when last I saw her, the doctors had prohibited both riding and driving." Even now the real state of things would not have occurred to Abellino's mind, had not a couple of quicker-witted gentlemen, who had come there for the express purpose of laughing, and were therefore on the alert for the point of the jest, suddenly laughed aloud.

Then, all at once, light flashed into his brain.
"A thousand devils! You are speaking the truth now, I suppose ?" His face could not hide the fury which boiled up within him.
"Why, how else should I have cause to congratulate you ?" said Kecskerey, laughing.
"Oh, it is infamous!" exclaimed Abellino, beside himself.
The bystanders began to pity him, and the softer-hearted among them quietly dispersed.

It was a horrible thought that this man, who on entering the room had believed himself to be the master of millions, should have been plunged back into poverty by a few words.
Kecskerey alone had no pity for him.

He never pitied any one who was unfortunate; he reserved all his sympathy for the prosperous.
"Then there's nothing more to be done," murmured Abellino, between his teeth, "unless it be to kill myself or that woman." Kecskerey's strident rasping voice seemed to cut clean through that desperate murmur.
"If you want to kill or be killed, my friend, I should advise you to read Pitaval,[11] wherein you will find all sorts and kinds of tips for murderers, including lists of poisons both vegetable and mineral, a liberal choice of weapons of every description, and the best means of disposing of the _corpus delecti_ afterwards, either by submersion, combustion, dissection, or inhumation.