“Perhaps it is,” she said timidly. “I—I have a little cash in hand, but cannot count it aright.”
“Show it me; we shall do the sum together.”
She disappeared, and soon returned, shot the bolt, and laid a parcel on his knees.
It contained notes, some silver and some gold pieces, besides six strings of corals.
“These belonged to his dead wife. He gave them to Yagna, and (I suppose) took them back again later,” she whispered, squatted down by the settle on which Roch was counting.
“Four hundred and thirty-two roubles, five zloty.—From Matthias, hey?”
“Yes—yes!” she faltered, turning red. “He gave them to me after Eastertide.”
“It will not suffice entirely, but you might dispose of some of the animals.”
“It might be done. Our sow could go … and the barren cow likewise. The Jew asked to buy her; she might still be worth some bushels of corn to us.”
“Then we shall bail Antek without aid.—Is it known to anyone that ye have this money?”
“Father gave it to me to set Antek free, forbidding me to say one word of it to any creature. You are the first to know.—If Michael … !”
“Be easy; your secret is safe. When I hear the time has come, we shall go together and free Antek. The clouds will roll by and the weather clear up, my dear child!” he said, and kissed the top of her head, as she fell at his feet to thank him.
She wept tears of joy. “My own father could not have been fonder,” she sobbed.
“Your man will return to you, thank God!—Where is Yagna?”
“She started for town this morning in company with her mother and the Voyt. They say Dominikova is going to the notary, intending to make all her land over to Yagna.”
“All to Yagna?—And her sons?”
“They want her to divide the land, and she would spite them. Hell is in their cabin now, and the Voyt is on Dominikova’s side: at the father’s death, he was named the orphans’ guardian.”
“Is it so? About the Voyt I had heard another tale.”
“Ye have heard true. He does indeed care for Yagna, but in such wise as I shame to speak of. He is past his prime, but still vigorous; and she, a wanton. I do not repeat hearsay; myself I saw them in the orchard.”
“I would lay me down somewhere: may I?”
She wanted him to sleep on Yuzka’s bed, but he preferred going to the stable.
“Keep your money safe!” he said on leaving her.
He was not seen until dinnertime. After the meal, he was making for the village, when Hanka hesitatingly proffered a request.
“Roch, would you help us to adorn our altar?”
“Ah! yes: tomorrow is Corpus Christi Day.—Where are you to erect it?”
“Where we do every year: outside our porch. I am sending Peter instantly to the forest for young fir-trees and pine-bough decorations, whilst Yagustynka is to hurry off with Yuzka and get flowers for garlands.”
“And have ye the tapers and candlesticks yet?”
“Only this morning, Ambrose promised to bring me some from the church.”
“And on whose premises are altars to be set up besides?”
“At the Voyt’s, on this side of the pond; on the other, at the miller’s and at Ploshka’s.”
“I shall help: but first I must see Mr. Yacek. Ere dusk, I am here again.”
“Then pray tell Veronka to come over by daybreak tomorrow, and make herself useful.”
He nodded, and walked away towards the ruins of Staho’s hovel.
Mr. Yacek was, as usual, on the threshold, smoking, stroking his beard, and looking far away to where the birds fluttered above the undulating corn.
In front of the hut, close to the cherry-trees, lay several enormous trunks; ancient Bylitsa went pottering among them, now dealing a blow at them with an ax, now smoothing away some protruding knag with a hatchet, and talking to them all the time aloud:
“Aha! So you have come into our yard. Many thanks! Matthew will soon cut you asunder into shapely beams that shall do you no little honour. Aye, you shall dwell here secure from moisture: fear not.”
“He talks to it as though it were a living thing!” Roch observed in some surprise.
“Sit ye down: he is mad with joy today.—Hark to him!”
“And you too, poor sufferer, lived in the forest; now will you rest, and none shall come to trouble you any more!” continued the old man, patting the resin-stained bark with loving hands.
Then, stepping over to the largest trunk, that had been flung down by the roadside, and crouching close to the flat sawn resin-sweltering surface with yellow rings that he gloated fondly upon, he muttered:
“So great a one? yet overcome all the same, hey? The Jews would fain have carried you to town, but through our Lord’s grace you remain here with your own, your husbandmen: they will hang sacred images upon you, and the priest will bless you with holy water. Aye, Aye!”
At this, Mr. Yacek smiled faintly, and, having spoken a few words with Roch, took up his violin, and made for the forest by the field-paths.
Roch stayed listening to Veronka as she talked, and evening slowly came on.
The morrow being a festival, the day’s work was sooner ended than usual. Women began to weave festoons outside the cabins, children came in, bringing armfuls of green flags and rushes. In front of Ploshka’s and the miller’s houses, birch and fir-boughs were piled in heaps, to be planted wherever an altar was raised; and the girls decked the walls behind them with greenery. They also filled up many hollow places in the roads with gravel and sand.
Roch, who had left Veronka, was just emerging on the poplar road, when someone on horseback appeared, galloping at breakneck speed in a cloud of dust. The carts that carried Staho’s timber impeded him and he tried to pass round them by the field.
“If ye haste so, you will founder your horse,” they cried in vain. He
