“In bonds! O Lord!”
“They bound him, but he snapped the ropes asunder like tow. And all were afraid of him, who seemed as though mad with fever, or possessed with a devil. And he stood up before them, and looked them in the face, saying:
“ ‘Make my hands and feet fast with manacles and fetters, and watch over me well.—Else I slay you all, and do to myself an evil thing!’
“He was so amazed for his father’s loss that he himself offered his hands and feet to the gyves. And thus did they carry him away.
“Never shall I forget how they took him: never, till I die. And my goodman did they take likewise, and my sons, and the other men: about threescore of them.
“But what fell out here at that hour—what lamentations, what awful curses were heard—I could in no wise tell you!
“And now spring is here; the snows have melted away, the fields are dry and crying out to be tilled, and the time for ploughing and sowing has come: but we have no one to work here!
“Only the Voyt, the smith, and a few decrepit old men have been left; of the young men, only the fool, Yasyek Topsy-turvy!
“Yet ’tis now the season for yeaning and calving; and of our women, many are brought to bed in these days; and we must think of our lads over there, and take food to them, with a little money and a clean shirt or two; meanwhile, we are over head and ears in work, and there is no hiring labour elsewhere, every peasant having first of all to shift for himself.”
“Will they not be soon set free?”
“The Lord knows! Our priest went to the police; so did the Voyt: and they say that, the inquiry over, sentence will be given. But three weeks have gone by, and not one man is back home. Roch, too, went to make inquiries last Thursday.”
“Does Boryna live still?”
“He does, but even as one dead; he lies like a log, insensible. Hanka sent for the best doctors, but they did naught.”
“What could they do? Physicians are in vain when the ailment is mortal.”
Klembova then told her visitor all that had taken place in winter; for Agata had not heard anything.
She let her arms drop in sheer amazement and horror at what she now learned: the news made her heart ache.
“O my God! I was all the time thinking of Lipka, but never, never dreamed. … All my life I have heard nothing like it.—Is Satan come to abide with us?”
“Belike he is.”
“It must be so. Our Lord is punishing us for the grievous sin of Antek with his stepmother. But there are other sins besides, that now spring forth and are seen by all.”
Agata feared to ask what these were; she raised a shaking hand and, crossing herself, mumbled some devout prayer.
“Yes, all the people have to suffer for them. While Boryna is lying there for dead”—here she lowered her voice—“they say that Yagna is making up in real earnest to the Voyt. Antek is away, Matthew also: she has no young fellow by, so she takes the first willing man she meets! What a world we live in, my God!” she ejaculated, wringing her hands.
Agata had nothing to reply. The news she had heard depressed her so, that her former fatigue now came upon her with increased power, and she crept to the byre to get some rest.
About sunset she was seen again, going the round of her acquaintances; and when she came back to the Klembas’, these were at supper.
A spoon had been set and a place reserved for her; not a first place, of course. But she had little appetite, and preferred telling them what she had seen in the towns she had visited as a pilgrim.
Then night fell and they lit a candle in the room previous to retiring for the night, she brought out her wallet, and, while they surrounded her with breathless curiosity, slowly took forth the various things she had bought for them: for each one, a holy picture; for the girls, a necklace (ah, how they, one after another, went peeping into the looking-glass, to see how theirs became them, drawing up their necks, like so many turkeys!); good strong knives for the lads; for Thomas, a large packet of tobacco, and for his good dame, a great frill, deeply scalloped and adorned with many-coloured embroidery, all so beautiful that the housewife herself clapped her hands to see it!
All were extremely pleased, all feasted their eyes upon the gifts; while Agata, enjoying their pleasure, told them in detail how much each article had cost and where it had been bought.
They sat up long, talking of the absent ones.
“The village is so deadly still, it makes me feel a lump in the throat!” Agata said at last, when all had done talking, and there was a deep dull silence around her. “How different it was this time last year! The whole village shook with shouts and laughter.”
“Yes, and now it looks like a vast grave,” Klembova chimed in mournfully; “only fit to be covered with a tombstone, and have a cross raised above.”
“So ’tis.—Mistress, may I go and rest upstairs?” Agata asked meekly. “My bones ache with journeying, and
