She had even forgotten to make an offering, lost as she was in the contemplation of the young man—the very image, she thought, of the saint painted above one of the side-altars: so young, so slender, so beautiful to look upon! Oh, what a spell those gleaming eyes of his had cast on her! … Vainly she rubbed her eyes, and crossed herself again and again to get rid of it.
Around her ran whispers:
“Only an organist’s son, yet how well he is clad!”
“And his mother is as vain as a turkey about him.”
“Ever since Eastertide, he has been at the school for priests.”
“His Reverence sent for him to make the collection today.”
“For his son, at least, the grasping old skinflint is liberal enough.”
“Surely, for will not the glory of the priesthood do honour to him too?”
“Aye, and no small profit will be his likewise.”
But Yagna, following him with fascinated eyes, heard no word of what they said.
The service being quite at an end, the congregation was now dispersing, and Hanka was moving towards the gate, when Balcerkova came up to her with important news.
“Know ye that, between Simon, son of Dominikova, and the girl Nastka, the banns have just been published?”
“Oh, but what will Dominikova say to that?”
“There will, of course, be another quarrel.”
“She cannot do anything to prevent it: Simon is in the right—and of age besides.”
“There will be a perfect hell in the hut,” Yagustynka observed.
Hanka sighed: “Are there too few quarrels and sins against God as it is?”
“Have ye heard,” Ploshkova asked her, “the news about the Voyt?” And she brought her large belly and bloated face unpleasantly close.
“I have had so much trouble with the funeral, and so many other cares of late, that I know naught of what goes on in the village.”
“Well, the head man at the office told my goodman that the village accounts were short by a great sum. And now the Voyt is going about everywhere and whining to get money lent to him; for there may be an investigation any day.”
“Father-in-law used to say it would surely end in that wise.”
“Aye, he was puffed up, and proud, and played the great man; now he must pay for his greatness.”
“Can his land be taken from him?”
“Of course it can; and if it should not suffice, he must go to jail,” Yagustynka said. “The rogue has had his fling: let him have his punishment!”
“I could not understand why of late he never showed his face at our cabin, even for the funeral.”
“Oh, ’twas not Boryna but Boryna’s widow he cared for!”
But Yagna, holding her mother by the hand, was passing by, and they held their peace. Nevertheless, and though the old dame walked stooping and with eyes still bound, Yagustynka could not refrain from a hit at her.
“When is Simon’s wedding to be? What we heard today from the pulpit was so unexpected! … Though indeed, now the lad is tired of doing a girl’s work, it is hard to forbid him his manhood. And,” she added mockingly, “Nastka will do that work now for him.”
Dominikova drew herself up suddenly, and addressed Yagna in a hard voice:
“Take—take me away, else that viper will sting me again.”
She went sobbing away, and Ploshka chuckled.
“Blind as she was, she knew well who you were!”
“She’s not so blind but that she can see to tear Simon’s hair out!”
“Ah, God grant she may harm no one else besides!”
There was no more talking; they were in the great crush close to the gate, and Hanka was separated from the others: not much grieved to be spared that cruel backbiting they enjoyed so. To each of the dziads she gave a kopek, and five to the blind one with the dog, saying: “Come and dine with us, dziad!—At the Borynas’!”
He lifted his head, and rolled his sightless eyes. “I think ye’re Antek’s wife.—God reward you!—Surely I shall come … and speedily.”
Without the gates, the throng was less dense; but there too sat more dziads, in two parallel rows, uttering various complaints. At the very end was a young man, with a green shade over his eyes, singing to the accompaniment of his fiddle ballads about the “kings of olden time,” and surrounded by a large audience: coins were frequently dropped into his cap, his performance being a decided hit.
Hanka, who stood close to the churchyard, looking for Yuzka, most unexpectedly happened to see her father.
He was amongst the dziads, holding out his hands for alms, and begging with the usual whine of the class!
At first she thought her eyes were mistaken, and rubbed them, and looked again. No! it was—it was—he himself!
“My father a dziad! O Lord!” She flushed burning red with the shame of it, drew her kerchief far over her brows, and crept round to him from behind the wagons by which he was sitting.
“What, oh, what do ye here?” she groaned, crouching behind him lest she should be seen.
“Hanka! … Yes … it is I.”
“Come with me!—Come home!—Instantly!—O Lord Jesus, such a disgrace to us all! Come.”
“I will not … long have I thought to do this. … Why should I burden you, if kindly folk will come to my aid? … I will go along with the others … see the world … visit the sanctuaries … hear about new things.—Aye, and I will bring money home to you. See, here’s a zloty: buy a toy for little Peter therewith.—Here!”
She seized him firmly by the coat-collar, and almost by main force dragged him out of the jumble of wagons.
“Home with me this instant, I say!—What, have ye no shame?”
“Unhand me, or I shall be angry with
